Civilian massacre by the paramilitaries in Vergel

Here, in this small village, the guerrilla came and held meetings with the people of the village. This was a coca area. Imagine guerrilla, coca plants, all is illegal. And also with the paramilitaries, the army, everything, all together.

We worked at the coca plantation, right there, and I always went in the morning to fumigate the plants; I returned again every afternoon.

These paramilitaries arrived here in 2002; they arrived and started detaining people. There were around three hundred paramilitaries; they came to kill civilians, along with children and women.They had them lie down on the road and pointed a gun at their heads, then they called them by name.

This is what remained when that massacre took place…everything related to the education of the children: books, seats, pots and cylinders. The stoves used for cooking meals for the kids, everything was scattered there.