COLOMBIA: President Juan Manuel Santos marks 25th anniversary of deadly M-19 guerrilla attack in 1985

Record ID: 352407

  • Title: COLOMBIA: President Juan Manuel Santos marks 25th anniversary of deadly M-19 guerrilla attack in 1985
  • Date: 5th November 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA JUAN MANUEL SANTOS SAYING: "The wounds haven't healed yet, the pain for those killed, the uncertainty that the relatives have for those who are still missing is still there, in their hearts, their friends heats and in the hearts of the Colombians. The tragedy was so great that we call it holocaust which is the way that we remembe
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: History,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TD7ZP41VGEE07GN5BT89IE3V
  • Story Text: Twenty five years after M-19 guerrilla attack on Colombian MInistry of Justice building, family members of those killed mark the date. President Juan Manuel Santos is accompanied by UN Human Rights Representative, Christian Salazar, for commemorative ceremony.
    Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos participated in a commemorative ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary on Thursday (November 4) of a bloody attack on that country's Justice Ministry.
    Some 87 people were killed during the violent attack, 43 of them civilians working inside the building.
    Santos said the incident was a holocaust for Colombians.
    "The wounds haven't healed yet, the pain for those killed, the uncertainty that the relatives have for those who are still missing is still there, in their hearts, their friends heats and in the hearts of the Colombians," Santos told a small crowd of family members and friends gathered for the ceremony. "The tragedy was so great that we call it holocaust which is the way that we remember great human sacrifices."
    Relatives held pictures of their loved ones in memory of their sacrifice.
    "We (referring to other relatives) are united not only by the pain as I said before, but most of all we are united by the hope we have in justice, the desire we have to honor our loved ones and because we can' allow that their legacy and the miserable way in which they were murdered or disappeared if forgotten with the pass of time," said Alejandra Sandoval speaking to those gathered at the solemn ceremony.
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