I shot innocent people to meet kill quotas. Now I help families find them
The young Colombian army commander planned his first ambush for April 19, 2006.
Luis Carlos Aguilera Quintero ordered his soldiers to a farmhouse in Algeciras, Huila. From their hiding places they watched as their victim picked yuccas for his daughters’ breakfast. It was there, in the garden, that they shot him.
“Afterwards, we placed a grenade and ammunition on him, to justify his murder. We made it look like he had been killed in an exchange of shots,” said Aguilera Quintero, 50, who retired from the armed forces as a lieutenant colonel after 26 years of service. “He was defenceless; he had no weapons. His name was Norberto Celis. I carry it inside.”
Civil war ravaged Colombia for more than five decades. Left-wing guerrilla fighters and paramilitary organisations fought the state, displacing millions and leaving hundreds of thousands dead. Amid the chaos, another dark chapter unfolded — this time, authored by the military itself.
In an effort to manufacture a narrative of success, the government began rewarding enemy kills. Soldiers were told that these targets had to be met and there was little scrutiny of whether the victims were genuine combatants. Effectively the soldiers were incentivised to execute civilians and pass them off as guerrillas in exchange for promotions, leave and other bonuses.
