The government of Colombia, led by Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, issued a long-awaited apology to the relatives of 19 young civilians killed in extrajudicial killings between 2004 and 2008.
Colombian army officers kidnapped and executed over 6,400 civilians from 2002 to 2008 and falsely reported them as Marxist guerrillas killed in combat to boost body counts, a special tribunal found.