On Friday 8 February 2008, Alfamir Castillo’s 23-year-old son Darvey and his friend Alex were murdered by the Colombian army, near the central city of Manizales. They were lured into a trap – the promise of paid work in another city – then driven into the countryside, where they were made to kneel in the road before being shot dead from behind, at point-blank range.
The army passed off the corpses of Darvey and Alex as those of drug traffickers ‘fallen in combat’. They were motivated by military ‘body count’ incentives of cash bonuses and extra holidays.
