Colombian army colonel Fernando Borja has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after being convicted in a case now known as the “false positives” scandal. The attorney generals office is now investigating more than 1,400 cases in which men were lured to their death in promise of joining the army. These shocking series of events stemmed from what is known as a body bag culture within the army, where soldiers were remunerated based on the number of rebels they executed. 

At the time of these murders, President Alvaro Uribe was in office and is being accused of targeting left-wing rebels who posed a threat to the state in power. These types of scandals are not new to Colombia, as just at the beginning of the month eight soldiers were each convicted for killing four farmers and disguising them as guerrillas in the province of Antioquia in 2006.

Questions of human rights abuses will remain at the forefront of this case until it has been thoroughly investigated and its number of victims fully realized.