The Los Maniceros massacre was the 2009 kidnapping in Colombia of twelve members of a Colombian amateur association football team Los Maniceros (The Peanut Men), eleven of whom were later murdered. The dead were aged between 17 and 38.[1]
A single survivor, 19-year-old Manuel Cortez,[1][2] sustained a bullet wound through his neck.[1] The eleven bodies were discovered in several locations across the state of Táchira in Venezuela, according to Venezuela's Vice President Ramón Carrizales.[3][4] The kidnapped men were mostly Colombian; one was Peruvian and one Venezuelan.[2][5]
Venezuela was on high alert following the incident,[1] with troops in the area ordered to "act forcefully" against any armed Colombian group.[6]
Kidnapping
The men, nutsellers by trade,[7] were kidnapped and thrown into vans on 11 October 2009 in La Tala, Táchira, where they had come for a football match.[2][4] The kidnappers were disguised in black clothing and called the men's names before seizing them from a field on which they had been playing football.[1] Their bodies were discovered on 24 October 2009 with several bullet wounds.[7]
Survivor
Manuel Cortez is the only survivor. Security was increased in fear for the safety of Cortez. A man was arrested after requesting to see him in the hospital and Cortez was quickly placed under guard at a separate military hospital. He said they were all chained by their necks to trees and had spent two weeks in this condition outdoors in the sun.[1]
Suspects
The main suspect is the left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN), with Cortez blaming the group for the massacre.[2][7][8] He said they had been lured into the group's territory by its leader.[citation needed] A motive has not been uncovered.[8]
Reaction
Colombia: PresidentÁlvaro Uribe called it a "deplorable act".[9] He said the massacre was an example that showed "terrorism is international, that it has no borders".[1] He expressed his hope that authorities would "take those terrorists to jail".[1]
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