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Palacio de Justicia: missing workers were ‘disappeared’

An international court backs families claiming state agents kidnapped and killed their loved ones.

Seeking justice: Pilar Navarrete with photos of her husband who was a waiter in the Palacio de Justicia café in November 1985 during the siege. Photos: Steve Hide

Who can you trust when the state turns against you?

It’s a question that comes to mind when talking to Pilar Navarrete, a tireless campaigner for the truth behind how her husband died. Héctor Beltrán was one of eleven innocent café workers seized and ‘disappeared’ by the Colombian military in 1985 during the aftermath of the bloody siege of Bogotá’s Palacio de Justicia.

Steve Hide: Steve Hide is a veteran journalist and NGO consultant with decades of experience working in Colombia and around the world. He has coordinated logistics for international NGOs in countries including Colombia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. He provides personal safety training for journalists via the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and his journalistic work has appeared in The Telegraph, The Independent, The Bogotá Post and more. He's also the Editor in Chief of Colombiacorners.com, where he writes about roads less travelled across Colombia.
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