Minute30.com .- In an act full of symbolism and secrecy, the Search Unit for Persons Reported as Missing (UBPD) handed over this Sunday, February 15, the skeletal remains of the priest and guerrilla Camilo Torres Restrepo. The dark brown chest was received by fellow Jesuit priest Javier Giraldo, who led the search request since 2019.
The delivery coincides exactly with the 60th anniversary of Torres’ death in combat, when he was a member of the ELN ranks in Santander.
From the military pantheon to the National University
The discovery of the remains was a highly complex forensic task. Torres Restrepo’s body was located by the UBPD in the Bucaramanga Municipal Cemetery, specifically in a military pantheon. It was located in a white vault, without marks or inscriptions, in the highest part of the mausoleum.
ATTENTION: half an hour ago they handed over the remains of priest Camílo Torres Restrepo to Fr. Javier Giraldo 60 years after his deathpic.twitter.com/HK0Az0fBrC@RuthQuevedoF @piapaulette @suarezvacca @NelVillarreal @pablovommaro @ISAZULETA @HugoRicher_ @sandra_chindoy @mercedescanese
— Cristiano Morsolin (@morsolin1) February 16, 2026
Find details:
Location: Military pantheon, Bucaramanga (Santander).
State of the remains: In a grave without a headstone, bones were found bathed in formalin, a chemical that degrades DNA. This condition initially made genetic identification difficult, but did not impede the technical process of the Search Unit.
final destination: Camilo Torres will be buried in a vault inside the Cristo Maestro chapel, on the campus of the National University in Bogotá.
A delivery to avoid “appropriations”
The ceremony, led by the director of the UBPD, Luz Janeth Forero, lasted almost four hours and ended around nine at night. The decision to bury him at the National University responds to an express wish of Father Javier Giraldo and close relatives.
“The decision responds to the request to prevent his body from being appropriated by the ELN as a war trophy,” said sources close to the process, emphasizing the civil and academic character that they want to give to his final resting place.