A-Infos (en) Army Unit Investigated in Colombia

[Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.apc.org>]

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               ARMY UNIT INVESTIGATED IN COLOMBIA
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     20th Brigade Under Suspicion In Recent Deaths of Activists
 
     THE WASHINGTON POST
     Sunday, May 10, 1998; Page A19
     By Laura Brooks
     Special to The Washington Post
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-05/10/
 
     BOGOTA, Colombia - The U.S. government, the Colombian police
and the national prosecutor's office are analyzing the
possibility that recent slayings of political activists may be
linked to a Colombian army unit, the 20th Intelligence Brigade,
according to a knowledgeable source with access to intelligence
reports.
   
     In recent weeks, a prominent lawyer, a human rights advocate
and a leftist politician have been assassinated, and more than a
dozen government officials, union leaders, and peace and human
rights activists have received threats, prompting some to flee
the country.
   
     "The suspicion of the government, and everyone, is that it
is people -- past and present -- associated with the 20th" who
are responsible for the killings, said the source, who asked not
to be identified. The source added that Colombian officials are
"really disturbed and scared."
   
     Colombian military officials have denied that the army is
responsible for the killings.
   
     Widespread drug trafficking, a 30-year-old leftist
insurgency and rampant common crime have combined to make
Colombia one of the world's most violent countries for the past
decade. Although most of the 31,808 killings recorded here last
year were related to drug trafficking and other common crimes,
more than 1,000 were political slayings.
   
     In recent months, U.S. officials have singled out the army's
20th Intelligence Brigade for suspected human rights violations
and killings. Last year, in a scathing parting shot as he left
his Colombian post, U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette assailed the
brigade, accusing it of death squad activity -- and prompting
angry denials from some Colombian officials.
   
     In its 1997 Human Rights Report on Colombia, the State
Department cited targeted killings by army elements, "notably the
20th Intelligence Brigade." Two intelligence agents, an army
private and several civilians -- all associated with the brigade
-- were arrested in May 1997 for their alleged involvement in the
1995 assassination of Sen. Alvaro Gomez Hurtado, a member of the
opposition Conservative Party, the report said.
   
     In November, four intelligence officers linked to the
brigade were passed over for promotion, effectively ending their
careers, and the military retired a former brigade commander,
according to the report.
   
     But the changes failed to allay concern about what officials
describe as an informal intelligence network. Operating at the
service of extreme right-wing and paramilitary elements, the
amorphous network is suspected of collaborating with an
unidentified number of past and present 20th Brigade members,
security analysts said. Some collaborators are believed to be
unhappy with military leadership, as well as with government
efforts to negotiate peace with leftist rebels, the analysts
said.
   
     "It is an informal network that's just as real as a formal
institution," said the source. "And it's all the more scary
because it's harder to control."
   
     In an interview with Semana magazine, Prosecutor General
Alfonso Gomez Mendez said investigations by his office, which is
responsible for bringing the political activists' killers to
justice, indicated military involvement in several
assassinations. "That does not mean it was the responsibility of
the military as an institution, but in some cases the prosecutors
have found evidence implicating members of the armed forces
acting in an isolated fashion," Gomez said.
   
     Gen. Manuel Jose Bonett, who was appointed chief of the
Colombian military in July, staunchly defended the brigade in an
interview, saying he recently modernized its operations, removed
some officials, ordered psychological training for members and
imposed directives that define acceptable behavior.
   
     Allegations that the brigade is involved in death squad
activity are "lies," he said. He said he prohibited gathering
intelligence on human rights groups, union leaders and
politicians last year.
   
     "I trust this organization. No member of military
intelligence . . . who commits a crime would do it as a member of
the institution. He would do it on his own, as an individual,"
Bonett said.
   
     Police say there are similarities among the murders of Jesus
Maria Valle, president of the Human Rights Committee of Antioquia
province; Eduardo Umana, a respected legal defender of political
prisoners and union leaders; and Maria Arango, an activist and
former Communist Party leader. The three were shot in their homes
or offices by assassins, identified only as two men and a woman,
who knew their victims' movements and wanted to show they operate
at will, police say.
   
     "There's a clear message to killing people in their offices
and homes in the middle of the day," said Coletta Youngers,
senior associate with the Washington Office on Latin America.
"The message is: 'We can get you any time, anywhere, and there's
nowhere that you're safe.' "
   
     In particular, the killers' coolly executed April 18
shooting of Umana in his office "was designed to evoke terror in
people," she said.
   
     Compounding fear, at least 12 to 15 prominent businessmen,
union leaders, and human rights and peace activists have received
threatening calls or letters since March, according to several
sources. Some of those targeted left the country temporarily,
such as presidential peace negotiator Jose Noe Rios, who said
publicly that he had to attend conferences in Madrid.
   
     Luis Garzon, president of Colombia's Unified Workers
Central, said up to 1,500 people involved in human rights
activities have left Colombia in the last year because of
threats. Garzon, a member of several groups working for peace,
recently received bodyguards as part of a government effort to
protect him. But many others have vowed to stay in Colombia. "A
lot of people are living in terror," Garzon said.
   
     In March, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
reported that brigade members told the U.N. office in Colombia
that 85 percent of the people they consider subversive are
engaged in the "political war." Such subversives include trade
unionists, some nongovernmental groups and even some traditional
politicians.
 
     Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
 
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