A-Infos (en) Colombia Army Unit Questioned in Deaths

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

 ________________________________________________
      A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
            http://www.ainfos.ca/
 ________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________
 
             COLOMBIA ARMY UNIT QUESTIONED IN DEATHS
_________________________________________________________________
 
     THE MIAMI HERALD
     Friday, May 15, 1998
     By TIM JOHNSON and CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS, Herald Staff Writers
     http://www.herald.com/americas/digdocs/025902.htm
 
     BOGOTA, Colombia -- A growing string of assassinations and
harassment of human rights monitors has fueled concerns that a
Colombian army intelligence unit may harbor a death squad.
   
     Human rights activists and U.S. officials on Thursday echoed
the concerns of some Colombian analysts that the army's 20th
Intelligence Brigade is killing or harassing enemies, two weeks
before the presidential election.
   
     Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, met in
Washington on Thursday with human rights activists, who reported
allegations that the army unit is behind three recent execution-
style killings.
   
     ``I'm incredibly concerned that the violence will lead to
unbalanced leadership during a time of great trouble,'' McCaffrey
said. ``I share the concerns of many about the 20th Intelligence
Brigade.''
   
     McCaffrey noted that the U.S. Embassy has withheld funds to
that unit because of human rights abuses.
   
     The drug czar nevertheless expressed full confidence in the
determination of Colombia's military and police chiefs to halt
recent political assassinations, which he called ``savage acts.''
 
SECURITY IN CHAOS
   
     Colombia's security situation has slipped into chaos as the
May 31 presidential election approaches. A former rightist
defense minister, Fernando Landazabal, was assassinated Tuesday,
and human rights monitors say they are fearful for their lives.
   
     Early Thursday, gunmen riding in two cars in the city of
Cali fired at Luis Carlos Tenorio, a youth rights worker, who
escaped unharmed, news reports said.
   
     On Wednesday, about 20 soldiers accompanied by federal
prosecutors raided the Inter-Congregational Service for Justice
and Peace, a Roman Catholic Church-related group, and searched
cabinets and computer programs. The soldiers forced workers to
get on their knees to have their photos taken.
   
     ``This was a clear threat of an execution. There's no reason
to make anyone kneel to have their picture taken,'' said Robin
Kirk, a researcher for Washington-based Human Rights
Watch/Americas.
 
WEAKENED SUPERVISION
   
     Kirk said supervision of Colombia's armed forces has
weakened in the final days of President Ernesto Samper's
administration, and that elements within the army are taking out
their anger on human rights groups they blame for impeding the
battle against leftist guerrillas.
   
     ``The military somehow feels that the leash is off, that
they can do what they want,'' she said.
   
     Tensions between Colombia's military and Washington
heightened this week when two Colombian military leaders
suggested that the director of Human Rights Watch/Americas, Jose
Miguel Vivanco, and a Washington Post reporter fostered an
atmosphere inducing Tuesday's assassination of Landazabal, who
had served as defense minister in the early 1980s.
   
     The Post, citing Vivanco and others, published a report on
the 20th Brigade on Sunday, saying it was under investigation for
links to several killings.
   
     The 20th Brigade, which offers intelligence to all three
branches of the armed forces, has been singled out in the two
most recent State Department human rights reports for death squad
activity.
   
     In an irate reaction to the Post report, army Gen. Hugo
Mario Galan labeled Vivanco and the Post reporter ``enemies of
the people.'' The armed forces chief, Gen. Manuel Bonett, accused
the two of ``lies and slander'' and vigorously defended the 20th
Brigade.
   
     A senior U.S. official said Thursday that White House
``concern about that particular brigade remains very high.''
   
     Rights monitors and diplomats have raised the question of
whether current or former brigade members may have played a role
in three recent murders: the Feb. 27 slaying of Medellin human
rights leader Jesus Maria Valle, the April 16 killing of former
Communist Party leader Maria Arango and the April 18 slaying of
rights lawyer Eduardo Umana.
   
     In all three cases, the killers said they were journalists,
used high-caliber pistols equipped with silencers and shot their
targets in the head.
   
     ``We've been assured at the highest levels of the Colombian
government that arrest warrants will be issued that will
implicate the 20th Brigade in these killings,'' Kirk said.
 
THREATS CONTINUE
   
     Meanwhile, even senior government human rights and peace
workers say they are facing death threats.
   
     Presidential peace negotiator Jose Noe Rios stayed in Spain
for several weeks last month after being threatened, and Samper's
counselor for human rights, Sonia Eljach Polo, is in Peru to
escape the violence.
   
     ``There are signs that I am at risk,'' she said in a
telephone interview.
 
     Copyright 1998 The Miami Herald
 
                              * * *
 
  ** NOTICE:  In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107,
     material appearing here is distributed without profit to
     those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this
     information for research and educational purposes. **
 
     +:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+
     +:        A N T I F A   I N F O - B U L L E T I N        :+
     +:          NEWS * ANALYSIS * RESEARCH * ACTION          :+
     +:     RESISTING FASCISM    *  BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY!   :+
     +:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+
 
        To subscribe e-mail Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.org>
 
                 Visit AFIB on the World Wide Web:               
                http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/afib.html
 
          ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
   ++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
  ++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++


	***A-INFOS DISCLAIMER - IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE***

A-Infos disclaims responsibility for the information in this message.


			********
		The A-Infos News Service
			********
		COMMANDS: majordomo@tao.ca
		REPLIES: a-infos-d@tao.ca
		HELP: a-infos-org@tao.ca
		WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/
		INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org