DATE=8/28/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA / U-S AID
NUMBER=5-46932
BYLINE=RHODA METCALFE
DATELINE=BOGOTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
// Re-runing w/cq slug date. Thx China
Branch //
INTRO: President Clinton this week visits Colombia on
the first U-S presidential visit to the South American
country in a decade. The trip comes just after the
president gave the go-ahead for a one-point-three
billion dollar package of U-S military aid to
Colombia, aimed at knocking out illegal drug
production. Close to half the aid will go to
the Colombian military, in the form of helicopters and
communications equipment. But as we hear from Rhoda
Metcalfe in Bogota, human rights advocates say the
Colombian military is deeply implicated in political
killings and massacres and the new assistance has them
concerned.
TEXT: U-S government officials, including President
Clinton, have acknowledged they have reservations
about handing U-S military equipment to the Colombian
army. But U-S officials point to a dramatic
improvement in the Colombian military's human rights
record. And they note that U-S military aid is
intended to help the Colombian army take control of
cocaine-producing regions that are now in the hands of
leftist rebels or right-wing paramilitary groups.
While the reputation of Colombia's military has
markedly improved over the past 10 years, the U-S
State Department's report on human rights expresses
concern that the Colombian military and paramilitary
groups continue to commit numerous serious abuses,
including extra-judicial killings. And human rights
advocates, such as Joanne Mariner, deputy director at
Human Rights Watch in New York, say the only thing
that has really changed is the army's tactics.
/// MARINER ACT ///
They've just been subcontracting these abuses to
paramilitaries. The paramilitaries are responsible for
the vast majority of human rights abuses and there is
compelling evidence, very extensive evidence that the
military is aiding and abetting paramilitaries. So
for example, they provide information to
paramilitaries. They look away when they know
paramilitaries are going to wipe out a village or
commit some horrible atrocity, the military purposely
does not intercede.
/// END ACT ///
The paramilitaries are mercenary groups. Some were
created by wealthy landowners as a type of private
army to fight the country's left-wing guerrillas. But
there are widespread allegations that some of the
paramilitary units were also set up directly by the
army. Human rights activists say gathering evidence to
publicly expose a secret army-paramilitary connection
has been difficult, with dozens of witnesses and
investigators murdered before cases ever got to trial.
/// SOUND -- poor neighborhood -- kids voices, dogs
barking, cars - IN FULL, THEN FADE UNDER ///
Thousands of survivors of paramilitary massacres have
fled their homes and now live in poor shantytown
neighborhoods like this one on the edge of Bogota.
//ACT -- Woman speaking - IN FULL, THEN FADE UNDER //
Lucinda is a former school teacher. She says every
night she still dreams about the day the
paramilitaries drove into her town. They were
barbaric, she says. They killed about eight of
her neighbors, hacked them up and left them on the
street to be eaten by dogs. Then they burned down the
town, including Lucinda's home.
The attack occurred during a paramilitary campaign
that began last year, to take over a region known as
south of Bolivar.
/// ACT -- Lucinda speaking ///
She says the paramilitaries announced their terror
campaign publicly on the radio and television, and the
government did nothing. She says there was no point
in going to the military for protection either,
because the army was working with the paramilitaries.
She says first the army would drive in, then the
paramilitaries arrived on their heels.
Colombia's attorney general's office is currently
investigating dozens of army officials for alleged
involvement in paramilitary abuses. So far, there have
been very few convictions -- almost none against high-
ranking officers.
Colombia's military leaders say these cases are
isolated. They deny the army has broad-based ties to
paramilitary leaders.
Retired-Colonel Carlos Velasquez is one of the few
Colombian officers to speak out against paramilitary
ties. He says the army is divided and that one
section truly believes these connections must be
severed.
//VELASQUEZ ACT//
There are a good portion of military officers
who see that one of the main problems in order
to obtain legitimacy among people is to be very
clear against paramilitaries.
//END ACT//
But Joanne Mariner at Human Rights Watch says right
now, the ties run deep.
/// MARINER ACT///
We've found evidence that half of Colombia's
brigade level army units are linked to
paramilitary abuses. And these are units that
are working at the national level, working all
over the country, and in Colombia's three
largest cities.
/// END ACT ///
Colombia's President Andres Pastrana promised last
week that abusive military officers would, in the
future, be tried by civilian courts, instead of the
military courts which human rights advocates consider
notoriously lenient. Mr. Pastrana also says the armed
forces are more professional than ever before and the
culture inside the army is starting to teach respect
for human rights.
Colombian officials also say the army is starting to
transfer or fire members found to be collaborating
with the paramilitaries
U-S officials point to these Colombian government and
military efforts to sever ties to the death squads and
pledge to be vigilant about how the new aid is used.
Human rights groups are urging the United States to
accompany the assistance to Colombia with tough
monitoring measures. They warn that otherwise
U-S military aid could end up being used by army units
to help the paramilitaries in murderous attacks on
innocent people.
NEB/RM/FC
29-Aug-2000 05:58 AM LOC (29-Aug-2000 0958 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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