Retired general sentenced to 25 years of prison for 1997 paramilitary murder .

[Judi Lynn]

Retired general sentenced to 25 years of prison for 1997 paramilitary murder .
Friday, 24 August 2012 15:25 Courtney Scott

A retired Colombian army general was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday after a judge considered it proven the top official had been complicit in the 1997 homicide by paramilitary forces of a community leader in the northwest of Colombia.

General Rito Alejo Del Rio was commander of the Colombian army's 17th Brigade and in charge of the northwestern Uraba region when paramilitary forces of the AUC's Elmer Cardenas Block carried out an operation in Riosucio, a municipality in the region, where they beheaded and dismembered a village leader.

The judge ruled that Del Rio had allowed the paramilitaries to enter the region after the 17th Brigade retook the area that was considered a hotbed of guerrilla activity. According to the prosecutor, "Operation Genesis" was a joint miltary-paramilitary operation.

"There was a macabre alliance between the AUC and the army against the guerrillas, but disregarding the civilian population. It is incomprehensible how, being in the same area, the army did not combat the paramilitaries. But why to combat those who are supporting us and with whom we have a deal," the prosecutor said during the trial.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/25719-retired-general-sentenced-to-25-years-of-prison-for-1997-paramilitary-murder.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Account of what happened at the massacre at Riosucio, Colombia:

With a $25 Million Fine, Chiquita Washes its Hands in Death Squad Case
Posted by Sean Donahue - March 17, 2007 at 10:16 pm

Chiquita has admitted to making payments to Colombian death squads -- but the death squads' victims won't get any money from the multinational, and none of the company's executives are facing jail time. Marino Cordoba used to live in the town of Riosucio, a small town populated by the descendants of freed slaves in the Colombian department of Choco, in a region called Uraba – a region famous for its banana and palm plantations, its gold, its forests, and its rivers.

In recent years the region has also become famous for its death squads – right wing paramilitary groups that terrorize communities that refuse to bend to the will of foreign companies and big investors. These militias are organized under an umbrella group, the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC,) that has strong ties to the Colombian military and government and to cocaine and heroin traffickers.

In 1996, Riosucio became the first community in the region to gain legal title to its land under provisions of Colombia's 1991 Constitution that granted Afro-Colombian communities collective rights to the land their ancestors settled. In a 2002 article, Cordoba described what happened next:

Seven days later, at 5:00 AM on Dec. 13, 1996, paramilitary groups arrived in my town, Riosucio, intent on murdering the leaders and their families. Many were taken from their beds and paraded naked through the streets. Anyone who resisted was killed. The shouts woke me up. I ran to take refuge in the swamp along with many others. . . .At 8:00 AM, army helicopters started patrolling. The paramilitaries radioed the pilots to attack the swamp, claiming the people were guerrillas. The army attacked us with bombs and rifles, killing many people. Those who survived stayed in the water for three days until hunger and desperation forced us out. Some of us sneaked through the town and reached a rural community across the river. I recuperated there, then fled to Bogota,

More:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/node/1919

[Judi Lynn]

2. Regarding Riosucio: The devil wears military boots

Page last updated at 11:09 GMT, Tuesday, 6 October 2009 12:09 UK
The devil wears military boots



Poor and remote, Riosucio is a world away from Colombia's major cities

By Mark Doyle
BBC News, Riosucio, western Colombia

Father Elkin Nazrallah is a Catholic priest who works in an unremarkable church in the small riverside town of Riosucio, one of the backwaters in the poorest part of Colombia.

Riosucio means dirty river. It is a town populated mainly by Afro-Colombians. They are descendants of African slaves brought here as forced labour by Spanish colonisers when the indigenous Amerindians began dying off from imported diseases.

Father Elkin is a small man, but his bravery is breathtaking.

Father Elkin Nazrallah has taken a stand against local paramilitaries

"The devil walked through here," he says, referring to a dark chapter in the history of the Riosucio region that began in 1996.

"The devil came down the river wearing a green combat uniform with military boots."

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8289308.stm