Video links Colombia militia boss, Uribe [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Houston Chronicle/Associated Press

June 17, 2007, 3:44PM
Video links Colombia militia boss, Uribe

By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

BARRANCABERMEJA, Colombia — In his five years as president, Alvaro Uribe has repeatedly denied accusations that he's been cozy with Colombia's murderous right-wing militias, whose thousands of victims include suspected rebel sympathizers and union activists.
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The militia chief in the video, which bears an Oct. 31, 2001, time stamp, was identified by three people familiar with him — including human rights activists — as Fremio Sanchez Carreno, better known as "Comandante Esteban," who had just finished spearheading the bloody militia takeover of this steamy oil-refining city on Colombia's main river when Uribe met with him and about a dozen other people.

AP obtained the video from a person who would like to see Uribe toppled and provided the recording on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. This person said the video was recorded by paramilitaries that the Uribe-Sanchez encounter occured in the city council's chambers in Puerto Berrio, a paramilitary stronghold an hour from Barrancabermeja.
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After seeing the video, Daniel Kovalik, an attorney for the United Steelworkers union, wrote Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, questioning Uribe's seriousness about labor rights in Colombia, where more than 800 trade unionists have been killed in the last six years by government count.




Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4897062.html