I wonder why this story has been buried -

[Judi Lynn]

August 26, 2003
Colombian Air Force Chief Quits

By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer


BOGOTA, Colombia — The head of the Colombian air force resigned Monday after growing pressure from the U.S. State Department and startling new evidence suggesting that Colombian pilots knowingly fired on civilians in a 1998 bombing raid directed by private American contractors that left 18 people dead.

Government officials confirmed late Monday that President Alvaro Uribe had accepted the resignation of Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco but denied that the move had anything to do with the bombing in the small town of Santo Domingo, which occurred after a Colombian army unit came under fire from leftist rebels in the area.Velasco "has been saying for some time that he wanted to resign for personal reasons," presidential spokesman Ricardo Galan said. "This time it went through."

The Santo Domingo incident has become one of the country's most notorious human rights cases and the biggest obstacle in relations between the United States and Colombia, normally close allies.

U.S. officials said that former Ambassador Anne Patterson approached Uribe in June to offer him proof that Velasco had deliberately stonewalled the investigation into the bombing. Late last year, the State Department had suspended all U.S. aid to the air force unit involved in the bombing, citing the stalled probe. (snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colomb26aug26.story

[izzie]

1. I read we have 100's in those countries but it is low news

I read they are guards on the oil pipe line. I believe that more than I believe they are fighting drugs.