Israel in Colombia: Death Do We Impart (training paramilitaries by IDF people)

[Judi Lynn]

Israel in Colombia: Death Do We Impart
April 11, 2008 By José Steinsleger
Source: La Jornada

Military links between Israel and Colombia date back to the first five years of 1980 when a contingent of the Colombia battalion "... one of the worst violators of human rights in the western hemisphere, received training in the Sinai desert from some of the worst violators of human rights in Middle East," according to the U.S. investigator Jeremy Bigwood (who) observed that the training of young Colombian paramilitaries could not have been done without the express permission of the highest authorities of the Israeli defence forces.

In those years, landowners and ranchers of the Caribbean region of Uraba and Magdalena Medio (among them Uribe) were not satisfied with the "inefficiency" of the army in its fight against the guerrillas of FARC and ELN for which, in 1983, a group of "young idealists" went to Israel, not exactly to study "agrarian socialism" of the chosen people.


Of land-owning family, Carlos Castaño was then 18. Six months later, filled with "patriotic fervour", he returned to Colombia and tried to apply blindly what he had learnt in Course 562 imparted by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). He went back to the Bombona battalion but, disillusioned, concluded that the army was not killing "seriously".
(snip)

Not only was Castaño trained in Israel, but also Salvatore Mancuso, the other "historic leader" of the (paramilitary) AUC currently in prison. From about the Nineties, Mancuso organised the paramilitaries of Convivir, financed by Alvaro Uribe, then governor of Antioquia (and now the President). In an interview with Margarita Martínez of Associated Press (13/02/02), the paramilitary boss bragged of "... not executing more than three persons at the same time".
(snip)

General Ziv is on the payroll of Counterterrorism International and is member of the Task Force on Future Terrorism (FOTFF), created in June 2005 by the Office of Homeland Security of — Israel? No, of the USA. FOTFF operates under the orders of Secretary Michael Chertoff and Lee Hamilton, director of the ultra-conservative Woodrow Wilson Centre, nest of academics, psychologists, businessmen and ‘intelligence' experts.

More:
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/17124

(You may recall reading Yair Klein has been caught in Russia after hiding all over the world for some time. He's been very busy, as an international criminal. He trained death squads in Colombia. I believe he's still in Russia, although Israel has been trying to get him sent back to Israel.)

~~~~~~

Earlier report on the scum, from last year:

Yair Klein is “wanted” in 186 countries
5 April 2007 ·

Well, it finally happened. Interpol has issued arrest warrants against three Israeli mercenaries for training death squads for the Medellin Cartel and the paramilitaries. Though a Manizales court sentenced them to jail, they were never captured.AP says:

Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham were being sought on charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in terrorism and face nearly 11 years in prison if convicted, said Oscar Galvis, spokesman for Colombia’s domestic intelligence agency.

The men are accused of helping set up training camps to teach private armies working for drug lords Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha about explosives, car bombs and high-profile killings. The armies later morphed into Colombia’s right-wing death squads.

Klein, a former lieutenant colonel in the Israeli army, appeared in a 1998 video used to train far-right squads. In 1991, he was convicted and fined US$13,400 (€10,030) by an Israeli court for selling arms to Colombia’s illegal groups.

Klein also spent 16 months in a Sierra Leon prison for his role in a guns for blood diamonds deal.

He said he was originally hired — with the Colombian Ministry of Defence’s blessing — to organize security for the banana industry in the northern region of Uraba.

http://colombiaherald.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/yair-klein-is-wanted-in-186-countries/

[Boojatta]

1. Should international law be amended to put restrictions on paramilitary training?

For example, the UN could put restrictions on any organization that is controlled or funded by a government that is a government of a nation that is a member nation of the UN to prevent such an organization from providing paramilitary training except when the UN provides prior written approval of the training.

Alternatively, should all problems caused by the providing of paramilitary training to irresponsible individuals or irresponsibly controlled organizations be handled by means of news media, discussion boards, and other efforts at publicly shaming governments that provided paramilitary training that they shouldn't have provided?

[magbana]

4. Problem is that Israel doesn't pay attention to UN resolutions

and the US gives them the cover in the UN Security Council to thumb their nose at the world. The Israelis are training in Colombia because the US wants them there. This is just one of several "jobs" Israel does for the US to justify the multi-billion dollar aid we give them.

[Judi Lynn]

2. European court bans Russian extradition of Israeli to Colombia

European court bans Russian extradition of Israeli to Colombia
Irish Sun
Wednesday 28th May, 2008
(IANS)

Moscow, May 28 (RIA Novosti) The European Court of Human Rights Wednesday ruled that Russia cannot extradite to Colombia an Israeli national accused by Bogota of conspiracy to commit terrorism, the defendant's lawyer said.

The Strasbourg court 'has prohibited Russia from extraditing Yair Klein to Colombia pending the court's further instructions', Dmitry Yampolsky said.

Russia's Supreme Court ruled as lawful last week the extradition of Klein, a former colonel in the Israeli army, who was sentenced by Colombian judicial authorities in 2001 to nearly 11 years in prison for training members of drug barons' private armies and paramilitary groups.

The court rejected an appeal by Klein's defence, which said the defendant was being persecuted for political motives and that the five-year time limit for the sentence to be enforced had expired. Klein has said he may face torture in Colombia.

More:
http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/364445/cs/1/

[Judi Lynn]

3. US Sen. Dodd says "change is coming" to U.S.-Latin American relations

US Sen. Dodd says "change is coming" to U.S.-Latin American relations

The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

LA PAZ, Bolivia: U.S. Senator Chris Dodd says "a change is coming" to Washington this November that will improve its ties with Latin America.

The Connecticut senator and former Democratic presidential candidate met with Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera in La Paz Wednesday to smooth delicate relations between their countries.

Bolivia is one of Latin America's largest recipients of U.S. aid.

Dodd told reporters that if a Democrat wins this year's presidential election the new administration would "spend more time thinking about our family here in the Americas."

Washington is wary of President Evo Morales' close ties to leftist governments in Venezuela and Cuba, while the Bolivian leader has harshly criticized U.S. policy.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/28/america/LA-GEN-Bolivia-US-Senator.php