New Evidence Reveals Close Ties Between Colombian Military and Rebels

[Judi Lynn]

October 7th, 2010
New Evidence Reveals Close Ties Between Colombian Military and Rebels

A former U.S. ambassador to Colombia wrote in a secret cable to Washington in 1998 that the “systematic arming and equipping of aggressive regional paramilitaries” was “pivotal” to the military success of Colombian General Rito Alejo del Río Rojas, who is now on trial for murder and collaboration with paramilitary death squads while commanding a key army unit in the north of Colombia.

The secret “biographic note” from then-Ambassador Curtis Kamman was one of several documents pertaining to Del Rio that was published on September 29 by the National Security Archive.“The collection is a unique and potentially valuable source of evidence in the case against Del Rio, reflecting years of reports linking the senior army commander to paramilitarism,” Michael Evans, director of the Archive’s Colombia Documentation Project, told news outlet Colombia Reports. “As Del Rio’s trial resumes, the court should examine the contemporaneous accounts of U.S. officials who were required by law to monitor and certify Colombia’s human rights performance.”

The declassified cables are evidence that the U.S. government had knowledge of the Colombian military’s collusion with right-wing paramilitaries, who, according to the Office of Justice and Peace Promotion, have collectively admitted to murdering or disappearing over 30,000 Colombians since the 1980s. Since then, billions of dollars in U.S. aid have been given to the Colombian government to support its military in the fight against narco-terrorism.

In two other U.S. military reports from early 1998, Del Rio, who attended the U.S. Army School of the Americas, is lauded as a U.S. military training “success story,” then, in a corrected report, he is called a “not-so-success” story, with reference to his alleged paramilitary ties.

More:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/blog/new-evidence-reveals-close-ties-between-colombian-military-and-rebels/6249/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Medellin crime boss jailed for 7 years

Medellin crime boss jailed for 7 years
Thursday, 07 October 2010 09:16 Christina Filipovic

Hugo Albeiro Quintero, alias "El Patron," a gang leader in Colombia's second city Medellin, is sentenced to seven years and five months in jail for planning to create new paramilitary groups.

The sentence was handed down by a criminal court in Medellin, which found him guilty of aggravated conspiracy with the purpose of forming illegal organizations, reports Caracol Radio. The decision was made in one of the lower courts, meaning that Quintero has the option of appealing to a higher court in Medellin.

Quintero was arrested in September 2008 in Bello on charges of homicide and forced disappearance.

The criminal boss, who owned the transport company Bellanita de Transportes, was linked to the AUC paramilitary coalition, and is accused of harboring former paramilitary leader Vicente Castaño Quintero when he broke off peace negotiations with the Colombian government in August 2006.

During his trial, two key witnesses were murdered and one disappeared. An investigation into these killings is ongoing.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12247-businessman-convicted-for-paramilitary-activities.html

[rabs]

2. Alejo del Río: A real danger to uribe

But first, another misleading headline. It gives impression the military was colaborating with the FARC/ELN while in fact it was the PARAS.

If this general is convicted, he has insinuated that he will not go down alone. He will take uribe with him.

Alejo del Río did his dirty deeds with the paras in Antioquia. So who was governor of Antioquia at the time? None other than Alvaro Uribe. So it would have been impossible for uribe not to know what was happening in his own province.

Alejo del Rio was drummed out of the army by President Pastrana. A few days later uribe filled an auditorium and rendered a tribute to the general, i.e. uribe supported him against the charges.

A few months ago in an interview Alejo del Rio praised uribe up and down. But at the end of the interview, he mentioned the helicopter "accident" death of Pedro Juan Moreno, a multimillioaire and very close friend of uribe in Medellin at the time.

Moreno later had a falling out with uribe, and became a harsh critic of the national government.

Alejo del Rio asked that the investigation into Moreno's death be reopened, which was taken as a sublime message to uribe that if he (Alejo del Rio) is convicted, he will spill the beans on uribe.

(Nothing in Colombian politics is simple.)

[Judi Lynn]

3. That looked crazy to me, too! Rebels? Someone is trying to mislead people.

What you've discussed concerning Alejo del Río is absolutely fascinating. Someone actually threatening him must have a lot of confidence he has security enough to protect him from whatever Uribe can bring into the situation.

This is really tough talk. I didn't know people ever stood up to the little freak.

[Downwinder]

4. Might be closer than they meant it to be.

[rabs]

5. take a close look at the "SECRET" report

from the U.S. ambassador cited in the OP text (second paragraph) under the PDF link "biographic note."

I was highly amused at the sources for the "secret" report that was addressed to the U.S. Secretary of State, the Defense Secretary, CIA, DEA, DIA, NSC and others.

The sources were:

The Washington Post
"also in the news"
"the Bogota press" (Counted this source three times in the text)
"the article quoted"
"he said on Bogota radio"
"according to press"
"accusation of HR abused by NGOs CINEP and Paz y Justicia)

---------------------------

Gads. It looks like the U.S. Embassy was merely plagiarizing media articles in its "SECRET" reports to Washington.

If that was (and maybe still is) emblematic of U.S. intelligence gathering in Colombia, the embassy might save money on intelligence staffers and just send El Tiempo, El Espectado, Semana etc to Washington.

:rofl:

[bemildred]

6. Isn't this new evidence that the US government knew about it?

Anybody at all would know the government and the para-militaries were doing business together, that's not new.

[Judi Lynn]

7. It's new when the information slips out like this, and it happened on our old PBS network

which was slashed to the bone by angry right-wingers and stripped of most of its best programming, and has been severely monitored and censored by the Republican Party, and controlled by budget flexing Republican Congressmen.

Talk about censorship! Jesus H Christ.

That's what makes it even more unexpected when this news appears at PBS.