Date sent: Sun, 10 May 1998 15:52:27 -0500
Send reply to: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <LABOR-L@YORKU.CA>
From: Dennis Grammenos <dgrammen@PRAIRIENET.ORG>
Subject: Colombian Army unit and labor activists' assassinations
To: LABOR-L@YORKU.CA
Labor leaders and activists are prime targets for Colombia's
death-squads. What follows is a story about the Colombian Army's
involvement in assassinations.
Anybody interested in learning more about the deteriorating conditions in
Colombia as the U.S. is preparing for military intervention can join the
list CSN-L. Instructions follow the forwarded story.
Solidarity,
Dennis Grammenos
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 12:59:57 -0500
From: Dennis Grammenos <dgrammen@UX1.CSO.UIUC.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list CSN-L <CSN-L@POSTOFFICE.CSO.UIUC.EDU>
Subject: WP: Army Unit Investigated In Colombia
=====================================
In recent months, U.S. officials
have singled out the army's 20th
Intelligence Brigade for suspected
human rights violations and killings.
Last year, in a scathing parting
shot as he left his Colombian post,
U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette
assailed the brigade, accusing it of
death squad activity --and prompting
angry denials from some Colombian
officials.
___________________ =====================================
WASHINGTON POST
Sunday, 10 May 1998
Army Unit Investigated In Colombia:
20th Brigade Under Suspicion
In Recent Deaths of Activists
-----------------------------------
By Laura Brooks
BOGOTA -- The U.S. government, the Colombian police and the national
prosecutor's office are analyzing the possibility that recent slayings of
political activists may be linked to a Colombian army unit, the 20th
Intelligence Brigade, according to a knowledgeable source with access to
intelligence reports.
In recent weeks, a prominent lawyer, a human rights advocate and a leftist
politician have been assassinated, and more than a dozen government
officials, union leaders, and peace and human rights activists have
received threats, prompting some to flee the country.
"The suspicion of the government, and everyone, is that it is people --
past and present -- associated with the 20th" who are responsible for the
killings, said the source, who asked not to be identified. The source
added that Colombian officials are "really disturbed and scared."
Colombian military officials have denied that the army is responsible for
the killings.
Widespread drug trafficking, a 30-year-old leftist insurgency and rampant
common crime have combined to make Colombia one of the world's most
violent countries for the past decade. Although most of the 31,808
killings recorded here last year were related to drug trafficking and
other common crimes, more than 1,000 were political slayings.
In recent months, U.S. officials have singled out the army's 20th
Intelligence Brigade for suspected human rights violations and killings.
Last year, in a scathing parting shot as he left his Colombian post, U.S.
Ambassador Myles Frechette assailed the brigade, accusing it of death
squad activity -- and prompting angry denials from some Colombian
officials.
In its 1997 Human Rights Report on Colombia, the State Department cited
targeted killings by army elements, "notably the 20th Intelligence
Brigade." Two intelligence agents, an army private and several civilians
-- all associated with the brigade -- were arrested in May 1997 for their
alleged involvement in the 1995 assassination of Sen. Alvaro Gomez
Hurtado, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, the report said.
In November, four intelligence officers linked to the brigade were passed
over for promotion, effectively ending their careers, and the military
retired a former brigade commander, according to the report.
But the changes failed to allay concern about what officials describe as
an informal intelligence network. Operating at the service of extreme
right-wing and paramilitary elements, the amorphous network is suspected
of collaborating with an unidentified number of past and present 20th
Brigade members, security analysts said. Some collaborators are believed
to be unhappy with military leadership, as well as with government efforts
to negotiate peace with leftist rebels, the analysts said.
"It is an informal network that's just as real as a formal institution,"
said the source. "And it's all the more scary because it's harder to
control."
In an interview with Semana magazine, Prosecutor General Alfonso Gomez
Mendez said investigations by his office, which is responsible for
bringing the political activists' killers to justice, indicated military
involvement in several assassinations. "That does not mean it was the
responsibility of the military as an institution, but in some cases the
prosecutors have found evidence implicating members of the armed forces
acting in an isolated fashion," Gomez said.
Gen. Manuel Jose Bonett, who was appointed chief of the Colombian military
in July, staunchly defended the brigade in an interview, saying he
recently modernized its operations, removed some officials, ordered
psychological training for members and imposed directives that define
acceptable behavior.
Allegations that the brigade is involved in death squad activity are
"lies," he said. He said he prohibited gathering intelligence on human
rights groups, union leaders and politicians last year.
"I trust this organization. No member of military intelligence . . . who
commits a crime would do it as a member of the institution. He would do it
on his own, as an individual," Bonett said.
Police say there are similarities among the murders of Jesus Maria Valle,
president of the Human Rights Committee of Antioquia province; Eduardo
Umana, a respected legal defender of political prisoners and union
leaders; and Maria Arango, an activist and former Communist Party leader.
The three were shot in their homes or offices by assassins, identified
only as two men and a woman, who knew their victims' movements and wanted
to show they operate at will, police say.
"There's a clear message to killing people in their offices and homes in
the middle of the day," said Coletta Youngers, senior associate with the
Washington Office on Latin America. "The message is: 'We can get you any
time, anywhere, and there's nowhere that you're safe.' "
In particular, the killers' coolly executed April 18 shooting of Umana in
his office "was designed to evoke terror in people," she said.
Compounding fear, at least 12 to 15 prominent businessmen, union leaders,
and human rights and peace activists have received threatening calls or
letters since March, according to several sources. Some of those targeted
left the country temporarily, such as presidential peace negotiator Jose
Noe Rios, who said publicly that he had to attend conferences in Madrid.
Luis Garzon, president of Colombia's Unified Workers Central, said up to
1,500 people involved in human rights activities have left Colombia in the
last year because of threats. Garzon, a member of several groups working
for peace, recently received bodyguards as part of a government effort to
protect him. But many others have vowed to stay in Colombia. "A lot of
people are living in terror," Garzon said.
In March, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that
brigade members told the U.N. office in Colombia that 85 percent of the
people they consider subversive are engaged in the "political war." Such
subversives include trade unionists, some nongovernmental groups and even
some traditional politicians.
Copyright 1998 The Washington Post
_____________________________________________________________________
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