Memo:
puedes por favor darnos la fuente de la noticia por favor?
Gracias
Martha
On Tue, 29 Dec 1998 14:01:35 PST "Memo Puertas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
>ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
>
>December 29, 1998
> Web posted at: 3:50 p.m. EST (2050 GMT)
>
> BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) --
> Colombia's most-feared death
> squad leader Carlos Castano is
> believed to have died when Marxist
> rebels overran his mountain
> stronghold in the north of the
> country, sources on both sides said
> on Tuesday.
>
> One politician predicted bloody reprisals by
>paramilitary
>forces against the
> Marxists if Castano's death is confirmed.
>
> In a call to local media, Revolutionary Armed Forces of
>
>Colombia (FARC)
> guerrillas said they had killed their arch-enemy
>Castano,
>who had led a
> 10-year "dirty war" against the rebels and suspected
>civilian sympathizers, in
> fighting that began Sunday.
>
> Regional politician Max Alberto Morales, a self-styled
>spokesman for the
> ultra-right death squads, said Castano's headquarters
>near
>the remote village
> of Nudo de Paramillo, in Cordoba province, had been
>razed
>and that the
> paramilitary chieftain was missing.
>
> "There has been no communication within the organization
>
>with Castano
> since 9 a.m. (local time) Monday. The camp and the
>village
>has been totally
> destroyed. The attack was very fierce," Morales said.
>
> Morales warned that "this will not be good for peace or
>
>for the country" if
> Castano's death was confirmed-- raising fears of a
>paramilitary backlash
> against rebel support bases.
>
> Castano, whose fighters have been blamed for burning
>their
>victims or
> beheading them with chain-saws in a wave of brutal
>massacres, was the
> undisputed leader of a nationwide death squad alliance
>known as the United
> Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).
>
> International human rights groups have accused
>government
>security forces
> of openly backing the outlawed gangs. Some political
>analysts and the
> guerrillas themselves say the paramilitary units are
>part
>of an official,
> undercover counter-insurgency strategy.
>
> The attack on the heavily-guarded fortress of Nudo de
>Paramillo shattered
> an 18-day ceasefire which the AUC had declared over the
>
>Christmas period
> and was due to last until Jan. 6.
>
> A regional army commander, who did not wish to be named,
>
>said he had
> sent troops into the area late Monday and that at least
>15
>were missing after
> clashes with the FARC. He was unable to confirm,
>however,
>whether
> Castano had died.
>
> The fighting came just 10 days before the FARC are due
>to
>launch formal
> talks with the government in a bid to end Colombia's
>long-running civil
> conflict that has left more than 35,000 dead in the last
>
>decade.
>
> Castano, thought to be in his 30s, had also been
>pressing
>the government to
> recognize the AUC as a legitimate political force and
>had
>offered to take
> part in peace talks.
>
> Colombia's paramilitary groups, drawing on training and
>
>advice provided by
> U.S. officials, were legally set up by the armed forces
>in
>the late 1960s as
> part of an official anti- guerrilla strategy. But they
>were outlawed in the late
> 1980s as they threatened to spin out of government
>control.
>
> Castano and his brother Fidel started out as guides for
>
>army
> counterinsurgency units but later set up their own gang,
>
>known as the
> Peasant Self-Defence Forces of Cordoba and Uraba (ACCU),
>
>when the
> government ordered the official paramilitary groups to
>disband.
>
> That group, like most of the country's other
>paramilitary
>gangs, was financed
> with contributions from large landowners and
>cattle-ranchers. The Castano
> brothers are also said to have been heavily involved in
>
>drug trafficking and
> arms smuggling.
>
> Fidel Castano is thought to have died in fighting with
>the
>FARC four years
> ago, leaving Carlos to head the ACCU.
>
> Due to his strong military leadership, Castano succeeded
>
>in bringing some
> 5,000 paramilitary fighters from across the country
>together to form the
> AUC in April 1997.
>
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