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Marta: hay tienes dos referencias. Que sea cierto..quien sabe?
http://cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9812/29/colombia.death.reut/index.html
Top Colombia death squad chieftain believed dead
http://www.rcn.com.co/actua1.htm
En ataque insurgente habr�a muerto Carlos Casta�o
>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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