-----Original Message----- From: H.G. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, December 30, 1998 11:33 PM Subject: CARLOS CASTANHO VIVO O MUERTO >CNN dice que puede que Castanho este muerto ( si se le cree a la FARC ), >Pero esta vivo si se le cree a AUC. > >Decidan si van a creer a uno u al otro. > > > >http://cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9812/30/colombia.rebels/index.html > >EL DIAMANTE, Colombia (CNN) -- Fighting between leftist rebels and a >right-wing paramilitary group in northern Colombia has killed more than 30 >people, some reportedly beheaded. > >At least three children were among the victims, including a baby less than a >month old. > >Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began an >offensive early in the week with an attack on El Diamante, a village in >Cordoba state, about 460 kilometers (285 miles) northwest of Bogota. > >The village is a stronghold of FARC's archenemy, Carlos Castano, the leader >of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), an alliance of rightist >paramilitary groups that have battled FARC for the past decade. > >FARC claimed that Castano was killed in the attack, but AUC said he survived >and was leading a counteroffensive. > >Colombian television broadcast gruesome images of severed heads lying yards >away from the bloodied corpses. The fighting, the fiercest in many weeks, >seemed sure to sicken public opinion just days before peace talks between >FARC and the government. > >"The villages are totally destroyed. There's only desolation and death. This >was ... the vile massacre and genocide of civilians," said Gen. Victor >Alvarez, a regional army commander. > >"We found bodies without heads. It was terrifying. Nearby, there's a >paramilitary camp, and it seems the (FARC) rebels attacked the camp first >and then turned on the civilians and burned all the houses in the village," >said the parish priest, Rev. Joaquin Pachon, in a interview with the >Radionet radio network. > >Health officials in the nearby town of Tierralta said the dead included a >3-week-old baby hit in the head with a stray bullet, a 7-year-old girl >stabbed in the stomach with a machete and an elderly woman. > >"One would rather not believe that men are capable of this. It was pure >barbarity," said Dr. Viviano Guerrero of the Tierralta Health Department. > >Government peace commissioner Victor Ricardo said he did not believe the >fighting would change the start of the peace talks, set to begin January 7 >in southern Caqueta province > > >
