>From: "Per Rasmussen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > _____ > >Protest: OPPOSE U.S. MILITARY AID & CLINTON�S VISIT TO COLOMBIA! DENOUNCE >THE MASSACRES COMMITTED BY COLOMBIAN MILITARY & PARAMILITARIES! > >PROTEST AT THE COLOMBIAN CONSULATE >500 N. MICHIGAN, CHICAGO, IL >FRIDAY, AUGUST 18TH >4:30 P.M. - 6:30 P.M. >NO MORE TORTURE! NO MORE MASSACRES! NO MORE DISAPPEARED! JUSTICE & PEACE FOR >THE COLOMBIAN PEOPLE! > >Colombia Solidarity Committee - 773/378-2515 - [EMAIL PROTECTED] ><mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Contact person: Heather Truskowski > _____ > >Minneapolis Star Tribune, Thursday, August 17, 2000 >Colombia to investigate killing of six children by troops >PUEBLO RICO, COLOMBIA (AP) -- With this mountain village in mourning, >President Andres Pastrana ordered an investigation Wednesday after an >eyewitness said army troops opened fire and killed six schoolchildren >without provocation. >The Army maintained Wednesday that the children became caught in combat >between leftist rebels and Colombian troops. >"The army had no intention to shoot any children," Colombian army chief Gen. >Jorge Mora said. >The shootings Tuesday -- four children were wounded in addition to the six >killed -- provoked outrage here. They also undermined the Colombian army at >a time when the United States is helping train and arm the military as part >of a $1.3 billion counternarcotics effort. >Amid suspicions that the army is mounting a coverup, Pastrana vowed to >uncover the truth. >"In the memory of these little ones we need to make sure we know what >happened," Pastrana said in a radio address from the capital, Bogota. "It's >urgent we arrive at the truth now." >A witness to the shootings told the Associated Press on Tuesday that he >rejected army claims that the children were killed in crossfire between >government troops and rebels. >Hernando Higuita -- who was helping his wife, a teacher, lead the children >on an outing when the soldiers opened fire -- said there were no rebels in >the area at the time. >Grief and anger >Residents of Pueblo Rico, located in a mountainous coffee-and banana-growing >area of this South American country, could not contain their grief and >anger. >"Where do they get their training?" shouted Miriam Lopez, whose 12-year-old >son, David, was killed. "At the zoo?" >She said she wanted the government to acknowledge its role. >Her daughter Viviana, 11, survived. Viviana said she and her schoolmates had >been walking on a path when gunfire erupted. >She did not know who was shooting, but she threw herself to ground, as she >had seen people do in the movies. >After the gunfire stopped, government troops emerged from the bushes, she >recalled. One took a look at the dead and wounded children and began >weeping, she said. >"What a mistake," the soldier sobbed, according to Viviana. >Viviana said that many of the children were wearing brightly colored >clothes. "How could they think we were rebels?" she asked. >The U.S. State Department said it was appalled by the deaths of the >children, the youngest of whom was 6 years old. In Washington, spokesman >Philip Reeker called "on all sides of the conflict to obey international >humanitarian law." >A light rain fell Wednesday as the fathers of the slain children lined up >six wooden coffins in Pueblo Rico's main square. >Thousands of villagers silently paid their respects. Adults carried flowers >while children waved small white flags as a symbol of peace. Then they >packed a centuries-old church of crumbling brick and polished wood for the >funeral. >Guerrillas nearby? >Army Gen. Eduardo Herrera said the children were shot after they broke away >from the main group of students and ran toward 11 guerrillas of Colombia's >second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army. >"Those that were shot were separate from the group," he said. Herrera did >not acknowledge or deny that the children were shot by his troops, but he >said the troops would not have fired if there had not been rebels in the >area. >"Believe me, the soldiers are able to distinguish a line of 50 children and >were not going to fire on them," Herrera said. >Mora added that guerrillas fleeing from the army had "mixed in with the >children" in order to protect themselves from the soldiers. >But despite army claims of intense shooting by guerrillas and troops, the >children were the only ones hit in the exchange. Army officials admitted >Wednesday that no soldiers or guerrillas were hurt or killed as a result of >the gunfight the children supposedly walked into. >Higuita, the witness, said the children were looking for a place to have a >picnic when the shooting started. >"There were no guerrillas in the zone, there was no fighting. That's totally >false," Higuita said. >He said he would file a formal complaint against state forces with local >prosecutors. Saying he feared for his life for speaking out, he asked for >police protection. >"The army is to blame," he said. > >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------<e|- >Find long lost high school friends: >http://click.egroups.com/1/8016/3/_/22961/_/966549880/ >--------------------------------------------------------------------|e>- > >Knowledge is Power! >Elimination of the exploitation of man by man >http://www.egroups.com/group/pttp/ >POWER TO THE PEOPLE! > >Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Change Delivery Options: >http://www.egroups.com/mygroups > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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