>Organization: University of Minnesota > >From: Jessica Sundin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >1. FBI: Colombia Bomb Fragments Match >2. Colombian civilians aiding guerillas say paramilitaries want them >dead > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >9/26/00, ASSOCIATED PRESS >FBI: Colombia Bomb Fragments Match > >BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Fueling charges of a military cover-up in the >1998 bombing deaths of 16 villagers, an FBI analysis has found that >fragments from the site matched a type of bomb that Washington has >provided to the Colombian air force. > >The finding, contained in a ballistics report seen by The Associated >Press, would appear to cast doubt on claims by the Colombian air force >that the deadly explosion in Santo Domingo was caused by a truck bomb >set by leftist guerillas. > >Responding to the FBI analysis, a Colombian air force commander claimed >Monday that rebels planted the bomb fragments at the scene in an attempt >to frame the military. > >The controversy puts the Colombian military's already tarnished >reputation into further question at a time when Washington is vastly >increasing military aid to this South American country. > >Villagers and their lawyers, citing eyewitness accounts, claim the air >force dropped a bomb on the hamlet of Santo Domingo, near the country's >eastern border with Venezuela, killing 16 villagers, including six >children. > >Troops at the time were battling guerrillas in nearby fields, and the >air force itself acknowledges helicopters fired rockets and machine guns >as close as six-tenths of a mile to Santo Domingo, a strip of about two >dozen wooden houses and a gas station straddling a paved country road. > >The FBI report, given to Colombian investigators in May, says fragments >found at the scene of the Dec. 13, 1998 blast are ``consistent with'' a >20-pound AN-M41 bomb designed in the United States. The bomb is meant to >be dropped from at least 400 feet. > >An FBI spokesman, Paul Bresson, verified Tuesday that the report seen by >the AP was produced by the FBI and confirmed its contents. > >Colombia's military has received that type of bomb from the U.S. >government, which is dramatically increasingly support for Colombia's >military as part of a $1.3 billion anti-drug aid package. > >Three members of a Colombian helicopter crew face possible homicide >charges in the case in a military court. > >But in an interview Monday, acting Air Force Commander Gen. Jairo Garcia >said rebels set off the explosion with a truck bomb and later planted >the bomb fragments at the scene. > >``It was a tail piece they had for some time and placed it there, a very >old and rusted tail section,'' Garcia said. > >While not disputing that the FBI had correctly identified the bomb >parts, Garcia said the Air Force has not used the AN-M41 bomb for at >least five years. > >Garcia also dismissed a report by Colombia's Medical Forensic Institute >concluding that shrapnel found in bodies could not have come from a car >bomb. He said medical examiners were unqualified to make that judgment. > >The U.S. Embassy has confirmed that the Washington donated or sold to >Colombia all seven of the aircraft used during the fighting near Santo >Domingo, including two Black Hawk helicopters. > >A U.S. lawmaker opposed to military aid to Colombia was suspicious. > >``We don't know yet whether or not this was a tragic accident. But it >does appear that there has been an attempt to cover up what happened by >the Colombian military,'' Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told the AP through >an aide on Monday. > >Citing the FBI report, Leahy has demanded explanations from the State >Department, and suggested that human rights restrictions placed on U.S. >military aid to Colombia have been violated. > >Tito Gaitan, a lawyer for families of the victims, said Monday in a >phone interview from Chicago that the Colombian Air Force has obstructed >official inquiries and conducted a ``systematic cover up'' in the case. > >The country's air force has been relatively untainted by accusations of >human rights violations, which usually focus on alleged ties between the >country's army and violent right-wing paramilitary groups. > >But air power is playing an increasingly important role in the 36-year >war. Washington is supplying dozens of new combat helicopters capable of >firing rockets and equipped with machine guns. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Thursday, 21 September 2000 > >Colombian civilians aiding guerillas say paramilitaries want them dead >By Phil Gunson > >LA PISTA, Colombia -- A death sentence hangs over this small village of >dirt streets and wooden shacks along the banks of the Rio de Oro. The >inhabitants know the executioners may arrive at any moment. > >"When they come, it is always unexpected," said resident Fredy Quintero, >23. "They want to destroy the village, finish it off." > >"They" are the right-wing paramilitary forces vying for control of the >Catatumbo River valley, which is governed by the leftist rebel group, >the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). > >For the past 16 months, these death squads have attacked civilians >suspected of aiding the guerrillas in the remote jungle area in >northeastern Colombia that borders neighboring Venezuela. As a result, >thousands have braved rough terrain to stream across the border. > >The exodus underscores how the effects of Colombia's worsening >35-year-old civil war have begun to spill into neighboring countries, >despite renewed efforts to start the peace process. > >In response, Venezuelan authorities have continually denied the refugees >asylum, according to reports from human rights groups and testimony of >the victims. It is a policy that has led to the deaths of at least 100 >deportees at the hands of paramilitaries, according to FARC commanders, >who have been the de facto government in the region for years. > >Critics say Venezuela is violating its obligations as a signatory to the >U.N. Refugee Protocol of 1967 by refusing asylum to those who have a >"well-founded fear of persecution." > >Late last month, Quintero and two of his brothers were chatting with La >Pista store-owner Henry Hernandez when paracos- a disrespectful term >with no particular meaning used by their opponents-shot Hernandez three >times in the head. > >They also fired at the Quinteros as they sprinted for the safety of the >Rio de Oro. The three young men eventually reached the Venezuelan side. > >"Those bullet holes you see are from the shots fired at us," Quintero >said, pointing to a shack riddled with gunfire. "It is a miracle they >didn't kill us." > >When the shooting stopped, the paramilitaries, who most villagers say >are typically soldiers dressed in civilian garb, rounded up the several >hundred remaining La Pista residents-last year there were some 1,000 >inhabitants-and gave them an ultimatum. > >"They warned us that the next time they came and found stores open for >business, the same thing would happen to us as to the man they had just >killed," said Maria Teresa Montagu, a 40-year-old store owner. > >When the paramilitaries left, Montagu closed her looted store, gathered >up her eight children and headed for Venezuela along with 500 others. It >was the second time she had crossed the river. Last year, Montagu >survived a massacre by paramilitaries in the nearby town of La Gabarra. > >Inside Venezuela, she and others were interviewed by representatives of >the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Provea, a >Caracas-based human rights group. "What we want is a defense of the >principle of asylum," said Merida Morales, UNHCR regional representative >in Venezuela. > >"We want the government to apply a procedure of case-by-case analysis." > >Officials of both groups found the refugees fearful for their safety and >eager to receive protection from Venezuela. But even though President >Hugo Chavez has called Catatumbo a "mini Kosovo," his government has >publicly disagreed with the UNHCR that the Colombians should be >designated as refugees. > >Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel has called them "displaced people >in transit"-a term that does not exist in international law. Interior >Minister Luis Alfonso Davila has described the UNHCR's description of >the Colombians as refugees as an attempt "to justify its presence in the >country." > >Last year, when nearly 4,000 Colombians from Catatumbo fled across the >border, Venezuelan officials said the refugees later returned >voluntarily after Colombia agreed to provide them with protection. > >But a Provea report says La Pista refugees were "handed over to the >(Colombian) authorities without any guarantee for their lives and >physical integrity." > >Groups such as Provea argue that since many refugees say the Colombian >army has done nothing to protect them, and the armed forces have even >assisted the paramilitaries' offensive, they will not be safe if they >return. > >Indeed, in recent months the paramilitaries have terrorized the region, >even using machetes to cut their victims into pieces. > >"Chango Quintero used to live in that shack," said Aldemar Pinilla, a >25-year-old La Pista farmer. "They chopped him up and threw the pieces >in the river. His head floated down to the military base on the >Venezuelan side." > >When store owner Montagu recently fled to the other side, she >encountered the Venezuelan army, whose officers told her to return >"because of a law that says no Colombians are allowed"(in Venezuela), >she said. > >Now back in La Pista, she is trying to sell what she can to get out, but >she is running out of options. "What can I do?" she asked. "The paracos >kick me out and the (Venezuelan) soldiers send me back. I have nowhere >to go." > >Martin Gottwald of the UNHCR said, "The concept of voluntary >repatriation implies that there are options. On the border, people are >often not told that the concept of asylum exists." > >At present, all is calm in La Pista after the recent return of FARC >forces. Local FARC Commander Ruben Zamora says that since President Hugo >Chavez came to power in Venezuela last year, the treatment of Colombians >has improved. He said harassment by Venezuelan troops has waned, and >refugees are now housed and fed before being loaded onto buses for the >short ride home. > >Zamora attributes reports of hostility toward refugees to junior >officers rather than government policy, and he blames the Colombian >government for the deaths of 600 civilians in the Catatumbo region since >May of last year. > >Zamora predicts that the situation will deteriorate with the >implementation of the $7.5 billion Plan Colombia, a U.S.-sponsored >initiative to destroy the cocaine industry. He argues that although the >initial target of the plan is the country's main coca-growing area along >the southern border with Ecuador and Peru, the campaign is bound to >reach Catatumbo, where the rebels charge taxes on each pound of >harvested coca leaf. > >"If Plan Colombia is implemented, up to 60,000 refugees could be heading >for Venezuela," from the region alone, he said. > > Copyright 2000 The Chronicle Publishing Co. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. 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