Army: Colombian Civilians Used As Shields

[Judi Lynn]

Army: Colombian Civilians Used As Shields

Friday March 26, 2004 7:46 AM


By JUAN PABLO TORO

Associated Press Writer

BARRANCABERMEJA, Colombia (AP) - Warplanes preparing to bomb a paramilitary camp abandoned their mission after militants used villagers as human shields, Colombia's army chief said. A soldier and 14 paramilitary gunmen were killed in subsequent firefights.

The clashes at the camp holding 150 members of the outlawed Central Bolivar Bloc, or BCB, erupted Wednesday as the army waged a campaign to expel the paramilitary fighters from this oil-rich region of northern Colombia.

When army soldiers approached the camp, near the town of El Arenal, 220 miles north of the capital, Bogota, the paramilitaries used civilians as human shields, Gen. Martin Orlando Carreno said Thursday.
(snip)

Carreno said the paramilitary fighters have been killing civilians, displacing them from their homes and stealing their cattle in the region. He also accused the group of siphoning oil from nearby pipelines.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3904880,00.html

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You may remember we all heard Uribe was asking for blanket amnesty for his paramilitaries last year:

RIGHTS:
Group Outraged at Colombia Plan to Amnesty Paramilitaries

Jim Lobe

A Colombian proposal to amnesty leaders of right-wing paramilitary groups responsible for some of the worst massacres of the country's decades-long civil war has been strongly assailed by Human Rights Watch.

WASHINGTON, Sep 16 (IPS) - A Colombian proposal to amnesty leaders of right-wing paramilitary groups responsible for some of the worst massacres of the country's decades-long civil war has been strongly assailed by a major U.S. human-rights researcher.

In a release issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW), Robin Kirk, the author of 'More Terrible Than Death: Massacres, Drugs and America's War in Colombia', called on the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to cut off aid to the South American country if the proposal is adopted.

Washington currently provides Bogotá more than 700 million dollars a year in mostly military aid, more than it gives any other country except Israel and Egypt.
(snip/...)

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20162


President Alvaro Uribe & pResident George W. Bush

[DavidFL]

1. You know what?

sarcasm on] I so enjoy knowing the money I pay in taxes is being used so wisely to support puppets like Uribe in our widely successful "war on drugs" and helping put the people of Colombia in harm's way!
When I read articles like this, I don't know whether I want to just cry for all the innocents killed because of this nonsense or just shake my head that not too many people really seem to care what's being done in their name day in and day out in Colombia.

[arcos]

2. Uribe is a fascist, but I have ZERO sympathy towards FARC...

they've been responsible for way too many human rights violations and have caused too much unnecessary suffering.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. This story is about right-wing guerrillas (nt)

[arcos]

6. You are absolutely right...

Obviously I was too tired last night when I read it...

Thanks. :hi:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. Here, have some

:donut:
Caffeine gooooood.

[RamblingRose]

3. I don't think it's that people don't care, they just don't have a clue as

to what's happening there. After all, the Reagan administration solved all their problems (sarcasm). I am baffled by the situations in Colombia and Venezuela. I have a friend that just moved here from Colombia, and she loves Uribe, and despises Chavez. Talking with her only confuses me more. I am continuously trying to educate myself to the problems there, and am having a hard time figuring it out myself.

[arcos]

4. the situation is not always clear to understand...

some people here at DU think that it's very simple to make to big groups, good guys and bad guys, and classify every single world leader in one of them.

The real problem with Colombia is the war on drugs. Drug money is where BOTH FARC and the paramilitary groups get their funding. If drugs were legalized, the flow of money would be greatly reduced.

[tlcandie]

7. If we would cancel the war on drugs AND stop raping third world

countries for their resources w/o proper negotiations and consideration then we would not be in this mess.

I agree that too often we try to classify someone as good or bad and I've been caught up in it myself. Thanks for pointing this out without being ugly about it.

Look at the US, even we are divided here and depending on who you talk to * is good or bad or neutral and the same thing for Kerry. Ultimately, it is THE PEOPLE who must decide. I guess that when a country moves from something you thought and believed it to be then you as an individual must decide where/when/how you take your stand.

Those who choose to leave their country to so, I believe, under the feelings that it is no longer their country. There is a line and I'm not sure where it is that we all must come to in deciding exactly what we will allow and will not in our names.

[seemslikeadream]

9. photo Essay: Civilians Caught in the Crossfire

In Colombia, oil resources are only one reason for the ongoing armed conflict. The Colombian military and the paramilitaries also battle guerrillas over the control of coca-producing regions that provide 90 percent of the cocaine reaching the United States. Civilians account for up to 75 percent of the conflict's victims.













A soldier of the Colombian army's "immediate reaction battalion" (FUDRA) guards a Black Hawk helicopter in the Andean highlands.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/colombia/slideshowb2.html

[RamblingRose]

10. thanks for the great photos and links.

[seemslikeadream]

11. Your welcome

Here's one more



The government is stepping up its war against drugs with a military campaign targeting both drug traffickers and coca farms



The AUC, the country's principal right-wing paramilitary group, has been penetrating deeper into FARC territory, trying to drive the guerrillas out of the country. Like the FARC, the AUC says it taxes drug manufacturers.



Across the country peasants have been forced to flee their homes to escape the fighting between left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries. This school complex houses up to 10 families per room.




Fed up with languishing as refugees, a few families began moving back in July.



Refugee barrios are commonplace outside Colombia's cities. An estimated 40,000 people crowd into the one in Cartagena, and more arrive daily. When the sun went down on June 24, 2000, this field at the barrio's western edge contained only grass and a few small trees. By morning, hundreds of refugees had moved in, clearing the weeds and turning the trees into frames for their crude tents.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/colombia.noframes/story/photo/