Colombia reduces jail term for paramilitary in amnesty

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News

3 December 2010 Last updated at 17:07
Colombia reduces jail term for paramilitary in amnesty

A court in Colombia has sentenced a former paramilitary commander, who has admitted ordering the killing of more than 4,000 people, to eight years in prison.

Jorge Ivan Laverde had originally been sentenced to 40 years but his sentence was reduced as part of an amnesty programme.

He was found guilty of participating in at least 28 massacres while leading a commando of the right-wing United Self Defence Forces of Colombia.

~snip~
During testimony he delivered to a judge from the amnesty commission, Laverde said he had helped build ovens in which his paramilitary group disposed of the bodies of 98 people they killed.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11916726

[Judi Lynn]

1. Eight years jail for man who killed 4000

Eight years jail for man who killed 4000
From: AFP December 04, 2010 7:34AM

A FORMER paramilitary commander in Colombia known as the "Iguana", who ordered the killing of more than 4000 people, was sentenced to eight years in prison under an amnesty program, justice officials said.
Jorge Ivan Laverde admitted to directly killing a hundred people and ordering the killings of 4000 others as a commander in the extreme right-wing AUC militia, which was disbanded in 2003.

A Colombian court initially sentenced Laverde to 40 years in prison after finding him guilty of murder, torture, acts of terrorism, and the displacement of population.

But the sentence was changed to eight years, the maximum penalty allowed under the "Justice and Peace" process aimed at healing the wounds of past fighting.

More:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/eight-years-jail-for-man-who-killed-4000/story-e6frf7k6-1225965517614

http://www.prensarural.org.nyud.net:8090/spip/IMG/jpg/jorge_ivan_laverde_iguano.jpg

http://www.laopinion.com.co.nyud.net:8090/noticias/images/2010/julio/07/pol071.jpg

[Judi Lynn]

2. This clown conspired with a Venezuelan right-wing politician to assassinate Hugo Chavez:

A slow coup in Venezuela
Friday, October 23, 2009 - 11:00
By W. T. Whitney

~snip~
The Miami El Nuevo Herald recently published a prison interview with ex-Colombian paramilitary fighter Geovanny Velasquez Zambrano. He said he attended two meetings almost 10 years ago at which Manuel Rosales, then mayor of Maracaibo in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, offered US$25 million for killing Chavez.

Rosales hinted at US sources.

Velasquez said paramilitary chieftain Jorge Ivan Laverde, known as "el Iguano", accepted the offer: "I have the guys to kill this gentleman."

The plotters established a training camp in Catatumbo in Colombia to prepare for forays into Venezuela. Velasquez's own group entered Venezuela in 2000.

El Nuevo Herald said Laverde, also a prisoner, accused high Colombian Army officers of orchestrating paramilitary ventures.

From 2000 to 2008, Rosales governed Zulia. In 2006 he was the right-wing opposition's candidate in a losing bid for the presidency and that year allegedly met Colombian paramilitaries again in a border town.

More:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/42635

[bluesmail]

3. delete