Team to conduct 'parapolitics' raids in Bogota

[Judi Lynn]

Team to conduct 'parapolitics' raids in Bogota
Thursday, 10 March 2011 11:58
Hannah Aronowitz

Colombia's Supreme Court is sending an investigation team carry out raids on several locations in Bogota in pursuit of politicians who have collaborated with paramilitaries, newspaper El Espectador reported Thursday.

The court send the Technical Investigation Team (CTI) of the Prosecutor Generals Office to carry out raids, in collaboration with the Judicial Police, based on investigations into the "parapolitics" scandal which has linked political leaders in Bogota with the Centaur and Capital Blocs of demobilized paramilitary organization AUC.

A former leader of the AUC's Centaur Bloc, Daniel Rendon Herrera, alias "Don Mario," has previously described an alliance between the army and the paramilitary group, including several "false positives" incidents. This term refers to the practice by some members of the armed forces of murdering civilians and disguising them as combatants to inflate kill statistics.

It is hoped the findings of the raids will clarify whether the illegal armed groups in the capital, and in the Llanos Oriental (western plains) region, indeed established alliances with political leaders.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14828-cti-to-conduct-para-politics-raids-.html