800 in Colombia Lay Down Arms, Kindling Peace Hopes

[Say_What]

Paramilitaries responsible for 70% of the atrocities committed over the last two years in Colombia are laying down their arms. After this ceremony they're headed to a recreation center for three weeks, and then enter job training or educational programs. Of the millions of OUR tax dollars that go to Colombia, 85% goes to the military who in turn trains and advises the paras. The US lapdog, Uribe, is pushing legislation that would allow the government to strike deals that include suspended jail time for top commanders, several of whom are wanted for some of Colombia's worst war atrocities. :puke:

<clips>

EDELLÍN, Colombia, Nov. 25 — After a minute of silence in memory of the thousands killed in Colombia's conflict, 800 fighters from an urban band of a right-wing paramilitary group laid down their weapons on Tuesday in a disarmament ceremony the government says could bring the country closer to ending its 39-year-long war.

The ceremony was choreographed by President Álvaro Uribe's government and clearly did not mean the end of the group, the United Self-Defense Forces, a 13,000-member federation of paramilitary factions. But it did suggest that the Colombian authorities might be making some headway in their new, two-pronged strategy to end the war: co-opt the right, defeat the left.

Critics were quick to dispute the idea that the disarmament represented real progress. But Mr. Uribe hopes the laying down of arms will represent the first step in the complete demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces, which is planned as a two-year process.

If successful, it would be the first time in Latin America that a far-right antiguerrilla force has demobilized through a formal process before the end of a conflict. The government's hope is that this will in turn put pressure on two rebel groups that are the paramilitaries' longtime adversaries — the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army — to negotiate peace accords.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/26/international/americas/26COLO.html?hp

[impeach the gop]

1. The smirkster ain't gonna like this one bit

n/t