Colombia Leader Warns Paramilitary Forces

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia Leader Warns Paramilitary Forces

Tuesday April 27, 2004 6:16 PM


By ANDREW SELSKY

Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - President Alvaro Uribe, alleging Tuesday that some paramilitary forces want to kill him, warned that the government would annihilate the outlawed militias unless they abide by a cease-fire and stop trafficking in drugs.

Uribe's sharp comments came as power within the right-wing paramilitary groups appears to be shifting to members heavily involved in drug trafficking, and after paramilitary co-founder Carlos Castano disappeared on April 16 during a reported attack by rivals.

The events have thrown the government's nascent peace process with the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, into doubt, Uribe said in a statement released by his office.
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For two decades, the outlawed paramilitaries have fought leftist rebels led by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN. The rebels have tried to assassinate Uribe several times.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4026960,00.html

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Posted on Mon, Apr. 26, 2004

Colombian cab driver reveals corruption in AG office

By FRANCES ROBLES

Miami Herald


BOGOTA, Colombia - Juan Carlos Cano has spent the past year hiding, ducking suspicious cars and steering clear of his old neighborhood in Colombia, where paramilitary gunmen may be looking for him.

But the 22-year-old taxi driver recently showed his face to the entire nation, telling Congress that he witnessed two investigators for the Colombian attorney general's office help murder and mutilate people suspected to be leftist guerrillas.

According to Cano, the investigators helped the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, an outlawed paramilitary group known as AUC, ``disappear people'' after the army and police swept into his guerrilla-dominated neighborhood in late 2002.

At least 45 of his neighbors haven't been seen since.
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http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/world/8524217.htm