Colombia soldiers face arrest for machete massacre

[struggle4progress]

Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:40pm EDT

By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, March 27 (Reuters) - Colombian soldiers accused of massacring 11 people in 2005, including three children, have been ordered arrested based on long-awaited evidence from a right-wing paramilitary who helped carry out the killings.

The massacre near the banana-growing town of San Jose de Apartado in northwest Colombia captured international attention because of accusations that the army cooperated with the drug-running paramilitaries.

The attorney general's office said on Thursday the arrest orders against 15 soldiers were based on testimony from former paramilitary Jorge Luis Salgado, who said the illegal militias guided the army on patrols around San Jose de Apartado ...

U.S. Democrats have held up a trade deal with Colombia, saying the government has not done enough to reform the army or protect trade union members targeted by the paramilitaries, sometimes with help from state security forces ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN27465499

[Judi Lynn]

1. struggle4progress, you should put this in LBN. It mentions Congressional Democrats!

This is an important story.

This is so ugly, and so expected!

Soldiers Face Arrest for Machete Massacre
Former paramilitary Jorge Luis Salgado described the long-suspected role played by the army in the massacre

Colombian soldiers accused of massacring 11 people in 2005, including three children, have been ordered arrested based on long-awaited evidence from a right-wing paramilitary who helped carry out the killings.

The massacre near the banana-growing town of San Jose de Apartado in northwest Colombia captured international attention because of accusations that the army cooperated with the drug-running paramilitaries.

The attorney general's office said on Thursday the arrest orders against 15 soldiers were based on testimony from former paramilitary Jorge Luis Salgado, who said the illegal militias guided the army on patrols around San Jose de Apartado.

In testimony published on Thursday, he described the long-suspected role played by the army in the massacre.

"The children were under the bed. The girl, about five or six years old, was very nice and the boy was smart as well," Salgado told government prosecutors.

"We suggested to the army officers that we leave the kids at a house nearby, but they said they were a threat, that they would turn into guerrillas in the future," Salgado said.

He then told how one of the officers, known as 'Cobra', took the girl by the hair and cut her throat with a machete.

The government as recently as last year suggested the massacre was the work of Colombia's biggest left-wing rebel group, known as the FARC.

Etc.

Same story, published at another site, at a later time, leaving you all the time in the world to post it in LBN, too!
http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=135557

Published: March 28, 2008 09:32h