Colombia: US Military Aid May Have Sparked Civilian Killings

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Global Post

Colombia: US Military Aid May Have Sparked Civilian Killings
Saturday 31 July 2010

by: Nadja Drost | GlobalPost | Report

La Macarena, Colombia - When Colombian military units receive an increase in U.S. aid, they allegedly kill more civilians and frame the deaths as combat kills, according to a new report.

The report, released Thursday by two American human rights organizations, raises serious questions about the implications of U.S. military aid to Colombia. The United States has provided more than $7 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia since 2000 for fighting drugs and counterinsurgency — making it the largest recipient of U.S. military aid after Israel.

The army is accused of killing civilians and presenting them as guerrillas killed in combat to pump body counts. The Colombian military faces significant political pressure to produce concrete results in its war against the the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the country's left-wing guerrilla insurgency.

Many point to the macabre practice — euphemistically known as producing a “false positive” — as a result of an unofficial incentive-based system that rewards high numbers of combat kills with job perks and promotions. Colombia's attorney general's office is investigating more than 2,000 alleged cases of false-positives committed by the armed forces.

Read more: http://www.truth-out.org/colombia-us-military-aid-may-have-sparked-civilian-killings61904

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On edit:

Information originally posted earlier by EFerrari in the Latin America forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x39300

[naaman fletcher]

1. Please stop abusing late breaking news

There are specific rules to late breaking news.

One is that you not post news that is more than 12 hours old, yet EFerrari posted this story more than 12 hours ago.

Another rule is that you not post stories that have been posted elsewhere, yet you yourself point out that Eferrari posted it elsewhere.

I will also note that you say the source is "global post" yet you post a link to Truthout.

[Wilms]

2. Please keep posting this important information. n/t