Brutal drug lord dies in clashes in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Brutal drug lord dies in clashes in Colombia
(AP) – Dec 29, 2010

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A brutal drug lord with a $2.5 million bounty on his head and reputed ties to right-wing militias died during clashes with security forces in southern Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos announced Wednesday. Pedro Oliverio Guerrero, also know as "The Knife," led the so-called Popular Revolutionary Anti-Terrorist Army of Colombia that protected coca crops and drug trafficking routes in eastern Colombia, according to U.S. officials.

Santos said Guerrero's body was found near Puerto Alvira in Meta province, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Bogota. Authorities found with him two pistols and a knife which he purportedly used to slash the throats of his victims.

~snip~
The operation began on Dec. 24 and involved the police and air force. Officials on Tuesday said they had found a body that resembled Guerrero but it wasn't until Wednesday that they confirmed it was him using fingerprints, he said. Two police officers also died in the operation.

Santos said that authorities had been after Guerrero for many years and his death "demonstrates the courage and determination" of Colombia's armed forces and police. But the director of Colombia's Legal Medicine Institute, Juan Angel Isaac, told The Associated Press the autopsy didn't find gunfire or blade wounds on Guerrero's body. Police director Gen. Oscar Naranjo said Guerrero likely drowned after losing his footing while carrying a heavy load amid the fighting.

More:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jOZXiZYj_rLiKq3dN5IwAXVxYwDQ?docId=63784e529f2b459a92217322da8a07ad

[Peace Patriot]

1. Somebody unrec'ed this. Odd! But it is a gem of corpo-fascist news article!

First, they tell the official story--the brave Colombian military and police (their pockets padded with $7 BILLION in U.S. military aid) smote the bad (ahem, non-player) drug lord in his evil lair and deserve kudos and laurel wreaths, according to Colombia's new, CIA-vetted president, Manuel Santos.

Then, to my great surprise, they tell the REAL story: That the bad guy drowned in a stream!

Evidently, the "delay" mentioned in the official story, where they "found a body that resembled" Pedro Oliverio Guerrero ("also known as 'The Knife'") was needed, while they concocted this bullshit about a shootout, and perhaps even concocted the fingerprints, and perhaps also shot two police officers who knew the real story and weren't buyable. ("Two police officers also died in the operation.")

RARELY do we see Associated Pukes reporters do this in an article--so obviously contradict an official story, especially one involving U.S. war profiteer dollars and a U.S. client state. I'm going to check out who wrote. Expect to see them re-assigned soon.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Checking back in: It's an UNSIGNED Associated Pukes article!

It also has signs of careless or hasty editing.

Santos really goes on...

------

"'That knife is a silent witness to at least 3,000 killings, ordered or executed, by this Colombian criminal who has finally fallen,' Santos said, without providing more details of the killings figure he gave.

"'The killer of killers has fallen,' Colombia's president said in a news conference,"

--from the OP link (my emphasis)

------

Notice that dangling comma at the end of the part I quoted. I didn't do that. The article itself has a dangling comma. This is a sign of careless or hasty editing. Someone was messing with this article. And, frankly, I am amazed at the above questioning of Santos's word, in the text of the article: "...without providing more details of the killings figure he gave."

The syntax is awkward, but it clearly is aimed at undermining what he said. Is it possible that there is some new editor at the Associated Pukes who is trying to restore credibility to their reports out of Latin America?

If there is such an editor or reporter, they have chosen to remain anonymous--probably with good reason. Real journalists don't last long in U.S. client states in Latin America.

There is one other possibility--that Santos represents the new and cleaned-up face of U.S. clientelism in Colombia, so the war profiteers, militarists and death squadders--tied to the far rightwing here--may be out to get him, and this AP editor or journalist may or may not be aware of why he or she has been permitted to write something honest about Santos.

This fits my evaluation of AP journalism better than that they are suddenly becoming honest. They've got it out for Santos, because he made peace with Chavez, in the new, more Clinton-like, CIA/Panetta strategy for reconquering Latin America. Remember, Panetta was Bill Clinton's chief of staff. And Hillary's answer to the bloody coup d'etat in Honduras (probably a Bush Junta designed-coup) was to hold a phony election to cover it up. The Clinton's are into democracy cosmetics masking economic domination, as opposed to the raw methods of the Bushwhacks--for instance, just killing all the trade union leaders in Colombia.

If AP is on the far rightwing side of things--and I'm pretty sure they are--they might have rightwing motives to harm Santos and sabotage this Clinton/Panetta strategy, which is premised on peace. We are looking at a Puke/Diebold Congress, with Miami mafia congress-creeps in cahoots with Latin American fascists already having met and basically declared war on Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. They are bloodthirsty. They want to push the U.S. into a war in Latin America. They may want to get rid of Santos and enable a Uribe comeback or the installation of some other warmonger. And is AP on board for this?