[Marxism] Colombia: New allegations of collusion between Uribe & Paramilitaries

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Colombian Senator: Death Squads Met At Uribe's Ranch
Scandal Over Paramilitary Ties Widens
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 18, 2007; A18



BOGOTA, Colombia, April 17 -- An opposition lawmaker on Tuesday  
alleged that paramilitary death squads met at the ranch of President  
Álvaro Uribe in the late 1980s and plotted to murder opponents, an  
explosive charge in a growing scandal that has unearthed ties between  
the illegal militias and two dozen congressmen.

Basing his accusations on government documents and depositions by  
former paramilitary members and military officers, Sen. Gustavo Petro  
said the militiamen met at Uribe's Guacharacas farm as well as  
ranches owned by his brother, Santiago Uribe, and a close associate,  
Luis Alberto Villegas.

"From there, at night, they would go out and kill people," Petro  
said, referring to the sprawling ranch owned by Álvaro Uribe, who  
served as a senator from 1986 to 1994.

The allegations, made at a congressional hearing on the "para- 
politics" scandal, were vigorously denied by the government. In a  
rebuttal, Interior Minister Carlos Holguín said that all manner of  
rumors have arisen about Uribe's farm.

Holguín said Petro had "abused" his position by using court documents  
selectively to make his points and was trying to portray Colombia "as  
a country of assassins, a country of paramilitaries." And he wondered  
aloud why Petro was not so aggressive about unearthing links between  
politicians and leftist guerrillas, noting that Petro had been a  
member of the M-19 rebel movement until his election to Congress in  
1991.

The hearing, called by the senator, a member of the left-of-center  
Democratic Pole party, came in the midst of a scandal that has led to  
the arrests of eight members of Congress and the head of the secret  
police, allegedly for having worked with paramilitary commanders to  
extend their hold through threats and violence across northern Colombia.

The Supreme Court and the attorney general's office are investigating  
nearly 20 other current or former members of Congress, most of them  
allies of the president. And the court is collecting evidence and  
interviewing witnesses to establish whether the president's cousin,  
Sen. Mario Uribe, had met with paramilitary commanders to plot land  
grabs; the senator denied any links in a recent interview.

Government officials say the disclosures of ties between the militias  
and the political establishment are taking place precisely because  
Uribe's administration entered into negotiations with paramilitary  
groups that permitted the disarmament of thousands of fighters. That  
has created a safer climate for public disclosures, they say.

"We're the ones pushing for full disclosure," Vice President  
Francisco Santos told a small group of reporters in Washington on  
Monday.

It was unclear what impact the accusations would have on Uribe. The  
Bush administration's closest ally in Latin America, Uribe's  
government has received more than $4 billion in mostly military aid  
to push back Marxist guerrillas and fumigate much of the country's  
huge coca fields. Government figures show that violence has dropped  
dramatically, and the economy has soared.

But Uribe, since he first ran for office, has also been dogged by the  
fact that paramilitary groups grew dramatically during his term as  
governor in the northwestern state of Antioquia, from 1995 to 1997.  
During that time, he helped spearhead the creation of Convivirs,  
legal vigilante groups. Some were later denounced for having morphed  
into paramilitary death squads or for serving as fronts for  
paramilitary warlords.

In a two-hour presentation in which military intelligence reports and  
affidavits of mid-level military officers were made public, Petro  
provided a detailed sketch of Colombia's fearsome paramilitary  
movement, from its first links with cocaine kingpins including Pablo  
Escobar to its use of massacres to spread terror to its liquidation  
of the leftist Patriotic Union party.

He spoke of how banana companies, including foreign firms, bankrolled  
death squads and helped paramilitary groups traffic in cocaine. And  
he read from a government statement provided by an army captain who  
was present at meetings between a former general, Rito Alejo del Rio,  
and paramilitary commanders. President Uribe has long been close to  
del Rio, who was charged in 2001 with having paramilitary ties. The  
charges were later dropped.

The senator said that despite a common perception, the generation-old  
paramilitary movement did not surge because of the lack of state  
presence. "Paramilitarism was founded with the help from some sectors  
of the state," he said.

In the hearing, Petro focused much of his time on the Convivirs and  
how officials who promoted them knew that paramilitary warlords ran  
some of the groups. The Convivirs were eventually outlawed following  
allegations of rights abuses.

"If these type of people made up the Convivirs and directed them,  
then could they really guarantee the security and tranquillity of the  
people?" Petro asked.

In a recent interview, a paramilitary turncoat who is providing  
investigators with evidence of ties between paramilitary groups and  
politicians said that President Uribe had strong support among  
paramilitary commanders, who favored him for his tough stance against  
guerrillas. He said, however, that he had never heard evidence of  
direct ties between the president and paramilitary groups.

"We all admired the president," said the former paramilitary member,  
Jairo Castillo, who fled Colombia and now lives in Canada. "He was a  
guy who was for the Convivirs and strengthening the Convivirs. But to  
say that he was helping or had ties with the paramilitaries, I'd be  
lying if I said he did."

Staff writer Jason Ukman in Washington contributed to this report.






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