Colombian Troops Kill Farmers, Dress Bodies in Rebels' Uniforms

[magbana]

Colombian Troops Kill Farmers, Pass Off Bodies as Rebels'

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 30, 2008; A12

SAN FRANCISCO, Colombia -- All Cruz Elena González saw when the soldiers came past her house was a corpse, wrapped in a tarp and strapped to a mule. A guerrilla killed in combat, soldiers muttered, as they trudged past her meek home in this town in northwestern Colombia.

She soon learned that the body belonged to her 16-year-old son, Robeiro Valencia, and that soldiers had classified him as a guerrilla killed in combat, a claim later discredited by the local government human rights ombudsman. "Imagine what I felt when my other son told me it was Robeiro," González said in recounting the August killing. "He was my boy."

Funded in part by the Bush administration, a six-year military offensive has helped the government here wrest back territory once controlled by guerrillas and kill hundreds of rebels in recent months, including two top commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

But under intense pressure from Colombian military commanders to register combat kills, the army has in recent years also increasingly been killing poor farmers and passing them off as rebels slain in combat, government officials and human rights groups say. The tactic has touched off a fierce debate in the Defense Ministry between tradition-bound generals who favor an aggressive campaign that centers on body counts and reformers who say the army needs to develop other yardsticks to measure battlefield success.

The killings, carried out by combat units under the orders of regional commanders, have always been a problem in the shadowy, 44-year-old conflict here -- one that pits the army against a peasant-based rebel movement.

But with the recent demobilization of thousands of paramilitary fighters, many of whom operated death squads to wipe out rebels, army killings of civilians have grown markedly since 2004, according to rights groups, U.N. investigators and the government's internal affairs agency. The spike has come during a military buildup that has seen the armed forces nearly double to 270,000 members in the last six years, becoming the second-largest military in Latin America.

There are varying accounts on the number of registered extrajudicial killings, as the civilian deaths are called. But a report by a coalition of 187 human rights groups said there are allegations that between mid-2002 and mid-2007, 955 civilians were killed and classified as guerrillas fallen in combat -- a 65 percent increase over the previous five years, when 577 civilians were reported killed by troops.

"We used to see this as isolated, as a military patrol that lost control," said Bayron Gongora of the Judicial Freedom Corp., a Medellin lawyers group representing the families of 110 people killed in murky circumstances. "But what we're now seeing is systematic."

The victims are the marginalized in Colombia's highly stratified society. Most, like Robeiro Valencia, are subsistence farmers. Others are poor Colombians kidnapped off the streets of bustling Medellin, the capital of this state, Antioquia, which has registered the most killings.

Amparo Bermudez Dávila said her son, Diego Castañeda, 27, disappeared from Medellin in January 2006. Two months later, authorities called to say he had been killed, another battlefield death. They showed her a photograph of his body, dressed in camouflage.

"I said, 'Guerrilla?' " she recalled. "My son was not a guerrilla. And they told me if I didn't think he was a guerrilla, then I should file a complaint."

Military prosecutors ordinarily initiate investigations when the army kills someone. In cases that appear criminal, civilian prosecutors take over, as they did in the slayings of Valencia and Castañeda in San Francisco. But human rights groups and government prosecutors say the initial probes have usually been perfunctory, and investigators have been under intense pressure from high-ranking military officers to rule in the army's favor.

Such challenges have made tabulating the exact number of dead civilians impossible, though officials at the attorney general's office and the inspector general's office revealed recent estimates in interviews.

The attorney general's office is investigating 525 killings of civilians, all but a handful of which occurred since 2002 and in which 706 soldiers and officers are implicated. The office has another 500 cases, involving hundreds more victims, yet to be opened. The inspector general's office, meanwhile, is investigating 650 cases from 2003 to mid-2007 that could involve as many as 1,000 victims, said Carlos Arturo Gomez, the vice inspector general.

"Last year, the number of complaints shot up," Gomez said. "Some have said the cause could be unscrupulous military members who want to show results from false operations. Others say it's the product of pressure from the high command, the push for results."

The trend has prompted concern among some members of the U.S. Congress. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, said he is holding up $23 million in military aid until he sees progress in the fight against impunity and state-sponsored violence.

"We've had six years, $5 billion in U.S. aid. More than half of it has gone to the Colombian military, and we find the army is killing more civilians, not less," Leahy said in an interview. "And by all accounts, all independent accounts, we find that civilians are just being taken out, executed and then dressed up in uniforms so they can claim body counts of guerrillas killed."

President Álvaro Uribe's government, which has had a string of recent successes against the FARC, has defended itself against the accusations and contends they are part of an international campaign designed to discredit the armed forces. Indeed, some officials say the FARC is prodding the families of rebels killed in combat to claim the dead were civilians.

Still, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos acknowledges civilian deaths and has initiated steps that include new rules of engagement, assigning inspectors to combat units to advise commanders on the use of force and improving human rights training for soldiers.

The military has also been streamlining its justice system and transferring more cases to the attorney general's office, which the United Nations says must have a greater role if extrajudicial executions are to be eradicated. The attorney general's office said more than 200 members of the military have been detained as prosecutors investigate their involvement in the killings of civilians, with 13 convicted last year.

"I have said this very clearly: The soldier who commits a crime becomes a criminal, and he will be treated as a criminal," Santos said.

Santos also has stressed, in speeches and directives, that the army's anti-guerrilla policy should be more focused on generating desertions than accumulating combat kills, the traditional method of measuring success. "I've told all my soldiers and policemen that I prefer a demobilized guerrilla, or a captured guerrilla, to a dead guerrilla," Santos said.

But the Defense Ministry's reformers have been met by influential generals who have defended officers accused of slayings and favor a more traditional strategy for defeating the rebels.

That approach means giving field commanders autonomy and instilling a philosophy that stresses swift engagement with the rebels.

"What's the result of offensives? Combat," Gen. Mario Montoya, head of Colombia's army, said in an interview. "And if there's combat, there are dead in combat."

Human rights groups see a disturbing trend, saying the tactics used by some army units are similar to those that death squads used to terrorize civilians. A top U.N. investigator said some army units went as far as to carry "kits," which included grenades and pistols that could be planted next to bodies.

"The method of killing people perceived as guerrilla collaborators is still seen as legitimate by too many members of the army," said Lisa Haugaard, director of Latin America Working Group, a Washington-based coalition of humanitarian groups.

After she interviewed a number of families of victims, she determined that in many of the cases soldiers "appeared to be going on missions, not accidentally detaining and killing people," she said.

The highest-ranking officer implicated in extrajudicial killings is Col. Hernan Mejía.

A former army sergeant who was under Mejía's command, Edwin Guzman, recounted in an interview how Mejía's unit would kill peasant farmers, dress them in combat fatigues and call in local newspaper reporters to write about the supposed combat that had taken place.

Guzman, now a government witness against Mejía, said soldiers participated because they knew the army gave incentives -- from extra pay to days off -- for amassing kills in combat. "This is because the army gives prizes for kills, not for control of territory," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901118_pf.html

http://snipurl.com/230s6

[Judi Lynn]

1. Isn't it a shock to see the Washington Post even admit ANY of this?

Many of us have heard about this for years, and have seen complete scum pretend it doesn't matter or even is justified. Defense Minister Juan Miguel Santos has to inform everyone that if a soldier commits a crime he will be charged. He also didn't indicate he sees this filth as criminal, of course.

A crime, in his eyes, would NOT BE KILLING UNARMED, INNOCENT CIVILIANS AND LYING ABOUT IT.



Which one is Juan Miguel Santos? I just can't tell them apart.
This article should be saved in people's "Colombia" file for posterity: almost IMPOSSIBLE to catch a mainstream, corporate media newssource telling the truth about Latin America. What's behind this?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Here's an additional story, a little rumpled from going through the google translation tool.

Here is the one solitary officer they have deigned to name, in the Washington Post story, among the MULTITUDE of Colombian officials involved in this crap who were NOT named, of course. This is Colonel Hernán Mejía.



Here's an article on the subject published in January this year, taken from Semana, in Colombia, and fed through the mighty google language translation tool. The translation is rough, but better than a kick in the head:

From hero to villain
Paramilitaries shot posing as guerrillas, militia torture of joint operations between FARC and paramilitaries and army are part of the shocking actions of the commander of Battalion The Popa.
Date: 01/27/2007 -1291
• They also show how far the alliance reached between military and some sectors' Jorge 40 '.
• The Ministry of Defence, for the first time in history, take the bull by the horns and separates from office of a colonel in the active Army.
• WEEK spoke exclusively with the key witness in the case.

On October 25, 2002 was until last Friday a memorable date for the Army. That day, Colonel Hernan Mejia Gutierrez, commander of the La Popa Battalion, headquartered in Valledupar, told his superiors that during a fight had discharged 19 guerrillas of the Frente December 6 ELN. General Carlos Alberto Ospina, then commander of the army, went to Cesar to corroborate the military victory, and very proud, gave a press conference in which she highlighted this as one of the greatest successes in the history of the struggle against subversion.
The action aparentaba be a feat filled with extraneous details. He was a combat atypical because all the guerrillas were killed, but none of the 14 soldiers suffered the slightest scratch. Furthermore, the assumption confrontation had been presented at the Hacienda El Socorro, Bosconia, a zone of strong paramilitary presence. Finally, the fact she won medals and congratulations to Colonel Mejia, that after that day strengthened its reputation for tropero. But a week ago, the chapter gave a turnaround remembered when the Minister of Defence and the military high command knew the allegations made by a former officer, Colonel Junior Mejia, who knew firsthand the true story about how The Battalion was Popa became one of the lowest units between 2002 and 2004.

This officer told the military criminal justice system around what he saw in those years, and the gravity of his testimony made the case to be transferred immediately to the public prosecutor's office. WEEK spoke with the former military, which became the main, but not the only witness to this sordid history.

The officer was during 18 years in the Army and knew how they worked closely ties between some of his superiors and the paramilitaries in Urabá, Guaviare and the Coast. In Santa Marta had been under orders from the captain Édgar Fierro, better known in the country as "Don Antonio", the man's computer 'Jorge 40'. When Colonel Mejia arrived in Valledupar, relied initially on this officer. After completion of enemies. The witness of the Prosecution today was in jail on charges of trafficking in ammunition, in a process fraught with irregularities. Upon leaving, he worked with the paramilitaries for several months until he finally decided to move away from the criminal life. Now decided to tell everything he knows. Especially, the wanderings of their commander in the Battalion The Popa.

The castigadora
The deaths of the Kankuamos
"We get on paramilitaries Army helicopters"
The defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, and the commander of the Armed Forces, General Fredy Padilla de Leon, did not hesitate to confront the serious allegations and decided to bring them into understanding of justice and public opinion According to the witness, David Hernandez, alias '39 ', and Colonel Hernan Mejia had an agreement. Some victims of the paramilitaries were legalized by the battalion The Popa. To do so, Mejia would have delivered six Galil rifles, which uses the Army, paramilitary leader Rodrigo Tovar When, 'Jorge 40', faces prosecutors justice and peace have to talk about the shameful episode of relations paramilitaries and the battalion The Popa Valledupar According to a judicial source in Valledupar, the paramilitaries gave him Colonel Hernan Mejia a van Prado. This has been stolen by the AUC and its owner recognized on the streets of Valledupar. With help from the prosecutor Alix Daza, Mejia was able to leave the problem and return the vehicle arguing that it was a seizure

The colonel in his labyrinth

Before becoming villain, Colonel Hernan Mejia Gutierrez was a hero. It has always been the first of its course, looks at his chest five medals of public policy, something that few officers can accomplish throughout his career. When we started his life as an officer, was assigned to one of the most difficult episodes in the country's history: the retakes of the Palais de Justice. Throughout his life has been complicated regions such as Putumayo and Caqueta. This was done to a resume that has more than 30 pages full of achievements and congratulations. Mejia was highlighted always give good treatment because the soldiers and always gave results. "In all the units to which it was sent, Mejia dramatically increased operational results. The problem is that to achieve these low Mejia he did not care if he had to ally itself with the devil," he told WEEK an Army officer. That alliance with the 'devil' is the one that made him last week on the symbol of the alliance between the military and paramilitaries. On Friday, during a press conference at the base of Tolemaida, the defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, announced that the officer was relieved of his duties by the serious facts of which he is accused. And is that the testimony of the officer, who was also his bodyguard, is chilling. "My colonel Mejia arrived at La Popa Battalion in January 2002. The first thing he told us was that came from a battalion contraguerrilla who had between 37 and 40 casualties in a year and that in La Popa aspired to reach 100," he WEEK told the key witness. "He told us that cuentico of colonels earlier giving only five or 10 casualties per year was not going with him and that what they had was sent to low," said the former soldier who was nearly 20 years in the ranks of Army.

"An early Sunday, when only my colonel Mejia took 10 days have arrived, I called the command and told me to get a gun and I was with him in the car battalion. The two were going in civilian. Cogimos towards Bosconia and spend a people called San Angel. How to five kilometres from the village had a roadblock on paracos. one of them approached the car, he was identified and let us continue. arrived at a farm where there were about 200 paramilitaries. home Principal, sitting at a table, was all the dome of the Northern Bloc: Mr 'Jorge 40', Mr Hernan Giraldo, 'Tolemaida', 'Omega' and'39 'was David Hernandez, a former military officer who had been a friend My colonel. was greeted with great joy because they were friends from school and we recochar much when they were. "

According to the witness, that day pactaron that Mejia would have a monthly salary of 30 million, contributed by 'Jorge 40', so that the military will not put their men. "Then they all sat down to lunch and Mejia said that not only would the silver, but he came for glory and glory were casualties." What came after was a cordial discussion on how to work Battalion The Popa and the paramilitaries. "The old Hernan Giraldo said that it was easier to give all positives was'39 '." As you know, this man was the military commander of the Northern Bloc of the AUC in Cesar and assigned hundreds of deaths. According based on the testimony that the Prosecution, "'39 'told the colonel that the only problem was that the people he had Galil rifles different from the Army and was more difficult to legalize the dead. Then my colonel commanded take four Galiles confiscated that were in the battalion and ordered people to put them in their'39 '. As it was an order from my colonel, nobody questioned the departure of rifles battalion, "said the witness.

'Low, low, low'

According to the story of the witness, before reaching their first month under the command of Battalion The Popa, Colonel Mejia formed an ad hoc group with 14 soldiers of this unit on the grounds of having a unit, rapid reaction. The group was known inside the premises under the name 'Zarpazo'. "That little group and as I walked out to the four or five hours he returned with the news that they had given two or three casualties. Passed That followed. Worldwide seemed strange that while contraguerrillas complete patrolling the highlands and if he was near the guerrillas were not casualties, the group 'Zarpazo "always leaving it gave low. Colonel agreed with'39' that everything he gave him low legalizing it."

According to the stark story, and for various forms of military agreed to work together. One of the most escabrosos episodes of this alliance was precisely happened in October 2005. Apparently,'39 'has had a series of problems with several of the men who were under his command. He decided then to make an internal purge in the ranks of the paramilitaries and ordered killing 19 of them. "'39 'Called Mejia and the colonel sent to the group' zarpazo 'to legalize the matter," told the witness. It was manufactured scene that was shown to the media as a military feat, when in fact it was nothing more than a farce.

"They were not guerrillas, were paracos. What we did was give you some bracelets ELN bodies. Everybody realized that the dead were camouflaged dirty and full of blood and bracelets was intact and were new. Nobody Nor noted that the 19 alleged guerrillas were virtually together, when everyone knows that in a fight guerrillos are distributed and there is never a group as big together. families of the dead knew they were paracos and some protested because as presented if they were guerrillas. touched But they remain silent. This was presented as a great positive and Mejia did not have problems because the director sectional Prosecution helped with the assembly. " WEEK was in Valledupar and several people and relatives of the victims confirmed that the majority of which were submitted by the Army as ELN guerrillas in reality they were members of the paramilitaries.

WEEK corroborated addition, the official of the Prosecutor who participated in the events described is Alix Daza Cecilia Martinez, who for several years was senior judge Valledupar and that, despite having failed to exercise his profession for a long time, was appointed by the prosecutor Luis Camilo Osorio as Director of Public Prosecutions Valledupar. The friendship that the staff member engaged with Colonel Mejia is widely known in Valledupar. In fact, one of the serious allegations against Mejia, who also participated in the tax Daza, has to do with the torture and murder of two people inside the La Popa Battalion. "Mejia received information that two boys who lived near the battalion bought ammunition that the soldiers stole from the facility and then revendían to the guerrillas. They came by the guard battalion, led to the commissary and there tied. I saw them moored there, in civilian clothes, and asked why he had not handed over to the Prosecutor's Office. Ramos My lieutenant told me not to ask bobadas. disappeared That afternoon, and when asked by them, I was told that they had been handed over to OTP. Later that night, at dawn, we heard a shooting within the battalion. All we got out to see what was what had happened. When we arrived at the site, I realized that the dead were the same two boys, but this time were dressed in camouflage and unarmed. chimbo left with the story that two guerrillas were going to kill the sentry with a ribbon and stealing weapons. Who is going to believe that two guerrillas disarmed are going to put a battalion where there are more of 1,000 soldiers, to steal weapons. Daza The prosecutor came and legalized the case. " Curiously, Daza was investigated by the Attorney-two detainees have been carried to his house.

The coexistence of this high official with the paramilitaries, according to the versions of the witness before the military justice system and to the Prosecution, was permanent. "When I went to collect the silver leaving only battalion, dressed in civilian clothes. Passed That usually on weekends," said the witness.

However, the friendship of Colonel Mejia and the commander'39 'was not eternal. The main defence put forward Colonel Mejia in its favour is that it was precisely he who gave low to'39 ', the dreaded paramilitary leader. However, the officer has a different version. "I do not know the reasons of substance, but I know that Mejia was ordered to 'Jorge 40' to kill'39 '. Thing was simple. How'39' trusted Mejia, the colonel gave him an appointment and what he did tenderle was an ambush. Remember that the head of everything in Cesar, including The Popa was' Jorge 40 ', the witness told WEEK.

The bull by the horns

Although the investigation is just beginning, the Minister of Defence and senior military officers decided to take the bull by the horns. Last Friday, Juan Manuel Santos left surprised to journalists accompanying him on the Tolemaida military base when read a revealing statement. "After receiving information about the alleged commission of serious incidents related behaviors allegedly attributed to a senior officer with the rank of colonel, who would have had links with the illegal paramilitary groups alias' Jorge 40 ', a few years ago, and which is still in active duty, it was decided to inform the judicial authorities of these facts, which might include links to the paramilitaries, human rights violations, cases of casualties that might not be the result of military operations and acts of corruption, "said Santos.

The Minister explained that in order to ensure due process of Colonel Mejia, he was relieved of office, but not dismissed. This decision was taken shortly after he was aware of the serious allegations by Santos and the commander of the Armed Forces, General Fredy Padilla de Leon. The decision immediately joined the Army commander, General Mario Montoya. It chose Tolemaida as the place to make the announcement.

Many of those who were gathered there, journalists and senior officers of the Armed Forces, recalled the warning that President Alvaro Uribe and Santos minister himself had made at the end of last year, when called for the military linked with the paramilitaries, or any group outside the law, resign immediately to the Armed Forces. Even recalled a famous phrase of Santos when he said that "the soldiers who commit crimes are not soldiers, they are criminals."

The spot was discharged prematurely. And with a forcefulness that surprised many. It is not for less.

This is the first time in history that a Minister of Defense recognizes and publicly denounced ties to a top official of the Armed Forces on active duty with paramilitaries. Many officers have left for this reason in the ranks, but under the figure of the discretionary measures, which leave impunity all possible crimes they have incurred.

The case of Colonel this is nothing more than a symbol of the alliance between the paramilitaries and certain sectors of the Armed Forces. A collusion perverse for more than 20 years in various regions of the country where many people not only not condemned, but that looked favourably to the extent that it was a common front against the guerrillas. The role of Colonel Mejia is due, ironically, to its unusual and suspicious effectiveness in their struggle against. But now that have come alive all harassment and overflows of the paramilitaries, the pendulum of opinion as a whole and justice is moving towards some strong military forces but legitimate.

Thus, the announcement on Friday is so transcendent. The own military forces opened Pandora's box that surely will reveal many of the links that have taken some high-ranking officials with the paramilitaries. And that undoubtedly will be a very important turning point in the history of the Colombian conflict.



The defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, and the commander of the Armed Forces, General Fredy Padilla de Leon, did not hesitate to confront the serious allegations and decided to bring them into understanding of justice and public opinion



According to the witness, David Hernandez, alias'39 ', and Colonel Hernan Mejia had an agreement. Some victims of the paramilitaries were legalized by the battalion The Popa. To do so, Mejia would have delivered six Galil rifles, which uses the army, the paramilitary leader



When Rodrigo Tovar, 'Jorge 40', faces prosecutors justice and peace have to talk about the shameful episode of the relations of the paramilitaries and Battalion The Popa Valledupar



According to a judicial source in Valledupar, the paramilitaries gave him Colonel Hernan Mejia a van Prado. This has been stolen by the AUC and its owner recognized on the streets of Valledupar. With help from the prosecutor Alix Daza, Mejia was able to leave the problem and return the vehicle arguing that it was a seizure

http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=100685

http://translate.google.com/translate_t?langpair=es|en

[magbana]

4. BoRev Points Out the Irony

Compelling Arguments

The Washington Post editorial board usually stays so busy telling the rest of the world what to do that you can forgive them for not keeping up with reading the Washington Post, which is sort of a crap paper to begin with.

Anyway you may remember that way back in YESTERDAY Juan Forero reported a crazy story about how all the poorest Colombians are being murdered by the government and dressed up as terrorists in order to impress the Bush Administration. And then today the Post ed board urges Congress to pass a trade deal with Colombia as a reward for “improving its human rights record and resisting the anti-American populism of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.”

Also don’t miss the argument that there’s been some sort of “dramatic drop” in state sponsored killing and that the systematic assassination of trade unionists is a “bogus” issue because everybody else in Colombia is being murdered harder.
Tags:

* Colombia
* Hugo Chavez
* Juan Forero
* Trade
* Washington Post

http://www.borev.net/2008/03/compelling_arguments.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Propagandizing human rights in Colombia

Source: Colombia Journal

Date: 31 Mar 2008
Propagandizing human rights in Colombia
by Garry Leech

It happens time and time again. Following the killing of Colombian peasants, the government immediately blames guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the mainstream media in both Colombia and the United States dutifully report the allegations. In most cases, evidence later emerges showing that the Colombian military or its right-wing paramilitary allies were the actual perpetrators of the crime. The media, however, rarely reports the new evidence with the same vigor with which it reported the original claims holding the FARC responsible—if they report the new findings at all. Consequently, the Colombian government's propaganda campaign has successfully created the impression in many people's minds that the FARC are responsible for a majority of Colombia's human rights abuses despite the fact that statistics released by human rights organizations year after year contradict popular sentiment.

The disconnect between what people believe and the human rights reality in Colombia has again been made evident by the recent issuance of arrest warrants for Colombian soldiers responsible for the February 2005 massacre of eight peasants in the peace community of San José de Apartadó. Immediately following the massacre, community members had claimed that the Colombian army was operating in the area at the time. The Colombian Defense Ministry immediately denied these claims, stating that the army was not involved in the killings and that 'no army troops were closer than two days' distance' from where the massacre occurred.

Vice-President Francisco Santos then quickly sought to shift blame for the massacre to the guerrillas by stating, 'The Government has evidence that leads to the FARC as authors of this horrible crime.' According to this alleged evidence, the victims were FARC collaborators who were killed for trying to leave the guerrilla group. And then, several weeks after the massacre, President Alvaro Uribe accused leaders of the peace community of San José de Apartadó of 'helping the FARC' and 'wanting to use the community to protect this terrorist organization.' By publicly aligning the victims with the guerrillas—a common strategy of the Colombian government—the president sought to redirect attention away from the possible perpetrators and onto the victims by holding them responsible for their own deaths.

While the mainstream media dutifully reported all of the government's accusations, the fact that the massacre occurred in San José de Apartadó posed a problem for the Uribe administration. The peace community has achieved a relatively high profile with international solidarity and human rights organizations over the past decade, which led to the mainstream media in this particular case also reporting claims by community members that the Colombian army was involved in the massacre.

Finally, last week—more than three years after the massacre—Colombia's attorney general's office issued arrest warrants for 15 soldiers accused of perpetrating the killings. The warrants were issued following testimony given by a demobilized paramilitary fighter named Jorge Luis Salgado. According to Salgado, he and other paramilitaries acted as guides for the Colombian army patrol that committed the massacre in the hamlet of Mulatos in San José de Apartadó.

In his testimony, Salgado described 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. We suggested to the officers that they be left in a nearby house, but they said they were a threat, that they would become guerrillas in the future.' Salgado then claimed that an army officer, who went by the nickname Cobra, 'grabbed the (five or six-year-old) girl by the hair and cut her throat with a machete.'

More:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KKAA-7DA7WU?OpenDocument