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Colombian Military being investigated by UN

http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/1104265.html

U.N. probe: Colombian army killed many innocents
A U.N. human rights investigator said he found no evidence that President Uribe or his administration knew about or condoned civilians being slain by the Colombian military.

BY GONZALO GUILLEN AND GERARDO REYES
EL NUEVO HERALD
BOGOTA -- The executions of innocent civilians reported by the Colombian Army as ''guerrillas killed in combat'' are not the responsibility of a few ''rotten apples'' in the armed forces -- as the Colombian government says -- but a widespread systematic practice, a U.N. investigator said.

Philip Alston on Thursday asked Colombia to acknowledge and stop the executions, known as ''false positives.'' In military jargon, the word ''positive'' is used to refer to an operational success.

In his preliminary report, at the end of a 10-day visit, Alston cited as an example of the nonjudicial executions the case of a young soldier killed while he was on medical leave and whose case was published last week in a three-part series in El Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald.

Alston said he did not find any evidence that the executions were carried out as an official government policy or with the knowledge of President Alvaro Uribe.

According to Alston, the number of cases, their occurrence in different geographic zones, and the diversity of the military units involved, indicate that the executions were carried out in a more-or-less systematic manner by a significant number of Army elements.''

The Colombian Attorney General's Office is investigating the deaths of more than 1,800 people who were executed and presented as guerrillas killed in combat. More than a thousand servicemen have been implicated in the investigation.

Alston said he does not rule out that some of the victims were guerrillas, but said that the government has not given him any proof of that ``other than emphatic assertions.''

''The evidence that shows victims wearing newly ironed camouflage garments or wearing field boots four sizes bigger than their feet, or left-handed individuals holding a pistol in their right hand . . . negate even more the suggestion that they were guerrillas killed in combat,'' Alston said.

He added that ''among the dangerous guerrillas'' killed by the Army there were ''16- and 17-year-old adolescents, a young man with the mental capacity of a 9-year-old'' and ``a devoted head of family whose two brothers-in-law are in active military service.''

Alston expressed concern over what he called the ''systematic harassment'' of the servicemen toward the families of the victims and cited the case of the death of a young man in Soacha, south of Bogotá, who was making efforts to clarify and denounce the execution of his brother, whom the Army reported as a guerrilla killed in action.

Last November, the execution of a dozen residents of Soacha, buried as anonymous guerrillas, launched the scandal of the ``false positives.''

Some of the victims had been dressed in guerrilla uniforms. Firearms, munitions and grenades had been placed by their sides.

Those executions created the perception that this was a phenomenon limited to Soacha, Alston said.

Alston acknowledged that the government has taken ''important measures'' to stop the killings, among them disciplinary sanctions, better cooperation with the United Nations, a stronger supervision of the payments made to informers, the demand that combat casualties be investigated first by the judicial police, and a modification in the criteria for rewards.

Even so, the investigator said, ''the number of successful indictments continues to be very low'' and there continues to be ''a very worrisome gap'' between ''the actual practice and the official policies'' that condemn this kind of crime.

By Paisa/Calena/Luver on Jun 19, 2009, 05:07 in Friendly Talkzone.

billyb says on Jun 19, 2009, 06:39:

I'm curious, did the UN ever investigate its own role in the Rwanda massacre? Specially Annan's?

BTW.

"A U.N. human rights investigator said he found no evidence that President Uribe or his administration knew about or condoned civilians being slain by the Colombian military."

"All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there" Unkown (at least to me) wise man.

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Pappassito (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 19, 2009, 06:58:

The UN has about as much credibility as Chavez de chihuahua..

"A wise monkey never monkeys with another monkey's monkey."

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billyb says on Jun 19, 2009, 07:03:

One of my best friends is a human rights investigator for the UN, and when he was investigating in the former Yugoslavia, he said whenever they were getting close to a politically sensitive suspect, they were immediately warned off by their UN superiors. He said it was a joke, they only let them get the small fry for PR purposes.

"All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there" Unkown (at least to me) wise man.

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romy says on Jun 19, 2009, 08:40:

Uribe is no small fry

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stephen_aubrey says on Jun 19, 2009, 09:15:

I personally was under United Nations in former Yugoslavia in 1992, in 2001 Eritrea/Ethiopia and 2004 Haiti and with my first hand experience of working with them they were in fact a JOKE in the 90's.
I could notice there was some what of change from 92 -01 because on this tour of 2001 this tour under the UN ran smoothly with a sense of purpose.

" Most people talk a lot, few are up for the moment"

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makopp5 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 19, 2009, 11:27:

What were the achievement from the UN in the last 50 years? Talking a lot and not realy doing anything.

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billyb says on Jun 19, 2009, 17:24:

All you need to know about the UN, is that Libya, Syria, China, Egypt, Sri Lanka, SUDAN (SUDAN????), Zimbabwe, France (just kidding pobrecito, don't get your panties in a knot) and Iran are or were recently on the UN Human Rights Commission. What? No North Korea???

"All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there" Unkown (at least to me) wise man.

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Chriscan (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 20, 2009, 01:14:

I see this as a positive force. If soldiers are killing out of genuine fear, I understand that but it's possible that they want to report kills to look good. I support the UN in their investigation because just the fact that there is one should make the military more accountable.

I still support the government and military but these are serious allegations against poor innocent, vulnerable people. What ever comes of it, we must remember that FARC is the root of this mess.

Beam me up Scotty; No intelligent life here.

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