\n{A new report released Wednesday implicates active Colombian military generals and colonels in a widespread campaign of civilian murders between 2002 and 2008.
\nThe 95-page Human Rights Watch report will have far reaching consequences within the rank-and-file of the Colombian Armed Forces and for ongoing peace talks in Havana with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).}<\/p>\n
The report focuses on what is referred to as \u201cfalse positives\u201d where soldiers lured homeless civilians and others in economically depressed situations from Bogota and other major cities with the promise of employment. They were taken to remote parts of Colombia and then killed and posed as guerrillas so as to increase the head count of rebel casualties.<\/p>\n
\u201cFalse positive killings amount to one of the worst episodes of mass atrocity in the Western Hemisphere in recent years, and there is mounting evidence that many senior army officers bear responsibility,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Miguel Vivanco, executive Americas director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cYet the army officials in charge at the time of the killings have escaped justice and even ascended to the top of the military command, including the current heads of the army and armed forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report details more than 3,000 extra-judicial killings of this nature during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe and when current President Juan Manuel Santos was defence chief – when the military was under pressure to increase its tally of combat kills. More than 180 battalions and tactical units are believed to have been involved in the practice of \u201cfalse positives\u201d and are under investigation. Hundreds of lower-ranking soldiers have already been convicted, but those amounted to a handful of colonels and no generals.<\/p>\n
Santos and new Minister for Defence Luis Carlos Villegas responded strongly to the HRW report.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow come they think that they can stain this Institution?\u201d Santos said in an address to soldiers Wednesday. \u201cI heard this morning that an NGO was making claims but without a single supporting document,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Villegas, who assumed his post Monday, said, \u201cthere may be some officials who will need to answer to the justice system but Colombia owes much more to the armed forces\u201d.<\/p>\n
The report prompted a response from U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who sponsored the bill that allowed aid to Colombia. \u201cAs we provided billions of dollars in aid to the Colombian army over many years, its troops systematically executed civilians. Worse yet, the officers who were in charge have escaped justice, and some remain in senior positions of authority,\u201d he told El Tiempo newspaper.<\/p>\n
Four retired generals on Tuesday received summonses from the Attorney General\u2019s Office to appear at a hearing next month.<\/p>\n
World Bulletin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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