Family massacred in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

January 31, 2005

Family massacred in Colombia


BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Uniformed gunmen shot dead seven members of a family in a remote, mountainous region of Colombia where right-wing paramilitary gunmen and their Marxist rebel foes operate, authorities said Monday.

The massacre in San Carlos, 180 kilometres northwest of Bogota, occurred on Saturday but authorities only learned of it Sunday night, when one of the three people wounded in the attack reported it to Colombian army troops.

There were initial reports that the killers accused their victims of being rebel collaborators, indicating paramilitary fighters carried out the attack, said Edison Agudelo, a municipal official in San Carlos. "At this moment, we are heading out to recover the bodies," Agudelo told The Associated Press by telephone.

Colombia's conflict, now in its 40th year, has been marked by the massacres of civilians, accused by the warring factions of sympathizing with their enemies. Some 3,500 people, most of them civilians, are killed each year.
(snip/...)

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/01/31/915740-ap.html

[Quakerfriend]

1. The good news is that

friends and family who have been to Colombia in the past 6 mos. tell me that things have gotten much safer there. They no longer need to plan multiple vehichle escorts (decoys), to and from the airports, to avoid kidnapping. I don't know quite why this is.

[Komrade _azul]

2. Skip Columbia for vacation this year.

Venezuela might be getting in the act after Columbian forces kidnapped a high level rebel leader fro the Capital recently. Could this long simmering civil war escalate into a regional conflict?
Would this mean the Repukes call for king George to invade and overthrow another country?

[struggle4progress]

3. Your "let's-pretend-it's-for-drug-interdiction" money at work. eom