NYT,pg1: Colombia Unearthing Plight of Its 'Disappeared'

[DeepModem Mom]

Colombia Unearthing Plight of Its 'Disappeared'
By JUAN FORERO
Published: August 10, 2005


SAN ONOFRE, Colombia - In one of the most horrific chapters of Colombia's long civil conflict, investigators are unearthing scores of bodies from secret graves dotting this humid cattle-grazing region near the Caribbean, the victims of right-wing paramilitary groups now benefiting from generous concessions for pledging to disarm.

With dozens of people coming forward in recent months to complain of missing relatives, government and military officials now estimate that hundreds of poor farmers may have been killed and secretly buried in a terror campaign that began in the late 1990's.

The paramilitary groups, they say, kidnapped and killed their victims to seize land and in some cases weed out supporters of the Marxist guerrillas who have been fighting the government since the 1960's.

For years, fear kept the crimes hidden. But with the arrival this year of a new military commander who has secured the region, families finally began speaking out, despite lingering dangers that cost the life of one whistleblower earlier this year.

So far, 72 bodies have been recovered from El Palmar, a vast farm outside San Onofre that was used as a local base by the paramilitary forces, whose militias control several coastal states....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/international/americas/10colombia.html?oref=login

[struggle4progress]

1. kick

[Judi Lynn]

2. Oh, my God. To think Uribe's entire past is caught up with these people

as well, and he has been trying to get them immunity for ages. Oh, why not? Something had to be done about suspected "leftists." After all, the "leftists" were the terrorists, NOT the paramilitaries who took chain saws and butchered the villagers, and clubbed even children to death, etc., etc., etc.

We should thank our heavenly pResident for arranging to send a boatload of American taxpayers' hard earned money to Uribe this year, a staggering amount, making Colombia third in line for foreign aid, right behind Israel and Egypt.

From the N.Y. Times story:

"A lot of people here have disappeared - sons, fathers, mothers, brothers," said Iván Wilches, 22, whose brother disappeared. "Every day there were people killed. They would pull them out of houses, breaking down doors. They would all wind up dead."

The discoveries have highlighted a brutal but overlooked component of Colombia's war - the disappearances of more than 3,500 people in recent years - and raised fresh questions about whether there will ever be justice for the killings.
The authorities say they have arrested 11 paramilitary fighters from the area who face criminal charges. But the two suspected masterminds, according to local people and government authorities, are benefiting from a new Justice and Peace Law that offers them leniency in exchange for disarming.

The two commanders- Edward Cobos and his lieutenant, Rodrigo Mercado Pelufo, who ran the local 600-member militia - are ensconced in a government-run safe haven for 50 paramilitary commanders and could serve sentences as short as two years. They and other militia members are not obliged to provide details of their crimes. If the authorities do press charges, the law gives them only 60 days to build cases, something that human rights groups say will be nearly impossible.

The government, which has tried and failed for years to negotiate an end to the conflict with the guerrillas, says the new law is needed to demobilize some 15,000 paramilitary fighters throughout the country who have taken up arms in recent years, adding to the violence.

The law has ignited fierce objections from those who fear that it will lead to a whitewash of some of the worst atrocities of a 41-year civil conflict in which 200,000 people have died. Until now, most notice was given to massacres and the assassination of politicians. But little attention has been paid to the what is known as the "disappearing" of people, something more commonly associated with other Latin American conflicts, from El Salvador to Brazil to Argentina in past decades, when it was used mostly by military governments wanting to silence adversaries and sow fear among civilians.
(snip)

Thanks to Struggle4Progress for kicking DeepModem Mom's post, which had been pushed to another page.