FARC admits killing of 8 Awa indians (Spanish)

[Bacchus39]

http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/politica/farc-reconocen-muerte-de-8-indigenas-awa-en-barbacoas-narino_4821425-1

"Los acusó de informantes del Ejército en la región, según un comunicado divulgado este martes en internet."

The Awa were accused of being army informants according to a communication divulged Tuesday on the internet.


"Tras señalar que los indígenas fueron capturados el pasado 6 de febrero, el grupo guerrillero precisó que "ante la presión del operativo, su responsabilidad en la muerte de numerosos guerrilleros y su innegable participación activa que los implica en el conflicto, fueron ejecutados."

After signaling the Awa were captured February 6, the FARC stated that the informants were responsible for the deaths of numerous rebel guerrillas and were, therefore, executed.

[Bacchus39]

1. now in English

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_colombia_rebels;_ylt=AjdfG6YNYMxwvh0c1buKUQy3IxIF


Colombian rebels say 8 Indians killed as informers


BOGOTA – Colombia's main leftist rebel group said Tuesday that it "executed" eight Indians in the country's remote southwest, accusing them of acting as paid informants for Colombia's military.

The communique posted on a Web site sympathetic to the rebels followed widespread but unconfirmed reports that as many as 27 Awa Indians had been killed — allegations that prompted denunciations by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch and set back rebel efforts to get removed from the European Union's list of terror organizations.

Colombia's army quickly challenged the rebel justification for the killings, denying the slain Indians had been informants and alleging that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was trying to push the Awa off their lands so it could plant drug crops.

There are about 20,000 Awa, and like many indigenous groups, they have often become enmeshed in Colombia's conflict, where warring parties including far-right militias and drug traffickers frequently exact violence on civilians they accuse of collaborating with their foes.

The FARC said the eight were detained on Feb. 6 in a rural district of Barbacoas, Narino state, and all confessed to having worked with the army for two years.

"Given the pressure of the operation, their responsibility in the death of numerous guerrillas and their irrefutable active participation in the conflict, they were executed," the statement on the ANNCOL site said.

The country's armed forces chief called the guerrilla claim false.

"Not a single peso has been paid" to the Awa — nor were the Indians used as informants about rebel movements, Gen. Freddy Padilla, told The Associated Press by telephone.

In a separate communique, the army division that operates in the area accused the FARC of forcing the Awa off their reserve so it can plant coca, the basis for cocaine.

Fighting over coca crops is a key reason behind the forced displacement of more than 2.8 million Colombians — an internal refugee problem second only to that of Sudan.

The FARC has tried to improve its international image recently and recently released six hostages, an act peace activists saw as a hopeful indication that a dialogue with President Alvaro Uribe's government might be opened.

The U.N.'s deputy high commissioner for refugees, Craig Johnstone, planned to discuss the killings with tribal officials on a visit to the region this week, his office said.

The U.N. says Colombia has 87 indigenous groups, more than a third of which are at risk of extinction due largely to the conflict and forced displacement.

[Zorro]

2. This thread is unusually quiet

But I'm guessing the pro-FARC know-nothings hope this recent atrocity gets swept under the rug ASAP.

[Bacchus39]

3. they were not labor unionists, more importantly though...

they were not killed by the army or paras, so its not really a big deal.