Ex-paramilitaries seek alliance with Petro .

[Judi Lynn]

Ex-paramilitaries seek alliance with Petro .
Wednesday, 07 July 2010 10:34 Brett Borkan

Imprisoned Colombian paramilitary leaders sent a letter to former presidential candidate Gustavo Petro asking him to represent them in the proposed "government of national unity" of President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, El Espectador reported Wednesday.

In the letter, the paramilitary leaders expressed their desire to cooperate with Petro in his goal to return lands stolen from forcefully displaced populations.

According to the former paramilitaries, it is crucial that they participate in the government's plan to restore displaced people to their homes, as the fighters have expertise stemming from "25 years spent living at the heart of the conflict."

Paramilitary organizations have been seen as the main force behind the thousands of forced displacements taking place across Colombia's countryside in recent decades.

Petro, from the left-wing Polo Democratico party, placed Colombia's victimized populations at the heart of his presidential campaign, and incorporated proposals for land reform and land return in his bid for the presidency.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10667-imprisoned-paras-seek-alliance-with-petro.html

http://m.s11.pollpigeon.com.nyud.net:8090/media/answer/gustavo-petro_jpg_170x220_q85.jpg

[naaman fletcher]

1. imprisoned?

Are you suggesting that Uribe has imprisoned paramilitary leaders? From everything else you have posted I was under the understanding that he has let the paramilitaries run wild killing civilians. Why would Uribe have imprisoned them? He is not fighting both left wing terrorists and right-wing paramilitaries is he?

[rabs]

2. The article is about paras imprisoned in THE UNITED STATES

alvarito in the past two/three years has extradited a bunch of top-flight para-narcos (Mancuso, Don Berma, Jorge 49 and a lot of others) to the United States under charges of narco-trafficking, not charges of terrorism.

alvarito sent them stateside so Colombian judges could not have access to question them about their links to uribe and his herd of parapoliticians and military people who worked (tortured and murdered) with them.

This is very bad news for the parapoliticians, for uribito, for the implicated military officers.

[naaman fletcher]

3. I stand corrected.

thank you.

[Zorro]

4. Or they were sent to the US

to protect the Colombian judiciary from threats to their lives or other attempts to influence court activities.