From: "Mary"


For immediate release January 11, 2000

CLINTON AID PLAN FOR COLOMBIA COULD ESCALATE 'DIRTY WAR'


Amnesty International USA fears a return to death squads of the 1980s

(Washington, DC) -- Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) opposes the
Clinton Administration's $1.28 billion military aid program for
Colombia because of the extensive links between the Colombian Army
and paramilitary groups, the human rights organization announced
Tuesday.

"As long as Colombian paramilitary groups allied with the Colombian
Army continue to commit massacres and other serious human rights
violations, US military aid to Colombia is tantamount to underwriting
the Colombian 'dirty war'," said Carlos Salinas, AIUSA Advocacy
Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. "We must not return
to the failed policies of the 1980s, which were characterized by
death squad activity and massive human suffering."

To its credit, the Clinton Administration has supported the Leahy
Law to block aid for foreign military units directly involved in
committing gross human rights violations. However, in the Colombian
context, this important prohibition does not go far enough.

"Paramilitary groups often commit atrocities in heavily militarized
areas and go through Colombian military roadblocks, with no
interference from the Army," Salinas said. "There is an extensive
collusion between the Colombian Army and the paramilitaries."

The Colombian government has dismissed some Army officials for
their involvement with paramilitaries yet these links persist
nationwide, and the vast majority of Colombian officers accused of
involvement have escaped prosecution for their crimes.

"Despite some steps taken by the Colombian government, its Army
continues to collude with the paramilitary groups, which are
responsible for the vast majority of political killings," said
Salinas. Amnesty International believes that the final toll for
political killings and "disappearances" in 1999 may reach at least
2,000.

Just weeks ago, on Nov. 28, 1999, human rights defender Edgar
Quiroga was abducted along with a companion, Gildardo Fuentes, by
paramilitaries in a heavily militarized region in the state of
Bolivar. Although the paramilitaries acknowledge abducting the
men, they remain "disappeared" - their whereabouts unknown. Several
thousand Colombians were driven from their homes as a result of
political violence in 1999, bringing to approximately 1.5 million
the number of Colombians displaced since 1985.

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