BBC (early Saturday): Missing Colombian warlord 'dead'

From the BBC Online
Dated Saturday May 1 05:23 GMT (Friday 10:23 pm PST)

Missing Colombian warlord "dead"

The missing leader of Colombia's feared right-wing AUC paramilitaries was abducted and strangled to death by rivals, sources have reported.
Carlos Castano disappeared after a shootout at his ranch on 16 April and initial reports suggested he had gone into hiding from former comrades.
But a friend of Castano has told Reuters news agency the AUC leader was actually captured, tortured and killed.
His likely death could damage talks between the paramilitaries and Bogota.

This isn't going to get much play at DU, whose members today are rightly concerned with events in Falluja and Abu Ghraib.

However, this should not go unnoticed.

Are Latin American rightists now devouring their own? Castrano appears to have met a fate typical of those who fall into the hands of people like him.

It is to be hoped the report is true; Columbian police apparently are not quite convinced yet....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

One can infer things are not going well there, but there
is little information as to the cause of the disputes,
although one might suspect drugs and drug money. I have
heard that things are a bit more competitive in that arena
of late, the manufacturing base has dispersed, because of
the pressure applied under "Plan Colombia", to other locations.

There are also stories about conflict and refugees in the SW
along the Peruvian and Ecuadorian borders, and a S. Command
General whining about the limits on US involvement imposed by
Congress.

I have seen stories in Venezuelan sources fretting about an
invasion from Colombia with US support and involvement, but
that seems ridiculous.

One can expect that the debacle in Iraq will have consequences
over time in some or many of the US client states, as will the
bankruptcy of the US government and economy.

We live in interesting times. My prediction that we don't have
until June 30th in Iraq seems to be coming true

and warplanes to Colombia? It has attracted a fair amount of speculation, especially the tanks.

Very recently I posted an article in LBN concerning paramilitaries' approaching Venezuelan groups with the offer to murder local grassroots leaders for money. This, as well, doesn't seem completely wholesome, and has added to speculation that the paramilitaries are being used to generate a level of hostility within Venezuela and possibly Colombia will be used to launch an invasion, since the USAID-supported coup and strikes have failed.

Fears of war between Colombia and Venezuela

Colombian opposition leaders allege that the Uribe government is preparing another military agression against Venezuela. Paramilitaries aided by the Colombian Army have several times attacked targets in Venezuela. The White House is accused of wanting to exploit an armed confrontation between the two countries to gain control of Venezuelan oil.

16.04.2004 (By Jhony Corto, ANNCOL) In a declaration sent to ANNCOL various Colombian political and social leaders denounce alleged plans by the extreme right wing government of President Alvaro Uribe to attack the neighboring country. According to the signers of the declaration, the decoration in Bogota this Wednesday of Cuban born US congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balar is part of a campaign to provoke a war between Colombia and Venezuela.

Diaz-Balar is accused of having organized terrorist attacks against the Cuban government and is one of those promoting a military intervention to topple the government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

The leaders declare that "the event seeks to convert Colombia into a political and military base for aggression against the legitimate governments of the region and against president Hugo Chavez in particular. It constitutes a strategy that is not in the interest of the Colombian people but of the United States, which seeks to create conflicts and wars between sister peoples, in the service of petroleum and geopolitical interests."
(snip/...)http://www.anncol.org/side/443

It is always a mistake to expect political leaders to be
rational in the ordinary sense, and it is the Venezuelan
General's job to worry about such things, but

a.) It is difficult to see any feasible military objective
that one might pursue in Venezuela with the tanks, how are they
going to get there? What do they do if they manage that much?
Are not logistics issues going to be really ugly in such an
enterprise.

b.) In the event that such lunacy were pursued, one must expect
that FARC and ELN will take advantage of the distraction, and
Uribe has to be aware of that.

c.) The ability of the USA to help out in such an enterprise is,
at present, essentially nil, maybe a few spooks and such, but
they have already tried that several times now, and Hugo and the
Venezuelan people have kicked their butts at each attempt.

d.) The venezuelan people are armed. There has already been
planning for the construction of a "territorial army", the
lessons of Iraq are being applied.

e.) My own opinion is that the deal with the tanks was about money,
feeding a bit of cash to Aznar, but that is pure speculation.

REUTERS , BOGOTA
Sunday, May 02, 2004,Page 7

Colombian warlord Carlos Castano, whose disappearance has rocked peace talks between the government and far-right paramilitaries, has been strangled to death by former comrades, one of Castano's friends said on Friday.

The outlaw Castano, who was political chief of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), went missing after a shootout with gunmen commanded by rival AUC chiefs at his hidden ranch in northern Colombia on April 16.

"They caught Commander Carlos alive that very day and they killed him two days later, after they kept him for two days with his hands and legs bound, in his underwear," his friend said, saying he had spoken to witnesses.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/02/2003153838

and complete forgiveness of human rights violations (slaughtering suspected "leftists," union leaders, etc.) for his paramilitaries, with the stipulation they would lay down their arms (in a country swimming in horrendous numbers of arms of all kinds!).

Colombia Leader Warns Paramilitary Forces

Tuesday April 27, 2004 6:16 PM


By ANDREW SELSKY

Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - President Alvaro Uribe, alleging Tuesday that some paramilitary forces want to kill him, warned that the government would annihilate the outlawed militias unless they abide by a cease-fire and stop trafficking in drugs.

Uribe's sharp comments came as power within the right-wing paramilitary groups appears to be shifting to members heavily involved in drug trafficking, and after paramilitary co-founder Carlos Castano disappeared on April 16 during a reported attack by rivals.

The events have thrown the government's nascent peace process with the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, into doubt, Uribe said in a statement released by his office.
(snip)

For two decades, the outlawed paramilitaries have fought leftist rebels led by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN. The rebels have tried to assassinate Uribe several times.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4026960,00.html



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Posted on Mon, Apr. 26, 2004

Colombian cab driver reveals corruption in AG office

By FRANCES ROBLES

Miami Herald


BOGOTA, Colombia - Juan Carlos Cano has spent the past year hiding, ducking suspicious cars and steering clear of his old neighborhood in Colombia, where paramilitary gunmen may be looking for him.

But the 22-year-old taxi driver recently showed his face to the entire nation, telling Congress that he witnessed two investigators for the Colombian attorney general's office help murder and mutilate people suspected to be leftist guerrillas.

According to Cano, the investigators helped the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, an outlawed paramilitary group known as AUC, ``disappear people'' after the army and police swept into his guerrilla-dominated neighborhood in late 2002.

At least 45 of his neighbors haven't been seen since.
(snip/...)

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/world/8524217.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drugs, Guns and Money: US in Colombia
By Dan Kovalik
Apr 22, 2004, 12:47


(snip)
Next, RAND concludes that the three armed groups in Colombia all obtain arms from the Colombian military itself. To wit, as RAND explains, the ostensibly left-wing ELN and FARC obtain arms from the military through theft and force, and the right-wing AUC paramilitiaries through voluntary donations by the military which collaborates with these paramilitaries. What is most significant about this is that the U.S. is providing assistance to the Colombian military at record levels.

Colombia, which is received over $2.5 billion in military aid from the U.S. since the year 2000 is now the 3rd largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world.

In short, RAND has concluded that the U.S.'s military assistance is finding its way into the hands of designated "terrorist" groups. And, in the case of the AUC paramilitaries, this military assistance is being voluntarily offered to these terrorists. Indeed, the U.S. government is quite aware of this fact, with the U.S. State Department reporting in its 2002 and 2003 human rights reports on Colombia that the military cooperates with the paramilitaries in a number of way, but most notably by "providing them with weapons and ammunition, and joining their ranks while off duty."
(snip/...)

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_6743.shtml