With amazement, I have read the document entitled " Gloria Cuartas Page," published by your Network, in which it is affirmed that "last week, the Colombian military requested that the CSN Gloria Cuartas Page be shut down." This constitutes an extremely serious accusation as it in no way reflects the actual facts. We are a professional Army with a democratic tradition dating back 186 years, and a solid moral structure based on respect for the constitution and laws of the Republic, in which the freedom of speech of its citizens constitutes one of the fundamental basis of the democracy we have all sworn to defend.

Such a serious accusation is detrimental to the dignity of the military institution, which after the Catholic Church, is one of the most respected in the country. For this motive, once the document was made public, copy was forwarded to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Carepa ( government institution responsible for the administration of justice), requesting that my behavior be investigated, as I am being condemned disregarding the precept that everyone is considered innocent until legally proven guilty. The Prosecutor's office sent copy to Judge #114 of the Military Criminal Justice System, with headquarters at the Army's XVII Brigade, in order to investigate my behavior and that of Major General Ivan Ramirez Quintero, on the possible connections with ill-named paramilitary groups denounced in the web page.

In order to clarify the events, the Judge sent a sworn certification in writing to Ms. Gloria Cuartas at the Mayor's Office, requesting that she further explain, confirm or refute the information appearing on the CSN web page, thus providing her the opportunity to denounce before the Colombian judicial system, all the supposed atrocities and crimes which the military are presumably accused of. To my judgment, this is a clear indication that there exists a state of law in Colombia, in which every.... (illegible)

As will be seen, Ms. Gloria Cuartas was never "called into a military court:" as you have affirmed in your communique to the international opinion. Furthermore, I fail to understand why you allow the name of an individual such as Gloria Cuartas to be used to launch false accusations, since as it appears on the document, she was "interrogated about this very web page, despite the fact that she has never seen it." This allows us to assume that she was not familiar with the contents of the document, a situation which I consider to be extremely sensitive, as I cannot understand how an entity as serious and important as Internet allows third parties to use the name of a citizen to launch false accusations.

In order to clarify this unfortunate event, I wish to refer to a phrase which troubles me, when you affirm that Ms. Gloria Cuartas " at the present time, is threatened for the sole reason that she is seeking an END TO THIS INSANE VIOLENCE." Gloria requests that you do what you can do to help her and her people in this hour of need." This phrase leaves (sic) the issue of who is threatening her, and to this regard, I wish to communicate that in (sic) various occasions I have offered her in written documents of which I include copies, a personal escort, specialized and dedicated exclusively to her personal security, an offer which has invariably been turned down by Ms. Cuartas, Hence, it seems ilogical (sic) to think that a person who feels so threatened would turn down personal escorts, and travels freely throughout the country.

Lastly, I wish to refer to a subject which detriments not only my moral integrity, but also links my children, innocent minors, who have been accused by the individual writing the web page, as responsible for crimes they have never committed, while requesting that they be denied the visa to the United States merely because they are the children of an army officer, thus violating the sacred principle of individuality before the law, whereby no individual can be judged nor condemned for the supposed acts of others. I am concerned for this attitude, as it comes precisely from organizations such as the Colombia Support Network and Peace and Justice for Colombia, which defend Human Rights. It seems these are not the privilege of innocent children, the children of the military, for which the international treaties for the protection of the minor seemingly do not apply, notwithstanding the fact that Colombia has subscribed (sic) such treaties. These minors have been slandered without any consideration whatsoever.

In benefit of the freedom of speech and impartiality of the information, I would like for this document to be published at the international level, in the same manner in which others which have harmed my moral integrity, and that of my family have been published.

Cordially,
Brigadier General RITO ALEJO DEL RIO ROJAS
Commander XVII Brigade

Brigadier General RITO ALEJO DEL RIO ROJAS
Comando Decima Septima Brigada
Carepa, Antioquia
Colombia, South America