============================================
And Bedoya denied army ties to right-wing
paramilitary groups fighting leftist
guerrillas, saying "the military has nothing
to do with these criminals.
============================================

Agence France Presse

Sunday, 23 March 1998


Colombian state rife with corruption: former army chief 
------------------------------------------------------- 

NEW YORK -- Corruption affects all facets of the Colombian state 
except for the police and the armed forces, the nation's ex-armed 
forces chief, Harold Bedoya Pizarro, told Newsweek International. 

"In Colombia, drug trafficking and corruption are rife in the political 
establishment," Bedoya, who is running for president ahead of the 
country's May 31 presidential vote, says in the latest issue of the 
weekly, due out Monday.

"Corruption has infiltrated every aspect of the state," Bedoya said. 
"The military forces and the police, since they are not political, are 
not part of the establishment ... they work for the people." 

Asked about the military's role in fighting guerrillas and drug lords, 
Bedoya said, "In Colombia, what we think of as guerrillas don't exist 
anymore."

"These groups today are in the cocaine business. And they use 
terrorism to force society -- especially people in the countryside -- to 
work for them."

The former top military officer, whom Colombian President Ernesto 
Samper fired eight months ago, also charged that drug "cartels were 
involved in the political campaign that brought him to the 
presidency." 

And Bedoya denied army ties to right-wing paramilitary groups 
fighting leftist guerrillas, saying "the military has nothing to do with 
these criminals."

Copyright 1998 Agence France Presse
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