WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #479, APRIL 4, 1999
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339
LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
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*5. COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT ARRESTS PARAMILITARIES, REBELS
Lt. Col. Lino Sanchez Prado of the Colombian army was arrested on
Mar. 31 at a military police barracks on the west side of Bogota on
charges of having participated in the massacre of 30 civilians by
members of a paramilitary group in July 1997 in Mapiripan
municipality, Meta department [see Update #391 & "US Funded
Troops Back Paramilitary Massacres" Supplement 3/22/98]. Sanchez
is thought to be the highest ranking active duty officer arrested for
alleged links to paramilitary groups. Reuters reports that according
to the attorney general's office, Sanchez was operations chief of the
army's 12th Brigade, in southern Caqueta department, when the
Mapiripan massacre was carried out. The Medellin daily El
Colombiano reports that Sanchez belonged to the army's Fourth
Division at the time of the massacre. Associated Press said Sanchez is
currently commander of a military battalion in Florencia, Caqueta
department.
Carlos Castano, leader of the paramilitary umbrella group United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), has admitted ordering the
Mapiripan massacre in several media interviews. Human rights
groups charge that the paramilitary groups, which are responsible
for the vast majority of human rights violations in Colombia, enjoy
support from broad sectors of the country's military and police
forces. In the past year, at least seven officers and four non-
commissioned officers have been arrested for alleged links to
paramilitary groups. Last July the attorney general's office ordered
two other sergeants arrested in connection with the Mapiripan
massacre investigation; their role has not yet been publicly clarified.
In all, five people--not counting Sanchez-- have been arrested in the
case. [EC 4/1/99 from Reuters; Reuters 3/31/99; El Diario-La Prensa
4/2/99 from AP]
Paramilitary leader Mario Jaimez Mejia, known as "El Panadero," was
arrested without putting up resistance near the city of
Barrancabermeja, Santander department, police sources reported on
Mar. 19. Jaimez is accused of being the material and intellectual
author of two massacres in which 42 people were killed, as well as
other selective murders in Barrancabermeja. He is said to be part of
the leadership of the Self-Defense Forces of Santander and Southern
Bolivar, which is part of the AUC. Mejia was picked up on an arrest
order issued by the attorney general's office for the massacres in
Barrancabermeja of eight people on Feb. 28 [see Update #475] and
34 people on May 16, 1998 [see Updates #434, 436]. Mejia is
allegedly a former member of the popular militias of the leftist
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who served a two-
year sentence under FARC detention for rebellion, and subsequently
began carrying out kidnappings and extorsion. Pursued by the FARC,
who tried to kill him three times, he joined the paramilitaries. [ED-LP
3/20/99 from EFE]
The FARC broke off peace talks with the government on Jan. 25,
demanding that the government do more to crack down on
paramilitary groups and their military allies. Talks are set to resume
on Apr. 20. The recent arrest of suspected paramilitaries has been
viewed by some analysts as a bid by the government to get the
peace process back on track. However, the government has also been
cracking down on rebel leaders: on Mar. 11, police killed FARC
leaders Miguel Angel Pascuas Santos and Darley Lugo Dorado
("Commandante Oscar") in the southwestern city of Cali, according to
police sources. "We killed four people, two men and two women,
including Pascuas and another FARC leader operating in Valle
province," said Col. Clemente Alvarez, Cali's deputy chief of police.
[Agence France Presse 3/11/99; EC 3/12/99]
On Mar. 29 army troops arrested FARC leader Miller Cordoba
Aguirre, alias "Fredy," in Saravena, Arauca department. Cordoba was
in charge of the Bolivarian militias which support the FARC's 10th
Front, operating in Arauca. Cordoba is accused of homicide,
kidnapping and sedition in connection with a number of attacks,
most of them against military and police troops. The 10th Front is the
unit which the FARC has admitted was responsible for the recent
killings of three US indigenous rights activists--although Cordoba has
not been charged in connection with that case. [ED-LP 4/1/99 from
AP; EC 3/31/99 from Colprensa]
On Mar. 26, spokespeople for Colombian attorney general Alfonso
Gomez announced that an arrest warrant was issued on Mar. 25 for
FARC leader German Briceno Suarez, alias "Grannobles," in connection
with the abduction and murder of the three US activists. Briceno,
who heads the FARC's 10th Front, is suspected of having ordered the
killing of Ingrid Washinawatok, Terence Freitas and Lahe'ena'e Gay.
The three US activists were abducted by FARC members on Feb. 25
while returning from a visit to the U'wa indigenous community in
Arauca department; they were found shot to death just across the
border in Venezuela on Mar. 4. Briceno is the brother of Jorge
Briceno Suarez ("Mono Jojoy")-- the FARC's chief military strategist
and a member of the FARC's general secretariat. The FARC has
specifically denied any involvement by German Briceno in the
killings of the US activists, and has insisted on blaming a previously
unknown low ranking squad commander who it says it will put on
trial for the crime [see Updates #475, 476]. [Reuters 3/26/99; Hoy
(NJ) 3/31/99]
According to the New Jersey daily Hoy, the attorney general's office
has also ordered the arrest of Gustavo Bokota, a member of the U'wa
community, in connection with the case. Bokota is allegedly
suspected of having taken part in or collaborated with the abduction
of the US activists. [Hoy 3/31/99]
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