U.S. says no aid for Colombia army units in scandal
By Patrick Markey
BOGOTA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Three Colombian army units will no longer be allowed to receive U.S. military aid after some of their soldiers were implicated in executions of civilians, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
The measure came after President Alvaro Uribe fired 27 officers and the army's commander resigned over accusations that 11 men were killed, dumped in mass graves and presented as armed fighters to inflate military "body count" statistics.
The scandal makes Colombia's proposed free trade deal and multibillion dollar U.S. aid package to fight insurgents and drug traffickers even more likely to face tighter scrutiny when President-elect Barack Obama takes office in the White House.
"We have determined that three army units are no longer eligible to receive assistance, a step we took based on government of Colombia's information that these units were involved with gross violations of human rights," the U.S. government official said.
It was not immediately clear whether the three units -- two division commands and one de-mining unit -- had ever received U.S. military aid.
Colombia's attorney general's office is investigating the murders of the 11 young men, who disappeared from their homes near Bogota and whose bodies later turned up in mass graves near the border with Venezuela.
Their families say the men were offered work in the country's northeast, but they were initially reported as armed fighters killed in combat by the military.
A government probe found negligence by commanders and that some soldiers could be involved in murders in collusion with criminal gangs.
Colombia's four-decade-old conflict has eased sharply since Uribe sent troops to retake areas once under the control of guerrillas. Cities are safer, foreign investment has soared and Colombians travel along highways that were once a hunting ground for guerrilla kidnap squads.
But human rights groups have long said Uribe's drive against rebels has spurred abuses and illegal executions, especially in rural areas where the government's presence is still weak and armed groups fight over cocaine-trafficking routes. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Kieran Murray)
BOGOTA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Three Colombian army units will no longer be allowed to receive U.S. military aid after some of their soldiers were implicated in executions of civilians, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
The measure came after President Alvaro Uribe fired 27 officers and the army's commander resigned over accusations that 11 men were killed, dumped in mass graves and presented as armed fighters to inflate military "body count" statistics.
The scandal makes Colombia's proposed free trade deal and multibillion dollar U.S. aid package to fight insurgents and drug traffickers even more likely to face tighter scrutiny when President-elect Barack Obama takes office in the White House.
"We have determined that three army units are no longer eligible to receive assistance, a step we took based on government of Colombia's information that these units were involved with gross violations of human rights," the U.S. government official said.
It was not immediately clear whether the three units -- two division commands and one de-mining unit -- had ever received U.S. military aid.
Colombia's attorney general's office is investigating the murders of the 11 young men, who disappeared from their homes near Bogota and whose bodies later turned up in mass graves near the border with Venezuela.
Their families say the men were offered work in the country's northeast, but they were initially reported as armed fighters killed in combat by the military.
A government probe found negligence by commanders and that some soldiers could be involved in murders in collusion with criminal gangs.
Colombia's four-decade-old conflict has eased sharply since Uribe sent troops to retake areas once under the control of guerrillas. Cities are safer, foreign investment has soared and Colombians travel along highways that were once a hunting ground for guerrilla kidnap squads.
But human rights groups have long said Uribe's drive against rebels has spurred abuses and illegal executions, especially in rural areas where the government's presence is still weak and armed groups fight over cocaine-trafficking routes. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Kieran Murray)
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