Tuesday 04 November 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
RIGHTS-COLOMBIA:
Army Chief Steps Down
By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA (IPS) - General
Mario Montoya stepped
down as Colombia’s army
chief, putting an end to
his career Tuesday. The
general is under
investigation by the
attorney general’s
office, although he has
not yet been charged.
"I have been in the
service of my country
for 39 years and today I
can say that the journey
has come to an end,"
Montoya said in a brief
statement to reporters.
The annual announcement
of armed forces officers
who are retiring is due
Wednesday, and local
analysts believe Montoya
wanted to quit before he
was forced into
retirement, to preserve
his image.
Montoya was widely
regarded as a hero for
the successful Jul. 2
operation in which the
army managed to rescue
former presidential
candidate Ingrid
Betancourt, three U.S.
military contractors and
11 members of the police
and military who were
held hostage for years
by the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) guerrillas.
No one was hurt in the
covert operation, in
which members of the
military posed as
guerrillas, humanitarian
workers and reporters
and deceived the
hostages’ rebel guards
into handing them over.
An account of Montoya’s
controversial military
career was published by
IPS just a few days
after the hostage rescue
operation (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43086).
Praising Montoya’s
service to the nation,
Colombian President
Álvaro Uribe announced
Tuesday afternoon that
he accepted the army
chief’s resignation and
appointed General Óscar
González as the new
commander.
According to the W Radio
station, Uribe found out
about Montoya’s decision
to step down from a
morning radio news
broadcast.
"Montoya is under
investigation," an
official in the attorney
general's office told
Washington Post
correspondent in Bogotá
Juan Forero in
September. "He has not
been charged, but that
is the next step."
The Colombian government
emphatically denied such
reports at the time.
The Sept. 17 article
added that Luis Adrián
Palacio, a former member
of a paramilitary
militia who described
Montoya’s alleged
collaboration with these
far-right death squads
in the northwestern city
of Medellín, "has a high
degree of credibility."
The case involved
Operation Orion, led by
Montoya in October 2002,
in which troops,
allegedly acting in
collusion with the
paramilitaries, seized
control of a poor
Medellín district known
as Comuna 13 to
"cleanse" the area of
FARC and National
Liberation Army (ELN)
guerrillas.
"Forced disappearances
were committed during
the counterinsurgency
operation. There is talk
of mass graves in Comuna
13," Iván Cepeda,
spokesman for the
Movement of Victims of
State Crimes (MOVICE),
told IPS.
"We welcome the
general’s resignation.
He has been signalled in
connection with many
human rights abuses,"
said Cepeda.
For example, "in the
late 1970s, Montoya was
linked to a paramilitary
structure known as the
Triple A (American
Anticommunist Alliance),
which was active in
Bogotá against
opponents, lawyers and
journalists," he added.
The existence of Triple
A in Colombia "was
reported by members of
that structure, to which
Montoya belonged," said
Cepeda.
The organisation was
almost contemporary with
a similarly named
paramilitary group made
up of off-duty police
officers, the Argentine
Anticommunist Alliance
(also known as the
Triple A), which
operated against
leftists and other
opponents in that
country between 1973 and
1975, ahead of the
1976-1983 military
dictatorship there.
Cepeda pointed out that
"his resignation has
come in the middle of
the growing scandal over
forced disappearances
that end in
extrajudicial
executions" to inflate
the number of supposed
leftist guerrillas
killed by the army.
Twenty army officers and
seven noncommissioned
officers were sacked
last week as a result of
the scandal over the
military’s "body
counts," in which
murdered civilians are
presented as insurgents
killed in combat.
The decision was
announced during the
visit to Colombia by
United Nations High
Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay.
Pillay said Saturday
that "We are observing
and keeping a record of
the number of
extrajudicial killings,
and it does appear
systematic and
widespread in my view."
"The data we have
collected indicate that
we could be talking
about thousands of
people who have been
subjected to this kind
of treatment," said
Cepeda.
"These cases could be
taken before the
International Criminal
Court at any time, if no
real justice and
reparations are
forthcoming in
Colombia," he added.
The government has a
programme that pays cash
rewards to informants
who provide information
that contributes to
successful military
operations and leads to
guerrilla casualties.
Mentioning the
"international pressure
that could be behind all
of this," Cepeda said
"Colombia has received
international funds to
develop its security
policies, and it would
not be surprising if
funds from the
international community
have gone towards
financing the payment of
such rewards."
"If this is true," said
the activist," we would
be looking at something
that would seriously
compromise the
government, and would
justify a call to the
governments that are
financing (the Uribe
adminstration’s)
democratic security
policy," led by the
United States and
Britain.
On Friday Oct. 31, U.S.
Ambassador William
Brownfield and Colombian
Defence Minister Juan
Manuel Santos signed an
agreement for the
provision of technical
support and training in
human rights and
international
humanitarian law to the
armed forces of
Colombia.
The agreement includes
workshops in 20 of the
country’s 32 departments
(provinces). The United
States Agency for
International
Development (USAID) will
try to get victims to
participate in the
design of and follow-up
for the training
programmes, it was
reported.
For its part, the
British government
issued two harshly
worded statements in
October against the
Colombian army’s
practice of
extrajudicial killings
of civilians.
On Oct. 1, Kim Howells
in the UK Foreign and
Commonwealth Office said
"Extrajudicial killing
has no place in a
civilised and democratic
society."
And on Oct. 30, Foreign
Office Minister Gillian
Merron said "The
Colombian government's
decision to dismiss a
number of army officers
as a result of recent
extrajudicial killings
and cases of criminal
conspiracy is important.
It is vital, not least
for Colombia's
international
reputation, that the
government and courts
continue to show a
determination to deal
with human rights abuses
committed by members of
the armed forces, and
that those convicted by
the civilian justice
system are punished
appropriately." |
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