cannabisnews.com: US-Funded Colombian Unit Linked to Terrorist Group US-Funded Colombian Unit Linked to Terrorist Group Posted by FoM on October 05, 2001 at 11:29:01 PT By Ibon Villelabeitia, Reuters Source: Boston Globe US-funded Colombian antidrug battalions worked with a military brigade accused of having links with an outlawed militia that Washington has branded a terrorist organization, a human rights group charged yesterday. Human Rights Watch said in a report that elite Colombian counternarcotics battalions trained by the US military to fight drug trafficking in the South American nation shared bases, intelligence, and logistical support with the army's 24th Brigade during antidrug operations in the southern Putumayo region in 1999 and in 2000. The 24th Brigade, which Washington cut off from US aid and training in October 1999 on suspicion of abuses, coordinated operations with right-wing death squads fighting leftist rebels in Colombia's 37-year-old war, the report said.''We have found solid, compelling evidence that shows that antinarcotics battalions that were created and trained by the US government have been relying on logistic support and intelligence sharing with the 24th Brigade in Putumayo,'' said Jose Vivanco, the group's executive director for the Americas.''The 24th Brigade has been excluded from US assistance precisely because of their poor human rights record and close links to paramilitary organizations,'' Vivanco said at a news conference in Bogota.Citing evidence collected in 1999 and 2000, the Human Rights Watch report accused some 24th Brigade officers of receiving regular payments from the militia, the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, in return for their cooperation.It said the Brigade ''regularly coordinated actions with paramilitaries and allowed them to operate openly, and even establish one of their principal bases within a short walk of an army installation.''The ''close alliance,'' the report added, resulted in ''extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, and death threats.''On Sept. 10, one day before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States put the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia - known by its Spanish initials AUC - on a list of ''terrorist organizations.''The 8,000-member AUC - a vigilante force that targets suspected leftist collaborators - is blamed for some of the worst atrocities in a war that has killed 40,000 people, mostly civilians, in the last decade.The United States is spending nearly $1 billion to help Colombian President Andres Pastrana's anticocaine offensive.Washington has trained and equipped an elite 3,000-member Colombian antidrug force to curb an annual flow of hundreds of tons of cocaine out of the Andean nation, which is by far the world's biggest producer of the drug.Human Rights Watch said the sharing of facilities and intelligence by the antidrug battalions and the 24th Brigade was a ''subversion'' of the 1996 Leahy Provision, which bans the United States from providing assistance to foreign security forces accused of human rights violations.Vivanco called on Washington to conduct a careful and full investigation into the matter and to make sure that all US military aid to Colombia is ''subject to strict conditions'' of respect for human rights.This story ran on page A8 of the Boston Globe on 10/5/2001.Source: Boston Globe (MA)Author: Ibon Villelabeitia, ReutersPublished: October 5, 2001Copyright: 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.Contact: letter globe.comWebsite: http://www.boston.com/globe/Related Articles & Web Sites:Human Rights Watchhttp://www.hrw.org/Colombia Drug War Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htmColombia's Conflicts: Enemies of the State http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11037.shtmlMeanwhile, Back in Colombia http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10960.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 09, 2001 at 19:43:03 PT News Brief from New California Media Proposal to Legalize Drugs in Colombian Senate Proceso, October 9, 2001 http://www.ncmonline.com/content/ncm/2001/oct/1009columbia.html Might Colombia -- where the US is spending $1.3 billion to fight a war against drugs -- actually legalize drugs? Senator Viviane Morales, a leader in the Liberal Party, has submitted a legislative proposal that would do just that. As reported in the Mexican weekly newsmagazine Proceso, the bill would go beyond liberalization, to full legalization of narcotics. They would be subject to a state monopoly that would control every aspect of cultivation, processing, and distribution. No advertising would be allowed.The arguments being used to support legalization are varied. One is the obvious failure of the drug war. Another is the ecological damage being inflicted by defoliants used on the coca crop. Yet another is to drastically lower the price of narcotics, removing most of the profit motive that attracts mobsters and causes so much bloodshed. "prohibition is the greatest ally of narcotrafficking," says Senator Morales. Though most of Senator Morales' fellow Liberal senators do not support the bill, she has substantial support among opposition Conservative senators. Independents, who may have the deciding votes, have yet to weigh in. Several governors and a presidential candidate have endorsed the bill. Senator Morales would like to see the vast sums that are spent fighting the drug war rededicated to combat addiction. In five years, $2 billion has been spent on the drug war, and only $123 million on prevention efforts. Compiled by Andrew Reding [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Rainbow on October 06, 2001 at 11:51:38 PT Thanks dddd I agree it is all relative. This is what helps support propaganda so well. We paint the evil empire with a dark coat of slime, (good mental images) but if you talk with the people of that evil empire you will find they are nice and good and as with Muslims mostly peaceful. So there are a few who want to control control control. I have a youngster at work who is an anal retentive maze bright (my) team leader. He is so shallow that I look at him as the perfect propaganda sponge. But he is a control freak. I think I am too much for him Peacenik hippie meets anal Yuppie rententive. Not pretty. He will be one to capitalize on the use of propaganda. I have seen him in action and he is just beginning in his career.I took a chance the other day and asked him his opinion and he said "I don't like to have opinions" HuH?The point is the war is hard fought because of people who just do not care or are not able to care. Only when something like the 911 accident happens do they take up a cause. Yes there is a lot of flag waving in Rochester Minn a town insulated from the evildoers. RainbowP.S. Just don't call me Sue ;-^) [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by dddd on October 05, 2001 at 22:55:27 PT The FARC... ...may not actually be "good guys",,,,but compared to who?,,,,would we say that the US drugpigs are "good guys"?,,or the Pastrana government,,,are they "good guys"?.....is the shrub,and his regime,"good guys"?... .....I think Rainbow is a "Good guy/(gal)".............dddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Rainbow on October 05, 2001 at 16:51:30 PT FARC?? I wonder if the FARC are actually the good guys?? Rainbow [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Rainbow on October 05, 2001 at 16:50:08 PT Terrorists??? Who was it recently that said the USA creates and trains terrorists? HUMMMM it seems the press is reporting it again. We have a history of training people and thos same people turn around and become evil doers. Maybe it is because the USA has some evil doers?? OR maybe and more likely the USA wants evil doers so certain locales will stay unstabilized and thus a non-threat. That is until they figure out the lies and propaganda the USA spews forth and turns on the civilians in a terroristic way. We trained bin Laden and how many more evil-doers. We now find the US trained the AUC and how many more evil-doers. We train Noriega and how many more evil doers.The School of the Americas which has changed names is one of the roots of creating and helping evil-doers. Seems that some of this we bring upon ourselves.But then hey we need a drug war so we can terrorize them evil hippies, sick people and dying people. I agree our politicians are no longer students of the correct tranlation of the Bill of Rights and Constitution. They are something else uh evildoers ??? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on October 05, 2001 at 13:18:46 PT Legal markets protect us from illegal ones Are there any capitalists left in Washington or has eveyone been completely seduced by the political philosophy of Marxism-Anslingerism? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment