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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@aol.com href="mailto:tanstl@aol.com">David Sladky</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=undisclosed-recipients:
href="mailto:undisclosed-recipients:">undisclosed-recipients:</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, January 11, 2010 7:29 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Human Rights in Colombia : School of the Americas and Plan
Patriota </DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial color=black size=2>
<DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_f7ea9642-cad3-4eed-b28e-979483d1494e>
<H2>03 December 2009</H2>
<H3><A name=3013856354357372169></A><A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/human-rights-in-colombia-school-of.html"
target=_blank>Human Rights in Colombia : School of the Americas and Plan
Patriota</A> </H3>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><A
name=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411093509561790850></A><A
href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgQ4LPaMYI/AAAAAAAAHSY/A3Uaz3yKrQ0/s1600-h/colombia+soldiers+flag.jpg"
target=_blank><IMG height=275
src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgQ4LPaMYI/AAAAAAAAHSY/A3Uaz3yKrQ0/s400/colombia+soldiers+flag.jpg"
width=390 align=bottom vspace=5 border=0 name=graphics1></A> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT size=2><I>Image from
redsolsur.com. / Impunity Watch South America.</I></FONT></DIV><BR><FONT
size=5><B>Colombia and the School of the Americas</B></FONT>:<BR><FONT
size=5><B>A history of human rights abuse</B></FONT><FONT
size=5><BR><BR></FONT><B>By Marion Delgado</B> / The Rag Blog / December 3, 2009
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><B>See 'Know your new military bases,'
a look at Tolemaida Air Base in Melgar, Below.</B></BLOCKQUOTE>CARTAGENA DE
INDIES, Colombia --<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The United States recognized Colombia's Military Forces on Friday,
November 6, 2009 for their effort and commitment towards Human Rights causes
in the country.<BR><BR>According to the U.S. Institute for Hemispheric
Security Cooperation, the Colombian Army stood out as unique in the world with
regard to its Human Rights leadership and the fact that it has human rights
offices[sic] in its divisions, brigades and battalions.</BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><A name=fullpost></A><A
name=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411065408779109250></A>This was reported on Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe’s website. I ran across it while researching the
Colombian Army’s (COLAR) record on Human Rights. From the research I’d already
done at that point, it gave me pause... WTF?? I wondered, “Who would give COLAR
a human rights award?”<BR><BR>Well, it came as no surprise when I finally
figured out that the real name of the awarding organization was <B>Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation</B>. You will remember them as our
old friends the <B>School of the Americas</B>, who have long been associated
with Human Rights issues.<BR><BR><A
href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/Sxf3Ufquw4I/AAAAAAAAHRo/C-4aLhMalC8/s1600-h/WHISC_logo.jpg"
target=_blank><IMG height=213
src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/Sxf3Ufquw4I/AAAAAAAAHRo/C-4aLhMalC8/s400/WHISC_logo.jpg"
width=324 align=bottom vspace=5 border=0 name=graphics2></A> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT size=2><I>Official seal of
the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation.</I></FONT></DIV><BR>The posting went on: <BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Lt Colonel Javier Alberto Ayala Amaya was awarded the medal of
Commander of the U.S. Army, for his meritorious service and outstanding
professionalism as an instructor in the field of Human Rights.<BR><BR>In
addition, the rules of behaviour in combat and confrontation employed by the
Army reflect the experience of the troops in operational law, which places the
institution as a hemispheric leader in education and training
programs.<BR><BR>Lt Colonel Amaya is part of a large group of Colombia
officers and civilians who educate on human rights abroad.</BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><A
name=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411079860392289938></A>I searched 14 reference sources
for any mention of the “Commander of the U.S. Army Medal.” <I>Nada</I>. I found
a “U.S. Army Commander’s Medal” that is awarded to civilians, but no mention of
awarding that to foreign military personal. Probably something they hammered out
just before the ceremony. It became apparent that it was just another stick in a
propaganda framework as part of making our co-conspirators in the new
US/Colombia military pact seem friendly. But, COLAR and the <B>School of the
Americas</B> (SOA) do have a long association.<BR><BR><B>How the SOA shelters
soldiers who face trial at home</B><BR><BR>One of the apparent functions of SOA
is post-graduate protection of the thugs they train and turn loose on the
population of Colombia.<BR><BR>In 1992, Lieutenant Colonel Victor Bernal Castaño
was enrolled at the SOA to avoid having to answer to investigators about the
Fusagasugá massacre of a peasant family, according to the Colombian legislature.
The SOA enrolled him in its longest and most prestigious course, the Command and
General Staff College, and made him "<I>Jefe del Curso</I>," (Chief of Course).
This was after he had already been implicated in the 1989 disappearance of
<I>campesina</I> Sandra Velez, and was known to protect and aid death squads.
Sandra is just one of hundreds who met the same fate, listed on the site
below.<BR><BR>In another example from the early 1990s, Lieutenant Colonel Luis
Felipe Becerra Bohórquez attended the SOA while a warrant was out for his arrest
for his leading role in the 1988 massacre of 20 banana workers in the Urabá
region. The SOA claims Becerra Bohórquez was never "formally enrolled" in
officer training there, but according to Colombian government records, the
Colombian Army sent him to the SOA to avoid arrest. In 1993, after his extended
shelter at the SOA, he returned to Colombia and led another massacre, this time
murdering 13 civilians at Riofrío. In November 1993, under intense international
pressure, Colombia dismissed Becerra from the military.<BR><BR>This is a
long-standing role of the SOA. For instance, in 1982 First Lieutenant German
Espinoza Rubio, who had already graduated from the SOA in 1976, faced with an
investigation into his role in assassinating several campesinos, was spirited
away to the SOA for a course in "Patrol Operations.” When the danger of the
truth had passed he promptly "dropped" the course and returned home.<BR><BR>If
you are thirsty for more atrocities by SOA graduates perpetrated on the
Colombian people, there are plenty <A
href="http://www.derechos.org/soa/colom-not.html" target=_blank><FONT
color=#445566>here</FONT></A>.<BR><BR><A
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgEdsHz5pI/AAAAAAAAHRw/tgyj01TK8xQ/s1600-h/school+of+the+americas.jpg"
target=_blank><IMG height=252
src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgEdsHz5pI/AAAAAAAAHRw/tgyj01TK8xQ/s400/school+of+the+americas.jpg"
width=400 align=bottom vspace=5 border=0 name=graphics3></A> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT size=2><I>Thousands of human
rights activists and torture survivors demonstrated against the School of the
Americas at Fr. Benning, Georgia, Nov. 20-22, 2009. Photo from the Columbus
Ledger-Enquirer.</I></FONT></DIV><BR><B>The phony ‘War on Drugs’</B><BR><BR>The
U.S. pays SOA graduates to murder civilians, lying to the public that the aid
goes to the "War on Drugs"<BR><BR>In 1991, two Colombian generals thanked the
U.S. Congress for $40.3 million in "anti-narcotics aid,” which they said would
be used (illegally) in counterinsurgency campaigns in northeastern Colombia,
where narcotics are neither grown nor processed. Both are members of the <B>SOA
"Hall of Fame"</B>: General José Nelson Mejia Henao, inducted in 1989, and
General Luis Eduardo Roca Malchel, inducted in 1991 after being known for war
crimes, including torture, as recently as June 1988.<BR><BR>Prison guards
trained at the SOA close their eyes while drug kingpins walk out of jail. In
August, 1992, three Army officers were forced into early retirement after
notorious cartel leader <B>Pablo Escobar</B> "escaped" from prison, where he had
been living in grand style. Two officers were SOA graduates: Lieutenant Colonel
Manuel José Espitia Sotelo, commander of the military police battalion guarding
the prison, had graduated only months before. General Gustavo Pardo Ariza, head
of the Fourth Brigade in Medellin, commanded soldiers who were supposed to be
guarding the prison from which Escobar literally walked away.<BR><BR>On November
22, 1994, five top officers were dismissed by President Ernesto Samper, who
overhauled the military leadership in the hopes of decreasing corruption and
drug trafficking in the armed forces and improving the human rights record of
the military. At least three were generals who graduated from the SOA and one is
a member of the School’s “<B>Hall of Fame,”</B> inducted in 1993: General Hernán
José Guzmán Rodriguez, Commander of the Colombian Army, known to protect and aid
paramilitary death squads between 1987 and 1990, and before that known to
command the soldiers who detained, tortured, gang-raped, and executed an
innocent woman, Yolanda Acevedo Carvajal, and then concocted a story that she
committed suicide by shooting herself in the nape of the neck.<BR><BR><B>The
phony ‘War on </B><I><B>Guerrillas</B></I><B>’</B><BR><BR>On July 24, 1997,
<B>SOA graduate</B> and <B>guest instructor</B> General Harold Bedoya Pizarro
was fired from his position as chief of the armed forces by President Samper.
Defense Minister Gilberto Echeverri suggested the dismissal is because of
Bedoya's unwillingness to commit to improving the military's poor human rights
record, <BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>“Throughout Bedoya's entire career [1965 to the present], he has
been implicated with the sponsorship and organization of a network of
paramilitary organizations. Bedoya, who has never undergone any investigation
for his involvement in the massacres of non-combatants or other dirty-war
crimes, is an articulate proponent of the continued legal involvement of local
populations in counterinsurgency operations."</BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><A
name=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411083495032157282></A>On February 12, 1992, SOA graduate
Captain Gilberto lbarra forced 3 peasant children to walk in front of his patrol
to detonate mines and spring ambushes. Two were killed; one was seriously
wounded.<BR><BR>From 1988-1991, at least 107 citizens of the village of Trujillo
were tortured and murdered. An eyewitness said Major Alirio Antonio Urueña
Jaramillo (an SOA graduate) tortured prisoners (including elderly women) with
water hoses, stuffed them into coffee sacks, and chopped them to pieces with a
chainsaw. The eyewitness soon disappeared. Major Urueña was promoted to Colonel.
After intense international outcry, Urueña was dismissed from the Army in
February 1995.<BR><BR>Also implicated in the Trujillo chainsaw massacre was SOA
graduate Colonel Roberto Hernández, who during the same period (1990) supervised
the illegal detention and torture of 42 people, most of them union members and
human rights workers. Throughout the 1980s, Hernández was implicated in numerous
extreme-right death squad activities.<BR><BR>In 1990, SOA graduate First
Lieutenant Pedro Nei Acosta Gaiviso ordered the massacre of 11
<I>campesinos</I>, had his men dress the corpses like guerrilla forces, and then
dismissed the killings as an armed confrontation between the Army and
guerrillas.<BR><BR><B>And the beat goes on…</B><BR><BR>“That’s history,” you may
say. In about an hour, using various sources, I turned up 17 pages of these
horror stories. What about today, what kind of army will our troops mix with at
the 10 Colombian military bases we’ll be sharing? What will they learn and take
part in?<BR><BR>For one thing, they will be immediately used in <I><B>Plan
Patriota</B></I>, in which some U.S. servicemen and women and civilian
“advisors” are already involved.<BR><BR><I><B>Plan Patriota</B></I><B>: Don’t
ask -- don’t tell</B><BR><BR>Shrouded in silence in Colombia, <I>Plan
Patriota</I> has begun to emerge as the most ambitious military offensive to
date against leftist <I>guerrillas</I>, with the U.S. military providing
tactical and logistical support.<BR><BR>Taking part in the operation, which
according to press reports involves 17,000 soldiers deployed in southern
Colombia, are mobile forces and special jungle commandos trained by U.S.
advisers and backed up by modern technology from the U.S.<BR><BR>The offensive
is being carried out in a vast territory under the control of Colombia’s main
rebel group, the 18,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
which rose up in arms four decades ago.<BR><BR><I>Plan Patriota</I> signals the
entrance of the U.S. into a new, more intense phase of military involvement in
Colombia's internal armed conflict. Unlike <I>Plan Colombia</I> -- also financed
by Washington -- <I><B>Plan Patriota</B></I><B> makes no pretense of furthering
U.S. counter-drug objectives</B>.<BR><BR>Instead, <I>Plan Patriota</I>
underscores the potential for escalation beyond the mission understood by
Congress and beyond the appetite of the American public, unlike its predecessor,
<I>Plan Colombia</I>; <B>this strategy has no stated humanitarian
component</B>.<BR><BR><I>Plan Colombia</I>, which many observers have declared a
failure, sought to reduce the supply of drugs to the United States -- the
world's largest market for illegal drugs -- by attacking production of coca and
the jungle labs that convert the leaves into cocaine, a strategy that was
simultaneously supposed to reduce revenues of the leftist
insurgents.<BR><BR>Latin American Human Rights Association (ALDHU) warns of the
impact of <I>Plan Patriota</I> on Ecuador, which shares a 640-km (398 mi.)
border with Colombia, cautioning that it could lead to an increased flow across
the border of Colombian civilians fleeing the conflict, and push drug and arms
traffickers into Ecuador as well.<BR><BR><I>Plan Patriota</I> is seen as
complementary to the U.S. <B>Andean Regional Initiative</B>, focused on Ecuador,
Peru, Bolivia and Panama, and aimed, among other things, at beefing up control
along the borders with Venezuela.<BR><BR><BR><A
href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgHxQNe9GI/AAAAAAAAHSA/MoTgUT87LIM/s1600-h/general+james+hill.jpg"
target=_blank><IMG height=272
src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgHxQNe9GI/AAAAAAAAHSA/MoTgUT87LIM/s400/general+james+hill.jpg"
width=400 align=bottom vspace=5 border=0 name=graphics4></A> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT size=2><I>General James Hill
top general for the U.S. Southern Command. Photo by J. Pat Carter /
AP.</I></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><A
name=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411082543067463202></A><BR>General James Hill, until
quite recently in charge of the U.S. Southern Command, confirmed what Colombian
authorities have not admitted: the magnitude and extent of the offensive against
FARC. Hill, who since November, 2008, has held 13 meetings with Colombian
military officers and visited Ecuador six times, passed through Bogotá on June
23, 2009 ,after touring Larandia military base in the southern state
(<I>Departamento</I>) of Caquetá, where <I>Plan Patriota</I> is
coordinated.<BR><BR>The general praised the progress of the offensive that, as
has now been revealed, began in June 2003 with an attack on rural areas south of
Bogotá, where local peasants support FARC. He said that the U.S. military is
providing Colombian armed forces with fuel, logistical support, and
planning.<BR><BR>(General Hill was recently replaced by Four Star Air Force
General Douglas Fraser who is now the Commanding Officer of SOUCOM. SOUCOM
covers 45 nations and territories and the 16 million square mile Caribbean
Sea.)<BR><BR>A spokesman from the Bolivarian Movement, FARC's clandestine
political arm, declares that despite the impressive U.S. technology, "the
popular resistance remains unbeatable."<BR><BR>According to a source who spoke
on condition of anonymity, the ceiling set by the U.S. Congress on the number of
military advisers has already been far surpassed. He said there are "around
2,000 U.S. mercenaries. People recognize them by their accent… They walk around
the town of Cartagena del Chairá [in Caquetá], and are very heavily
protected.”<BR><BR>Why the official secrecy about the biggest military offensive
in the history of Colombia’s conflict? Consider U.S. operations in Iraq, where
reporters from nearly all outlets -- even <I>Al Jazeera</I>, to some extent --
have been embedded with U.S. military units, often resulting in unabashedly
supportive media coverage of that controversial war.<BR><BR>By most accounts,
the reluctance to share information about <I>Plan Patriota</I> comes from the
Colombian side. The Colombian military is highly reluctant to grant journalists
or outside observers any interviews, access to installations, or entry into
theaters of operations. The most-stated reason: the need to keep sensitive
tactical information from reaching the enemy (FARC).<BR><BR>The more likely
reason is nationalist sensitivity. Not only is the Colombian government likely
to balk at the prospect of foreign reporters sticking their noses into <I>Plan
Patriota</I>, they’re probably unwilling to make public the degree of U.S.
participation in what they would prefer be considered a 100 percent Colombian
offensive.<BR><BR>No matter what the reason, such secrecy is a mistake. It leads
to fear that things are going worse than they may in fact be going. It gives
credence to reports that as many as 1000 Colombian soldiers have been killed,
that they are bogged down in the bush and suffering from flesh-eating diseases,
that they have done little more than capture relatively low-ranking guerrillas
and take over already-abandoned encampments, that morale is low, and that
military operations are accompanied by almost no social investment in the
long-neglected rebel zones.<BR><BR>This is fast becoming the mainstream view of
<I>Plan Patriota</I> among the Colombian people and in the foreign press such as
the <I>Miami Herald</I> -- a big, costly military effort that has yielded few
results. Is this perception correct? <I>¿Quién sabes?</I> The only way we’ll
find out is if the U.S. and Colombian governments stop neglecting public opinion
and abandon their insistence on total secrecy.<BR><BR>The U.S. has already put
$700 million into <I>Plan Patriota</I> (no wonder we can’t afford health care),
and now it plans to put thousands of U.S. troops in also, as a part of the
Andean Regional Initiative.<BR><BR>For a preview of what <I>Plan Patriota</I>
will look like on the ground, take a look at reports on terror in Arauca from
the <B>Colombia Support Network</B>. For the full story of what happened there
go <A href="http://www.colombiasupport.net/betoyes.html" target=_blank><FONT
color=#445566>here</FONT></A>.<BR><BR><A
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgG513afiI/AAAAAAAAHR4/Gv_SXwYOHJE/s1600-h/plan+patriota.jpg"
target=_blank><IMG height=268
src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgG513afiI/AAAAAAAAHR4/Gv_SXwYOHJE/s400/plan+patriota.jpg"
width=400 align=bottom vspace=5 border=0 name=graphics5></A> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><I>Plan Patriota.</I></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><A
name=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411085700380461650></A><BR><B>Army killings of
civilians</B><BR><BR>In recent years there has been a substantial rise in
extrajudicial killings of civilians attributed to the Colombian Army, documented
by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, many human rights
organizations, and, most recently, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial
Executions. Army members, under pressure to show results, take civilians from
their homes or workplaces, kill them, and then garb them as combatants killed in
action to increase their body count.<BR><BR>The alleged executions have been
occurring throughout the country and involve multiple army brigades. The
Attorney General's Office is reported to be investigating more than 1,000 such
cases involving more than 1,700 victims.<BR><BR>President Uribe for years
publicly denied the problem existed, and accused human rights groups reporting
these killings of helping the <I>guerrillas</I> in a campaign to discredit the
military. After a major media scandal in September 2008 over the executions of
several young men from Soacha, a low-income neighborhood of Bogotá, Uribe
dismissed 27 members of the military, including three generals. There have been
several more dismissals since then. But Uribe continues to claim these are
isolated cases, emphasizing that there are only "22 proven cases" and charging
that there are hundreds of "false allegations."<BR><BR>Army Commander Mario
Montoya, the subject of allegations linking him to abuses and paramilitaries,
resigned in November 2008 right after the Soacha scandal. Uribe appointed him as
ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Montoya's replacement and reported
protégé, General Oscar Gonzalez Pena, commanded the 4th Brigade of the Army when
it had one of the worst records of extrajudicial executions in the
country.<BR><BR>The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions visited
Colombia in June 2009. In preliminary findings, he noted that, "the sheer number
of cases, their geographic spread, and the diversity of military units
implicated, indicate that these killings were carried out in a more or less
systematic fashion by significant elements within the military." He pointed out
that the Colombian military justice system contributes to the problem by
obstructing the transfer of human rights cases to the ordinary justice system.
His final report will address these and other issues, including possible
incentives to members of the military that contribute to the
killings.<BR><BR>The executions, which the Special Rapporteur described as
"cold-blooded, premeditated murder of innocent civilians for profit, stand out
as one of the most serious abusive practices by state agents we have documented
in Latin America in recent years.” The frequency of the executions and the
failure of President Uribe to acknowledge the gravity and scope of the problem,
or to institute adequate measures to prevent it, should raise questions about
the purposes for which U.S. military aid is being used, and the effectiveness of
continued aid. That finding is just five months old.<BR><BR>Aww, shit. That’s it
for this week. I can only write about Human Rights Abuse for so long before it
begins to wear on my mind. I could go on for another 100 pages but I doubt that
you could stand it long enough to read it.<BR><BR>This is a small window on the
situation and the people U.S. troops will be in cahoots with as we go forward
with the seven new bases the Obama government has signed on to pay for,
construct, and occupy.<BR><BR>Next week I will take a look at corruption in the
Colombian Military. Maybe I won’t find any. Whadda ya think?<BR><BR><I>Asi es en
Colombia hoy</I><BR><BR><A
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgJxnxfilI/AAAAAAAAHSI/uFWeJ-4GnuE/s1600-h/tolemaida+cadets.jpg"
target=_blank><IMG height=266
src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HyyDHyAwI6k/SxgJxnxfilI/AAAAAAAAHSI/uFWeJ-4GnuE/s400/tolemaida+cadets.jpg"
width=400 align=bottom vspace=5 border=0 name=graphics6></A> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=2><I>Female cadets training at the Tolemaida base
in Melgar, Colombia. Photo by Fernando Vergara / AP.</I></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT size=5><B>Know your new military bases</B></FONT><FONT
size=5><BR><BR></FONT><B>Melgar</B> is a Colombian town in the Department of
Tolima 65 mi. southwest of Bogotá and one hour north of Ibague the capital
city of Tolima.<BR><BR>Melgar is located in the Sumapaz River Valley and
borders the Department of Cundinamarca and Sumapaz River to the north, town of
Icononzo to the east, and the towns of Cunday at the south and Carmen de
Apicala to the west.<BR><BR>The town is home to a major military base called
<B>Tolemaida Air Base</B>.<BR><BR>Tolemaida Military Fort, in the Nilo région;
is at an elevation of 1,617 feet (493 m) above mean sea level, with two
runways; 04/22 has an asphalt pavement measuring 9,280 by 96 feet and 04L/22R
with a concrete surface measuring 1,431 by 65 feet.<BR><BR>Tolemaida is half
way between Bogotá and Medellin. It has taken on a reputation as Colombia's
Abu Ghraib.<BR><BR>The Bogotá daily <I>El Espectador</I> reported on January
8, 2009, that in October, 2008, U.S. military officers and private contractors
had overseen a session at the base in which three young girls from a nearby
village were tortured and raped.<BR><BR>The sessions were apparently
videotaped, and the tapes then distributed in the local village of Melgar,
where the girls were from. They were subsequently ostracized and forced to
flee the village with their families.<BR><BR>The most disturbing thing about
the allegations is that the girls were not even suspected of anything; they
had been lured to the base in exchange for money and a promise of visas to
enter the U.S., and apparently used in a torture demonstration.<BR><BR><B>Your
tax dollars</B><BR><BR>As at <B>Larandia </B>and <B>Palanquero</B> there are
thousands of troops of all kinds at <B>Tolemaida</B> and <B>Melgar</B>, those
listed below are the ones we know of that directly receive U.S. tax dollars
from the Department of State and/or the Pentagon.<BR><BR><B>COLAR Lancero
School (ESLAN)</B><BR><B>COLAR Professional Soldier School
(ESPRO)</B><BR><BR><B>Rural Special Forces Brigade (BRFER)</B> </BLOCKQUOTE>
<UL>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">2nd Special Forces BN (BFER1)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">2nd Special Forces BN (BFER2)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">3rd Special Forces BN (BFER3)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE>4th Special Forces BN (BFER4)</BLOCKQUOTE></LI></UL>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>Rapid Deployment Force (FUDRA)</B><BR><BR><B>1st Mobile Brigade
(BRM01)</B> </BLOCKQUOTE>
<UL>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">19th Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG19)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">20th Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG20)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">21st Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG21)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">22nd Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG22)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE>22nd Support and Services Company (CPS22)</BLOCKQUOTE></LI></UL>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>2nd Mobile Brigade (BRM02)</B> </BLOCKQUOTE>
<UL>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">15th Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG15)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">16th Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG16)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">17th Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG17)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">18th Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG18)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE>23rd Support and Services Company (CPS23)</BLOCKQUOTE></LI></UL>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>3rd Mobile Brigade (BRM03)</B> </BLOCKQUOTE>
<UL>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">51st Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG51)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">52nd Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG52)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">53rd Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG53)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">54th Counter Guerrilla BN (BCG54)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<LI>
<BLOCKQUOTE>25th Support and Services Company (CPS25)</BLOCKQUOTE></LI></UL>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>Instruction BN Army Aviation School (CERTA)</B><BR><B>4th Air
Combat Command (CACOM 4)</B></BLOCKQUOTE>
<UL>
<LI>For previous articles by Marion Delgado about the U.S. military presence
in Columbia, go <A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/search?q=marion+delgado"
target=_blank><FONT color=#445566>here</FONT></A>.<BR></LI></UL><A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/" target=_blank><FONT
color=#445566><I><B>The Rag Blog</B></I></FONT></A><BR>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">Posted by thorne dreyer at <A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/human-rights-in-colombia-school-of.html"
target=_blank><FONT color=#223344>7:27 AM</FONT></A> <A
href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=28179110&postID=3013856354357372169"
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target=_blank> </A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in">Labels: <A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Colombia" target=_blank><FONT
color=#445566>Colombia</FONT></A>, <A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Human%20Rights"
target=_blank><FONT color=#445566>Human Rights</FONT></A>, <A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Imperialism"
target=_blank><FONT color=#445566>Imperialism</FONT></A>, <A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Latin%20America"
target=_blank><FONT color=#445566>Latin America</FONT></A>, <A
href="http://theragblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Marion%20Delgado"
target=_blank><FONT color=#445566>Marion Delgado</FONT></A>, <A
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target=_blank><FONT color=#445566>Rag Bloggers</FONT></A>, <A
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color=#445566>Torture</FONT></A>, <A
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target=_blank><FONT color=#445566>U.S. Military</FONT></A> </DIV>
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