South America - Friday, May 8, 2009 5:38 - 0 Comments

Toxic fallout of Colombian scandal

The toxic fallout of a grisly army scandal continues to spread in Colombia, as more soldiers are arrested over their alleged roles. In recent days another three colonels have been arrested, bringing the total number of military personnel captured to at least 22.

The “false positives” scandal has revealed that the army murdered civilians, who were then dressed in rebel uniforms or given guns. They were then presented as guerrillas or paramilitaries killed in combat.

These allowed units to fabricate results, and officers to gain promotion.
The number of victims is believed to be in the thousands. “The issue of the false positives puts into doubt the doctrine of the security forces with respect to human rights,” said Maria Victoria Llorente, director of the think-tank Foundation Idea for Peace. “This puts at risk a prized value for the military: legitimacy.”

Demand for results

By certain measures, the “democratic security” policy of President Alvaro Uribe has been a great success. It has pushed back Marxist rebels from around the cities and deep into their mountain and jungle strongholds.

It has demobilised 30,000 members of an illegal right-wing paramilitary army, the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia. It has seen a massive drop in kidnapping and a fall in the murder rate, once among the highest in the world.

But Mr Uribe’s demand for results has pushed his security forces to the limit – and this appears to have provoked this scandal of the false positives. The scandal broke last October when it was found that poor, young men had been recruited from the slums of Bogota, promised well-paying jobs in the province of Norte de Santander, then murdered in cold blood and presented by the army as having been killed in combat.

The attorney general’s office has evidence that 30 young men were murdered in such circumstances, and so far 17 soldiers have been arrested in connection with these extra-judicial killings. Continue…