General Defends Colombia Rights Record

Clearly bidding for a major increase in U.S. anti-narcotics aid, Colombia’s top military commander said Saturday that his forces are making significant strides toward improving their human rights record while Marxist rebels and their right-wing outlaw foes share equal responsibility for the deaths of many more unarmed civilians.

Armed forces commander Gen. Fernando Tapias made his remarks on the eve of a weeklong trip to the United States to push for increased military assistance that would help this nation fight drug trafficking, which he said is 40% dominated by paramilitaries and insurgents.

President Andres Pastrana reportedly is seeking $1.5 billion in anti-narcotics aid over the next three years, including helicopters and special training. Colombia supplies roughly three-quarters of the cocaine and a growing share of the heroin sold on U.S. streets.

“We have to look for a new recipe,” Tapias said of current U.S.-Colombian efforts to reduce drug production. “We have to commit much more intense forces. If the United States wanted to put an end to drug trafficking in Colombia, it could do it in two or three years.”

Concern about human rights abuses has been a major barrier to increased U.S. anti-narcotics aid for the Colombian armed forces. Most of the nearly $300 million in U.S. aid this year has been channeled to the national police.

Data released by Tapias contrast with previous findings by national and international human rights groups that in 1997 blamed right-wing groups, which call themselves self-defense forces, for more than two-thirds of civilian slayings.

According to those earlier findings, guerrillas were responsible in 20% of the cases and government entities, including the armed forces, in 3%. Those responsible for the remainder were unknown.

In contrast, figures compiled by the armed forces blame the insurgents for 594 civilian deaths so far this year, compared with 505 for the right-wing groups.

“This is almost a competition between the guerrillas and self-defense forces to see who can kill more Colombians,” Tapias said.

It is not clear whether the difference in figures indicates a change in the pattern of human rights violations or a difference in compiling data.

All sides agree that direct military participation in human rights abuses has decreased sharply--from 2,000 cases in 1996 to 40 so far this year, according to the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman, a quasi-governmental agency. The nature of those abuses was not specified.

However, activists fear that self-defense forces are acting as proxies for the armed forces in carrying out abuses as the army turns a blind eye or even collaborates indirectly.