05 May 2000
(Report incorrectly says ELN formed by Jesuits) (200) Following is the text of a May 5 correction to the State Department's annual report on global terrorism: (begin text) U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman May 5, 2000 Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman Correction: Terrorism Report Error on Alleged Involvement of Jesuits in Founding Colombian Terrorist Group In the Department of State's "Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1999" report, it states that the Colombian terrorist group the National Liberation Army, or ELN, was "formed in 1965 by Jesuit priests inspired by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara." This is absolutely false. It was a misstatement that was not corrected in the editorial process. We sincerely regret the error and will correct it immediately in the Internet version of the report. We offer our most sincere apologies to the Jesuit community and want to assure them that the Department of State had no intention of impugning the Society of Jesus or their pastoral work throughout the world. (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)