News

USIS Washington File

05 May 2000

Text: State Department Corrects Error on Colombian Terrorist Report

(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)