DATE=8/28/2000 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=COLOMBIA / U-S AID NUMBER=5-46932 BYLINE=RHODA METCALFE DATELINE=BOGOTA CONTENT= VOICED AT: // Re-runing w/cq slug date. Thx China Branch // INTRO: President Clinton this week visits Colombia on the first U-S presidential visit to the South American country in a decade. The trip comes just after the president gave the go-ahead for a one-point-three billion dollar package of U-S military aid to Colombia, aimed at knocking out illegal drug production. Close to half the aid will go to the Colombian military, in the form of helicopters and communications equipment. But as we hear from Rhoda Metcalfe in Bogota, human rights advocates say the Colombian military is deeply implicated in political killings and massacres and the new assistance has them concerned. TEXT: U-S government officials, including President Clinton, have acknowledged they have reservations about handing U-S military equipment to the Colombian army. But U-S officials point to a dramatic improvement in the Colombian military's human rights record. And they note that U-S military aid is intended to help the Colombian army take control of cocaine-producing regions that are now in the hands of leftist rebels or right-wing paramilitary groups. While the reputation of Colombia's military has markedly improved over the past 10 years, the U-S State Department's report on human rights expresses concern that the Colombian military and paramilitary groups continue to commit numerous serious abuses, including extra-judicial killings. And human rights advocates, such as Joanne Mariner, deputy director at Human Rights Watch in New York, say the only thing that has really changed is the army's tactics. /// MARINER ACT /// They've just been subcontracting these abuses to paramilitaries. The paramilitaries are responsible for the vast majority of human rights abuses and there is compelling evidence, very extensive evidence that the military is aiding and abetting paramilitaries. So for example, they provide information to paramilitaries. They look away when they know paramilitaries are going to wipe out a village or commit some horrible atrocity, the military purposely does not intercede. /// END ACT /// The paramilitaries are mercenary groups. Some were created by wealthy landowners as a type of private army to fight the country's left-wing guerrillas. But there are widespread allegations that some of the paramilitary units were also set up directly by the army. Human rights activists say gathering evidence to publicly expose a secret army-paramilitary connection has been difficult, with dozens of witnesses and investigators murdered before cases ever got to trial. /// SOUND -- poor neighborhood -- kids voices, dogs barking, cars - IN FULL, THEN FADE UNDER /// Thousands of survivors of paramilitary massacres have fled their homes and now live in poor shantytown neighborhoods like this one on the edge of Bogota. //ACT -- Woman speaking - IN FULL, THEN FADE UNDER // Lucinda is a former school teacher. She says every night she still dreams about the day the paramilitaries drove into her town. They were barbaric, she says. They killed about eight of her neighbors, hacked them up and left them on the street to be eaten by dogs. Then they burned down the town, including Lucinda's home. The attack occurred during a paramilitary campaign that began last year, to take over a region known as south of Bolivar. /// ACT -- Lucinda speaking /// She says the paramilitaries announced their terror campaign publicly on the radio and television, and the government did nothing. She says there was no point in going to the military for protection either, because the army was working with the paramilitaries. She says first the army would drive in, then the paramilitaries arrived on their heels. Colombia's attorney general's office is currently investigating dozens of army officials for alleged involvement in paramilitary abuses. So far, there have been very few convictions -- almost none against high- ranking officers. Colombia's military leaders say these cases are isolated. They deny the army has broad-based ties to paramilitary leaders. Retired-Colonel Carlos Velasquez is one of the few Colombian officers to speak out against paramilitary ties. He says the army is divided and that one section truly believes these connections must be severed. //VELASQUEZ ACT// There are a good portion of military officers who see that one of the main problems in order to obtain legitimacy among people is to be very clear against paramilitaries. //END ACT// But Joanne Mariner at Human Rights Watch says right now, the ties run deep. /// MARINER ACT/// We've found evidence that half of Colombia's brigade level army units are linked to paramilitary abuses. And these are units that are working at the national level, working all over the country, and in Colombia's three largest cities. /// END ACT /// Colombia's President Andres Pastrana promised last week that abusive military officers would, in the future, be tried by civilian courts, instead of the military courts which human rights advocates consider notoriously lenient. Mr. Pastrana also says the armed forces are more professional than ever before and the culture inside the army is starting to teach respect for human rights. Colombian officials also say the army is starting to transfer or fire members found to be collaborating with the paramilitaries U-S officials point to these Colombian government and military efforts to sever ties to the death squads and pledge to be vigilant about how the new aid is used. Human rights groups are urging the United States to accompany the assistance to Colombia with tough monitoring measures. They warn that otherwise U-S military aid could end up being used by army units to help the paramilitaries in murderous attacks on innocent people. NEB/RM/FC 29-Aug-2000 05:58 AM LOC (29-Aug-2000 0958 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .