Fake News and political establishment leading Colombia back to war

[Judi Lynn]

9. New York Times Covering for Colombian Death Squads

FEBRUARY 9, 2001

New York Times Covering for Colombian Death Squads
BY FAIR

The human rights situation in Colombia is in a state of “alarming degradation,” according to United Nations human rights observers (Associated Press, 1/20/01), but you won’t learn about it in the New York Times.

According to a joint report from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), “political violence has markedly increased” since the first installment of the U.S.’s $1.3 billion Plan Colombia aid package was dispersed in August, with the average number of deaths from combat and political violence rising to 14 per day (“Colombia Human Rights Certification II”, 1/01).

There were at least 27 massacres in the month of January alone, claiming the lives of as many as 200 civilians. The killings are overwhelmingly the work of right-wing paramilitaries with close ties to the Colombian military, such as the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Despite the dramatic nature of the attacks and the U.S.’s heavy financial involvement in the war, the New York Times did not report on a single massacre during the month of January. The findings of the human rights groups’ “Certification” report, including its recommendation that the U.S. cease military funding to Colombia, also went unmentioned.

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