Trial in military massacre of Colombian police unit nears finale

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

Trial in military massacre of Colombian police unit nears finale
The Associated Press
Published: February 17, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia: The long, torturous trial of Colombian soldiers charged with massacring an elite, U.S.-trained drug enforcement team illustrates the grave threat that drug corruption still poses to this country's security institutions.

A cashiered army lieutenant colonel and 14 soldiers under his command each face up to 60 years in prison if convicted on Monday of the May 22, 2006 killings of 10 counter-narcotics officers, who showed up in the rural western town of Jamundi on a drug raid, only to be mowed down by an army platoon.
(snip)

The main defendant, former Lt. Col. Byron Carvajal, maintained that the unit was surprising leftist rebels. The army's top brass initially called the massacre a case of friendly fire. But senior police officials say they believe the platoon — whether its rank and file knew it or not — was protecting a major drug trafficker.

All manner of underhanded methods were used to try to subvert the trial, which lasted a year and a half, including bribes and threats, senior police officials and prosecutors told The Associated Press.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/17/america/LA-GEN-Colombia-Tainted-Army.php

[Judi Lynn]

1. Earlier story on this event, from when it was discovered officially:

Colombia says soldiers killed antidrug police
Authorities probe colonel for link to major trafficker
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff | June 6, 2006

BOGOTÁ -- Suspicions that a Colombian military unit assassinated a US-trained, elite antinarcotics team at the bidding of the drug mafia two weeks ago have proven true, officials say, in a case that has badly shaken public confidence in the military.

On May 22, 10 of the country's most successful antidrug police were killed by a military platoon in the outskirts of Jamundí, an area under the influence of narco-traffickers 195 miles southwest of the capital, near Cali.

Two military officers and six soldiers were arrested Thursday on the basis of incriminating cellphone text messages and crime-scene evidence that investigators say prove the eight men planned the killings. The suspects insist the shootings were a ``friendly fire" mistake.

``This was not a mistake, this was a crime; this was a deliberate decision, a criminal decision," Attorney General Mario Iguarán said last week . ``They were doing the bidding of a drug trafficker."
(snip)

Questions remain in the Jamundí case about the extent of alleged collusion with drug traffickers within the armed forces, and how high up it may go. The arrests came days after the US State Department certified Colombia's human rights record, ensuring the flow of most US military aid to this country. Last year, Congress withheld some military assistance on worries that the Colombian government, which has waged a nearly decade-long campaign against drug corruption, was ignoring extrajudicial killings or cooperation between the military and right-wing death squads.
(snip)

Eight of the 10 police killed were shot in the back, and ``the crime scene was contaminated before investigators arrived," said an investigative official yesterday who spoke on condition of anonymity. Investigators suspect soldiers may have fired shots from the police officers' weapons after they died, in an effort to make it look like there was a confrontation, El Tiempo reported.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2006/06/06/colombia_says_soldiers_killed_antidrug_police/

[provis99]

2. maybe the police were working for a rival druglord?

The Columbian government is so corrupt, that I'm sad this has to be raised as a legitimate possibility. There have been past cases of police officers killing each other, because they were paid by rival druglords.

[maddezmom]

3. Colombian soldiers convicted in massacre of police

Colombian soldiers convicted in massacre of police By Hugh Bronstein
8 minutes ago



BOGOTA (Reuters) - A group of Colombian soldiers were convicted on Monday of killing 10 police on an anti-drugs mission two years ago, a case that highlighted the corrupting power wielded by cocaine smugglers in this Andean country.

The 15 soldiers, none of whom were wounded in the May 2006 incident, were found guilty of aggravated homicide. They had claimed the deaths were the result of a "friendly fire" accident, but prosecutors said they were bribed by drug lords to carry out the massacre.

Corruption is a chronic problem in Colombia, the world's biggest cocaine exporter.

The country was nonetheless shocked by the ambush in which witnesses said the victims shouted, "Don't shoot. We are police. We have families" before the soldiers shot hundreds of bullets from short range near the western town of Jamundi.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080218/wl_nm/colombia_killings_dc;_ylt=Ao.SycnQdyJ0rb6D69yoJA9m.3QA

[Judi Lynn]

4. Thanks for posting the verdict. Hoping this time they will deliver a serious penalty.

They've been involved in unconscionable massacres there since long before the drug trade was so profitable, and not being even questioned about it. It ultimately must have seemed to many of them that there literally was no law above their own, anywhere in the country, as even their most horrendous atrocities have never been treated with the solemnity a normal person would expect, not even when they massacre civilians, then dress them in the clothing of the opposition, to make them look like rebels.

It will be interesting to see if the judge is going to attach any importance to this trial when he sentences them in a couple of weeks.