Posted by ALBERTO on February 22, 19102 at 04:23:10:
The most controversial aspect of Colombia’s conflict involves the relationship between the army and the right-wing paramilitaries. Though the official policy is to combat the irregular and illegal forces of both right and left, in practice there is much evidence that army commanders in the field turn a blind eye to the paramilitaries, and sometimes operate in collusion with them, against what they see as a common enemy. Now that peace talks are off, there are fears that right-wing paramilitary vigilantes (responsible for more killings than the guerillas) will attack the 90,000 civilians in the rebels’ sanctuary, riding on the army’s coat-tails. Mr Uribe’s plan to assign security tasks to up to 1m civilians could also prove a green light to more paramilitary attacks, his critics fear.
Killings by the paramilitaries, and the armed forces' close ties to them, lead critics of American policy in Colombia to call for a halt to aid.