Colombia Paramilitary Chief Says Businesses Back Him By REUTERS BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Sept. 6 -- The head of the outlawed right-wing paramilitary forces, who has conceded that most of his financing comes from the drug trade, said today that he also received support from businesses. The leader of the group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, Carlos Castano, spoke of his ties to businessmen in an open letter to Congress a day after Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramírez had urged lawmakers to investigate private financing sources for the paramilitary militias that attack leftists and suspected rebel sympathizers. "Why shouldn't national and international companies support us when they see their investments limited by the terrorism and barbarity of the guerrillas?" Mr. Castano asked in his letter. "The growing support of the business sector is an urgent necessity in our case. Either they defend themselves from our national enemy or they will disappear." Mocking Mr. Ramírez and his call for a crackdown on people who secretly back the paramilitaries, Mr. Castano said, "The crime of antisubversion or of pro-capitalism" was something that could not exist in a "civilized universe." "We don't believe the country will advance toward peace by pursuing businessmen, civic leaders and defenseless citizens or by preventing them from adopting an antisubversive stance," he said. Local and international human rights groups said the paramilitary group, which is responsible for many peasant massacres and other abuses, operates with the support of state security forces. The government has been fighting an increasingly dirty war with Marxist rebels that has taken more than 35,000 lives since 1990. In a rare television interview in March, Mr. Castano said that drug trafficking and drug traffickers probably financed 70 percent of his organization's operations. He did not elaborate on his ties to businesses and business leaders in his letter today. But Mr. Castano and his private army, which is made up of an estimated 5,000 mostly working-class fighters, have long been seen as important defenders of the economic and political interests of the conservative financial elite. "We have always proclaimed that we are the defenders of business freedom and of the national and international industrial sectors," Mr. Castano wrote. "We have said over and over again that Colombian subversives are preventing the adequate development of productive forces." <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
