> >STOP NATO: °NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG > > > >Friday February 18 7:37 PM ET >Colombia Political Violence Leaves 27 Dead >BOGOTA (Reuters) - At least 27 people died in the >latest outbreak of political violence across Colombia, >including 20 peasants who were shot and hacked to >death by members of a right-wing paramilitary death >squad, authorities said on Friday. > >News of the killings came a day after the government, >which is engaged in year-old peace talks with the >country's leading Marxist guerrilla force, said it was >preparing to launch negotiations with Colombia's >second-largest leftist rebel group as well. > >Police said the slaughter of the peasants -- all of >whom were beheaded -- came during a three-day rampage >by about 200 members of an ultra-right paramilitary >group operating in a rural area of northern Sucre >province. > >The number of people killed in six separate villages >belonging to the municipality of Ovejas, which means >sheep in Spanish, was initially placed at 11 by the >police. But Alejandro de la Rosa, a municipal human >rights official, said 20 bodies had been recovered by >late Friday afternoon and the final death toll could >rise to 30. > >``The bloodbath began Wednesday. All the victims are >men who were shot and decapitated by the >paramilitaries,'' De la Rosa told Reuters in a >telephone interview. > >``We think at least 10 other bodies are still out >there,'' he added, explaining that the fate of some >townspeople was unknown after the orgy of violence >that finally ended early Friday. > >The paramilitaries, who field an estimated 6,000 >fighters across Colombia, have killed leftists and >suspected rebel sympathizers for more than a decade. >Though outlawed, human rights groups say they operate >with the complicity or tacit support of the military. > >Senior army officers have been linked to peasant >massacres and other atrocities in the past, in a >three-pronged civil conflict that has killed more than >35,000 in the last decade. > >Ovejas is located in Montes de Maria, a mountainous >and jungle-covered region where Carlos Castano, the >country's top paramilitary chief, has fought a >long-running battle with Cuban-inspired National >Liberation Army (ELN) for territorial control. > >The killings there came as the government stepped up >recent peace overtures with the ELN, culminating with >an offer announced late on Thursday to give the group >a safe haven in northern Bolivar province to begin >talks to end their long-running war against the state. > >Troop Pullout For Eln > >Details of the possible land-for-peace deal with the >ELN have not been made public. But the government has >pulled all troops out of a Switzerland-sized area of >southeast Colombia since late 1998, to create a forum >for ongoing peace negotiations with the larger >Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). > >Pablo Beltran, a senior ELN commander, told reporters >on a visit to Nicaragua Friday government security >forces would also be removed from the zone the ELN is >to be granted control over in Bolivar. ``The only >military force that will be left there is that of the >guerrillas,'' Beltran said. > >In addition to the killings in Ovejas, police said a >paramilitary death squad gunned down three people on >Friday in northwest Antioquia province. > >Two soldiers died in a clash with members of a >paramilitary group in southwest Valle del Cauca >province, meanwhile, the same province where two >police officers died in a FARC rebel attack in the >town of Cumbarco. > >Slow-moving peace talks with the FARC, which has about >17,000 fighters compared with the ELN's 5,000, are >taking place without any previous cease-fire deal. > > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. >http://im.yahoo.com > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
