=====================================
"Some public officials want to
manipulate the facts presenting
this as the result of confrontation
between guerrillas and paramilitaries.
But this massacre is the continuation
of the dirty war... in which the army
converts the civilian population into
the internal enemy"...
=====================================
THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Friday, 1 May 1998


Leftist rebels deny they killed 22 villagers in attack 
Colombian group says soldiers responsible 
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BOGOTA -- Leftist rebels said Thursday that the army, not a right-wing 
death squad, had carried out an attack in northwest Colombia earlier this 
week in which 22 villagers were killed.

Army chief Gen. Mario Hugo Galan blamed the attack on a "private justice 
group," a euphemism for the ultra-right paramilitary gangs that routinely 
target guerrillas and their suspected sympathizers. 

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, near Urrao in Antioquia province 
Tuesday, senior police officers said leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of 
Colombia (FARC) rebels were responsible. 

Authorities initially said 10 people had been slain in La Encarnacion and El 
Maravillo, two isolated communities near Urrao. But priest Father Diego 
Rivera said Thursday the final death toll was 22. 

"The armed forces carried out the killing, thereby fulfilling threats they had 
made against the population," a guerrilla fighter from the FARC's 34th Front 
said in a call to the Radionet radio network. 

"Some public officials want to manipulate the facts presenting this as the 
result of confrontation between guerrillas and paramilitaries. 

"But this massacre is the continuation of the dirty war . . . in which the 
army converts the civilian population into the internal enemy," he added. 

International human rights groups have accused the army of backing death 
squads or at least tolerating their illegal activities. 

Villagers were to bury the 22 victims later Thursday. 

Funeral preparations proceeded as many peasants packed belongings and 
began fleeing the region amid speculation the death squad was planning to 
return and burn their homes, Diego said. 

Residents told local media that a gang of 40 members in military-style 
uniforms and armed with assault rifles arrived in La Encarnacion Tuesday 
and dragged passengers off a bus before shooting them. 

The gang then raided other parts of the village before moving on to the 
nearby community of El Maravillo.

The region is home to the FARC, the nation's largest rebel band, and the 
guerrillas' enemies, landowner-backed paramilitary fighters that operate 
with support of the armed forces.

Civilians and politicians are often targeted by both groups when they are 
suspected of being too sympathetic to one or the other side. 

Massacres have become common in Colombia, which has one of the world's 
highest murder rates.

Last year, nearly 30,000 people were killed in the nation of 37 million. 

Copyright 1998 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company