issued by the Colombia Support Network
Send appeals asking the immediate removal of General Rito Alejo del Rio from Uraba. Since he took command of the battalion near Apartado, paramilitary violence has greatly increased. His former second-in-command Colonel Carlos Alfonso Velazquez complained to the highest Colombian Army command that General del Rio was not trying to curtail paramilitary violence. (Col. Velazquez was forced out of the Army for this.)
Ask the U.S. State Dept and Defense Dept that VISAS to General Rito Alejo del Rio and his family to come to the U. S. be suspended because of the atrocities that have been committed in Uraba since he took command. Paramilitary groups have been seen by peasants patrolling along the army, and the army under General Del Rio's command does not protect the civilian population as stipulated in the Colombian Constitution.
Write to the State Department, Defense Department and to your Senators and Representatives about this urgent situation. Urge hearings into U.S. support of the Colombian military, which includes training at the School of the Americas and millions of dollars in military aid, including Black Hawk helicopters.