Colombia militia scandals touch 2 top ministers

Medellin (Colombia), May 16: A scandal tying some of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's allies to paramilitaries touched two top ministers, when an ex-militia commander charged he met with them before his illegal armed group demobilized, witnesses at a legal testimony said.

The accusations could fan a scandal so far involving the arrests of 13 lawmakers on charges they colluded with the militia bosses, who committed atrocities in a conflict with guerrillas before they reached a peace agreement with Uribe.

Salvatore Mancuso, the now-jailed commander of the AUC paramilitary movement, made his charges during testimony as part of the deal in which militia leaders must give full confessions of crimes in exchange for short prison terms.

Reporters were barred from proceedings at the Medellin attorney general's office, but judicial sources and witnesses representing victims said Mancuso testified he met with Vice President Francisco Santos and Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos from 1996 to 1997 before they were in government and before Uribe became president.

The Santos are cousins and belong to one of Colombia's most influential families. At the time of the meetings alleged by Mancuso, the vice president was a columnist at the Santos family-owned owned El Tiempo newspaper and the defense minister was a private citizen.

Mancuso testified that Francisco Santos met with paramilitary commanders to talk about the idea of a militia group to fight guerrillas in the Bogota area, Carlos Ivan Lopera, a lawyer for victims who was allowed to attend the testimony, told Reuters yesterday.

''Mancuso said Pacho (Francisco) Santos was presented with a countersubversive project on three occasions and that he appeared to favor it,'' Lopera said.

Lopera said Mancuso testified that Juan Manuel Santos also met with paramilitaries to talk over a political alliance to defeat then-President Ernesto Samper. Samper governed Colombia from 1994 to 1998 but faced a crisis over charges his campaign received finances from drug traffickers.

Uribe, who receives hundreds of millions of US aid each year to help quell Colombia's insurgency, said nothing about the charges during a late-night televised speech.

A spokeswoman for the vice president's office said it would not comment for the moment. No one was available to comment at the Defense Ministry.

Criticism At Home, Overseas

The scandal involving paramilitaries has fueled criticism of Uribe at home and in the United States, where Democratic lawmakers are debating whether to approve a free-trade deal and renewed military funding for Colombia.

The paramilitaries began in the 198Os as self-defense groups set up by rich farmers seeking protection from rebels where the state's presence was weak. Rights groups have long said collusion between the army and militias was an open secret and worry paramilitaries have kept their criminal networks intact.

Uribe says the arrests of lawmaker allies show justice is working and that he welcomes all investigations to purge his government of criminal influence. Rights groups say the scandal has unearthed the depth of collusion among militias and politicians and some elements in the armed forces.

Mancuso, who has admitted to murders and massacres in the name of counterinsurgency, also told the prosecutor he had been trained by the army and helped by now-retired generals.

The militia boss had promised in his testimony to reveal the identities of all politicians, business leaders, military officers and even multinational companies who collaborated with his illegal organization.

US banana giant Chiquita Brands International recently pleaded guilty to charges a local unit paid protection money to paramilitaries and agreed to a settlement of 25 million dollars in the United States.

Reuters>