Paying people to torture people. [View All]

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Group: Colombian Gov’t, Paramilitaries Responsible for Vast Majority of Abuses

In Colombia, an independent commission has presented its findings to a UN inquiry on human rights abuses on Colombian soil. The Colombian Human Rights Coalition studied torture, murders and other political crimes dating from 2003 to 2008. Inquiry head Ana Maria Diaz said the vast majority of abuses were carried out by government or paramilitary forces.

Ana Maria Diaz: “Torture in the country is being presented in a systematic and generalized way. According to the records we have from 2003 to 2008, 93 percent of the torture is perpetrated directly by the government or by agents of the state or by the paramilitary. About seven percent of the torture acts in Colombia are perpetrated by guerrilla groups.”

Colombia is the largest recipient of US military aid in the Western Hemisphere.


http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/13/headlines