Paramilitaries kill 11 in oil-rich area - June 02, 2004
A paramilitary unit killed 11 peasants in the northern province of Arauca after masked men picked them out and said they collaborated with guerrillas, an army commander told Reuters on May 24. The peasants disappeared May 20 near the town of Tame. Their bodies turned up two days later, showing signs of torture. Officials blamed the massacre on the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the nation’s main paramilitary federation. For two years, civilians have been caught between guerrillas, the government and the government’s paramilitary allies in a battle for control of the province, where Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum pumps away 100,000 barrels of oil each day. The United States spends $100 million a year to help Colombian soldiers ward off guerrilla attacks on the pipeline. The AUC has carried out numerous assassinations of accused guerrilla sympathizers while military and police units have made hundreds of arrests. A car bomb attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the nation’s largest guerrilla group, killed three civilians and injured dozens in Tame on May 4. SOURCES: BBC, 5/6/04; El Colombiano, 5/24/04, 5/25/04; El Tiempo, 5/4/04, 5/5/04, 5/15/04; Los Angeles Times, 5/16/04; Prensa Rural, 5/23/04; Reuters, 5/25/04; Xinhuanet, 5/7/04. TK