The Colombian government did offer financial rewards to members of the armed forces for every reported guerrilla death, newspaper the Miami Herald reported Saturday. Bogota, whose armed forces are investigated for more than 1,700 extrajudicial killings, always denied the rewards.
According to the newspaper, the reward is part of a secret directive issued by the Defense Ministry in 2005 that granted military commanders financial rewards and soldiers days off for every reported guerrilla death and other rewards for weapons found on the body.
Because of this financial stimulus, the armed forces would've had killed civilians to be able to receive more money.
The Miami Herald says to have had insight in the secret directive, of which the Colombian government denies the existence. President Alvaro Uribe said earlier that rewards were only given to civilians whose information would lead to the capture or death of a guerrilla.
But aside the leaked directive, the newspaper says to have seen testimonies by members of the military that say that soldiers would get money to buy a gun they would then plant on the body of a killed civilian, report him as a killed guerrilla and be granted leave because of the death.
The capture or death of a terrorist must be accomplished on the basis of "information collected in advance or after the fact, or [on the basis of] hypothetical intelligence and/or counterintelligence information, [and] the criminal record of the reported subjects," the newspaper reported.
The directive was never withdrawn, the newspaper adds.
