Speaking on a teleconference with the minister of defense and top
officials in the military and police, Uribe said they should
“accelerate administrative investigations” when they receive complaints
alleging human rights abuses by security forces, a release on the
Colombian government’s Web site said.
Uribe’s comments came
three weeks after the chief of Colombia’s army, Gen. Mario Montoya,
resigned. Montoya’s resignation came less than a week after Uribe fired
27 army officers, including three generals, accused of negligence or
direct involvement in the slayings of 11 young men from a poor Bogota
suburb.
Neither Montoya nor any of the dismissed officers have been charged. Criminal investigations are ongoing.
The bodies of the 11 men were found in a mass grave in northeast Norte
de Santander province in September. The men’s families had reported
them missing, some as long ago as January.
The army initially said the men were guerrillas killed in combat.
However, officials said a subsequent investigation showed they were
civilians who had been lured away from Bogota by the false promise of
jobs by undercover military officials or criminals working in league
with the military.
Colombia‘s
attorney general’s office said it is investigating almost 800 cases of
extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by the security forces
between January 2003 and September 2007, during the Uribe administration. (CNN)