The United States supports Colombia’s efforts to overcome the ‘falsepositives’ scandal and prefers to look ahead instead of looking to thepast, US ambassador to Bogota William Brownfield told CM& Noticias.
The ambassador responded to the conclusion of UN rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, Philip Alston, who had said that there was not evidence to indicate that the extrajudicial executions were State policy or that President Alvaro Uribe and his defense ministers knew of them.
He characterized as “blatant and obscene” the most highlypublicized case — at least 11 young men lured from Soacha early last year with promises of work only to be founddead hundreds of miles away depicted as dead rebels.
He said he had asked the Defense Ministry if soldiers were rewarded forboosting body counts with the killings and was awaiting a response.
Alston also said the outlook on improvement of the human rights situation in Colombia was gloomy. Alston said Colombia needs more human rightsprosecutors and complained that military judges have tried to “thwartthe transfer of clear human rights cases” to the ordinary justicesystem.
Brownfield wants Colombia to adopt the recommendations of the Rapporteur and says the U.S. will work together with the Colombian government to overcome the problem.
“This way we learn and now we know the areas where we can work and correct the weaknesses,” Brownfield told the newscast.
The ambassador added that “the international community, my government and the institutions of the Colombian State should work not to think about the past, but to look to the future.”