by René Lavanchy
The Foreign Office has refused to answer MPs’ concerns about the identity of more than 1,000 Colombians killed by troops under the command of a British-trained officer.
The bodies, buried in a mass grave said to be the biggest in South America, were discovered by a parliamentary delegation to Colombia last year. An MP on the delegation has said he believes the army “systematically murders” civilians in order to improve their record in killing guerrillas.
The issue was raised in Parliament last week, where Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant faced criticism from MPs of all parties for approving a European Union free trade deal for Colombia. Mr Bryant admitted that once passed, suspending the agreement would require the approval of all 27 European Union member states.
The Colombian army has a poor human rights record, with over 75 soldiers currently being investigated for extra-judicial killings.
Labour MP Jeff Ennis visited the cemetery at La Macarena, 200 kilometres south of Bogotá, in December 2009. He told MPs: “I strongly believe that the army in that region systematically murders people and buries them in the cemetery. The army admitted to killing them, but said that they were all guerrillas killed in combat – although there are not that many guerrillas within 100 miles of La Macarena”.
“No one except the army knows who the people in those graves really are. To make things clear, those people are not included in the 2,000-odd cases of extra-judicial execution that are being investigated.” The colonel in command said he had been trained by the British, he added.
The British Government refuses to comment on its “counter-narcotics” aid to Colombia’s military and intelligence services, which is officially to help it suppress the drug trade but which human rights campaigners suspect is used against the FARC guerrillas or even civilians targeted by the army for political killing.
Independent Conservative MP Bob Spink said: “I was told eight years ago that the killings would cease totally, and they have not”, while Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson said: “There is no strong case for renewing the [free trade] agreement while the human rights issues remain unresolved”.
Mr Bryant said it was “absolutely clear” that Colombia needed to follow international conventions on human and labour rights more closely, and that Colombia needed to do “significantly more work” before winning the free trade agreement. He did not comment on the La Macarena deaths
About The Author
Idi Amin was trained by the British