Colombian army chief quits

The head of Colombia’s army quit amid a growing scandal involving the armed forces.

The largely successful military strategy promoted by the government helped General Mario Montoya dodge allegations of ties to right-wing paramilitaries. Yet the accusations came into the limelight along with suspicions of “false positives” by the army. An investigation recent opened into the disappearances of eleven teenagers who were supposedly kidnapped and murdered by troops who then claimed that the teens were guerillas shot in combat.

Montoya’s resignation came days after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe dismissed 27 officers for their alleged roles in the “false positives” scandal. Uribe defended Montoya despite strong accusations by Human Rights Watch and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights of human rights abuses by the armed forces.

Colombia’s human rights record could become a conflicting point between the Uribe administration and U.S. president-elect Barack Obama:

Uribe's government has been under pressure to come down hard on rights abusers in an army that has benefited from $5.5 billion in U.S. aid provided to Colombia during the Bush administration. That aid has helped rebuild Colombia's once-incompetent military into a potent force that has pushed back rebel groups and made much of the country safer.

The Colombian government has been especially cognizant of the new political realities in the United States, with Uribe recently suggesting that he believed Barack Obama would probably win the presidency. Obama, as well as Democratic congressional leaders, have said Colombia needs to improve its human rights record if it expects the United States to approve a free-trade agreement.

Image- Al Jazeera English
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Reuters, UPI, New York Times, washingtonpost.com, BBC News