Colombian right-wing death squads kill 20 civilians

[NOTE: The paramilitaries continue to wage their dirty war with impunity. Paramilitary groups were set up years ago by the C.I.A. and were trained by U.S. military personnel and fincnced by multi- nationals like Texaco. Today, the successor groups act as auxiliaries to the Colombian security forces and receive the support and protection of powerful circles inside the establishment. -DG]

Yolombo mayor Dario Orrego had said on Wednesday a group of gun-wielding paramilitaries arrived in three villages and shot villagers whose names matched a list they were carrrying. 

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Thursday, 2 September 1999

BOGOTA -- Right-wing paramiliitary forces killed at least 20 civilians in Colombia's northwestern region of Antioquia, a hospital spokesman said Thursday, adding that an additional 10 may also be killed.

"We have 20 bodies here and we have been told that another 10 are being brought in," Yolombo hospital spokesperson Nohora Garcia told Bogota radio stations.

Yolombo mayor Dario Orrego had said on Wednesday a group of gun-wielding paramilitaries arrived in three villages and shot villagers whose names matched a list they were carrrying.

He said the paramilitary forces accused the villagers of helping left-wing guerrillas that operate in the region.

Yolombo is located some 460 kilometers (287 miles) northwest of the capital.

Rightist gunmen of the Colombian Self-Defense Units already had killed some 50 people over the past week, in two villages on the country's border with Venezuela.

Civilians are often victims of the war between right-wing groups, leftist guerrillas and the military that has plagued the country for more than three decades and killed over 30,000.

The conflict has been intensifying in areas where the army is either weak or not present, according to catholic church and humanitarian agency sources here.