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5/28/2005 : Colombian militia leader arrested
A leading right-wing paramilitary leader in Colombia has turned himself in after a three-day manhunt.
Diego Murillo, also known as Don Berna, was arrested for suspected involvement in the killing of a local politician.
He is a top commander of the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), and, according to Colombian and US sources, a major drug trafficker.
5/26/2005 : Fear of clashes drives more than 1,000 Colombians from their homes in northwest
Some 1,100 people have fled their homes along the Buey River in north-west Colombia, citing fears of heightened clashes in the area, according to the UN refugee agency, which has joined with local authorities on a mission to verify reports of further displacement in the area.
Some 2 million people have been displaced because of armed conflict in Colombia.
5/25/2005 : EU official kidnapped in Colombia found safe
A Spanish European Commission official kidnapped in Colombia has been found safe in neighbouring Venezuela, the EU executive said on Monday.
5/23/2005 : Yolanda Pulecio asks Colombian President not to gamble with hostages' lives.
Relatives of Ingrid Betancourt, kidnapped since February 2002 by FARC have expressed their concern about statements by President Uribe ratifying orders to government forces to undertake a rescue of kidnap victims by military means.
5/19/2005 : Colombia's displaced youth face violence, forced recruitment in cities, warns UNHCR
Young displaced people in Colombia's cities are increasingly facing dangers like murders, sexual abuse and forced recruitment by armed groups, warned the UN refugee agency today as it stressed the need for urgent actions to protect and assist these vulnerable youths.
5/18/2005 : Colombian NGO reports 14,500 crimes committed by right-wing paramilitaries in 16 years.
The list of these crimes is collected in registers in the Database of the Human Rights and Political Violence section in the Centre for Research and Peoples' Education (CRPE). The CRPE compiled the reports in a huge study that has just been presented in the Colombian capital.
"These are not all (the cases), but we identified 14,476 crimes against humanity, carried out solely by right-wing paramilitaries" emphasised Fr Gilraldo, who stated that the study had been limited to three distinct types of crime in order to concentrate only on the "most serious cases".
5/16/2005 : Hostages are alive, say Colombian rebels
Raul Reyes, a high-ranking commander in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), said the hostages were depressed that there had been no progress on their liberation, and that some were suffering from diseases contracted in the country's jungles.
5/14/2005 : Kids' photos air-dropped for kidnapped Colombian
The husband of kidnapped former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt dropped thousands of photographs of her children from a light plane over mountains and jungles Friday in the hope she would see them.
5/12/2005 : Ingrid Betancourt's husband to drop 6000 photos of her children over jungle in southern Colombian
Juan Carlos Lecompte, Ingrid Betancourt's husband will fly over FARC held areas in the jungles of south Colombia on 13 May to drop recent photos of the two children of the kidnapped former Presidential candidate.
"I hope that one of these photos will fall into the hands of Ingrid who has not seen her children for three years", he stated.
5/10/2005 : US anti-drug effort in Colombia draws mounting criticism
LOST CAUSE?: Despite US$3 billion committed to battling drugs and crushing leftist rebels, there's precious little to show for 'Plan Colombia'. Advertising Resilient rebels. Rebounding drug crops. Rogue US soldiers snared in plots to smuggle cocaine and funnel stolen ammunition to paramilitary death squads...
Meanwhile, the Bush administration is seeking more than US$700 million from Congress in counterinsurgency and counternarcotics aid for Colombia for fiscal year 2006.
5/9/2005 : Thousands flee Colombia fighting
Heavy fighting between leftist guerrillas and their right-wing paramilitary foes in north west Colombia has forced more than 2,000 mainly villagers from their homes, the UN said today.
The lives of 4,000 more people who have refused to leave are at risk as the crossfire between the two groups bears down on them, UN officials said after touring the region of Bojaya, some 235 miles north west of the capital Bogota.
5/7/2005 : The prisoners are extremely dispirited
In an exclusive interview with Raul Reyes, the guerrilla leader plays down the possibility of a humanitarian exchange under the Uribe government. He also warns that the commission set up by the Catholic Church to facilitate an agreement cannot act on behalf of President Uribe.
The problems of the prisoners and hostages can only be resolved by means of a face-to-face meeting between the two parties.
Uribe however tried to create conflict between the French and Brazilian governments by organising a 'set up' in the case of Ingrid Betancourt.
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