On Sun, 29 Apr 2001, Carl Remick wrote:
>
> The killing of a missionary and her baby in a plane that C.I.A.-employed
> spotters had first noticed on radar raised questions that go far beyond the
> drug war: What is America doing down there, and with whom? Who are its
> friends, and what happens when it befriends them?
>
Question: why do these 'big questions' come up in regard to the killing of these US missionaries? People are being slaughtered in Colombia daily by our favorite drug fighting military, by means of its paramilitary friends. The paras see themselves as the ground troops for Plan Colombia. Where's the 'big questions' there?
Here's a small sampling - a story of four people, two of them teenagers, tortured to death. I can't be certain, but I don't think this was picked up by US news outlets, not even by the wire services.
-d
-------------------------- EFE NEWS [Spain]
Friday, 27 April 2001
Four kidnapped by paramilitaries found dead
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MEDELLIN, Colombia -- Four people, two teenagers among them, were found dead on Thursday just hours after they had been kidnapped in a northwestern Colombian town by men said to be paramilitaries, Medellin police officials reported.
The victims were kidnapped early Thursday from their homes in El Pe ol, located some 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Medellin.
Spokesmen for the police in the province of Antioquia, where Medellin, the capital, is located, told reporters that the bodies were found under a bridge on the outskirts of El Pe ol.
Two of the victims were students, 14 and 16, and the other two victims were young farmers.
The crime was allegedly committed by five men believed to be members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the paramilitary group active in the area, police officials said. The paramilitaries were traveling in a van.
Copyright 2001 EFE News