Gen Castellanos became army chief in 2004. The head of Colombia's army has quit amid a scandal in which superiors allegedly abused young recruits. Gen Reinaldo Castellanos resigned after a magazine printed photos of 21 soldiers apparently being tortured at a base in the eastern town of Piedras. Gen Castellanos had said earlier he was ashamed of the allegations and that those responsible would be punished. President Alvaro Uribe has named Gen Mario Montoya, commander of a Caribbean division, as his replacement. Correspondents say although Gen Castellanos, 55, immediately criticised his officers, his position had become untenable.
The above is an excerpt from this article. It is a HUGE scandal here which impacts the US because the US provides millions of dollars in aid to Colombian in the fight against drugs, aka the FARC. The State Dept. is supposed to monitor the actions of various units and "approve" them. I'm not an expert on this stuff so please read the articles. But in essence the State Dept is monitoring for human rights violations because of course the US does not want to support any units involved in such actions. Anyway... lot's of poor people have been killed and then set-up to look like insurgents. NOT good. One effect was the recent resignation of Castellano and the appointment of Montoya. Although word on the street is Montoya isn't exactly squeeky clean. So why the app't? Is he good for Colombia? Not sure and I'm also not positive of exactly what the guy has done. So I'm researching it. VERY sad story though. And here I was feeling so good about Colombian and their fight against the FARC. I hope this doesn't slow the progress here because by all accounts the last 10 years have seriously turned this country around.
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whoa
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