The United States vs. Rito Alejo del Río

Once a favorite son of our very own Terrorist Training School, still in business, only the names change even of the training camp:

a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Army School of the Americas, is lauded as a U.S. military training "success story.

Ambassador Cited Accused Colombian General's Reliance on Death Squads

"Systematic" Support of Paramilitaries "Pivotal to his Military Success"

Infamous General a "Not-So-Success" Story of U.S. Military Training

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 327

Posted - September 29, 2010

Washington, D.C., September 29, 2010 - The U.S. ambassador to Colombia reported in 1998 that the "systematic arming and equipping of aggressive regional paramilitaries" was "pivotal" to the military success of Gen. Rito Alejo del Río Rojas, now on trial for murder and collaboration with paramilitary death squads while commander of a key army unit in northern Colombia.

The Secret "Biographic Note" from Ambassador Curtis Kamman is one of several documents published today by the National Security Archive pertaining to Del Río, whose trial resumes this month after years of impunity and delay. The documents are also the subject of an article published today in Spanish at VerdadAbierta.com, the leading online gateway for information on paramilitarism in Colombia. The article was also published in English today on the Web site of the National Security Archive.

"The collection is a unique and potentially valuable source of evidence in the case against Del Río, reflecting years of reports linking the senior army commander to paramilitarism," said Michael Evans, director of the Archive's Colombia Documentation Project. "As Del Río's trial resumes, the court should examine the contemporaneous accounts of U.S. officials who were required by law to monitor and certify Colombia's human rights performance."

Other revelations include: {Rest Found Here w/backlinks}