Group thinks CIA had vigilante ties (Institute of Policy Studies lawsuit)

[seafan]

Group thinks CIA had vigilante ties

A Washington think tank has sued for CIA records on the agency's relationship with Colombian vigilantes.

By STEVEN DUDLEY
May 24, 2006

BOGOTA - A Washington-based think tank filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to force the Central Intelligence Agency to search its archives for documents that may help reveal the CIA's links to a vigilante group here that helped Colombian and U.S. authorities track down drug lord Pablo Escobar.

In its suit, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and the law firm of Brian Gaffney said CIA actions ``discourage the Plaintiff, its members and other members of the public from obtaining public records from the United States government.''
IPS, one of Washington's oldest think tanks, has been requesting documents on the case via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) since 2004.

snip

The new lawsuit seeks a court order to force the CIA to search its records again so it can determine any U.S. government connections to the vigilante group, People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar, better known by its Spanish acronym PEPES.
Rival smugglers and illegal right-wing militias created the PEPES around 1992 to help authorities track down Escobar. They harassed and killed his relatives, associates and lawyers -- and destroyed their properties -- until Escobar was gunned down by police in December 1993.

snip

Since 1994, human-rights groups such as Amnesty International and information advocacy groups such as the National Security Archives have sought information regarding the U.S. government's ties to the PEPES.
Paz y Miño said that the most startling documents made public to date reveal that even after U.S. agencies knew that the PEPES were torturing and killing people, they continued to have contacts with the vigilantes. He added that the IPS is also pushing for documents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the State Department and the Department of Defense, among others.

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[ck4829]

1. They think?

[Master Mahon]

7. hehe - Is the Pope Catholic???? n/t

[reichstag911]

2. See "Killing Pablo"...

...by Mark Bowden (author of Black Hawk Down, etc.). It's a good read on the hunt for Escobar.

[ugarte]

3. Such shocking news...the CIA and Death Squads...

I would never think of putting them in the same sentence.

:rofl:

[seafan]

4. This is an important lawsuit... it cracks open to public scrutiny what

our gov't has been up to in Latin America for the past 25 years. People need to see how right wing extremism in our own government has contributed to the colossal mess we are all in now.

The Reagan-GHWB years, and now Jr. is banging the coup/invasion/wargames drums off the coast of Venezuela. And the many shadowy figures behind the scenes...

This case will be one to watch.

The PEPES maintained regular relations with the Colombian police and even U.S. drug agents, U.S. documents already made public have revealed. But IPS wants to go a step further, lead researcher Paul Paz y Miño told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview, by obtaining other documents on the contacts between the PEPES and U.S. officials.

''The issue is of accountability,'' said Paz y Miño. ``This is a very pivotal issue with respect to everything that has come out in the past decade.''

snip

'The kind of monster the U.S. helped create was, in many ways, worse than what they wanted to destroy,'' he said about the PEPES morphing into the AUC.

snip

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. CIA "HAD" vigilante ties??

.
.
.

wrong tense there methinks . .

[Judi Lynn]

6. It almost seems accidental whenever we get to learn just a little

about what our right-wing Presidents have involved our country in against the poor of other countries. From the article:

After the PEPES disbanded following Escobar's death, many of its members went on to form the core of what became the illegal paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Known by its Spanish acronym AUC, the paramilitaries killed thousands of civilians who they suspected of being leftist guerrilla supporters.

AUC is still very active, even butting into elections, etc.

Here's the image of the Death of Pablo Escobar, as captured by Colombian painter, Fernando Botero:



Here's a look at his other work:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=%20Fernando%20Botero&btnG=Search&sa=N&tab=wi