Colombian activist's death generates confusion, accusations of abuses

Published: 2006-11-17

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- The death of a community leader in an impoverished, guerrilla-infested area has generated accusations of human rights abuses and exposed the complexities of Colombia's decades-old civil war. Regional rights activists and the Diocese of Magangue said the death of Alejandro Uribe, a miner and community activist, was part of a troubling pattern of abuses in the region. Although military officials agree Uribe was killed Sept. 19 by the army's Fifth Division, a division official who did not give his name said Uribe was a member of the guerrilla National Liberation Army, or ELN, which is active in the region. He said Uribe was armed and died in combat. The official also said Uribe was not a resident of the area. In a statement after his death, the Diocese of Magangue said Uribe's death "adds itself to a worrying chain of attacks, blockades, threats and other killings which, according to accounts by residents of the region, sadly are being committed by members of the Colombian army's Nueva Granada Battalion."

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