Like the guerrillas, the paramilitaries wage war for control of areas that produce coca and poppy, the raw materials for cocaine and heroin. Gen. Jorge Mora, the army commander, paged through a draft of a new army report on the subject. Last year we turned over approximately 100 paramilitary members for state prosecution, and we killed more than 25 in combat, the general says. Human-rights groups here tell a different story. Jorge Rojas, executive director of the Advisory Group on Colombian Human Rights and Displacement, says the United States should hold up military aid until the Colombian government cleans up its act.
Paramilitary groups are the principle cause of forced displacement in Colombia.
This seems to embolden paramilitary groups that target human-rights advocates for assassinations. Yet U.S. officials are still betting on the Colombian military.