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Rights groups help terrorists, says Colombian leader

President Alvaro Uribe said human rights groups that have criticized his crackdown on leftist rebels are cowards and terrorist sympathizers.

Uribe's sharp words, delivered Monday during a speech at a military ceremony in the capital, came the same day a group of 80 human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations released a report critical of Uribe's crackdown.

Since being elected by a landslide and taking office in August 2002, Uribe has led a campaign to restore order in a country afflicted by 39 years of guerrilla warfare.

"When the terrorists begin to feel weakened, they immediately send their spokespeople for the human rights [groups]," Uribe said, challenging them to "take off their masks ... and drop this cowardice of hiding their ideas behind human rights."

In the speech, Uribe said his government is committed to human rights norms and respects criticisms of legitimate groups, but not others, which he did not name.

The report released on Monday, titled "The Authoritarian Curse," said Uribe's "strategies of war and repression have been directed against the civilian population."

Among the 80 groups that contributed to the report are Colombia's most respected human rights organizations, including the Colombian Commission of Jurists; the Consultancy for Human Rights, or CODHES; and the Jesuit-affiliated Center for Popular Education and Investigation, known as CINEP.

A top representative for Amnesty International, who attended the release of the report, said Uribe should be careful of what he says.

"Statements of this type can be dangerous, because they can be understood by sectors that traditionally view non-governmental groups with suspicion as a signal to attack them," said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's director for the Americas.
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