Escorted by heavily armed soldiers and tanks, Colombia's government transferred 59 paramilitary warlords who demobilized under the conditions of a peace deal to a maximum-security prison, citing fears of an escape plot by the men.
The 500-soldier convoy guarding the right-wing commanders, who have been linked to some of the worst human rights violations in Colombia's civil war, left the La Ceja facility where they were being held late Friday for the prison of Itagui, 200km northwest of Bogota. Helicopters buzzed overhead.
"The security measures [at La Ceja] are minimal and there has been a persistent rumor of an escape, and we have to avoid this at any price," said President Alvaro Uribe, who earlier accused the paramilitary commanders of ordering assassinations from the former holiday camp.
Uribe, a conservative and key US ally in the region, has taken an increasingly harsh tone against the incarcerated paramilitary leaders recently amid a widening scandal linking his supporters in Congress to the far-right militias.
In a speech on Thursday, he blamed the killings of two demobilized commanders on those in La Ceja and threatened to revoke the benefits they enjoy under the peace process, which saw more than 30,000 fighters lay down their weapons.
"If there are reasons to bring charges against someone in the peace process, I will personally send a letter to the justice ministry explaining that this person has lost his right to be eligible for the peace process," Uribe said.
He added that he could eliminate their protection against extradition to the US.
One of the incarcerated commanders, Ernesto Baez, told Caracol Radio that the authorities were themselves carrying out the killings in order to blame the paramilitaries.
The paramilitary leaders had already been complaining that the peace process, which limits their prison time to a maximum of 8 years, was punishing them too much. They had demanded the government pass a decree outlawing their extradition to the US, where many of them are wanted on drug-trafficking charges.
Also on Friday, the army said in a statement that 17 soldiers were killed when leftist guerrillas attacked a patrol in northeastern Colombia.
The attack by the Gabriel Galvis unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia occurred on Thursday, 300km northeast of Bogota.
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