Witness Ties Colombian General to Paramilitaries

Until its fighters began a disarmament process in 2003, the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, massacred thousands of villagers, carried out assassinations of political leaders and union members, and funded its operations through cocaine smuggling and support from wealthy Colombians and the Colombian security forces. Despite their brutal tactics, the paramilitaries became an effective proxy force against rebels for a then-ineffective army.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees funds to the Colombian army, expressed concern over Palacio's allegations. Leahy is holding up $72 million in funding because of reports that the army has killed hundreds of peasants in recent years and presented the bodies as those of rebels killed in combat. Montoya is considered a leading proponent of compiling combat kills to measure success, a policy that human rights groups and some Colombian officials say fuels the slaying of civilians. Montoya also denies that his policies have led to the deaths of civilians.

"There have been continuing concerns with reports linking General Montoya and troops under his command to paramilitaries," Leahy said in a statement. "These allegations should be thoroughly investigated to assure that the chief of the Colombian Army -- an institution that receives hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid each year -- is of unimpeachable integrity."

In Washington, the Bush administration has seen Montoya as an effective commander, particularly in developing strategies against the largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The army, under Montoya's command, has in recent months struck major blows against the FARC, including the July rescue of American and Colombian hostages in a daring operation.

"Our experience with Montoya is a good one," Thomas A. Shannon Jr., assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said by telephone from Washington. "He is a great field commander. He's done very well with the FARC."

Shannon said U.S. officials were aware of past allegations against Montoya but "found nothing to support them." Shannon said the current accusations are serious and should be investigated.

In interviews, residents of a hillside neighborhood here called Comuna 13 said the army's 4th Brigade, under Montoya's command, teamed up with paramilitary fighters in Operation Orion in October of 2002 to dislodge well-entrenched guerrillas. Though many residents welcomed the operation, reports surfaced later that paramilitary fighters killed guerrilla collaborators and buried their bodies in unmarked graves.

"No paramilitary commander operates alone," said Sister Rosa Cadavid, a Catholic nun in the neighborhood who has publicly denounced Operation Orion. "They operate with the military, and the man in charge then was General Montoya."

The allegations are also contained in a CIA report, disclosed by the Los Angeles Times in 2007, that said Montoya conducted operations with the AUC in Comuna 13. Colombian authorities have said the document was based on unproven intelligence, and Montoya said in the interview that Orion also was directed at paramilitary fighters.

But officials in the attorney general's office said the CIA report is considered important evidence for investigators untangling the role of the military and paramilitary militias in Medellin. Montoya called the CIA report inaccurate.

"It's an issue that has to be cleared up," said one senior Colombian official in the attorney general's office, who, like other investigators interviewed, asked to remain unnamed because the case is still being probed. "In that operation, irregular things happened."

Montoya's trajectory through the army has included intelligence work in the Charry Solano Battalion -- which was implicated in assassinations and bombings in the 1970s and '80s -- to leading Colombian forces in U.S.-funded counter-drug efforts in southern Colombia earlier this decade.