Date

Apr 16, 1988

Description

A CIA report finds that much of the recent violence against “suspected leftists and communists” in Medellín and Urabá was the result of Colombian Army intelligence “B-2” detachments from the 4th and 10th brigades working in coordination with narcotraffickers and paramilitary groups. The reporting officer said it was “unlikely” such coordination took place “without the knowledge of the Fourth Brigade commander.” In a separate section, the report indicates that the Honduras and La Negra killings were the result of coordination between the B-2 intelligence unit of the 10th Brigade and “an unidentified private right-wing paramilitary group.”

A wave of assassinations against suspected leftists and communists in Medellin throughout 1987 were the result of a joint effort between the intelligence chief (B-2) of the Colombian Army Fourth Brigade in Medellin, Ltc. Plinio ((Correa)), and unidentified members of the Medellin narcotics trafficking cartel. ([Deleted] Comment: The deaths include the killing of several Patriotic Union (UP) members. It is unlikely that any cooperation between the B-2 and Medellin Cartel in carrying out assassinations of suspected leftists and communists could have taken place without the knowledge of the Fourth Brigade commander.) …

…

The individuals who executed 20 banana plantation workers on 4 March 1988 obtained the names of their intended targets from the Colombian Army’s Tenth Brigade intelligence unit (B-2). The B-2 obtained the names in January 1988 during the interrogation of a Popular Liberation Army (EPL) member, alias “Augusto.” “Augusto” and two other EPL members, all belonging to an EPL unit led by alias “Rambo” were captured by the Colombian Army at the town of El Totumo near the eastern shore of the Gulf of Uraba. During his interrogation by the B-2, “Augusto” provided the names of various EPL members and sympathizers, many of whom belonged to the banana workers union “Sintagro” in Uraba. The information from “Augusto” was provided to members of an unidentified private right-wing paramilitary group. ([Deleted] Comment: The victims of the 4 March killings were EPL and ‘Popular Front’ sympathizers and members of Sintagro, all of whose names appeared on the B-2’s interrogation reports. Prior to the killings, they were accurately identified by their attackers from a list which the attackers possessed.)

([Deleted] Comment: While it is possible that some of the individuals who conducted the killings are active members of the Tenth Brigade’s B-2, it is more likely that the intelligence information was shared with a private paramilitary group in order to provide a cutout to avoid blame on the Colombian military. Although the Colombian military prefers to blame the killings on rivalry between the EPL and the [FARC], the killers’ modus operandi showed a lack of knowledge of guerrilla ideology, disproving FARC involvement.)

Source

FOIA

Document published in following posting(s):

“There is Future if There is Truth”: Colombia’s Truth Commission Launches Final Report

Jun 28, 2022

Cooperation Between the Intelligence Chief of the Colombian Army Fourth Brigade and the Medellin Cartel; Tenth Brigade Intelligence Unit Provision of Names to Unidentified Rightwing Paramilitary GroupU.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Information Report, Secret/Wnintel/Noforn, 3 pp.

Cooperation Between the Intelligence Chief of the Colombian Army Fourth Brigade and the Medellin Cartel; Tenth Brigade Intelligence Unit Provision of Names to Unidentified Rightwing Paramilitary Group
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Information Report, Secret/Wnintel/Noforn, 3 pp.