Colombian Army Intelligence Chief Convicted in Justice Palace Killings slguardian org colombian-army-intelligence-chief-convicted-in-justice-palace-killings On Wednesday a Colombian court condemned former Colombian Army Gen Iván Ramírez Quintero to 31 years in prison for the death of Irma Franco a member of the M-19 militant group who was tortured and killed by a Colombian Army intelligence unit under his command in the aftermath of the November 1985 Palace of Justice assault A U S -trained military officer Ramírez is considered the “godfather” of the Colombian Army’s intelligence forces and is the subject of numerous State Department CIA and U S military reports looking at his alleged human rights abuses corrupt activities and complicity with illegal “paramilitary” death squads like the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia AUC Today’s posting focuses on 15 key declassified documents from U S government agencies that shed light on Ramírez and his long-suspected ties to narcotraffickers and rightwing paramilitary groups during his many years as one of the leading figures in Colombian Army intelligence Some of these have been used by magistrates from Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace JEP during public interrogations of Ramírez and his past ties to paramilitary groups 1 2 See the list of “Related Links” in the left column for previous National Security Archive postings about Ramírez and the Palace of Justice case Click here to read related documents published in the National Security Archive 2 2