GENERAL'S ARREST A TEST FOR COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia- A retired general's arrest this week for
collaborating with right-wing death squads will test whether Colombia
can break a tradition of impunity for military members accused of
human rights abuses.

But already, the case is providing a measure of vindication for a
former army colonel who was forced out of the military in 1996 when
he tried to expose his boss, Gen. Rito Alejo del Rio.

"I always knew I was telling the truth and that one day I would be
proven right," said Carlos Velasquez, who now teaches at a Bogota
university.

The truth, according to Velasquez, is that Gen. Del Rio - arrested by
federal agents Monday at his Bogota home - was an instrumental player
in the rise of the paramilitary squads waging a brutal massacre
campaign against suspected leftist rebels in Colombia's 37-year war.

Del Rio was dismissed from the army two years ago by President Andres Pastrana.

Then, under a cloud of suspicion created by Velasquez' and others'
accusations, he had his U.S. visa revoked. U.S. military aid for
drug-fighting in the South American country is conditioned on
government progress in severing army ties to the paramilitaries.

Del Rio is expected to be the highest ranking former officer ever
tried in a civilian court in a human rights case. The country's
military justice system has largely shielded active-duty generals
from punishment - in some cases turning against whistleblowers.

The former general faces charges of sponsoring paramilitary
activities. Del Rio, through his lawyer Orlando Perdomo, has denied
his guilt. In a brief phone conversation Wednesday, Perdomo accused
Velasquez of being a guerrilla sympathizer who at one point even
funneled arms to the rebels - a charge Velasquez called ridiculous.

Velasquez was a highly-decorated U.S.-trained officer who headed an
elite unit that worked with the CIA to track down the leaders of the
Cali cocaine cartel. In mid-1995, he was transferred into Uraba, a
steamy region of ranching and banana-growing lowlands near the border
with Panama that was a battleground between guerrillas and right-wing
paramilitaries.

Six months after Velasquez arrived, Del Rio was sent to command his
unit, the army's 17th Brigade. Soon after, Velasquez says, troops
were shifted away from operations against paramilitaries and devoted
exclusively to actions against the guerrillas. Soldiers saying they
were acting on Del Rio's orders pressured local businessmen to make
financial contributions to the militias, the retired colonel charges.

"It was clear to me at the time that Del Rio was working closely with
the paramilitaries," Velasquez said in an interview at Bogota's La
Sabana University.

In May of 1996, Velasquez delivered a 10-page memo to senior generals
in Bogota accusing Del Rio of tolerance and complicity with the
paramilitaries. An internal investigation was opened, but it turned
against Velasquez. By December, he had been forced into early
retirement with a reprimand for disloyalty.

Velasquez held onto his army pension, but became a persona non grata
within the military. For a soldier's son who had always dreamed of
making general, it was a rude end to what had been a promising
30-year military career.

"People began saying I had gone crazy or that I was a guerrilla
infiltrator," Velasquez recalled. "It was tough, because there were
the people who had been my comrades in arms for so many years."

Meanwhile, Del Rio remained in Uraba which was eventually rid of
guerrilla activity amid a fierce paramilitary campaign. He took on
hero status in the military and the nickname "The Pacifier of Uraba,"
receiving several promotions before Pastrana forced his early
retirement in 1999.

Despite his own bitter experience, Velasquez is encouraged by Del
Rio's arrest and other recent government moves against paramilitaries
and their supporters. U.S. leverage, as a result of $1.3 billion aid
package approved last year, is helping bring a change in attitude
about protecting human rights, he said.

Besides teaching, Velasquez is dabbling in politics as a campaign
adviser for an independent who plans to run for president next year.
Velasquez said he wants to reform from the outside a military that he
could not change from within.