COLOMBIAN GENERAL DENIES ABUSES AS U.S. CANCELS VISA

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The United States has revoked the visa of a senior
Colombian general who human-rights groups say has a lengthy record of
backing paramilitary forces involved in death squad activity.

Gen. Ivan Ramirez was commander from 1995-97 of the army's First
Division, which operates in a northern region where landowner-backed
paramilitary forces are known for killing scores of alleged guerrilla
sympathizers, sometimes with the army's close cooperation.

Ramirez, now the army's inspector-general, denied responsibility
Friday for any human-rights abuses and said the action taken against
him by the State Department would demoralize Colombia's soldiers.

"The only thing I've done is to combat violence and terrorists for 36
years," Ramirez told RCN radio, saying his conscience was clear. "I
don't have any investigations pending against me."

Ramirez also was the army's intelligence chief between 1992-95 and
oversaw the 20th Intelligence Brigade, which the United States has
accused of sponsoring death squads.

U.S. Embassy officials would not publicly confirm the revocation of
Ramirez's visa.

The action comes as U.S. policymakers weigh whether to provide
advanced weaponry, training or other counterinsurgency assistance to
Colombia's beleaguered military, which recently suffered a string of
major defeats by leftist rebels.

It apparently was the first time the United States has revoked the
visa of a Colombian military official in connection with human-rights
abuses.

The State Department stripped President Ernesto Samper and more than a
dozen other Colombian politicians of their U.S. visas in 1996 for
allegedly accepting money and favors from drug cartels.

More than 250 Colombians have been stripped of U.S. visas over the
last two years.

With presidential elections May 31, Colombia is in the midst of a
mounting dirty war of political assassinations.

Three prominent left-leaning human-rights activists have been killed
since late February and a former defense minister, Fernando
Landazabal, was assassinated Tuesday in what many believe was rebel
retaliation.

A State Department report says 7.5 percent of all politically
motivated extrajudicial killings during the first nine months of 1997
were committed by government forces, with the army responsible for
many. Paramilitary groups committed more than two-thirds of the
political murders, human-rights groups say.

Checked-by: trikydik@inil.com (trikydik)