In the Battalion: A Soldier Speaks
This interview with a young Colombian soldier was conducted in the Barrancabermeja area in late 1999. For reasons of personal safety the interviewer a reputable Colombian war journalist, has...
...But after two months they reduce the money to about 300,000...
...Sometimes there was only rice because there was no money to buy things...
...Mostly young-mainly reservists...
...The paracos have always done it...
...He knew that I was from the local barrios [of Barrancabermeja] and that I would know where the guerrilla commanders lived, where the collaborators lived...
...If there were operations but no action, you killed a peasant and you gave them the rifle and dressed them in camouflage...
...Whenever you went into operations you took a rife de cuadre...
...What is life like for young people in the barrios...
...Of course...
...For young people here it's all about being in the guerrillas, carrying a gun, intimidating civilians...
...A really fearless killer will get promoted to leader and his wages will go up...
...The officers steal the money for fresh food...
...For reasons of personal safety the interviewer a reputable Colombian war journalist, has requested anonymity The magazine Index on Censorship and Amnesty International have checked the writer's bora fides and possess a tape and edited text of this interview which was originally translated for and published by Index on Censorship...
...I won't do anyone any favors, won't hang around with them...
...That's how we did it.- Who did you kill...
...Recently in the Cesar, near Media Luna, they burned a whole family with acid I was in the battalion there and a soldier told me about it...
...They're seen as collaborators and military targets...
...Why would I want to get involved in that stuff...
...The counter-guerrilla paramilitaries "carry chainsaws with them, about this size [he indicates his forearm, for cutting people up...
...Union members, guerrillas, the USO-oil workers union-they are all the same for the paracos...
...When they refuse to talk, you use those big long needles [he indi- cates the size of his index finger], and stab the needles through their nails...
...We were trained in counter-guerrilla tactics and did combat trained us to kill...
...To torture someone you tie them up and you give them electric shocks on the tongue to make them talk...
...ANONYMOUS What did they tell you...
...Always rice, potatoes, sardines, that was the food every day...
...Phew, almost all of the leaders in the paracos are retired lieutenants or sergeants, officers...
...So they went into the house and dragged out the whole family There were three young kids and they threw acid on all of them...
...They have mass graves, over in the center [of Barrancabermeja...
...How much does a paraco earn...
...And when they still won't give you information then you castrate them and pour acid over them so that they end up completely disfigured, so that no one is implicated...
...They go on maneuvers with the battalion...
...Then you strip them and make them sit on a block of ice...
...They are always volunteers...
...Of course...
...Do you get hungry...
...What sort of age are most of the paracos...
...Do they tell them that they are paracos...
...If it comes off, then you get paid...
...The last time we killed an old man, a hunchback...
...It's a real advantage to have someone who knows about combat and patrols...
...It brainwashes you...
...That's why they are so well trained...
...If you have a good tip-off you go to the battalion and they give you camouflage and let you direct the operation...
...It was the paracos who taught us how to torture people...
...They're bloodthirsty...
...It's a sham but the lieutenant gets a pro- motion...
...He said: 'Why don't you earn some good money, you idiot...
...How do the paracos paramilitaries] function...
...As soon as you get there they say that the first thing you have to do is kill someone in cold blood...
...My lieutenant told me to kill him, if I had the guts...
...They look down on me because I've just left...
...At the start they earn about 340,000 pesos (around US$190...
...Any paraco that goes on operations takes one with him...
...As soon as we arrived we were sent to a training camp...
...I said: 'If I have to, I have to.' But he gave the order to another soldier...
...Go and join the paracos...' And how does their training continue...
...If I decide to join the guerrillas I'll take my gun and go to the mountains...
...And then reported that he had been killed in combat...
...We couldn't find him so we grabbed an old man instead because he had the same surname on his ID card...
...But not here, because here they only kill innocent people...
...The paracos in the battalion buy the arms...
...But when they have to fight they can't...
...What's life like in the mountains...
...They borrow the battalion's cars to travel to other regions...
...The paraco I was talking to asked why I didn't work with them...
...Who are the informers...
...We were after a commander of the Elenos [the National Liberation Army, ELN, a guerrilla group...
...Then you can't leave, because you're impli- cated...
...You set off an alarm, four or five shots from each soldier...
...They want to feel good...
...The first time the paracos pay you up to 700,000 pesos (US$395...
...Acid like that turns a perso black...
...What's that?i You took an extra rifle...
...Are there a lot of retired military personnel in the paracos...
...Is it hard work...
...Yes...
...The leaders are older...
...Whenever there was a hrilitary i target and you didn't kill anyone, you had to take back a body...
...Whoever...
...The army knows who they are...
...How do they describe them...
...He said the son was a guerrilla and that the paracos were furious with him because he had killed one of their commanders...
...How do they talk about peasants...
...You set up simulated crossfire in case there is an investigation...
Vol. 34 • September 2000 • No. 2
