Colombia's Congress seeks peace observer's removal for ignoring paramilitary orgies

BOGOTA, Colombia

Lawmakers have called for the dismissal of the head of the Organization of American States' peace mission in Colombia, accusing him of standing by as paramilitary warlords held orgies in a government-granted safe haven set aside for peace talks.

Congress' lower house voted overwhelmingly late Wednesday to request President Alvaro Uribe "immediately remove for incompetence" Sergio Caramagna, head of the OAS mission in Colombia.

The Washington-based OAS facilitated the 2004 talks by verifying security, providing logistical support and making sure paramilitary members abstained from criminal acts in the 230 square mile (600 sq. kilometers) safe haven in northern Colombia.

Jose Castro Caycedo, the pro-government legislator who sponsored the nonbinding resolution, told The Associated Press that paramilitaries made a mockery of the peace talks by "holding orgies on the negotiating table," excesses which he said Caramagna should have denounced.

The resolution referred to media reports that paramilitaries held all-night, whiskey-fueled orgies with costly prostitutes and which soccer players and famous Mexican mariachi bands also attended.

Revelations made by respected weekly newsmagazine Semana earlier this month also describe how the warlords — who are accused of being among Colombia's biggest drug-traffickers — spent their days motocross racing, caring for exotic pet tigers and tending to business with unidentified Mexican partners.

The revelations were based on transcripts of phone conversations between paramilitary bosses and several madams, some of which Semana published.

Caramagna, who is from Argentina, declined to discuss with The Associated Press the congressional censure or the paramilitaries' alleged activities in the safe haven surrounding the cattle-ranching town of Santa Fe de Ralito, a longtime stronghold of the militias.

Caycedo said the excesses revealed by Semana were an affront to the thousands of victims of paramilitary violence during its decade-long reign of terror.

Uribe is the only authority allowed to dismiss Caramagna, who was appointed by the OAS but serves with the approval of the government. Uribe has not yet responded to Congress' action and a spokesman for his office would not comment.

The resolution also calls on the Roman Catholic Church to investigate ecclesiastical representatives who also were sent to oversee the talks, which lasted from May 2004 to August of 2005.

The talks led to Colombia's justice and peace law, the much-criticized framework by which more than 30,000 paramilitary fighters have laid down their weapons in exchange for a US$200 (€150) monthly stipend and other assistance.

The 60 or so paramilitary bosses who negotiated the pact must confess their crimes or risk losing benefits including maximum jail terms of eight years and protection from extradition to the United States on drug-trafficking charges.

The paramilitary groups emerged two decades ago to counteract leftist rebels who have been fighting the Colombian government since the mid-1960s. But the militias have since become heavily involved in drug trafficking and stand accused of some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's long-running conflict.