Maggie_T
03-09-2001, 02:08 PM
tacitus c
Gold Star Member
posts: 204
(1/17/01 8:31:04 pm)
Reply Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOGOTA, Colombia (January 17, 2001 6:25 p.m. EST www.nandotimes.com (http://www.nandotimes.com) - Suspected right-wing paramilitaries wielding machetes hacked to death 25 men in northern Colombia on Wednesday before burning dozens of homes to the ground, police said.
Survivors told police that about 50 heavily armed men dressed in military uniforms converged on the town of Chengue at about 3 a.m. Wednesday and rounded up 25 villagers they accused of working with leftist guerrillas, Sucre state police Lt. Alexander Collazos told the Associated Press.
The victims, all men between the ages of 22 and 65, were removed one by one from their homes, surrounded and killed with machete blows to the head and neck. The attackers apparently accused the men of working with leftist guerrilla groups.
The attackers then set fire to about 30 homes in the village and carried off seven other men as hostages, police said.
After the assault, many villagers fled for neighboring hamlets. Chengue is home to about 1,200 people, and is about 370 miles north of the capital Bogota. Red Cross workers were traveling to the region Wednesday.
Witnesses told police that the attackers were members of right-wing paramilitary groups, but police couldn't confirm those reports.
In November, in one of the deadliest slayings in Colombia's decades-old civil conflict, militia members allegedly working for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, killed 37 people in a northern fishing village.
Severing links between the army and the paramilitaries and curbing rightist violence are key conditions for Colombia to continue receiving U.S. military aid and training under a $1.3 billion counter-drug aid package.
Police say members of the landowner-backed AUC have killed about 100 people in Colombia this year after accusing them of sympathizing with leftist guerrilla groups. Paramilitaries are responsible for the majority of human rights abuses committed in Colombia, according to human rights groups.
The nation's largest leftist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, blamed army-paramilitary ties for its unilateral freeze of peace negotiations in November.
Peace envoy Camilo Gomez and about six government peace negotiators were meeting with FARC commanders on Wednesday to find a solution to the impasse.
The FARC's aging commander and founder, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, said in an interview with the communist newspaper Voice that an agreement to resume negotiations was fast approaching.
"We are working to close in on the differences and studying the possibility of resuming the dialogues," said Marulanda. "Something will come out of this."
Clinton Legacy: A Republican Congress and Executive Branch and a President that will bring respect back to the office.
Rhino
Gold Star Member
posts: 114
(1/17/01 8:36:15 pm)
Reply Re: Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Were those the "high capacity" machetes?
"We have every right to dream heroic dreams." - Ronald Reagan
tacitus c
Gold Star Member
posts: 206
(1/17/01 8:37:41 pm)
Reply Re: Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Think they were full auto types!!
Clinton Legacy: A Republican Congress and Executive Branch and a President that will bring respect back to the office.
Rhino
Gold Star Member
posts: 115
(1/17/01 9:16:23 pm)
Reply Re: Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ban is definitely in order then!
"We have every right to dream heroic dreams." - Ronald Reagan
Wolfcounsel
Junior Member
posts: 19
(1/17/01 9:44:43 pm)
Reply Good thing they weren't poison-bladed machetes!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll bet they even had silencers on those...no, wait a minute. We'll have to ask that Diane Frankenstein lady, or whatever her name is. She's undoubtedly an expert on the evil machete as well as the evil assault gun. She's liable to try to order thumbhole stocks on machetes shipped here.
Keith J
Gold Star Member
posts: 85
(1/17/01 11:45:30 pm)
Reply What's next?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just sharpened my wittle Gerber tonight. Yes, I could shave with it in the morning. Is it too sharp, legally? I know by Boy Scout's standards, its safe sharp (a dull knife is a dangerous knife, yes still have my Tote'n Chip).
It also has a quick open feature, one hand and a flick of the wrist its ready for use.
Gold Star Member
posts: 204
(1/17/01 8:31:04 pm)
Reply Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOGOTA, Colombia (January 17, 2001 6:25 p.m. EST www.nandotimes.com (http://www.nandotimes.com) - Suspected right-wing paramilitaries wielding machetes hacked to death 25 men in northern Colombia on Wednesday before burning dozens of homes to the ground, police said.
Survivors told police that about 50 heavily armed men dressed in military uniforms converged on the town of Chengue at about 3 a.m. Wednesday and rounded up 25 villagers they accused of working with leftist guerrillas, Sucre state police Lt. Alexander Collazos told the Associated Press.
The victims, all men between the ages of 22 and 65, were removed one by one from their homes, surrounded and killed with machete blows to the head and neck. The attackers apparently accused the men of working with leftist guerrilla groups.
The attackers then set fire to about 30 homes in the village and carried off seven other men as hostages, police said.
After the assault, many villagers fled for neighboring hamlets. Chengue is home to about 1,200 people, and is about 370 miles north of the capital Bogota. Red Cross workers were traveling to the region Wednesday.
Witnesses told police that the attackers were members of right-wing paramilitary groups, but police couldn't confirm those reports.
In November, in one of the deadliest slayings in Colombia's decades-old civil conflict, militia members allegedly working for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, killed 37 people in a northern fishing village.
Severing links between the army and the paramilitaries and curbing rightist violence are key conditions for Colombia to continue receiving U.S. military aid and training under a $1.3 billion counter-drug aid package.
Police say members of the landowner-backed AUC have killed about 100 people in Colombia this year after accusing them of sympathizing with leftist guerrilla groups. Paramilitaries are responsible for the majority of human rights abuses committed in Colombia, according to human rights groups.
The nation's largest leftist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, blamed army-paramilitary ties for its unilateral freeze of peace negotiations in November.
Peace envoy Camilo Gomez and about six government peace negotiators were meeting with FARC commanders on Wednesday to find a solution to the impasse.
The FARC's aging commander and founder, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, said in an interview with the communist newspaper Voice that an agreement to resume negotiations was fast approaching.
"We are working to close in on the differences and studying the possibility of resuming the dialogues," said Marulanda. "Something will come out of this."
Clinton Legacy: A Republican Congress and Executive Branch and a President that will bring respect back to the office.
Rhino
Gold Star Member
posts: 114
(1/17/01 8:36:15 pm)
Reply Re: Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Were those the "high capacity" machetes?
"We have every right to dream heroic dreams." - Ronald Reagan
tacitus c
Gold Star Member
posts: 206
(1/17/01 8:37:41 pm)
Reply Re: Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Think they were full auto types!!
Clinton Legacy: A Republican Congress and Executive Branch and a President that will bring respect back to the office.
Rhino
Gold Star Member
posts: 115
(1/17/01 9:16:23 pm)
Reply Re: Time to ban machetes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ban is definitely in order then!
"We have every right to dream heroic dreams." - Ronald Reagan
Wolfcounsel
Junior Member
posts: 19
(1/17/01 9:44:43 pm)
Reply Good thing they weren't poison-bladed machetes!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll bet they even had silencers on those...no, wait a minute. We'll have to ask that Diane Frankenstein lady, or whatever her name is. She's undoubtedly an expert on the evil machete as well as the evil assault gun. She's liable to try to order thumbhole stocks on machetes shipped here.
Keith J
Gold Star Member
posts: 85
(1/17/01 11:45:30 pm)
Reply What's next?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just sharpened my wittle Gerber tonight. Yes, I could shave with it in the morning. Is it too sharp, legally? I know by Boy Scout's standards, its safe sharp (a dull knife is a dangerous knife, yes still have my Tote'n Chip).
It also has a quick open feature, one hand and a flick of the wrist its ready for use.