Colombia arrests 2 in alleged assassination plot

Pastrana

By Sibylla Brodzinsky
Reporter

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombian police arrested two men affiliated with a right-wing paramilitary group in connection with what they said was a plot to kill President Andres Pastrana, authorities said Monday.

The arrests were made this weekend in Puerto Wilches in north-central Colombia, and the president's life was never in danger, police said.

The president was not in Puerto Wilches at the time of the arrests.

RESOURCES CountryWatch: Colombia

Police Col. German Jaramaillo said the two men were members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, and were working on orders from the central command of the organization.

Jaramaillo said it was not immediately known how or when the assassination was to take place, but police had been investigating the alleged plot since mid-July, working on a tip from an informant.

The two men, he said, had organized two groups of would-be assassins -- one in the capital of Bogota and one in Armenia. Concerns over the president's safety led him to cancel a trip to Armenia in late July.

Security has since been tightened around the president.

The AUC opposes Pastrana's peace overtures with the left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The U.S. State Department recently designated the AUC as a terrorist organization.

The AUC has been accused of committing human-rights abuses under the guise of protecting the Colombian public from the leftist rebel groups at war with the Colombian government. Additionally, the Colombian military has been under fire for colluding with the paramilitary AUC during the fighting with the rebels.

Concerns over such human-rights abuses prompted Congress to attach a human rights certification to U.S. aid for Plan Colombia, Colombian President Andres Pastrana's program to combat the country's drug war.

In a written statement two weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the AUC has carried out "numerous acts of terrorism, including the massacre of hundreds of civilians, the forced displacement of entire villages and the kidnapping of political figures to force recognition of AUC demands."