oss 100 kroner!
En 800 siders uavhengig rapport utført på oppdrag for den USA-vennlige regjeringa i Colombia og den radikale opprørsgruppa FARC sier at soldater og kontraktører fra USA misbrukte 54 colombianske barn mellom 2003 og 2007 – og at barnas familier ble fordrevet. Ingen av voldtektsmennene er blitt straffet for overgrepene.
Renan Vega fra Det pedagogiske universitetet i Bogotá sier at det finnes en rikholdig informasjon om seksuelle overgrep, og de er ikke blitt straffeforfulgt på grunn av avtalene om diplomatisk immunitet mellom Colombia og USA.
Dette skrev Colombia Reports 23. mars 2015. Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, FAIR tok opp denne saka rett etterpå og pekte på at på tross av rapportens alvorlige innhold, var den praktisk talt ikke omtalt i main stream media. FAIR siterer:
In his report, the historian [Renan Vega] cited one 2004 case in the central Colombian town of Melgar where 53 underage girls were sexually abused by nearby stationed military contractors “who moreover filmed [the abuse] and sold the films as pornographic material.”
According to Colombia’s leading newspaper, El Tiempo, the victims of the sexual abuse practices were forced to flee the region after their families received death threats. RT report on accusations of child rape in Colombia by US military personnel.
Other Americans stationed at the Tolemaida Air Base allegedly committed similar crimes, but possibly also never saw a day in court due to an immunity arrangement for American soldiers and military contractors agreed by Washington and Bogota.
One case that has called most attention in Colombian media was that of a 12-year-old who in 2007 was raped by a US Army sergeant and a former US military officer who was working in Melgar as a military contractor.
Colombian prosecutors established that the girl had been drugged and subsequently raped inside the military base by US sergeant Michael J. Coen and defense contractor Cesar Ruiz.
However, prosecution officials were not allowed to arrest the suspected child rapists who were subsequently flown out of the country.
Men likevel fikk rapporten praktisk talt ingen omtale i de mektige mediene. FAIR spør:
So why no coverage? Certainly one of Washington’s stanchest Latin American allies co-authoring a blistering report about systemic US military child rape of a civilian population should be of note.
Rapporten kommer altså ikke fra kilder som USA med rette eller urette ville betvile. Den er publisert av USAs nærmeste venner i Latin-Amerika.
Men 14 dager etterpå melder International Business Times at US Army har lovet å etterforske de antatte forbrytelsene:
The U.S. Army has pledged to investigate recently resurfaced allegations that American soldiers and contractors sexually abused more than 50 Colombian minors in the mid-2000s, weeks after the accusations appeared in a report on the Colombian government’s battle against rebel militias.
Chris Grey fra US Army Criminal Investigation Command sier til USA Today at:
We take this issue very seriously and will aggressively pursue all credible allegations.
Men om det faktisk vil bli noen seriøs etterforskning, og om noen faktisk kommer til å bli stilt for retten og straffet, det er en annen sak.
