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Columbine High School shootings report
Order information for the Jefferson County Sheriff's report on the Columbine High School shootings.

[05/17/00]

Columbine's unanswered questions
The father of one of the students killed at Columbine blasts the sheriff's department's new report on the incident.
By Dave Cullen
[05/17/00]

A reader's guide to the Columbine report
We point you to the highlights in a true-crime chronology of the high school killing spree
By Daryl Lindsey
[05/17/00]

The Columbine Report
Uncut text, video and audio from the year-long investigation into the tragedy.

[05/16/00]

Columbine report released
The long-delayed CD-ROM details the events of the massacre but fails to answer the central question: Why?
By Dave Cullen
[05/16/00]

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Vivanco, head of Human Rights Watch Americas, prides himself on his pragmatic approach to human-rights advocacy in Colombia, where drug money is fueling civil conflict, and atrocities from both left-wing and right-wing terrorists are taking an incredible toll on civilians. Under Vivanco's leadership, the Latin American division of the group has played a pivotal role in influencing the U.S. congressional debate over a $1.7 billion military aid package to Colombia.

The aid package is intended to shore up the Colombian government's fight to dismantle drug trafficking networks by providing weapons and training to the army. Colombia is the leading supplier of cocaine to the U.S. and the second largest supplier of heroin.

Many human rights groups oppose the aid package because the war on drugs in Colombia is deeply embedded in a civil strife that involves left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries. Because the Colombian armed forces have links to the paramilitary gangs which have carried out massive human rights atrocities, the groups argue that arming and training the army effectively strengthens the paramilitaries as well.

But early in the debate Vivanco realized that many influential members of Congress and the Clinton administration were determined to get the bill through Congress. Rather than debating the rights or wrongs of sending military aid, the Chilean-born, Harvard-educated lawyer became determined to influence the bill as best he could.

Taking no position on the aid itself, Human Rights Watch worked with both Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. They helped draft language to the bill that makes the Colombian military accountable for any human rights abuses or for collaboration with right-wing militias. The aid package is expected to be approved by Congress in the next few weeks.

By helping to draft the bill, Vivanco broke rank with other human rights groups that oppose the aid. "We were out there alone," Vivanco recalls. Human Rights Watch faced criticism from peer organizations, but Vivanco insists that without U.S. involvement in Colombia, the atrocities could continue with zero accountability because all warring sides have independent funding sources. "The irony of the debate is," he says, "that perhaps with the aid package the human rights community will have more influence on accountability than without it."

Threats against Vivanco from those involved in the Colombian conflict show that his group's efforts have had an impact. The Colombian armed forces have questioned Vivanco's personal involvement in the human rights debate, and on their official Web site they recently included a column by a right-wing journalist who accused Human Rights Watch of close collaboration with drug traffickers.

Last month, in a rare television interview where he showed his face in public for the first time, the legendary paramilitary leader Carlos Castaņo blasted human rights groups for vilifying the Colombian armed forces -- and used Vivanco as an example of such misdeeds.

"The paramilitaries' worst fear right now," Vivanco says, "is that we will convince Washington to force the Colombian army to dismantle them and end the close cooperation with paramilitary groups."

The situation in Colombia is complicated and often misunderstood by other nations. After three decades of civil war, the government is in the middle of a peace process to reconcile two Marxist guerrilla groups, which gain much of their income from the drug trade, and 20,000 right-wing paramilitary troops, who have organized in areas where the guerrillas are strong. The paramilitary groups also receive up to 70 percent of their income from the drug trade.

Conservative sectors in Colombia have argued that the paramilitary exists because of abuses by the guerrillas, which have engaged in massive kidnappings, extortion and attacks against the economic infrastructure.

Both the guerrillas and the paramilitaries have targeted the civilian population, burning down villages and killing peasants whom they accuse of collaborating with their enemies. The attacks have provoked the internal displacement of up to 1.5 million people.

The relationship between some sectors of the Colombian army and the paramilitary right-wing forces has observers deeply worried. Some Colombian army field officers depend on the paramilitaries to ferret out the guerrillas.

Vivanco and top researcher Robin Kirk work closely with the Colombian prosecutor's office and the attorney general's office in charge of human rights. Many of their reports are based on fresh information provided by the Colombians, who believe that a report released in Washington has more impact than one released at home.

Next page | Can the Colombian army clean up its act?