This interview with a young Colombian soldier was conducted in the Barrancabermeja area in late 1999. For reasons of personal safety, the interviewer, a reputable Colombian war journalist, has requested anonymity. The magazine Index on Censorship and Amnesty International have checked the writer’s bona fides and possess a tape and edited text of this interview, which was originally translated for and published by Index on Censorship.
What are your memories of your first days in the army?
As soon as we arrived we were sent to a training camp. We were trained in counter-guerrilla tactics and did combat training with blanks. They told us that anyone involved in human rights was a guerrilla. Anyone who was a peasant was also a guerrilla as far as we were concerned. They trained us to kill. Whenever you went into operations you took a rifle de cuadre.
What’s that?
You took an extra rifle. If there were operations but no action, you killed a peasant and you gave them the rifle and dressed them in camouflage. Whenever there was a military target and you didn’t kill anyone, you had to take back a body. That’s how we did it.
Who did you kill?
Whoever… The last time we killed an old man, a hunchback. We were after a commander of the Elenos [the National Liberation Army, ELN, a guerrilla group]. We couldn’t find him so we grabbed an old man instead because he had the same surname on his ID card. My lieutenant told me to kill him, if I had the guts. I said: ‘If I have to, I have to.’ But he gave the order to another soldier.
And then reported that he had been killed in combat?
Of course. You set up simulated crossfire in case there is an investigation. You set off an alarm, four or five shots from each soldier. It’s a sham but the lieutenant gets a promotion.
How do the paracos [paramilitaries] function?
The paracos in the battalion buy the arms.
The army knows who they are?
Of course. They go on maneuvers with the battalion. They borrow the battalion’s cars to travel to other regions.
How much does a paraco earn?
At the start they earn about 340,000 pesos (around US$190). A really fearless killer will get promoted to leader and his wages will go up… The paraco I was talking to asked why I didn’t work with them. He knew that I was from the local barrios [of Barrancabermeja] and that I would know where the guerrilla commanders lived, where the collaborators lived. He said: ‘Why don’t you earn some good money, you idiot. Go and join the paracos…’
And how does their training continue? Do they tell them that they are paracos?
…As soon as you get there they say that the first thing you have to do is kill someone in cold blood. It brainwashes you. It was the paracos who taught us how to torture people.
What did they tell you?
To torture someone you tie them up and you give them electric shocks on the tongue to make them talk. When they refuse to talk, you use those big long needles [he indicates the size of his index finger], and stab the needles through their nails. Then you strip them and make them sit on a block of ice. And when they still won’t give you information then you castrate them and pour acid over them so that they end up completely disfigured, so that no one is implicated. The paracos have always done it. Recently in the Cesar, near Media Luna, they burned a whole family with acid. I was in the battalion there and a soldier told me about it. He said the son was a guerrilla and that the paracos were furious with him because he had killed one of their commanders. So they went into the house and dragged out the whole family. There were three young kids and they threw acid on all of them. Acid like that turns a person black.
Who are the informers?
They are always volunteers. If you have a good tip-off you go to the battalion and they give you camouflage and let you direct the operation. If it comes off, then you get paid. The first time the paracos pay you up to 700,000 pesos (US$395). But after two months they reduce the money to about 300,000. Then you can’t leave, because you’re implicated.
How do they talk about peasants? How do they describe them?
Union members, guerrillas, the USO—oil workers union—they are all the same for the paracos. They’re seen as collaborators and military targets.
Are there a lot of retired military personnel in the paracos?
Phew, almost all of the leaders in the paracos are retired lieutenants or sergeants, officers. That’s why they are so well trained. It’s a real advantage to have someone who knows about combat and patrols.
What’s life like in the mountains? Do you get hungry? Is it hard work?
Yes. The officers steal the money for fresh food. Always rice, potatoes, sardines, that was the food every day. Sometimes there was only rice because there was no money to buy things.
What is life like for young people in the barrios?
For young people here it’s all about being in the guerrillas, carrying a gun, intimidating civilians. They want to feel good. But when they have to fight they can’t. They look down on me because I’ve just left. I won’t do anyone any favors, won’t hang around with them. Why would I want to get involved in that stuff? If I decide to join the guerrillas I’ll take my gun and go to the mountains. But not here, because here they only kill innocent people.
What sort of age are most of the paracos?
Mostly young—mainly reservists. The leaders are older. They’re bloodthirsty. The counter-guerrilla paramilitaries carry chainsaws with them, about this size [he indicates his forearm], for cutting people up. Any paraco that goes on operations takes one with him. They have mass graves, over in the center [of Barrancabermeja].
