Toughening its stance against right-wing warlords once unofficially allied with the government, Colombia on Friday transferred to prison 59 militia leaders said to have planned a mass escape from a work farm.Four government helicopters arrived at the La Ceja camp near the northern city of Medellin to take the militia chiefs to a nearby high security prison, the latest in a series of government clampdowns on the right-wing fighters. The men, held on charges ranging from massacre to drug smuggling, are among more than 30,000 paramilitaries who have turned in their weapons over the last three years in exchange for benefits including reduced prison terms and the suspension of extradition orders.
But some of those suspensions may now be revoked, as the government loses patience with militia leaders accused of continuing their lives of crime while in government custody. "The transfer order results from credible information that there could be risk of escape," Colombian Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told reporters.
The transfer was ordered by President Alvaro Uribe, a close U.S. ally, who is also facing a political crisis in which three allied lawmakers were arrested last month for being involved with the paramilitaries. The militia leaders have committed some of the worst atrocities of Colombia's four-decade-old conflict, in which thousands are killed each year.