COLOMBIA:GEN MARIO Montoya has for years been a trusted caretaker of the sizeable aid package Washington provides to Colombia's army, leading helicopter-and-commando teams that eradicated drug crops and helping orchestrate this summer's dramatic rescue of hostage Ingrid Betancourt and three captured US defence contractors from Farc rebels.
With his take-charge nature, he impressed visiting US congressional delegations and military officials as an effective, no-nonsense commander who produced results.
But now, a former paramilitary fighter has said in special judicial proceedings that Gen Montoya, who heads Colombia's army, collaborated with death squads that took control of this city's poor neighbourhoods from the guerrillas a few years ago.
His testimony, along with that of at least four paramilitary commanders, is illuminating the links between Colombia's US-backed military and its brutal paramilitary proxies. The allegations, if proved, could be highly damaging for the government of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, a strong ally of the Bush administration who has staunchly supported the general in the face of past allegations.
Investigations into the ties between illegal paramilitary groups and the Colombian state have already implicated numerous allies of the president, including dozens of lawmakers and the former head of the secret police.
Videotaped testimony by Luis Adrián Palacio, made during two days of closed-door hearings in August and seen by this reporter, has prompted the attorney general's office in Bogotá to open a preliminary criminal investigation of the allegations against Gen Montoya, senior officials said.
In a separate jailhouse interview this month, Palacio recounted an April 2002 episode in which he says Gen Montoya funnelled weapons to a paramilitary militia commanded by Carlos Mauricio Garcia, better known by his alias, Rodrigo 00.
In an interview, Gen Montoya denied the allegations and called Palacio "a bandit" who is testifying against him to secure an early release. Colombian officials say Palacio may actually receive additional jail time for testifying against him because, by agreeing to co-operate in special hearings for paramilitary fighters, he has to admit to killings and other crimes.
The general also said Palacio's specific claim that Gen Montoya personally delivered a vehicle loaded with six assault rifles and a grenade launcher was absurd.
Palacio's testimony comes after several jailed paramilitary commanders, recounting their crimes as part of a government- supervised disarmament of militias, have implicated 30 military officers and police officials.
Already, Mr Uribe's administration has been shaken by the arrest this month of a friend of the president, retired Gen Rito Alejo del Río, on murder charges.
- (LA Times-Washington Post service)