Military Officers Colombia

Colombian human rights activists hailed the dismissal of an army general accused of torture and murder but questioned the government's resolve to fight abuses by its notorious security forces. Colombian President Ernesto Samper ordered the dismissal of Gen. Alvaro Velandia Hurtado on Monday after an investigation implicated him in the kidnaping, torture and murder of a leftist guerrilla eight years ago.

Colombian human rights activists hailed the dismissal of an army general accused of torture and murder but questioned the government's resolve to fight abuses by its notorious security forces. Colombian President Ernesto Samper ordered the dismissal of Gen. Alvaro Velandia Hurtado on Monday after an investigation implicated him in the kidnaping, torture and murder of a leftist guerrilla eight years ago.

An alleged international arms dealer accused of arming militants from Iraq to Nicaragua for decades has been arrested on U.S. charges of conspiring to supply Colombian rebels with millions of dollars' worth of weapons, federal authorities said Friday. Monzer Kassar of Marbella, Spain, and codefendants Tareq Mousa Ghazi and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy were arrested Thursday as they prepared to complete a transaction to pay for the weapons, federal officials said.