BOGOTA, July 14 (UPI) -- Human rights groups urged Britain Thursday not to support Colombia's new amnesty law for right-wing paramilitary leaders.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is set to meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to ask for his political and financial support for Colombia's fight against leftist rebels and its Justice and Peace Law. The law, passed in June, demobilizes thousands of right-wing paramilitaries but allows some of their leaders to go free without penalty.
"Uribe is about to sign a law that would let Colombia's paramilitaries off the hook for their terrorist acts," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch. "The British government should urge Uribe to scrap this law and replace it with one that allows for a genuine demobilization of these groups."
Many of the paramilitary leaders are wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States and on murder charges in Colombia.
