The Colombian Army Broke Geneva Conventions in Hostage "Rescue"

Posted by ElCatire, BoRev at 4:18 PM on July 17, 2008.

So the news about the hostage rescue/ransom payment in early July had all but died down...until today.

The New York Times is now reporting that one of the soldiers involved in the rescue dressed up to look like a worker from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Innocent enough, right?

Wrong.

Apparently impersonating a Red Cross worker is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Why? Because using the Red Cross as as a cover would threaten their stated neutrality, pretty much the only thing that allows them to do all the humanitarian work that they do.

So in theory, next time the FARC sees someone from the Red Cross, they could well assume it's a Colombian soldier. Not good.

We shouldn't much be surprised, though, since the soldier in question could just claim they were taking orders from their superiors, right? After all, Alvaro Uribe dresses up to look like a democrat, and we know how obvious a front that is ...

Tagged as: geneva conventions, colombia, red cross, rescue mission