*The US government, through the CIA, trains, provide arms and finances the death squads in cooperation with the regime in power.
*Death squads are a part of official policies and programs, although not publicly admitted.
*High-profile implementors like Gen. Jose Alberto Medrano of El Salvador, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras of Haiti and Maj. Gen Jovito Palparan of the Philippines are employed.
*The killings continue until the objective of weakening the popular resistance is not met or unless there is very strong local and international condemnation and pressure

Blatant

In the Philippines, as in the case in Central Luzon, the operation of death squads is blatantly used in the framework of Oplan Bantay Laya.

Instead of prosecuting soldiers accused of the crimes, Maj. Gen. Palparan even points the blame on the victims themselves.

In a recent published media interview, Palparan was quoted as saying: “They (the victims) should ask themselves, what are they doing?”

Last week, bowing to widespread indignation and a report from Amnesty International that is critical of the role of the Arroyo government in the killings, a government task force was formed to investigate the incidents. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has also started its own investigation.

But based on the experiences of other countries, and our own experiences in toppling the Marcos dictatorship, it will take a lot more than investigations to stop the killings. Bulatlat

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