| American Anticommunist Alliance | |
|---|---|
| Alianza Americana Anticomunista | |
| Dates of operation | 1978 (1978)–1979 (1979) |
| Ideology | Anti-communism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Status | Inactive |
TheAlianza Americana Anticomunista (AAA, pronouncedtriple-A; "American Anticommunist Alliance") was aparamilitaryfar-right group mainly operating inColombia between 1978 and 1979.
Contemporary accusations and declassified U.S. Embassy documents have linked the creation and operation of this group to members of aColombian National Army battalion employing the Triple A name as a label.[1][2]
A 1979 report from theUnited States Embassy inBogotá,Colombia details that then-GeneralJorge Robledo Pulido and members of the"Charry Solano" Battalion of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (BINCI) were directly involved in the creation of AAA. The report describes a plan intended "to create the impression that the American Anti-communist Alliance has established itself in Colombia and is preparing to take violent action against localcommunists."[1][2]
In December 1978, the Anticommunist American Alliance bombed theColombian Communist Party Headquarters, and later the Communist Party's newspaperVoz Proletaria. The bombing of the Communist Party HQ left no casualties according to the 1979 U.S. Embassy's report, which describes Triple A's contemporary activities as "more appropriately characterized as dirty tricks" than human rights abuses.[1]
BINCI has been accused of participating in a number of otherbombings,kidnappings andassassinations againstleftists and abuses of guerrilla detainees between the years of 1978 and 1979. In an open letter published on November 29, 1980, by theMexican newspaperEl Día, five individuals identified as former Colombian military detail a number of activities carried out by BINCI personnel operating as Triple A. Among those implicated in the operations of Triple A are then-LieutenantMario Montoya Uribe, who would have participated in the bombing ofVoz Proletaria, and then-Lieutenant ColonelHarold Bedoya, the commander of BINCI who would have given orders to several of the personnel involved.[3]
A 1992 publication,El Terrorismo de Estado en Colombia (State Terrorism in Colombia), prepared by a coalition ofhuman rights groups that includedCatholicpeace movementPax Christi International, repeated the accusations found in theEl Día article.[4]
In 1999, theDefence Intelligence Agency (DIA) concluded that there was no evidence to support the accusations regarding GeneralMario Montoya Uribe's involvement in Triple A, citing the information as "aNGOsmear campaign dating back 20 years".[5] This denial took place before the National Security Archive's request and subsequent declassification of the 1979 Embassy document.[2]
