ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This report was written jointly by Human Rights Watch / Americas and the Human Rights Watch Arms Project, based on research conducted by both divisions. Human Rights Watch / Americas researched paramilitary groups, human rights violations by those groups, and impunity for those violations. The Human Rights Watch Arms Project concentrated on the relationship between the Colombian military, paramilitaries, and the U.S. Government. The Arms Project investigation was led by consultant Frank Smyth and assisted by Winifred Tate, also an Arms Project consultant. The Americas Division edited the report.

The Human Rights Watch Arms Project acknowledges with appreciation funding from the Compton Foundation, Ruth Mott Fund, and Rockefeller Foundation. Human Rights Watch takes sole responsibility for the contents of this report.

This report is dedicated to the memory of Wilson Cáceres, a human rights activist forcibly disappeared in 1995.