Bogota, Aug 26: Colombian Air Force boss General Hector Fabio Velasco has announced he was stepping down as Force Commander, and that President Alvaro Uribe had accepted his resignation.
Velasco, 62, who has been in the armed forces for four decades, had made several attempts to resign since mid-2002.
"Since May and before I had been trying to retire. The President accepted. We spoke two days ago. I presented it formally written, and he asked me to accept a diplomatic post," Velasco told RCN Radio yesterday.
The Air Force chief had been heavily criticised by the United States in recent months for allegedly concealing information relating to the December 1998 bombing in Santo Domingo, Arauca province, that killed 18.
Velasco had only just taken over as FAC Commander at the time.
Anne Patterson, US Ambassador to Colombia until last week, on at least four occasions, most recently in June, asked Uribe for Velasco's removal from office.
She told the Colombian President that the 18 killed in Arauca had died from shots fired by the FAC, and said Washington had proof that Velasco had hidden evidence.
A US Federal Bureau of Investigation probe found cluster bombs of the type frequently used by the FAC at the site of the slayings.
Bureau Report
