Colombia's lower house voted overwhelmingly May 23 to request President Alvaro Uribe "immediately remove for incompetence" Sergio Caramagna, head of the OAS peace mission in the country. Jose Castro Caycedo, the legislator who sponsored the resolution, told the Associated Press that paramilitaries made a mockery of the peace talks by "holding orgies on the negotiating table," excesses which he said Caramagna should have denounced.

The resolution follows to press reports that paramilitaries held all-night, whiskey-fueled orgies with costly prostitutes, and football stars and famous Mexican mariachi bands also flown in.

Reports in the respected newsweekly Semana earlier also described how the para leaders spent their days motocross racing, tending their exotic pet tigers and talking business with unidentified Mexican partners. The revelations were based on transcripts of phone conversations between paramilitary bosses and several madams published by Semana. Caramagna, an Argentine, was responsible for overseeing the safe haven at Santa Fe de Ralito. (AP, May 24)

See our last post on Colombia and the paramilitary scandal.