Compare and Contrast

First the image:

The boss of Colombia's paramilitary factions apologized Friday for his actions in the groups' dirty war against Marxist rebels as 1,400 militia fighters surrendered their weapons in the largest demobilization of an outlawed armed faction in Colombia's history.

''With my soul flooded with humility, I ask forgiveness from the people of Colombia. I ask forgiveness from the nations of the world, including the United States of America, if by action or omission I offended,'' Salvatore Mancuso said in a speech to government officials, representatives of the Organization of American States and heavily armed paramilitary troops standing in formation under a sweltering sun.

The chieftain of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC as the paramilitary umbrella group is known, then handed his Beretta 9mm pistol to government Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, beginning the formal demobilization of the AUC's Catatumbo Bloc.

Now the reality:

In one of the most horrific chapters of Colombia's long civil conflict, investigators are unearthing scores of bodies from secret graves dotting this humid cattle-grazing region near the Caribbean, the victims of right-wing paramilitary groups now benefiting from generous concessions for pledging to disarm.

With dozens of people coming forward in recent months to complain of missing relatives, government and military officials now estimate that hundreds of poor farmers may have been killed and secretly buried in a terror campaign that began in the late 1990's.

The paramilitary groups, they say, kidnapped and killed their victims to seize land and in some cases weed out supporters of the Marxist guerrillas who have been fighting the government since the 1960's.

For years, fear kept the crimes hidden. But with the arrival this year of a new military commander who has secured the region, families finally began speaking out, despite lingering dangers that cost the life of one whistleblower earlier this year.

So far, 72 bodies have been recovered from El Palmar, a vast farm outside San Onofre that was used as a local base by the paramilitary forces, whose militias control several coastal states.

Image:

"The reward for our sacrifice for our country, for having freed half the country from the guerrillas and preventing another Cuba or the old Nicaragua establishing itself on the nation's soil, cannot be to send us to prison," said Salvatore Mancuso, AUC military commander.

"I grew up and was educated with the desire to serve society. I never imagined that .... extortion and the threat of kidnapping and death would force me to act in self-defense," said Mancuso, a burly rancher, wearing a suit and tie instead of his customary combat fatigues.

Reality:

Many of the killings here are attributed to a paramilitary unit calling itself the Heroes of the María Mountains, which the two commanders ran. The attorney general's office says that the group was engaged mostly in drug trafficking and corrupting local officials and that the killings helped it seize poor farmers' land and control cocaine trafficking corridors to the Caribbean.

Officials say the paramilitary groups also took aim at those they accused of aiding the rebels, the few who dared complain, small-time criminals and even their own fighters who fell out of favor.

"They were taken to that farm, where they were given an absurd sentence, not even a trial, since they were already condemned, and they were then killed in the most horrific of ways," said Ms. Silva, of the attorney general's human rights office.

Need I say more?