U.S. bars former Colombia army commander, citing extrajudicial killings of civilians

The United States on Friday announced sanctions against a former Colombian general it said was involved in extrajudicial killings of civilians falsely reported as combat deaths.

The punishment means former general Mario Montoya and his family are barred from traveling to the U.S., Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Montoya used to command the Colombian army and was one of the senior officers closest to then-president Alvaro Uribe, who served from 2002 to 2010, while the government waged a fierce offensive against the leftist guerrilla army known as the FARC.