By TIM JOHNSON
             Herald Staff Writer

             BOGOTA, Colombia -- Moving against one of Colombia's most intractable
             problems, President Andres Pastrana on Friday cashiered two senior army officers
             accused of sponsoring militias involved in brutal ``cleansing'' campaigns against
             leftists.

             Army Gens. Rito Alejo del Rio and Fernando Millan Perez were sent into
             retirement without explanation.

             Both officers are under investigation by the federal Prosecutor General's Office for
             alleged human rights abuses and could face criminal charges.

             Radionet, an independent network, said Colombia's army chief, Gen. Jorge
             Enrique Mora, opposed the cashiering and was meeting with other members of the
             high command at army headquarters Friday evening.

             Pastrana's move could help stalled peace talks with the nation's largest guerrilla
             insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Talks with the
             rebels began Jan. 7 but stumbled after a rampage by militias that left an estimated
             140 people dead. The slaughter deeply angered leaders of the insurgency. Talks
             were postponed until April 20.

             Del Rio, chief of army operations, and Millan, who heads the Army War College,
             are the highest-level army officers fired for alleged human rights abuses.

             Del Rio gained a reputation among hard-liners for pushing leftist rebels out of the
             banana-growing northwestern Uraba region in the early 1990s with the brutal help
             of clandestine paramilitary forces. Virtual death squads, the militias executed
             scores of suspected leftists.

             Millan is linked to a secret death squad in Lebrija, in Santander state, where rich
             ranchers have sought to offset inroads by rebels. The death squad murdered at
             least 15 people.

             Del Rio and Millan were considered so powerful that even their army superiors
             reportedly feared to remove them.