In the 2002 elections, Bedoya once again participated as a presidential candidate and ran against Horacio Serpa, Luis Eduardo Garzón, Noemí Sanín, Álvaro Uribe and Íngrid Betancourt. Betancourt would later be kidnapped by FARC rebels during the election season. Bedoya's Force Colombia obtained 50,763 votes, 0.459% of the total. Álvaro Uribe went on to win the election, representing the Colombia First political party. Controversy Human rights General Bedoya was criticized during the later years of his military career for his past attendance at the School of the Americas, as a number of its graduates have committed human rights violations. Bedoya was also accused of tolerating, working with or doing little to combat paramilitary groups. BINCI and Triple A Bedoya's service in the Batallón Único de Inteligencia y Contrainteligencia () (BINCI) of the Colombian National Army has been linked to the activities of the Anticommunist American Alliance () (AAA). The BINCI, acting as AAA, has been accused of carrying out a series of bombings against the Colombian Communist Party's Headquarters and its newspaper Voz Proletaria. The AAA has also been accused of engaging in other kidnappings, bombings and assassinations against leftist targets and abuses of guerrilla detainees during the late 1970s . Then-Lieutenant Colonel Bedoya was mentioned in an open letter published on November 29, 1980 by the Mexican newspaper El Día, in which five individuals identified as former Colombian military detail a number of activities carried out by BINCI personnel operating as Triple A. According to them, Lieutenant Colonel Harold Bedoya, the commander of BINCI, would have given orders to the personnel involved in the bombing of Voz Proletaria. Legal actions against critics Bedoya was criticized for filing slander charges against Father Javier Giraldo, the director of the Intercongregational Commission for Justice and Peace (). Human Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and the Organization of American Studies called these slander suits a measure intended to silence critics. Death Bedoya Pizarro died at a military clinic in Bogotá from lymphoma on May 2, 2017 at the age of 78. See also Colombian Armed Conflict History of Colombia Kidnappings in Colombia Military of Colombia Paramilitarism in Colombia Politics of Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia References 1938 births 2017 deaths People from Cali National Army of Colombia Colombian generals Colombian expatriates in the United States