Colombia names first black military general

BOGOTA, Colombia: For the first time in Colombia's history, a black officer has ascended to the rank of general. Now, he faces the difficult task of bring under control spiraling violence in the country's third largest city.

Gen. Luis Alberto Moore had a star pinned on his epaulettes by President Alvaro Uribe in a military ceremony Thursday in Bogota.

The 6-foot-2-inch (1.9-meter) police commander in the southern city of Cali said he hopes his promotion would serve as an inspiration to black cadets who are regularly thrown into the front lines of Colombia's war against leftist rebels and violent drug traffickers but rarely reach the upper ranks of the country's security forces.

"If people have me as a role model and say 'I can do it too,' then this is something historic," Moore, 47, told The Associated Press.