• Six U.S. Lawmakers Demand Changes in Paramilitary Demobilization Law In a letter sent to Colombian President Uribe, six U.S. Senators raised concerns regarding the draft paramilitary demobilization legislation and urged Uribe to amend the current version of the bill. Senators Edward Kennedy, Joseph Biden, Barack Obama, Patrick Leahy, Christopher Dodd, and Russ Feingold said that the demobilization bill does not meet international standards. According to the Senators, the bill should ensure the complete dismantlement of the underlying paramilitary structure, sources of financing, and economic power of the foreign terrorist organizations, condition benefits to commanders on their groups’ compliance with the cease-fire and cessation of criminal activity, and ensure accountability, including the option of extradition to the U.S. The Senators emphasize that they “are especially disappointed that the bill does not require paramilitary combatants to fully disclose their knowledge of the operative structure and financing of the foreign-terrorist organizations (FTOs), and to fully confess their role in illegal activities before they receive benefits.” Moreover, the Senators cited their concerns that paramilitary commanders are eligible for lenient jail sentences even if the groups they led continue to participate in illegal activities. Because “the terms of this demobilization could have a very negative impact on peace, justice and the rule of law in Colombia” and future relations between the two countries, the six senators urged President Uribe to amend the bill.

• U.S. Trained Nearly 9,000 Colombian Military and Police Personnel in 2004 In 2004, the U.S. trained nearly 9,000 military and police personnel, more than any other country in the Western Hemisphere and trailing only Iraq and Afghanistan in the world. Prior to the passage of the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act, much of training provided to the Colombian military was in direct support of counter-narcotics efforts, yet “since then U.S. training has broadened to reflect U.S. support to assist the Colombian military in its unified campaign against narcotics traffickers and designated terrorist groups,” the recently released State and Defense Department report said. Despite the expansion of the program to include counterterrorism efforts, the bulk of the training, with nearly 6,500 troops trained, continued to be focused on drug eradication and interdiction efforts. Read the full State and Defense Department report: http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/fmtrpt/2005/

• U.S.-Funded Program Provides Training to Colombian Lawyers Colombian lawyers, forced to learn a new judicial system which stresses oral trials over written proceedings in the hopes of minimizing bureaucracy and corruption, are being re-trained under a U.S.-funded training program. Prosecutors, judges, investigators, and public defenders will all take part in the training program. According to Paul Vaky, a senior Justice Department official working in Colombia, “an effective criminal justice system is essential to a stable democracy [and] that alone is of significant interest to the United States.” Even with the new style of oral trials, safety for those involved – witnesses, victims, jurists, and defendants – is a concern. Approximately 300 judges, investigators, and prosecutors were murdered in the 1980s and early 1990s because of their participation in high-profile drug cases, and many more have been threatened and kidnapped. “You’ll be trying some of the most ruthless and scariest drug criminals in the world, or you’ll be trying some people who are at the top of the power structure in a very unequal country - people who have been accustomed over generations to being above the law. If you're going to do that, especially considering that most of the witnesses are powerless, middle-class people, courtrooms are going to need a lot of protection," said Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy. The U.S. has invested $35 million in Colombia over the past five years to train jurists, build courthouses, and renovate courtrooms for oral trials. And according to the Justice Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. is expected to spend another $17 million by December 2008 when the accusatory system will be in place throughout the entire country.

• U.S. Agents Help Train Colombian Bomb Squads Thirty Colombian law enforcement officers are participating in a two-week explosives training course taught by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). According to the ATF, the course, which began May 30 and ends June 10, is being taught by a team of five ATF special agents and includes training in “improvised explosive devices, post-blast scene investigation, forensic lab reconstruction, bomber motivation and investigative leads, a practical exercise at an ordnance range, bomb threat management, and country case studies.” Colombian participants hail from the Attorney General’s Office, the national police, and the coroner’s office. According to ATF officials, the agency has long been involved in Colombia, helping Colombian law enforcement confiscate more than 12,000 firearms from drug-traffickers, paramilitaries, and guerrillas since 2002, establishing and training 76 investigative bomb squads, and training 36 arson investigators.

• Wisconsin Team Investigates Colombian Massacre Led by Cecilia Zarate Laun of the Colombia Support Network, five Americans traveled to Colombia to investigate a massacre of eight people in northwestern Colombia, including the murder of a San Jose de Apartado peace community leader. Luis Eduardo Guerra, who visited Madison, WI in 2000, was murdered along with his wife, 11-year old child, and four others on February 21. The delegation, which spoke with politicians, police, the UN human rights office, and the US Embassy, noted inconsistencies in information from the security forces who, according to volunteer Norm Stockwell, “should call for a full investigation into these brutal murders.” The group plans to compile a report and present it to Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl. San Jose de Apartado, a community that has rejected the presence of all armed actors and aims to build a future without arms, has been Madison’s sister city for fifteen years.

Upcoming Events and Seminars in the U.S.

A delegation of African-Americans that will visit Afro-Colombian communities from July 12 to July 24 still has several openings for interested African-Americans. This delegation aims to bridge the gap between these two communities and allow African-Americans to see the reality of Afro-Colombians caught in the middle of the internal conflict in Colombia. Participants will take part in meetings with Afro-Colombians from national and regional organizations, and will visit Bogota, Choco, and Cartagena. For more information, please contact Gail Phares at citca@bellsouth.net or Ajamu Dillahunt at ardillahunt@igc.org.

Colombia This Week is reproduced with the kind permission of the ABColombia Group in London

Fri 27 – Nasa indigenous freed without charges; UK Minister calls for respect for human rights.

• Alfredo Acosta, coordinator of the indigenous guard of the Nasa (or Paez) ethnic group, commenting on the release of 12 members of his community who had been taken into custody by the Colombian army, declares “the way the justice system used to work, you were innocent until proven guilty. Now it's the other way around". According to the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN), the 12 Nasa indigenous released had been detained without an arrest warrant. Although the prosecutor's office accused them of 'rebellion' and 'terrorism', it found no evidence to bring charges. The indigenous people who were arrested will bring legal action for slander against the officials who publicly accused them of belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), IPS reports.
• In the inaugural debate on Colombia in the House of Lords, newly appointed British Minister for Latin America and Africa Lord Triesman states that ‘although the British government supports the efforts that President Uribe is making to tackle the interconnected problems of the armed conflict, it also believes that in tackling the country’s severe problems, human rights and international humanitarian law must be respected’, adding that he raised these questions while meeting with the Colombian Ambassador in London, Alfonso Lopez Caballero.
• Presenting its annual worldwide report on human rights, the Secretary General for Amnesty International, Irene Khan reports that four years after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, human rights are in retreat worldwide and the United States bears most responsibility. "When the most powerful country in the world thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights, it grants a license to others to commit abuse with impunity”, she said, citing Colombia, Sudan and Zimbabwe among a host of others.

Sat 28 – 17 councillors killed in Colombia this year; drug lord sentenced to 40 years in the US.

• Between the year 2000 and the year 2005, 143 regional and local councillors have been killed in Colombia, according to the National Federations of Local Councillors (Fenacon). According to these figures, 17 of them have been killed this year, and another 107 were forcibly displaced from their villagers by the armed conflict, Cambio magazine reports.
• A former drug kingpin from Colombia is sentenced to 40 years in prison for heading a cartel that smuggled massive amounts of cocaine into the US and hid hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Alberto Orlandez Gamboa, 49, who had once boasted of being among Colombia's top 10 drug lords, had previously pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, drug smuggling and money laundering, Reuters reports.
• In its latest report on the Colombian armed conflict, International Crisis Group (ICG) reports that while the FARC has intensified its operations across the country, there is growing economic and social discontent among Colombians. It also says that President Uribe’s approval ratings are down from 74 to 59 per cent since December last year.

Sun 29 – Use of landmines are spreading in Colombia; government to fumigate national parks.

• National coordinator of the Colombian Campaign against Mines, Alvaro Jimenez Millan, reports that from January through September 2004, 421 new casualties were registered in Colombia. "We have to race to fix the problem," said. "We're the only [country] in the Americas where mines are being laid." He and other activists complain that the government has been slow to educate the populace, prioritize anti-mining efforts and help victims. Officials insist that they are taking action, with a national awareness project in the works and international aid in hand to help out. Still, the situation is likely to worsen while the fighting drags on. Even if peace should come, experts say, the problem is expected to persist because removing mines could take years. Almost every part of Colombia is affected, Associated Press reports.
• The issue of aerial spraying in the Colombian national parks sparks controversy, particularly in Colombia but also internationally because such a decision is unprecedented in the world. Colombia's national parks cover more than 10 million hectares (10 percent of the country), and the country ranks second in the world in biodiversity, after Brazil. The system includes 34 national parks, nine flora and fauna sanctuaries and two natural reserves. If Colombia carried out aerial spraying in parks, it would violate provisions of such international environmental treaties as the Convention on Biodiversity, ratified by Colombia by Law 162 in 1994, which basically protects all diversity, especially in countries like Colombia where there is a great wealth of flora and fauna, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169, which protects the identity and integrity of indigenous peoples. Because the territory of various indigenous communities lies within or around parks, this treaty would be violated, Colombian environmentalist NGO CENSAT reports.

Mon 30 – Drug lord ‘Don Berna’ turns himself; authorities arrest FARC commander.

• Diego Murillo, a well known drug trafficker and top leader of Colombia's far-right paramilitaries, turns himself in after a three-day manhunt. Authorities ordered his arrest earlier this week, saying he broke a cease-fire by ordering the assassination of Cordoba provincial lawmaker Orlando Benitez last month. A lso known as Don Berna or Adolfo Paz, he had enjoyed immunity from previous arrest warrants, including a US order for his capture for cocaine trafficking. The US has provided Colombia with intelligence to help in its hunt for Murillo as they believe he runs a Medellin-based gang responsible for a large part of the country's massive drug exports. President Uribe has been accused by some of taking too soft a line against the paramilitaries while focusing his war effort on defeating rebel organisations, Reuters reports.
• The Colombian authorities report the detention of Ruben Herrera Mendez, reportedly second in command of the FARC’s 41 st front in the city of Bucaramanga. According to the reports issued by the Attorney General’s office, he has 17 capture orders for terrorism, rebellion and kidnapping. El Colombiano reports.
• Former municipalities controlled by the FARC group in south Colombia, including San Vicente del Caguan and Cartagena de Chaira, have received US government development aid, in the form of schools, books, and computers. In San Vicente del Caguan, US Ambassador William Wood joined Colombian officials to celebrate the opening of a school and library and said that the goal in Colombia is not simply victory against the ‘narco-terrorists’, but to create stability and to strengthen democracy so it serves the citizens better. A total of US $3 million has been spent on these development projects in San Vicente de Caguan, with the US military donating most of the money for the library, Miami Herald reports.

Tues 31- Minister criticises international NGOs; Nasa indigenous call for action from UN.

• In a letter sent to the International Herald Tribune, Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco considers that the opinions published in the international media reporting on the paramilitary peace process, calling the process ‘a pass’ for this armed group and a ‘record-laundering operation’ are ‘unacceptable’, adding that she ‘can think of no similar process in modern history that has been as democratic and open to free and frank debate by all interested parties’, IHT reports.
• Nasa leaders from Cauca tell the fourth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York that their people are in a state of emergency. In a letter addressed to Roberto Stavenhagen, UN special rapporteur, Nasa leader Ezequiel Vitonas, an elder councillor in ACIN, and Aide Quilcue of the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC), called on the UN to take "urgent action" to ensure that the autonomy and neutrality of indigenous peoples is respected, as recognised by the Colombian constitution.
• Enrique Iglesias resigns as president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), setting the stage for a race between Colombian and Brazilian hopefuls to replace him. The race could provide a new test of the Bush administration's influence in Latin America because Colombia, a strong US ally, plans to present the candidacy of its ambassador to Washington, Luis Alberto Moreno, according to IDB and Colombian diplomatic officials, Miami Herald reports.

Weds 01 – Displacement in Antioquia totals 3,000; Prosecutor calls Berna’s detention irregular.

• After more than 20 days of combats in South-western Antioquia, more than 3,000 people have fled their settlements heading towards Argelia. Villagers have complained that the FARC, who see this area as a strategic corridor- are occupying their houses and that they fear landmines planted by this group to stop the advance of the Colombian army, El Colombiano reports.
• In a public statement, Colombian Prosecutor (Procurador) Edgardo Maya considers that the Colombian government cannot bestow the benefits of the justice and peace proposal upon Diego Murillo (‘Don Berna’). ‘The situation is extremely irregular as the government is using a piece of legislation that is still under discussion and that has not yet been approved by the Colombian Congress, El Tiempo reports.
• Colombia's Senate Constitutional Affairs Committee passes a watered-down version of the government's proposal for cutting state pension benefits, leaving one vote to go before final passage. The government originally proposed a set of benefit cuts starting in 2008. But the measure has been altered to start the cuts two year later, in 2010, Reuters reports.
• Three suspected British drug smugglers are arrested in Spain after a high-seas raid on a trawler transporting Colombian cocaine netted one of Europe's biggest ever drug hauls. British Revenue and Customs investigators formed part of a team from three countries which tracked the four tonnes of cocaine, valued at £225m, as it made its way across the Atlantic from South America towards either Spain or Portugal, Guardian reports.

Thurs 02- Tension in Congress over Justice and Peace bill; external debt rose to $25.9 b in 2004

• In another episode that erodes the credibility of the Uribe administration in this process, Colombian Senator Jimmy Chamorro denounces in the Senate’s second Commission that clauses included in the previous draft of the Justice and Peace law to guarantee that narco-traffickers would not benefit from this law, ‘have disappeared from the original draft without anyone noticing’, El Tiempo reports.
• Colombia's external public debt rose 4.9 percent to $25.9 billion in February, compared with $24.6 billion in the same month last year, the central bank announces. In January of this year the country's external public debt was $25.6 billion. Colombia's externally held private-sector debt rose to $13.8 billion in February from $13.7 billion in the second month of last year, the bank said. Total external debt amounted to 33.5 percent of gross domestic product in February this year versus 39.3 percent in February 2004.
• Hernando Hernandez, the human rights officer of the Colombian agricultural workers union FENSUAGRO, has been detained by members of the Colombian secret police (DAS) in Bogota. In a press statement, UK-based Justice for Colombia reports its concerns over the detention of another well known trade union activist, calling on the Colombian authorities to clarify the charges against him.
• Suspected FARC rebels have blown up nine energy towers in the past four days, temporarily cutting electricity to thousands of residents in Colombia's northern coastal region, a spokesman for state-controlled ISA electric company reports. The dynamite attacks began last Friday night on the 165-foot (50-meter) tall structures, said ISA spokesman Gabriel Gallon. He said the attacks were the most over such a short period so far this year, CNN reports.

Colombia This Week is a news summary produced and distributed by ABColombia Group. Sources include daily Colombian, US, European and Latin American newspapers, and reports from non-governmental organisations and the UN System. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the ABColombia Group.