InfoBrief is a weekly news summary of events in the U.S. and Colombia produced and distributed by the U.S. Office on Colombia. Colombia This Week is reproduced with the kind permission of the ABColombia Group in London. Other sources include U.S. and Latin American newspapers, and reports from non-profit and grassroots groups. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Office on Colombia. If you would like to receive InfoBrief please contact jess_hunter@usofficeoncolombia.org indicating why you would be interested in this weekly news service. Previous editions of InfoBrief can be found at www.usofficeoncolombia.org
U.S. Current Affairs and Media
U.S. Congress to Fund Paramilitary Demobilization Last week a congressional committee reconciled the House and Senate versions of the 2006 Foreign Aid bill and, in a surprise move, voted to allot $20 million from the 2006 budget to help fund Colombia ’s paramilitary demobilization process. Andres Pastrana, Colombia’s Ambassador to the U.S., called the contribution “a diplomatic boost.” In order for Congress to release the funds to Colombia, the U.S. State Department must certify that Colombia is meeting certain requirements, including ensuring all paramilitary members sought by the U.S have been extradited. Paramilitaries are wanted for extradition to the U.S. on charges of drug trafficking. The conditions also require the Secretary of State to certify that demobilized paramilitaries have renounced violence and confessed to their involvement in crimes, are providing information regarding the paramilitary structures, financing sources and illegal assets. Colombia has received little funding for the Peace and Justice Law from other nations due to concerns that the demobilization terms are too lenient. Under this law, demobilized paramilitary fighters who confess their crimes serve a maximum of eight years in prison, even if they are guilty of mass murder. Read more about the changes to Foreign Aid bill:
NGOs Express Concern to U.S. State Department Over Assassination of Afro-Colombian Last week the leaders of 25 non-profit groups concerned with human rights abuse under the armed conflict in Colombia, sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to express their condemnation of the October disappearance and assassination of Mr. Orlando Valencia, Afro-Colombian leader of the Curvarado community. They asked the U.S. State Department to use “all of the diplomatic mechanisms available” to ensure a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation of Orlando Valencia’s assassination, and ensure justice for his family and the Curvarado community. They called on the U.S. State Department to make sure that U.S. financial support to Colombia is used to strengthen Afro-Colombian organizations and community processes and to pressure Colombia to promptly arrested the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to trial. The signatories also asked the State Department to recommend the Colombian officials to investigate the Belen de Bajira police force’s actions prior to and immediately following Valencia’s disappearance. They would like the US Embassy to issue a public statement condemning Valencia’s murder while pledging U.S. support of the Afro-Colombian leaders, organizations, and community processes. The letter similarly asks the State Department to study this case during its certification of Colombia’s human rights progress.
Colombia Still Willing to Talk Trade with U.S. After Summit Conclusion On November 4th and 5th, presidents from 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere attended the eleventh annual Summit of the Americas, held in Mar de la Plata, Argentina. On Friday the 4th, over 25,000 people held a protest against U.S. President Bush’s agenda to revive a hemisphere-wide free trade accord. Bush argues that the free trade accord would reduce poverty and eventually create jobs. The proposed regional trade accord, called the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), is stalled in part due to what Latin American’s see as excessively high U.S. farm subsidies. Some nations argue that U.S. subsidies would “tilt the trade balance unfairly against Latin America.” Bush spent a great deal of time with Colombian President Uribe, the president of Peru, as well as presidents of several Central American presidents, who are sympathetic to his arguments for free trade in the Americas . Bush also met with President Uribe and other Andean presidents to discuss the proposed Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). He told reporters that the Andean countries are “struggling to fight narco-trafficking,” and said that all the Andean countries “recognize the importance of having free trade with the United States.” The Summit ended without a plan for when future talks on the hemispheric trade will resume. Tom Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, insisted that there was still “significant support within the region for economic integration and for a Free Trade Area of the Americas.”
Paramilitaries Say Disarmament Process Must Exclude U.S. Extraditions On November 3, the far-right AUC militia said they would like to re-negotiate a peace treaty with the Colombian government to give them more time to demobilize their armed forces and to secure guarantees that they will not be extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges. The AUC paramilitary forces suspended disarmament talks last month after the government transferred a top-commander from house arrest to prison. The peace deal signed by the AUC in July 2003 states that all paramilitary soldiers must demobilize by the end of the year 2005. Although an estimated 11,000 paramilitary have surrendered their weapons and demobilized, possibly as many as 10,000 paramilitary have yet to demobilize. AUC political commander Ivan Roberto Duque, known as Ernesto Baez, said that although his forces are committed to help “wind down the war,” he said, “the rules and timetable need to be changed”. The Colombian government notified the paramilitaries that those who do not disarm by December 31, 2005 “will be confronted militarily.” Colombian President Uribe said that he was committed “to have the demobilization completed on time.”
Colombian Officials Capture Key Rebel Leader Wanted in the U.S. On November 5, Colombian authorities arrested a left-wing guerilla leader sought by the U.S. on charges of cocaine trafficking. Several months of telephone wiretapping allowed authorities to capture and arrest Faruk Shaikh Reyes, a Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) commander, in Bogotá’s El Dorado international airport. According to the Colombian Security Forces, Shaikh Reyes was part of a cocaine operation which supplied $150 million worth of cocaine to Europe and the U.S. each month. He is considered the major cocaine salesman for the FARC rebels and is also the FARC’s chief buyer of weapons. He was also in charge of obtaining information about cocaine production from members of the AUC paramilitary, which also funds its operations from drug trafficking.
Upcoming Events and Seminars in the U.S.
A Colombia Teach-In, sponsored by Witness for Peace, will be held November 18, at the Howard Johnson Hotel in Columbus , Georgia , in conjunction with the vigil to close The School of the Americas . Panelists include Maria Brigada Gonzalez, of the Colombian Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado; William Mendoza, Vice President of SINALTRAINAL labor union in Barrancabermeja; and Rick Ufford-Chase, Presbyterian Church (USA). Focus groups will follow the panel discussion . For more information contact Janna Bowman, janna@witnessforpeace.org.
Colombia This Week is reproduced with the kind permission of the ABColombia Group in London
Colombia This Week Editing Date: 11/07/05
Fri 28- DAS scandals mount; new book reveals consequences of coca fumigation in Colombia .
The latest scandal affecting the intelligence service in Colombia has been especially explosive, coming amid international criticism that the government has been overly generous with paramilitaries who disarm by treating them leniently in prosecutions. The Bogota daily El Tiempo reported that DAS officers were secretly taped while discussing alleged plans by a close aide to former DAS Director Jorge Noguera to sell intelligence data to paramilitary leaders. The newspaper claimed that DAS deputy Jorge Narvaez asked for the recording to be made to ensnare his boss in the scandal, revealing deep divisions within the agency. The vice-minister of defence, Andres Peñate, has taken over the DAS while the government investigates the allegations. The DAS has been hit by a string of scandals recently, including alleged misappropriation of funds. A regional chief in northwest Colombia has also been accused of fabricating a plot to assassinate President Alvaro Uribe in order to take credit for foiling the attack, Reuters reports.
UK-based journalists Hugh O’Shaughnessy and Sue Branford launch their latest book on Colombia . The book, ‘Chemical Warfare in Colombia : the cost of coca fumigation’ recounts how chemical spraying is being used in Colombia as a deterrent to and to destroy ‘illicit’ coca crops – the basic ingredient in cocaine. The un-told story is that most people cultivating coca are poor peasant farmers with no alternative livelihood options. Although the aerial fumigation of coca is a key weapon in the US-sponsored ‘war on drugs’, it has proved to be ineffective and dangerous to humans and animals, as well as poisoning a precious environment rich in biodiversity, London based Latin-American Bureau reports.
Sat 29 – Fighting leaves at least 20 dead; dozen FARC fighters reportedly killed in Vaupes .
Intense fighting between rebels and paramilitary groups for control of the cocaine trade in the jungles of Choco leaves between 20 and 30 people dead in fighting, Gen. Mario Gutierrez, a police commander in the region, reports. Wounded paramilitary fighters were taken to the town of San Jose del Palmar for treatment, he said. On Thursday, Federico Cuellar, a human rights official in the town, told local media that 80 fighters were killed. It was not possible to immediately reconcile the conflicting figures. "All we know is no civilians were killed, because the fighting happened far from any towns", Gen. Mario Gutierrez said, Associated Press reports.
At least a dozen FARC fighters were killed in south-eastern Colombia near the Brazilian border when army troops attacked a rebel boat convoy on a jungle river, the Colombian army reports. Most of the rebels died when the boats sank during the attack on the Vaupes River , Colprensa reports.
Police authorities report the detention of 19 paramilitaries in the city of Bogota . According to Gen. Luis Alberto Heredia, they belong to the ‘Capital bloc’ of the Self-Defence Forces of Colombia. They have been accused of extortion and the killing of an unknown number of businessmen in the capital. Police also said they were investigating if these men were behind the death threats against politicians and candidates from the Liberal Party (PL), El Tiempo reports.
Sun 30 - Colombian reparation commission attempts war healing while the conflict continues.
Eduardo Pizarro, t he president of Colombia's newly installed Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation to compensate victims of a four-decade-old war, recognizes the challenge of dealing with on-going conflict but hopes his work will help to end the fighting. “We're going to compensate yesterday's victims and avoid tomorrow's victims," he said in an interview. But he recognized that establishing facts while victims still face threats from illegal armed groups will be tough. Pizarro hopes the work of the Commission to detail the suffering of the conflict's many thousands of victims will exert a moral pressure on the rebels which will make it progressively harder for them to target civilians. "An ethical barrier will emerge which will make it very difficult to produce more victims, when victims begin to demand reparation and organize themselves," he said. The Commission will set up regional committees where local people can lodge accusations, although many might be afraid to do so. The government will provide compensation for communities which have suffered massacres and selective killings. One of the Commission's first tasks will be to find mass graves, but convincing killers to reveal their whereabouts will be difficult. "One possibility would be for the perpetrators to visit priests, and to reveal the location of the hidden graves under the secret of the confessional," Reuters reports.
Swiss-based Campaign for Human Rights Multiwatch reports on a new meeting of the Permanent Tribunal of the People. In a meeting held in Bogota , witnesses presented their testimonies regarding the policies of the multinational Nestle. According to the organisers, the basis of this campaign is to insist upon ethical and moral criteria while observing the fulfilment of the international human rights obligations of this Swiss-based multinational. More than 200 participants representing trade unions and NGOs attended the event.
Mon 31 – Drug pin detained while in AUC custody; Manuel Rozental leaves country under threat.
Colombian police captured John Eidelber Cano, a top cocaine trafficker wanted for extradition by the United States , in a jungle commando raid on Sunday, police said. John Eidelber Cano, a leader of the violent Norte del Valle cartel was arrested while being defended by his paramilitary bodyguards in Caucasia (Antioquia). Cano, who has a $5 million government reward on his head, was captured when helicopters and assault troops swooped on his jungle hiding place where he was guarded by about 20 members of a right-wing paramilitary bloc. All the guards escaped after a short gunfight, Reuters reports.
The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) denounces to the national and the international community the recent death threats against Manuel Rozental, an internationally recognised Colombian activist who has been helping to coordinate the communications strategy of the ACIN indigenous organisation that has vociferously opposed the signature of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. It is not known which armed group is behind the threats.
Tues 01 – Government gives ‘ultimatum’ to paramilitaries ; US press reports on flawed law.
The Colombian government has warned the main paramilitary group it should demobilise as agreed or face the army. Last week, the AUC suggested that it would need more time to demobilise fully. But the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo, said that the government would not extend the timetable agreed with the paramilitary group. He also warned militia leaders that they would not be allowed to engage in politics before they lay down their arms. “There is no valid reason for the demobilisation of these groups to be halted. Anyone who refuses to disarm voluntarily will face military action," Mr Restrepo said, El Tiempo reports.
As approved, Colombia 's ''Justice and Peace'' law has too many loopholes. There is hardly any penalty for ''forgetting” to confess a massacre or an illegal asset. In short, the full truth is not required. Too few prosecutors with too little time for investigation and case preparation virtually guarantees that many atrocities will go unexamined. A notorious narco-trafficker who confesses to every drug offence will face a sentence of as little as two to three years for all crimes, -and his extradition to face those charges in the US will be blocked through a prohibition on double jeopardy. Evidence of the law's failings comes from a new Human Rights Watch report. It says that of 5,000 AUC combatants disarmed so far, only 25 have been detained or charged; combatants, moreover, aren't being asked to divulge details of crimes, criminal networks or illicit assets, Miami Herald reports.
Weds 02 – Colombia : neither peace nor justice; AUC commanders in row with government.
The Colombian government has lobbied hard to win international respectability for a peace plan that human rights organisations believe will entrench the political and economic power of a mafia guilty of drug trafficking, extortion and gross human-rights abuses. The endorsement given by the EU's council of ministers last month is counted as a major diplomatic victory. There is little hope of justice for the victims; of the 5,000 paramilitaries who have demobilised, only 25 had been detained for atrocities up to April. The government claims there is a paramilitary ceasefire, but has turned a blind eye to repeated violations; one commander is being legitimised even though he has been accused of ordering the assassination of a congressman in April. The government has ignored criticism of the law from the UN high commissioner for human rights, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, several US senators and many non-governmental organisations, Isabel Hilton reports in The Guardian.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez charges that Colombian intelligence agencies have been behind plots against his government, but they failed to undermine relations between the two neighbours. The accusations come days after the firing of the Director of Colombian Secret Police (Administrative Department for Security, DAS) over alleged links with paramilitary groups. President Uribe Velez said he knew nothing about the alleged plots, adding that he hoped Chavez would give him details during the Americas summit in Mar de Plata, (Argentina), AP reports.
While visiting the UK , Colombian journalist Holman Morris, whose work has been awarded this year by Human Rights Watch, calls on UK journalists to hold their own government, the second largest donor of military aid to Colombia , to account. "What people should definitely be aware of is that the Colombian government is making denouncements and stigmatising journalists. It is certainly something the British government should be aware of - and British taxpayers should be aware of where their taxes are going", Guardian reports.
Thurs 03 – US Congress conditions aid to the AUC process; State to pay compensations.
The US Congress has agreed to help fund the demobilisation of thousands of Colombian paramilitaries. It approved a contribution of $20m from next year's budget, but set several conditions for releasing it. Congress said the state department had to certify that Colombia was co-operating fully with the extradition of paramilitary commanders. Many of them are sought by the US on charges of human rights abuses or drug trafficking. The contribution agreed by the US Congress is less than Bogota wanted, but the Colombian Ambassador to Washington, Andres Pastrana, said it was a diplomatic boost, BBC reports.
Colombian Magistrate and President of the Judiciary Superior Council, Guillermo Bueno Miranda reports that the Colombian state will need to pay more than 75,000 million pesos (US $33 million) in different compensations to the victims of several massacres committed by paramilitary forces in the past. Massacres, tortures and disappearances such as those in Pueblo Bello, El Aro, La Granja, Trujillo and the attack on the Palace of Justice ‘will erode the finance system of the Colombian state’, he said, El Colombiano reports.
Impunity has accompanied the judicial history of Colombia , the Colombian media remembers. 10 years ago, presidential candidate Alvaro Gomez Hurtado was killed by armed men. Despite several years investigating the killings, the attorney general’s office has not charged any of the army officers initially detained. The killings of former ministers and presidential candidates like Luis Carlos Galan, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, or Carlos Mauro Hoyos remain in total impunity, CM& reports.
Three rebels from the 34 th front of the FARC group are killed in combat with the Colombian army near Santa Fe de Antioquia. Authorities report the killing of a fourth rebel in the settlement of La Hondita ( Granada ) in western Antioquia, El Colombiano 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. If you would like to be put on the mailing list, please send an email message to Colombia_this_week@hotmail.com, indicating why you would be interested in receiving this summary.
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