InfoBrief – May 9, 2005
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 the InfoBrief can be found at www.usofficeoncolombia.org
U.S. Current Affairs and Media
- Two U.S. Soldiers Arrested for Arms Smuggling in Colombia Two U.S. soldiers assigned to a training unit were arrested in Colombia on Tuesday on charges of smuggling tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition allegedly bound for right-wing paramilitaries. The two men were identified by the Colombian Police as Alan Norman Tamquarcy and Jesus Hernandez. The soldiers were based in Colombia as part of a U.S. military training program targeting drug trafficking and outlaw rebels. Police arrested the soldiers along with retired members of Colombia’s security forces after finding them in a gated community in Carmen de Apicala, near the Tolemaida military base, with approximately 32,000 rounds of ammunition local authorities suspect they planned to sell to paramilitary groups. According to Associated Press reports, the ammunition had been sent to Colombia by the United States under its Plan Colombia aid program. “Allegations that the U.S. military personnel involved were trafficking in ammunition are, indeed, extremely troubling to us,” U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington. Boucher called this an isolated case which will be fully investigated. “There is absolutely no U.S. policy and U.S. support or U.S. inclination or U.S. military operations involved in arming paramilitaries,” Boucher said. “As with all criminal allegations against US military personnel, we're committed to a full investigation.” In 2001 Washington has labeled the paramilitary group a foreign terrorist organization. The servicemen were turned over to the U.S. Embassy on Thursday in accordance with a three decades-old treaty giving U.S. soldiers and contractors diplomatic status despite widespread calls from Colombian government officials and the general public for them to face trial in Colombia. "Immunity does not mean impunity," U.S. Ambassador William Wood said. The U.S. Embassy in Bogotá confirmed that the soldiers will be sent to the United States in the next few days. Amid the growing pressure, U.S. authorities on Friday gave Colombian prosecutors permission to question the accused soldiers. The case has further embarrassed Washington, coming less than two months after five U.S. soldiers were arrested for allegedly smuggling cocaine to Texas on a U.S. military airplane.
- Humanitarian Organization Calls for Policy Change Kathryn Wolford, the President of Lutheran World Relief (LWR), called for a change in U.S. policy toward Colombia on Thursday, saying LWR’s partners in Colombia have not seen positive change since Plan Colombia began. Current policy is “helping neither to end the conflict nor to stop drug trafficking from Colombia to the United States,” said Wolford. “It is time to seriously evaluate our policy toward Colombia and to refocus it on the need for humanitarian aid and for a democratically negotiated political solution to the armed conflict.” Wolford also called on Congress to prioritize peace for U.S. policy toward Colombia. “As Congress prepares to consider extending the policies of Plan Colombia for another year, we urge our leaders to make lasting peace a priority.” Wolford said LWR’s view of U.S. policy and the Colombian conflict is informed by input from the rural communities they work with in Colombia. “In our own work with Colombian communities, we have seen that threats against peace workers, religious leaders, and human rights activists continue, and that people continue to be displaced by the violence,” Wolford said. The humanitarian organization was not the only group to call for policy change last week. A strongly worded editorial by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s editorial board on Monday called U.S. policy in Colombia “a sinkhole of money and military resources.” Citing what it called “clear evidence that Plan Colombia has failed miserably,” the Post-Gazette called on Congress to “scrap” the policy. Read the full LWR statement:
http://www.lwr.org/advocacy/colombia/colombia_news_042905.asp
- Freedom of Press Groups Details Attacks Against Journalists in Colombia On the 15 th commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday, Reporters Without Borders called Colombia “ the hemisphere's most dangerous country for journalists” despite less murders in 2004. “Fewer journalists were killed in Colombia in 2004 but the press freedom situation remained very bad,” the group said. “Armed groups, as well as corrupt politicians and druglords, continued their efforts to silence journalists.” An annual report on attacks against the freedom of the press found one journalist killed, one media assistant killed, three journalists kidnapped, two arrested, 28 physically attacked and 25 threatened in Colombia in 2004. The group suggested that only one journalist killed last year “counted as a good year” for Colombia as it has averaged five journalists murdered annually. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) listed Colombia as the third most dangerous country in the world for journalists, behind only the Philippines and Iraq. CPJ reported that eleven journalists have been murdered since 2000 in Colombia. Read the full Reporters Without Borders report: http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=511
- Updated U.S. Travel Warning for Colombia Notes Security Improvements On Wednesday the U.S. State Department issued an updated travel warning for Colombia which reflects the U.S. government’s view that conditions in parts of Colombia are improving. “Violence has decreased markedly in most urban centers, including Bogotá, Medellín, Barranquilla, and Cartagena,” the warning says. The 2004 warning had cautioned U.S. citizens against travel to Colombia. According to the State Department, the new warning was issued to “remind American citizens of ongoing security concerns in Colombia” and warns U.S. citizens of the dangers of travel to Colombia but does not recommend against travel to Colombia, a change the Colombian government had requested. According to the warning, 32 Americans were reported kidnapped in various parts of the country since 2000, including four in 2004. The warning highlights insecurity in rural Colombia, calling it “extremely dangerous.”
- Venezuela’s Chavez Calls U.S. Presence in Colombia a Problem Fiery Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called the presence of U.S. military advisors and trainers in neighboring Colombia “a problem.” The comments came after Chavez received reports that U.S. troops in Colombia were arrested on charges of arms smuggling. “It’s a motive for us to worry, that the U.S. military is in Colombia. That has to worry us,” Chavez said. “What we want is for them to leave us peace, so we can build the country.” There was no immediate response from the United States. This is the most recent episode in a back and forth quarrel between Venezuela and the U.S. During her visit to Colombia last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a joint effort to monitor the 100,000 automatic rifles Russia intends to sell to the Venezuelan armed forces to ensure they do not end up in the hands of Colombian rebels.
Upcoming Events and Seminars in the U.S.
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Colombia This Week is reproduced with the kind permission of the ABColombia Group in London
Colombia This Week editing date 05/09/05
Fri 29 - 5 paramilitaries detained for Buenaventura massacre; 2 students detained in Pamplona.
- Five alleged paramilitaries were detained by the Colombian police, accused of having committed the killing of at least 12 young people "invited to play football", on 5th April in Buenaventura harbour. Those arrested belong to the Pacific bloc of the Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), Colonel Gutierrez added. The five men are accused of having "invited" more than twenty young men from the town to play a football game: two days later, the corpses of the youths were found with signs of torture and shot in the head, El Pais reports.
- Two students from the University of Pamplona (Norte de Santander) have been detained by the police after receiving medical care in hospital for reportedly terminating their pregnancies. In a case that is dividing the community in the department, the director of the San Juan de Dios hospital reported the matter to the police and both of them were subsequently expelled from the University, Vanguardia Liberal reports.
- Director of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in Colombia , Michael Frühling, is invited to speak to the Colombian Congress regarding the demobilisation bill, arguing that: "Negotiations to overcome the conflict in Colombia must comply with internationally established principles of truth, justice and reparations for the victims... We have tried to play a constructive advisory role, consistently reminding the Colombian Government and Congress of this". Frühling said it was possible to apply, by means of an adequate legal framework, norms and judicial mechanisms which contribute, "in a constructive manner, to the processes of negotiation with illegal armed groups, in order to overcome the armed conflict and avoid impunity".
Sat 30 – Army patrols in Tacueyo; U.S. government warns citizens off Colombia .
- Government troops consolidate their presence in the town of Toribio and the town's Indian residents are slowly beginning to return, despite fears of more violence. Helmeted troops warily patrolled the streets of Tacueyo, two days after a military convoy of armoured vehicles drove into the town, forcing the FARC into the surrounding mountains. The FARC had been using Tacueyo as a command centre in an offensive they launched across a 14-mile front on 14 th April. The rebel attacks have posed the biggest challenge to President Uribe's attempts to stamp out the 40-year-old insurgency since he was elected three years ago. The taking of Tacueyo came at a cost. A rebel sniper shot and killed a soldier. The rebels also fired a mortar round into the town, destroying a home and wounding five people, including two children, Associated Press reports.
- The U.S. government warns their citizens of the security risk they are taking by travel to Colombia . In an unusually strong statement, the officials said that despite reductions of some of the indicators of violence in certain urban areas, ‘since the year 2000, 32 U.S. citizens have being kidnapped, four of them last year, Caracol reports.
- The Colombian army reports they have frustrated attacks against the villagers of Mesetas and Uribe in the Meta department. According to Gen. Gilberto Rocha, the Army found and stopped two FARC columns that were heading to these municipalities that were under FARC control until 2002, El Tiempo reports.
- Colombia 's Attorney General's Office announces an investigation into a hit-and-run accident allegedly involving a U.S. soldier which left two Colombian soldiers dead. The soldier involved in the crash has claimed his innocence and left Colombia days after the accident. The incident, which occurred in August 2004, was made public only two weeks after five U.S. soldiers were detained when authorities found 35 pounds of cocaine on board a U.S. military aircraft leaving from Colombia , Associated Press reports.
Sun 01 – Bishops’ conference announces celebration of reconciliation congress in Bogota.
- The Colombian Bishops’ Conference announces that they are organising a National Reconciliation Congress sponsored by their social affairs wing, Pastoral Social. It will take place later this month in the city of Bogota . A key focus will be the integration of social justice issues to promote sustainable peace and reconciliation. International delegates, particularly but not exclusively from the Church sector, will participate along with other civil society organisations.
- Reporting on the justice and peace legislation under discussion in the Colombian Congress, the Economist reports that Colombia faces a difficult choice: ‘In the past, the politicians would have settled for peace, allowing the gunmen into politics even if that meant pardoning horrific crimes. Now, many Colombians - and international human-rights groups - resist that. Already, the paramilitary chieftains are gaining political power without, in practice, renouncing violence. An election next year could see their influence in Congress grow further’.
- Unemployment rate in Colombia 's major cities eased to 15.1 percent in March, down from 16.1 percent in February and 16.2 in March of last year, the government says. A government statement gave no explanation for the reduction. President Uribe wants unemployment to fall as he prepares to stand for re-election in early 2006, Reuters reports.
Mon 02 – Two civilians killed by the FARC; Prosecutor and police officer killed in Putumayo .
- Members of the FARC group set fire to a bus and a taxi at a road block set up on a highway in Nariño department. When a police convoy arrived, the guerrillas opened fire with assault rifles and homemade mortars, killing an officer and two civilians, said Nariño Deputy Governor Fabio Trujillo. Another six officers were wounded, Cali-based daily El Pais reports.
- In a separate incident, gunmen shoot dead a government prosecutor and a police officer travelling in a car in the centre of La Hormiga (Putumayo), also in southwest Colombia . There was no immediate indication which armed group was behind the attack, Colprensa reports.
- After the detention of 10 people from the Centauros bloc of the paramilitaries, Colombian police authorities report that ex-combatants from this paramilitary group, (previously commanded by Miguel Arroyave) are extorting local businessmen and residents in Ciudad Bolivar (Bogota), Efe reports.
- Police capture a leader of the ELN group who allegedly carried out numerous attacks and kidnappings on a highway linking Colombia ’s two biggest cities, authorities report. Jose Luis Mejia, the deputy commander of one of the most active units of the National Liberation Army, was arrested in the city of Manizales . It was the second blow the government has dealt the ELN this week. Last week the military nabbed Jose del Carmen Borda, an alleged ELN leader responsible for garnering international support for the guerrillas, Reuters reports.
Tues 03- Church : army acts with paras in Choco; two US soldiers detained for arms trafficking.
- A letter sent to President Uribe and signed by Bishops from the Dioceses of Apartado, Quibdo and Ismina and 47 Colombian and international NGOs working in the department of Choco, criticises the role of the Colombian army and police in the department as the food blockade imposed by them in the Atrato river is aggravating the humanitarian situation. At the same time, the Armed Forces are accused of colluding and collaborating with the paramilitaries of the Elmer Cardenas Bloc that move through the area with no hindrance, El Tiempo reports.
- Colombian police arrest two American soldiers for suspected arms smuggling in the second scandal to hit the U.S. military based in Colombia in a month, police and the U.S. embassy report. The two unidentified acting U.S. soldiers were found with 32,000 9-mm bullets in a condominium in the town of Carmen de Apicala , police said, adding they suspected the two might have planned to sell the ammunition to illegal far-right paramilitaries. "It's a lot of ammunition and it's a very suspicious case," Police commander Gen. Jorge Castro told RCN radio.
- Complaining about the delay of the justice department in dealing with more that 100 people randomly detained in the village of Quinchia (Risaralda) by the Colombian authorities in September 2003, lawyer Bernardo de Jesus Isaza reports ‘the Colombian state is violating the rights of those detained and stigmatising the community after 40 years without any state presence in this municipality’, El Espectador reports.
Weds 04 – FARC ambushes police patrol, 5 dead; Army claims 9 killed from FARC and ELN.
- The FARC group ambushed a Colombian police patrol on a mountain highway killing four officers and a civilian motorist with a roadside bomb and gunfire, police report. The attack by the FARC blocked the major highway between Ibague and Cajamarca in Tolima for several hours. The FARC group also paralyzed a highway in the southwest province of Cauca , where it set ablaze two cargo trucks, RCN radio reports.
- Colombian troops reportedly kill nine guerrillas from the FARC and the ELN groups near the mining town of Segovia . The fighting was part of a government operation aimed at clearing the rebels out of that part of Antioquia province, El Colombiano reports.
- An editorial in the U.S. daily Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls upon the Bush administration to scrap Plan Colombia now, rather than throw a further U.S. $ 734 million requested from the U.S. Congress for this year. ‘Over the last five years the U.S. has spent U.S. $ 3,000 m and in spite of this effort, the 90 percent of the cocaine and 50 percent of the heroin on U.S. streets attributed to Colombian traffickers has not been reduced at all; it may even have even increased’, the editorial says.
Thurs 05 – US soldiers may not receive diplomatic immunity; 62,000 new IDPs in first trimester
- Alan Norman and Jesus Hernandez, the two American soldiers accused of arms trafficking emerge from jail and are handed over to U.S. officials. However, a top Colombian official tried to delay their deportation, saying a treaty granting them immunity might be invalid. Inspector General Edgardo Maya's move reflected a widespread sentiment among Colombians that the two U.S. Army soldiers should face trial in Colombia . Maya asked for a 24-hour extension before the two are deported in order that a 1974 treaty that purportedly gives them diplomatic immunity can be examined, El Tiempo reports.
- For the first trimester of 2005, the information system of forced displacement and human rights that Colombian NGO Codhes operates since 1995, estimates a displaced population of 61,996 people. This is 10% more than last year’s period (56,672). In this period, 363 municipalities of 32 departments received displaced families, including social leaders, town councillors, labour unionists, journalists, peasants and indigenous people, Afro-Colombian communities, students, and, as always, women and children. The report says that this increase in the displacement rate is partly due to the execution of Plan Patriota, a military campaign being undertaken in the south of the country.
- In its annual report, Reporters Without Borders in Colombia reports that despite f ewer journalists being killed in Colombia in 2004, the press freedom situation remains very bad. Armed groups, as well as corrupt politicians and drug lords, continue their efforts to silence journalists. With only one journalist and one media assistant killed, 2004 counted as a ‘good’ year for defenders of press freedom in a country where an official average of five journalists are murdered each year. The two presumed killers of journalist and satirist Jaime Garzon, who were simply scapegoats, were acquitted.
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.
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