InfoBrief – May 16, 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
- U.S. Officials: Colombia Succeeding in War on Narcotics, Terrorism During a congressional hearing on Wednesday, State Department, USAID and U.S. drug officials labeled Plan Colombia a success and called on Congress to approve the Bush administration’s request for an estimated $742 million in aid to Colombia. Many lawmakers support the administration’s request for continued funding which aims to help President Uribe combat drug traffickers as well as illegal armed groups. Officials defended Plan Colombia, saying that U.S. assistance has helped professionalize Colombia’s military and police, reduce human rights violations and kidnappings by armed groups, and increase alternative crop cultivation. John Walters, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that “we have witnessed three successive years of declining production of both cocaine and heroin. At the same time, the regional security threat from narco-terrorist organizations has diminished. We are headed in the right direction, we are winning.” Some members of Congress disagreed with the White House’s assessment of Plan Colombia and claim that U.S. assistance, $4 billion since Plan Colombia’s inception, has done little to abate the internal conflict and illicit drug cultivation. Congressman Sam Farr said that U.S. drug policy was not working in Colombia and called on the U.S. to support a comprehensive rural development strategy. “If we want to have a successful Colombia policy, we need to recognize the realities on the ground in Colombia: coca fumigation isn't working,” said Farr. “We should be focusing on providing campesinos with sustainable alternatives to growing coca so they will not have to keep replanting coca just to feed their families.” Farr called on the U.S and Colombian governments “to recognize this economic reality” and “work toward implementing a comprehensive rural development strategy.” Congressman Robert Menendez cited the high availability of cocaine and heroin on U.S. streets and U.S. figures indicating no reduction in coca production last year as causes for concern. U.S. officials and Republican lawmakers also suggested that the U.S. should support the controversial paramilitary demobilization which would demobilize fighters and reintegrate them back into society.
- U.S. Soldiers Detained in Arms Smuggling Case Return to U.S. Two U.S. soldiers detained in Colombia for allegedly trafficking arms bound for paramilitary groups have returned to the U.S. and were placed in custody despite widespread calls from Colombian officials to try the soldiers in Colombia. They will now face a U.S. military inquiry into the incident. Angry over the arrest of these two soldiers and five other U.S. military personnel detained two months ago for allegedly smuggling cocaine aboard a military aircraft, none of whom will face charges in Colombia, Colombian lawmakers have invited U.S. Ambassador William Wood to appear before the Colombian congress. “We are obviously concerned about the allegations and want the Ambassador to keep us updated,” Colombian Senator Jimmy Chamorro said. General Bantz J. Craddock, head of the U.S. Southern Command, pledged to prevent further wrongdoing and assured Colombian officials that “U.S. military investigations will be thorough and complete” and that “the required persons will be held accountable.” This has done little to appease Colombian officials who cannot prosecute the soldiers due to a decades-old treaty which gives all U.S. military personnel diplomatic immunity. The two soldiers, stationed at Fort Bragg, were arrested May 3 and are accused of plotting to deliver 40,000 rounds of ammunition to paramilitaries.
- Human Rights Organization Cite Concerns with Demobilization José Miguel Vivanco and Maria McFarland, of Human Rights Watch, criticized a demobilization bill that is currently being debated in Colombia’s congress and called on the U.S. to take a proactive approach in shaping this new policy in a recent opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune. According to Vivanco and McFarland, the proposed demobilization plan would grant leniency to paramilitaries, and allow top commanders to serve as little as two years in jail. The Human Rights Watch representatives said that to qualify for this lenient sentence, commanders would have to “accept” the charges against them, while not confessing to their crimes or disarming their troops. According to Vivanco and McFarland, “the U.S. reaction to this scheme has been plan has been surprisingly weak and unclear. To Colombians it looks like the U.S. government is either divided or just not very interested in this issue.” Even Condoleeza Rice’s statements saying that the demobilization bill will “dismantle illegal armed groups, bring justice and reparation to victims, and punish those guilty of major crimes and atrocities,” has done little to appease some Colombians. Vivanco and McFarland call for “a real demobilization, one that dismantles the criminal and financial structures of paramilitary groups and holds their members accountable would be an important step toward peace, human rights and the rule of law.”
- Colombians Seize 15 Tons of Cocaine Bound for U.S. Colombian authorities seized nearly fifteen tons of cocaine on Saturday, and arrested five low-level drug traffickers in the seizure. According to Judicial Police Chief Oscar Naranjo, drug traffickers, leftist guerrillas, and right-wing paramilitary groups all had a stake in this cocaine, as “guerrillas, paramilitaries, and drug traffickers each likely planned to pay an even share of the costs of transporting the huge shipment to the United States.” Although the U.S. Coast Guard seized 28 tons of Colombian cocaine in the open seas in 2004, this seizure of cocaine worth $400 million represents the single-largest haul on Colombian soil. Since taking office in 2002, President Alvaro Uribe has stepped up counter-narcotics efforts, and authorities seized 148 tons of cocaine last year.
- IMF Reports Upbeat Economic Outlook for Colombia Citing the decrease in unemployment, poverty, and inflation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered a positive assessment for Colombia’s economy. The IMF predicts that Colombia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will rise in the next two years, and that inflation will continue to decrease. Colombian and IMF officials are working to improve the nation’s financial system and are hoping to implement economic reforms, such as strengthening tax policy and improving the system of revenue-sharing. The IMF has allocated a $619 million stand-by loan, which is designed to help Colombia’s balance-of-payment deficit. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is also working to improve Colombia’s situation by providing small farmers with alternative options to producing illegal drugs, promoting a more participatory and accountable democracy, and assisting Colombian refugees and internally displaced persons, according to U.S. officials.
Upcoming Events and Seminars in the U.S.
If you have news of upcoming events in your area please forward them to jess_hunter@usofficeoncolombia.org
Colombia This Week is reproduced with the kind permission of the ABColombia Group in London
Colombia This Week editing date 05/16/05
Fri 06- Boy dies after being injured in march on 1st May; Army reports 14 FARC killed.
- Fifteen-year-old Nicolas Neira dies in a clinic in central Bogota after being in intensive care for a week. He was injured while participating in the 1st May workers’ march in central Bogota , when police charged the crowd during riots. Nicolas’ father who was with him during the event accuses the police force of using undue aggression that killed Nicolas, El Espectador reports.
- Army officials report they have killed 14 members of the FARC group and one right-wing paramilitary fighter during combats in regions across Colombia , reporting no casualties among government troops. The most intense fighting occurred in Planadas (Tolima) where an anti-guerrilla army unit killed five members of the revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Other fighting took place in the southern state of Guaviare, as well as in the oil-rich state of Arauca and the cocaine-rich state of Vichada, both of which run along the eastern border with Venezuela , El Tiempo reports.
- The Colombian National Student Union denounces the mass detentions by the public forces in Barrancabermeja after 113 students -most of them minors- were arbitrarily detained. Another five members from the oil workers union, USO, were later detained and held in police custody, Vanguardia Liberal reports.
- The first ever summit between South American and Arab leaders in Brazil next week is intended to boost trade and investment but has already prompted US and Israeli concerns. The gathering of leaders from 11 South American countries and 22 Arab states is billed as a means to reduce dependence on the United States and Europe and strengthen alliances in forums like the World Trade Organisation and United Nations. Colombia will be represented by Vice-president Francisco Santos, Reuters reports.
Sat 07 – US soldier scandal angers Colombians; ICRC: there is a conflict and it’s worsening.
- Colombians are beginning to demand that US soldiers accused in scandals and crimes while on duty in Colombia have their immunity from prosecution lifted to face Colombian courts. After the most recent incident, a munitions-trafficking scandal, Colombians in general and their political leaders are calling for changes to what they view as exaggerated privileges enjoyed by the 800 or so US troops and 600 civilians stationed here as part of Plan Colombia, to fight drugs and guerrillas. Recent incidents that have enraged Colombians include trafficking in drugs, pornography, pre-Colombian artefacts and even traffic accidents, France Press reports.
- “In the light of International Humanitarian Law, the Colombian situation presents all the elements that constitute an internal armed conflict”, says Yves Giovannoni, Head of Operations at the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) for Latin-America and the Caribbean region. The statement distributed to the press from Geneva responds to an internal inquiry from the Bogota-based ICRC office after the Colombian government has been disputing the character of the Colombian armed conflict in order to avoid the International Humanitarian Law principles, El Tiempo reports.
Sun 08 – Mission visits new village in San Jose de Apartado ; 6 injured in explosion in Medellin .
- Representatives of the UN system working in Colombia , the Colombian Women’s Initiative for Peace, Redepaz and the Indigenous Guard visit the new settlement of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado after their move to a new location. Leaders of the community report they have already built 38 new houses for 78 families, (346 people) in the new San Josecito, El Tiempo reports.
- Police in Medellin report that six people have been injured after a grenade exploded in a public place in the town centre. Commander Jesus Emilio Ortiz said it was an accident, not an attack, El Colombiano reports.
- Horacio Serpa, who came second to Uribe in the 2002 elections and aims to be the Liberal Party's candidate again next year, insists that if a new party is created, it would have little impact. "It will be a minor party that only seeks to take advantage of the president's prestige to maintain a grip on the seats of some members of congress," Serpa said, Reuters reports.
Mon 09 – Opposition: elections without guarantees; armed group massacres Valledupar family.
- An editorial in El Nuevo Siglo reports that ten months ahead of the next elections in Colombia , the government is not advancing in the much-needed legislation after the electoral reform was approved. According to the Electoral Register authorities and the National Electoral Council, the situation is worrying because it is not clear how mechanisms approved in the reform will be put in practice.
- 20 members of an armed group reportedly identified by the police authorities as paramilitaries, kill three people from the same family in the municipality of Mongui (Guajira). According to the reports an aggressor, identified by the authorities as Rolando Linero Guerrero from Valledupar, was also killed in the event. The Director of Legal Medicine denounced that relatives of the deceased person visited her at night and demanded the body. However, all the relevant tests had already been conducted on the body, El Tiempo reports.
- Mayor of Bogota Angelino Garzon sends a letter to the Attorney General’s office and the Prosecutor’s Office (Procurador) urging them to investigate what happened in the centre of Bogota on 1 st May when a minor was killed during the march. Since then, the father of the deceased child reports that he has been followed by an official car, probably belonging to the Police. Director of the Police, Jorge Castro said he has ordered an investigation, El Tiempo reports.
Tues 10 – CRIC criticises arbitrary detentions in Jambalo; 90% of re-inserted are in Bogota.
- The Regional Council for Indigenous People in Cauca (CRIC) condemns the detention of 12 people from the settlement of Jambalo. The traditional authorities also report that the army did not present any judicial warrant, disregarding the legitimate authorities from the community. The CRIC fears that the Colombian army is trying to stigmatise the indigenous communities living in the area after the combats that took place last month between the FARC group and the army.
- Local authorities allege 90% of re-inserted former paramilitaries are based in Bogota . However, the director of the National Re-insertion Programme from the Justice and Interior Ministry, Juan David Angel denies that the increased presence of the paramilitary groups in areas of the capital in Colombia is ‘real’, claiming that it is merely a ‘perception of the community’, El Tiempo reports.
- “The US military's ability to patrol the skies to intercept illegal drugs entering the country has sharply declined in the past two years,” US Congressman Mark Souder reports. Rep. Souder, who chairs the US House of Representatives committee on criminal justice and drug policy, cited figures showing that patrols through a narcotics transit zone that includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico had fallen by 71 percent in two years from 5,964 hours in 2002 to 1,741 hours last year, Reuters reports.
Weds 11 – High Commissioner Arbour arrives in Bogota ; Uribe wants to launch his own party;
- While visiting the country for the first time, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour urges the Colombian government to toughen its proposal to disband the country’s far-right paramilitary militias to ensure that they are held fully accountable for their crimes and pay compensation to victims. "Impunity must be avoided,’’ she said, adding that this armed group has repeatedly violated the agreed cease fire without any consequences for the perpetrators, Reuters reports.
- President Uribe announces he wants to create his own political party this week to formally unite his followers, who until now have been known simply as "Uribistas". The plan is being resisted by the opposition and even some of his supporters, who worry about a political party based on one man's hard-line ideals. Underscoring the controversy generated by the plan, Uribe and his loyalists at the last minute postponed a meeting to set up the still un-named party. Pro-Uribe Sen. Nicolas Maloof blamed "scheduling conflicts" and said the meeting would take place next week. Observers say mounting criticism forced the delay, Associated Press reports.
- According to the Director of Research and Evaluation from Profamilia, Gabriel Ojeda, only 6% of Colombian teenagers are using condoms during their sexual relationships. He says that this is partially responsible for the fact that 1 out of 5 girls under 19 years old has been a single mother or is pregnant. According to reports, the areas where most underage pregnancies take place are the Atlantic and Pacific coast regions, RCN radio reports.
- Rafael Pardo, a leading senator who for years has supported the President, reports he wants nothing to do with the new party that President Uribe is setting up, claiming it would be too close to Colombia 's outlawed paramilitary groups, Caracol radio reports.
- The Colombian Penitentiary Institute (INPEC) has run out of money after the first three months of the year. The authorities report they have paid more than 15,000m pesos (US$ 6,4m) in compensation for unfair dismissals. The money had originally been intended for improving 169 prisons, Colprensa reports.
- Kidnaps in the rural areas of Colombia increased during the first three months of this year, according to the GAULA (anti-kidnap group) of the National Police and the Colombian Army. So far 50 people -most of them ranchers and businessmen- have been kidnapped this year, Colprensa reports.
Thurs 12 – Ex-minister held for Galan’s murder; Const. Court rules to investigate disappeared.
- Former Colombian Justice Minister Alberto Santofimio Botero is arrested on suspicion of planning the assassination of Liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989. New evidence emerged linking him to the killing, the Attorney General's office said. Colombian media reports say evidence about him and another Escobar associate, now dead, were instrumental in leading the authorities to detain Mr Santofimio. Mr Galan was shot dead at an election rally south of Bogota , BBC reports.
- The Colombian Constitutional Court rules in favour of the search for people who have disappeared as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia . As a result of the ruling, the police authorities need to investigate (for free) all the cases presented by the victims. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Colombia-based NGO Fondelibertad, in the last 10 years 2,279 people have beenforcibly disappeared and more than 3,000 remain kidnapped, El Espectador reports.
- The Colombian authorities seize cocaine valued at more than $300m (£162m) in what they say is the single largest drugs haul ever. They found the cocaine, weighing at least 12 tonnes, on a jungle riverbank near the south-west Colombian coast. Five people have been arrested and a number of weapons and speedboats have been seized. The cocaine is thought to belong to the main right-wing paramilitary group, the AUC, which is engaged in peace talks. The BBC's Jeremy McDermott says that while the paramilitaries are loosely observing a ceasefire, their involvement in the drugs trade appears to have deepened. He says the question of their involvement in drugs trafficking is not on the negotiating table, and many believe paramilitary leadersare hoping to gain an amnesty from the government with a peace deal so they can enjoy the fortunes they have earned from drugs.
- According to the latest reports, the date for the next presidential elections in Colombia will be 28 th May 2006 and, -if necessary- the second round of the elections will be on 16 June 2006, the Register’s office 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.
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