InfoBrief – June 21, 2004
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
U.S. Current Affairs and Media
- Thirty-Four Farmers Massacred-Uribe Criticizes Amnesty International Thirty-four workers in a coca plantation in La Gabarra were reportedly killed last week by FARC guerillas. In what the U.N. has called an unjustifiable war crime, guerillas attacked the farm in the early morning of June 15; tied up and forced the victims facedown on the ground before shooting them. Colombian President Uribe lashed out against Amnesty International for not immediately denouncing the killings. On June 17, President Uribe said, “Amnesty must decide who it’s with.” He continued, “are they with the terrorists who have killed our police officers and soldiers…or are they with the Colombian (governmental) institutions.” Amnesty representative Peter Drusi responded that, “President Uribe questions who Amnesty is with and we respond that we are always with the victims, no matter who the perpetrator is.” A State Department representative commented that human rights groups such as Amnesty are internationally respected and make significant contributions to Colombia. The official also stated that the U.S. government, “in no way agrees with (President Uribe’s) comments.”
- Diverse Group of NGOs Expresses Concern to Uribe Over Comments Representatives from U.S. and Canadian religious, human rights, and civil society organizations expressed concern to President Uribe over comments regarding international human rights groups working in the San José de Apartadó region of Colombia in a letter dated June 17. In comments to the press following a bombing in the area, Uribe reminded foreigners that, “If you come here, come here to help our communities, not to obstruct justice.” Several days after President Uribe’s comments agents from the Colombian security forces questioned volunteers from Peace Brigades International which, along with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, have a presence in the region. The letter called President Uribe to, “make a public declaration in support of international organizations working in the region of Urabá.” A copy of the letter can be found at http://usofficeoncolombia.org/signon/pbiforletter.pdf
- United Nations Reports Decrease in Coca Production The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) reports that the total area under coca cultivation in the Andean region reached a 14-year low. The UNODC stated that Colombia saw a 16% reduction of coca cultivation in 2003, and a 47% decrease compared to 2000 figures. John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), said that declining coca cultivation, “demonstrates once again the effectiveness of the State Department-supported Colombian National Police aerial eradication program.” The UNODC commented that although coca cultivation has decreased, Colombia “needs more rural and infrastructure investments in order to sustain the coca eradication results.” Meanwhile in testimony given to the House Committee on Government Reform, Adam Isacson from the Center for International Policy, testified that, “the price of coca leaves and coca paste has not changed since the fumigations began,” and therefore “supply is meeting demand as well as it ever has.” The U.N. report is at http://www.unodc.org/pdf/colombia/colombia_coca_survey_2003.pdf
- American Medical Association Passes Resolution The American Medical Association (AMA) adopted resolution 420, “Studying the Health Effects of Aerial Herbicide Spraying Under Plan Colombia.” The resolution calls on “the World Medical Association and the World Health Organization to study the health effects of aerial herbicide spraying in the South American country of Colombia.” The resolution states that the current herbicide being used to spray coca and poppy plants “is reported to be reckless and inaccurate and is causing widespread illnesses, destroying pastures” and severely undermining the lives of small farmers.
- U.S.-Andean Free Trade Representatives Hold Meeting in Atlanta The second round of trade talks between the nations of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and the United States produced an agreement over the terms of customs reduction on industrial and agricultural products. According to Regina Vargo, assistant U.S. trade representative for the Americas, the recent round of talks were, “very productive.” The next round of free trade negotiations will be held in Lima, Peru, July 26-30.
Upcoming Events and Seminars in the U.S.
- U.S. Office on Colombia and Witness for Peace Delegation to Colombia . USOC and WfP invite you to join a delegation to Colombia to investigate the impacts of U.S. foreign policy and the internal armed conflict in that country. The delegation will meet with civil society representatives as well as government officials and will visit the southern province of Putumayo. The application deadline is July 1. For more information, go to: http://www.witnessforpeace.org/pdf/colombiaaug04.pdf .
Colombia This Week-June 21, 2004
Fri 11 – Attorney general lifts arrest orders for paramilitary leaders; Chiquita strike finishes.
- The Attorney general’s office lifts 32 arrest orders for paramilitary leaders who are in the process of moving to a haven in the Cordoba department. According to the reports these include Diego Fernando Bejarano, -Don Berna-, Salvatore Mancuso, José Vicente Castaño, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, Iván Roberto Duque, Hernán Hernández, José Miguel Arroyabe Ruiz and Lorenzo González Quinchía. The measure also includes the name of Carlos Castaño, despite him not having signed the Santa Fe de Ralito agreement with the government, Colprensa reports.
- Thousands of banana workers in Colombia, the world's third-largest exporters of the fruit, returned to their jobs after a 15-day strike ended with a new wage agreement. The strike, the Colombian sector's longest since 1989, caused about US $15 million in losses. "At six in the morning, normal operations resumed in the banana plantations," said Edgar Payares, head of labour relations at the banana workers' union, Sintrainagro. Payares said the accord -- which includes an 8 percent wage increase-- was struck after a meeting attended by President Alvaro Uribe. Chiquita reported last week that it is being investigated by the U.S. government after admitting that its Colombian subsidiary had paid protection money to paramilitaries, El Colombiano reports
- Colombian President Uribe Velez inaugurates the first school in Latin America dedicated solely to teaching security forces how to rescue hostages and neutralize hostage-takers. "The school wants the training conducted (by instructors) with a real understanding of the territory where these criminal gangs keep hostages," said the President. The anti-kidnapping training centre, located on the outskirts of Bogota, was partly funded by the United States under a $25 million anti-kidnapping aid package, Reuters reports.
Sat 12 - BBC: FARC names Alfonso Cano as new leader; trade unionist killed in Barranquilla.
- According to the BBC, Colombian Senator Jaime Dussan from the Democratic Poll says Alfonso Cano has replaced Manuel Marulanda as leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). He also said that FARC commanders contacted the party and informed them that the new leader was Alfonso Cano. Long-time leader Manuel Marulanda has died or is about to die of prostate cancer, say intelligence sources. The news marks the end of an era for the FARC. Manuel Marulanda’s successor, Alfonso Cano, whose real name is Guillermo Leo Saenz, has been the movement's ideological head for over a decade. Analysts believe that the announcement reveals a shift away from the military emphasis of the FARC to more political activity. Many think this could raise the chances of a political dialogue with the government.
- Nelson Wellington Cotes López, leader of SINTRADIAN, the trade union for the workers of the Office of National Taxes and Customs, and member of the Independent Democratic Alliance of the Atlantic, has been murdered in the city of Barranquilla, UK-based International Centre for Trade Union rights (ICTUR) reports.
Sun 13 – Congressmen urge Uribe for humanitarian agreement; Senator criticises Plan Colombia.
- Colombian Congressmen meeting in Santa Marta urge the government to consider a humanitarian agreement with the FARC group to guarantee that all hostages are freed and to promote a peaceful solution to the armed conflict. Under the final resolution they also call on the government to protect the Indigenous communities, “especially” the Wayuu community in La Guajira, as paramilitary groups have been targeting them.
- In an interview posted on the Anncol website Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba reports that the US-imposed Plan Colombia is not a solution for the rebuilding of government legitimacy and the rule of law in Colombia, “and even less for the strengthening of democracy”. Rather, she said, it is a tool for criminalizing Colombian and other Latin American social movements with false rhetoric about a war on drugs and terrorism.
Mon 14 – Paramilitary leaders criticise security area; Uribistas to mobilise to secure re-election.
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In a statement on their website, the p aramilitary leaders say security is lacking in the haven set up for the peace talks with the government, threatening that they will not be ready to start the peace negotiations if the government does not guarantee their protection from the armed and police forces, El Pais reports.
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President Alvaro Uribe Vélez’s supporters in the Senate are reporting that they will mobilize to stave off a challenge by the leftist Independent Democratic Pole (PDI). According to the reports, as a constitutional amendment that would allow President Uribe Vélez’s re-election in two years time makes its way through Congress, his opponents mull joining forces in the 2006 race, El Tiempo reports.
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As the second round of U.S.-Andean trade talks begin in Atlanta, Colombia officials say they will press the United States to open its markets, El Colombiano reports.
Tues 15- 34 peasants massacred in La Gabarra; Journalists reports death threats in Cucuta.
- Guerrillas are suspected of shooting and killing at least 34 farm workers at a ranch in one of Colombia's biggest cocaine-producing regions. The workers were sleeping in hammocks at the ranch near the town of La Gabarra (Norte de Santander) when a group of armed men burst through the doors at dawn, tied them up with the hammocks' ropes, and shot them with automatic weapons, La Gabarra Mayor Taiz Ortega told The Associated Press. At least five people survived with injuries and were taken by boat to a hospital in the nearby town of Cucuta. It was the deadliest violence in Colombia for at least a year. Ortega said the motive was not immediately known, but that the attack appeared to have been carried out by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Colombia's largest guerrilla group, the FARC has been fighting to topple the government for 40 years. Ortega said it appeared that the victims worked in fields of coca -- the raw ingredient in cocaine. She said the ranch also produced cocoa, the main ingredient for chocolate, and other agricultural products. Yinith Guerrero, a regional human rights activist, told AP from La Gabarra that villagers were fleeing the area as news spread of the killing. The ranch is nestled amid the thick jungle and steep mountains of the Norte de Santander province, where FARC rebels and their right-wing paramilitary foes are locked in a bitter struggle for control of the lucrative drugs trade.
- In a letter sent to the Attorney General Luis Camilo Ossorio, Reporters without Borders reports its concerns for the security of journalists and the freedom of the press in the city of Cucuta. According to the reports two journalists working for the local newspaper La Opinion where threatened by a police officer and the Mayor of Cucuta for investigating the detention of a narcotrafficker. In a different case another three journalists working for RCN radio in Cucuta , Olga Lucía Cotamo, Angela Echeverri and Fernando Fonseca received death threats from the ELN, Reuters reports.
- According to the figures presented by the government, 234 minors have been demobilised from armed groups during 2004. The Programme for the humanitarian attention to the demobilised (Pahd) also reports that under Uribe’s government 4,442 people (including 902 minors) have abandoned voluntarily the armed groups, signalling Antioquia and Cundinamarca as the departments with the greatest number of cases, SNE reports.
- U.S. Ambassador William Wood criticizes a proposed exchange of captives between the government and guerrillas. El Colombiano
Weds 16- More Colombians flee, despite Uribe’s policies; Mexico names envoy for ELN process.
- Seven times as many Colombians fled their country and requested asylum abroad last year as in 1999, despite government reports that guerrilla violence is easing, the UN refugee agency reports. UNHCR said 29,000 Colombians requested political asylum last year, compared with 4,060 in 1999. The figures were part of a study distributed to reporters in Bogota. The biggest group of Colombian refugees, 11,388 people, crossed the porous 370-mile (590-km) jungle border with Ecuador in 2003 to request asylum. Another 4,661 sought safe haven in the United States, which has poured more than $2 billion in mostly military aid into Colombia's fight against Marxist rebels and the world's largest cocaine industry. Uribe's government claims to have captured and killed thousands of guerrillas during his nearly two years in office, Reuters reports.
- Mexico’s ambassador to Israel, Andres Valencia Benavides has been designated to monitor the dialogue between Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s second-largest rebel force, AP reports.
- Survivors confirm that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) carried out the attack against the peasants working for the paramilitary group ACCU in La Gabarra (Norte de Santander) that killed 34 people. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia and diverse human rights organizations are calling upon the FARC to recognize the prohibitions against attacks upon civilian non-combatants which are enshrined in the Geneva Conventions. This massacre violates International Humanitarian Law and the premeditated killing of civilians constitutes a war crime.
- Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón asks the European Union for help in talks with paramilitaries and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the second largest guerrilla group.
Thurs 17- Amnesty strongly rejects Uribe’s comments; Colombian army lied in Cajamarca’s case.
- In a strong statement and responding to criticism from Colombian President Uribe Vélez, Amnesty International officials criticise the policies implemented in Colombia under his presidency saying they put civilians at risk in contravention to the UN human rights recommendations. The statement also says that despite Uribe’s accusations Amnesty has been and it will always be with the victims of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, criticising the massacre committed in La Gabarra by the FARC group.
- A report from the Institute of Legal Medicine in Tolima reveals a new scandal affecting the Colombian Army as it concludes that one of the five members of the family killed in Cajamarca in 11 th April was shot from less than 30 centimetres distance, concluding that in fact it was “a point-blank shooting”. Soon after the “incident” happened President Uribe Velez visited the area and the relatives of the massacred family reporting the “regrettable error” of a “mistake” made by soldiers due to the “poor visibility” in the area, CM& reports.
- Colombia government reports it has launched formal peace talks with paramilitary group United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) and set aside an area in the north where its members are safe from arrest and extradition. After 17 months of stumbling negotiations, the joint government-AUC statement said, "conditions have been met to formally start a process of dialogue, negotiation and agreement signing with the AUC." After the official launch of the peace talks, Mancuso and three or four of his closest aides have been invited to address the Colombian Congress. "Some of us commanders will go to Congress to lay out before Colombia and the world the commitments we have undertaken," Mancuso said.
- Colombian Congress overwhelmingly approves a bill that aims to allow populist President Uribe to stand for a second term in 2006. The 96-to-6 full-floor votes - the bill's fourth vote so far - moved the legislation past the halfway mark to approval. In all, the legislation must pass eight rounds of voting in the House and Senate. Polls show most Colombians would support changing the constitution to allow Uribe and other former presidents to serve more than one term, and that the current president would probably win another four-year term.
- Defence Minister Jorge Alberto Uribe dismisses calls for resignation over Army efforts to impede a probe of the incident in March of ‘friendly fire’ that killed seven National Police officers and four civilians. In a speech in the Santander Police Academy, President Uribe Velez acknowledged four months after the incident, with the Attorney General’s office investigation closed and the case left under the Military Penal system that Colombians “are not able to known the truth, 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.
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