InfoBrief – June 28, 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
- In a Close Vote Senate Increases Troop Cap On Wednesday June 23, and despite serious reservations, the Senate voted 58-40 against Senator Byrd’s (D-WVA) amendment that would have capped at 500 the number of U.S. troops and civilian contractors authorized to operate in Colombia. The Bush Administration asked Congress to raise U.S. Troops levels in Colombia from 400 to 800, and the number of private contractors from 400 to 600. General Hill, the head of U.S. Southern Command, told the Committee on Government Reform that the existing caps “will eventually have a deleterious effect” on the ability to conduct future missions. In a speech on the Senate floor, Senator Byrd raised concerns about increasing the troop cap indicating that Colombia was not an appropriate place for an increased U.S. military presence. The House passed a measure that would limit the number of U.S. troops in Colombia to 500. The two versions must now be reconciled in conference committee before passing into law.
- Congress Expresses Concerns to President Uribe About Comments A bipartisan letter signed by more than 60 members of Congress was sent to Colombian President Uribe expressing concern over comments criticizing human rights organizations working in Colombia. Last Month, President Uribe suggested that members of international NGOs working in northwestern Colombia were obstructing justice. Both Peace Brigades International (PBI) and Fellowship of Reconciliation work in the area. Following the President’s accusations, public security agents subjected several PBI volunteers to “interrogation-like questioning.” The letter expressed concern “that these types of comments are calling into question the work of many highly respected international organizations in the region of Urabá.” The letter asked President Uribe to retract his statements and publicly state his support of international human rights organizations working in the region.
- NGOs Issue Statement on La Gabarra Massacre A diverse group of NGOs issued a statement condemning the June 15 th massacre in La Gabarra, Colombia, in which 34 civilians were brutally killed. Colombian authorities believe that Front 33 of FARC is responsible for what the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bogotá has called a war crime. The NGOs called upon all armed actors in Colombia “to respect civilians in compliance with international humanitarian law,” and the Colombian government to “carry out a thorough investigation to determine who is responsible” for the massacre. The letter requested that President Uribe “respect the vital role of national and international human rights groups in Colombia” in ensuring justice for victims of human rights abuses. The NGO statement can be found at: http://usofficeoncolombia.org/signon/lagabarra.pdf
- U.S. General Updated on Plan Patriot Offensive General James Hill, the head of U.S. Southern Command, visited Colombia to receive an update about the progress of the Colombia’s Military Plan Patriot offensive. Plan Patriot, launched last year, focuses military efforts against FARC strongholds in the jungles of Caqueta Province. The General stated that “Plan Patriot’s…main goal is to bring the FARC and other armed groups to the negotiating table by conducting full spectrum operations against them that will force them to either demobilize or render them combat ineffective by 2006.” Adam Isacson, of the Center for International Policy, said the General’s goals are overly optimistic because the FARC and other guerilla and paramilitary groups earn millions of dollars through control of Colombia’s cocaine trade.
- Colombian Drug Leader Arrested U.S. officials announced the indictment and arrest of Colombian drug trafficker Elias Cobos-Munoz, the alleged head of one of the largest drug transportation organizations in Colombia and Jamaica. The indictment states that Munoz’s organization allegedly imported large shipments of cocaine through the Caribbean and distributed the drugs in the Miami area. Attorney General John Ashcroft said that the United States and Colombia are “dismantling the most dangerous drug cartels that poison our citizens and communities.” According to John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy, “the Caribbean initiative has caused a system shock to some of the operations of some major cocaine and marijuana traffickers.”
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 28, 2004
Fri 18 – EC cautious over Colombian demands; record fall in regional coca production.
- After receiving the visit of Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos who requested European support for the talks with the Colombian paramilitaries,, the EU governing body reports that its backing is conditional: “We support the quest for peace and direct contact with the illegal armed groups, but we insist that those efforts respect international norms for human rights and victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparation,” said an unnamed Commission official, El Pais reports.
- The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said coca production in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia had fallen to its lowest point in 14 years, thanks to anti-drug campaigns. According to the latest figures, the production of the raw material for cocaine in the region has fallen by 20% since 1998.The UNODC's director warned the trend could only continue if farmers were offered other ways of making a living. Colombia saw its crop cultivation area fall 16% to 86,000 hectares, Peru's production dropped 5% to 44,200 hectares and Bolivia's output was recorded as 23,600 hectares, BBC reports.
- Venezuelan troops kill two Colombian gunmen from an unknown armed group after discovering their fortified camp inside the Venezuelan territory, Reuters reports.
- The US-based NGO Colombia Support Network (CSN) condemns the massacre perpetrated against defenceless civilians in the community of La Gabarra on 15 June. CSN joins the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia and diverse human rights organisations in calling upon the FARC to recognise the prohibitions against attacks upon civilian non-combatants, enshrined in the Geneva Convention. CSN calls upon the FARC to indicate publicly who was responsible for the order to massacre civilians in La Gabarra, so that those responsible might be punished, while repudiating the strategy of attacking civilian non-combatants.
Sat 19-US criticises Uribe’s attack on Amnesty; OAS calls for better coordination in para process.
- A US State Department statement distances Washington from criticism of Amnesty International by President Uribe Velez. The statement emphasises that Amnesty International is a well-respected organisation that is contributing significantly to the human rights situation in Colombia and thus the US authorities do not share the opinion of the Colombian President, El Tiempo reports.
- Sergio Caramagna, head of mission of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Colombia, reports that the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) need to coordinate with the state as they withdraw from areas, in order to avoid incidents such as the massacre committed by the FARC in La Gabarra (Norte de Santander) in which 34 peasants were killed, El Colombiano reports.
- The Colombian NGO Inter-Ecclesial Commission for Justice and Peace reports that paramilitary troops entered the farm where the project of the community of La Balsita is located, in Antioquia. They also report that as a result of the armed presence the community has been displaced to the urban centre in Dabeiba, calling upon the Colombian control organisms to guarantee the security of civilians and their right to remain outside the conflict.
Sun 20 – UK Ambassador: Colombia needs a “social brigade”; trade talks: US offer is a “joke”.
- In an interview in El Tiempo, British Ambassador in Colombia Tom Duggin reports that the British Embassy is increasingly committed to the needs of the displaced people in Colombia. The Embassy has recently increased the programmes with displaced people in Choco. He also says that security cannot be the only approach to resolving the conflict, but rather the State needs to be present “also with health, education and justice”, El Tiempo reports.
- A five-day round of US-Andean trade negotiations ending 18 June focused on agriculture, intellectual property rights and electronic commerce. Held in Atlanta, the round involved nearly 150 negotiators from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the United States. On the third day, Washington proposed that Colombia eliminate tariffs on agricultural imports, prompting a Bogota demand for an end to US farm subsidies. Ramiro Tafur Reyes, president of the Agricultural and Livestock Society in the Valle de Cauca, called the US proposal “a joke,” Colombia Week reports.
- Colombian drug dealers are setting up cocaine supply bases in Albania and the Balkans to penetrate into Eastern Europe. Antonio Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime claims that these groups are promoting cocaine consumption in Eastern Europe, Russia and Ukraine, Russian news agency Novosti reports.
Mon 21- Five soldiers die in FARC ambush; Uribe repeats attack on human rights work.
- The Colombian military says five soldiers have been killed and five more injured in an attack by FARC members in Antioquia. Military officials said that rebels fired gas bottles filled with explosives at a military patrol. In another armed incident in the municipality of San Francisco, military authorities report the killing of a FARC member, El Colombiano reports.
- In a sharp speech to the newly appointed commanders of Brigades and Divisions in the armed forces, President Uribe Velez dismisses the work of the international and Colombian human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, recommending the soldiers “not to be worried by Amnesty’s reports but to combat the terrorists groups in Colombia with all their might”, Reuters reports.
- In a new scandal in the Attorney General’s office, officials report the detention of two members of the judicial police in Cali after they stole US$ 170,000 in an illegal raid, El Pais reports.
- The United States appears to have frozen efforts to extradite Colombian paramilitary leaders it classifies as major drug traffickers, according to El Tiempo.
- The ELN group announces that it is able to start a peace process immediately if the Colombian government is able to declare an amnesty for political prisoners, accept a humanitarian agreement and establish a “National Convention”, El Espectador reports.
- At least 18 people have been injured, ten of them very seriously, after a DC-3 flight from the Viarco company crashed in a jungle area near Carimagua, on the border between Meta and Vichada, El Tiempo reports.
- In a troubled week, the Colombian military authorities announce that one soldier has been killed in the military base of Tres Esquinas (Caqueta) in an accident. They also report that a Black Hawk helicopter and two planes belonging to the Colombian army have been destroyed after a six-day botched rescue operation trying to recover a lost Black Hawk. This is the third aerial accident in a week in the second phase of the so-called “Patriot Plan”, El Tiempo reports.
- President Uribe Velez and his Brazilian counterpart Luis Inacio Lula da Silva begin two days of bilateral trade talks in Sao Paulo, El Colombiano reports.
Tues 22 – Bomb explodes near University in Bogota; Congressmen denounce US interference.
- A bomb explodes outside the Javeriana University in Bogota, killing one person and causing damage, Agence France-Presse said, citing an unidentified police spokesman. The victim was blown apart by the bomb and police are trying to determine whether he was carrying the explosives. The explosion blew out windows at the university and in surrounding buildings, the news agency reported.
- Members of Colombia Congress who support President Uribe Velez have been criticising a statement made by the US State Department supporting the work of the international NGO Amnesty International in Colombia. German Vargas, President of Congress says that “this is an internal issue and foreign countries should respect the opinions of the Colombian president”. They also criticise the US ambassador for intervening in the debate while opposing a humanitarian exchange of prisoners with the FARC, El Espectador reports.
- Two people are killed in the municipality of San Francisco (Antioquia) after entering a minefield. The Colombian army has since destroyed another 3 minefields reportedly planted by the 47th front of the FARC group. Landmines in this area of Eastern Antioquia have killed four civilians in the last eight days, El Colombiano reports.
- Colombian Congresswoman Rocio Arias has reportedly been invited by a non-governmental organisation to visit United States to promote the paramilitary peace process and to speak about extradition. According to the media, she has been the voice of the paramilitaries in Congress in the last few months, El Tiempo reports.
Weds 23 – UK Minister visits Colombia, praises human rights work; 500 disappeared in Casanare.
- Countering President Uribe Velez’s recent comments, during a visit to Colombia British Foreign Minister Bill Rammell praises the work of Peace Brigades International and Amnesty International as serious human rights organisations, highlighting their work in the difficult environment of the Colombian conflict. Mr Rammell has included a visit to Choco, the poorest department in Colombia, where he met representatives from the church, the governor, mayor, local NGOs and a UK-supported project helping internally displaced communities. Rory Murphy, Joint General Secretary of UNIFI and senior TUC official, has been accompanying Bill Rammell to meet with trade unionists and other civil society groups, FCO reports.
- According to the regional Ombudsman’s office, in the last five years more than 500 people have been forcibly disappeared in the department of Casanare. People from the village of Tauramena report that an armed group kidnapped more than 40 people over Easter time but relatives did not denounce anything to the authorities for fear of reprisals, El Nuevo Siglo reports.
- In an interview in El Colombiano, paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso denies any drug-trafficking links and says he does not oppose extradition to the US, calling upon the US authorities to be part of the peace process with this organisation.
- Honduran security minister Oscar Alvarez reports that the recent wave of killings in this country is related to drug trafficking. He also says that Colombians are carrying out massacres in his country, EFE reports.
Thurs 24 – Mexican envoy meets with jailed ELN leader; US General supports increase in troops.
- A Mexican diplomat has met with a jailed leader of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the hope of facilitating a peace process between the government and these guerrillas. Andres Valencia, a former Mexican ambassador, met Francisco Galan, who acts as a spokesman for the ELN. The talks took place at a high security prison in Medellin. Mexico has offered to monitor peace talks between the ELN and President Uribe's government. Earlier this month, Colombia's government said it would be prepared to suspend military operations against the ELN if the latter agrees to a cease-fire.
- The General in charge of the US Southern Command says the Colombian military is doing a good job fighting against rebel groups, but he still supports an increasing in the number of US troops in the country. General Hill said the effort is known as Patriot Plan, and its main goal is to force the FARC and other rebel groups to the negotiating table. On Wednesday, the US Senate was debating a plan to double the number of US troops in Colombia to 800.
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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