InfoBrief – August 15, 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 InfoBrief can be found at www.usofficeoncolombia.org
U.S. Current Affairs and Media
- U.S. to Assist Colombia in Demobilization Effort Although U.S. law forbids the U.S. from providing “material support” to State Department designated terrorist groups, including Colombia’s outlaw paramilitary group, the AUC, a confidential Justice Department legal opinion has cleared the way for the U.S. to assist in Colombia ’s demobilization process. Colombian officials were hoping to receive financial assistance from the U.S. as the demobilization process could cost an estimated $160 million, yet U.S. State Department officials were fearful that they could face criminal charges because the Patriot Act—adopted months after the September 11 th attacks—stiffened the penalties for those who provide material support to declared foreign terrorist organizations. However, this June 21 legal opinion established legal “parameters by which the United States can assist,” said a Bush administration official. Now that the Bush administration has cleared the legal hurdles, officials would need to convince skeptical U.S. lawmakers in order to provide funding for the process. Many in Congress believe the demobilization process is far too lenient on members of the AUC who are deeply involved in drug traffickers or are guilty of gross human rights abuses. “It’s one thing for the Justice Department to interpret U.S. law. It’s another thing for the Colombians to put in place adequate laws and procedures that will accomplish what everyone wants,” said Tim Rieser, a senior policy advisor to Senator Patrick Leahy. The AUC has been a State Department designated terrorist group since September 10, 2001
- Human Rights Groups Allege Demobilization Strengthens Paramilitary’s Power In a report issued earlier this month, Human Rights Watch alleges Colombia’s demobilization process is actually legitimizing and strengthening the power of paramilitary groups while not furthering genuine peace. “The government’s failure to conduct the demobilizations in a serious manner is helping paramilitary commanders launder their wealth and legitimize their political power,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas Director for Human Rights Watch during the report’s release in Bogotá. “Having interviewed numerous demobilized paramilitaries, government officials, and other insiders, it is evident this process is rotten to the core,” added Vivanco. Smoke and Mirrors: Colombia’s Demobilization of Paramilitary Groups, a 64-page report, indicates that nearly 6,000 people have participated in collective paramilitary demobilizations since 2003 and as of April 2005, only twenty-five of them had been detained for the thousands of atrocities committed by their groups. Meanwhile Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director of the Center for Justice and International Law, wrote in the Washington Post that the demobilization law promises neither peace nor justice. “By failing to demand that demobilized paramilitaries reveal the whole truth about their organizations' crimes, assets, leadership and financing, the law enables these groups to maintain their violent stranglehold on political, social and economic life in much of the country,” said Krsticevic. Read the Human Rights Watch report: http://hrw.org/reports/2005/colombia0805/
- U.S. Soldier Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Cocaine from Colombia The U.S. military reported that a soldier involved in a drug smuggling scandal earlier this year has pleaded guilty to shipping cocaine into the United States from Colombia using military aircraft. Army spokeswoman Jean Offutt said that specialist Francisco Rosa, 25, pleaded guilty Wednesday to using, possessing and distributing cocaine. Based on plea bargain reached with prosecutors, a military judge has recommended Rosa spend five years in prison with a reduction in rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge, according to spokeswoman Offutt. Three other soldiers with the 204th Military Intelligence Battalion will face courts-martial in the case. As part of his plea deal, Rosa is expected to cooperate with the prosecution in the cases against the three, Daniel Rosas, Victor Portales, and Kelvin Irizarry-Melendez. Military investigators have alleged that Rosa and the other soldiers smuggled drugs from a military base in Colombia, where they were assigned to an anti-drug training operation, to the United States in U.S. military aircraft. The soldiers’ arrest caused an uproar in Colombia and led to calls for their extradition to the embattled South American nation to face charges in local courts.
- Colombian Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and a Drug Enforcement Administration official released a joint statement on Wednesday announcing that Colombian Elias Cobos-Munoz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. Cobos-Munoz admitted to investing money in the cocaine loads, supervising the transportation of cocaine, and acting as a liaison between drug organization members in the U.S. , Colombia , Jamaica , and the Bahamas between July 2000 and June 2004. “This case successfully disrupted the organization and operation of a large and powerful drug trafficking network,” said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta. “Stopping the flow of narcotics into our shoes remains one of our highest priorities,” added Acosta. Using the Caribbean to ship cocaine from Colombia to South Florida, the Cobos-Munoz drug trafficking organization was one of the largest cocaine distribution networks. Cobos-Munoz is scheduled to be sentenced on October 19, 2005, and faces a minimum mandatory sentence of ten years.
- U.S. Sentences Colombian for Negotiating Weapons Deal for Rebels A U.S. district court judge in Tampa, Florida has sentenced a Colombian man to 25 years in federal prison for negotiating a deal for $4 million in guns and grenades for FARC guerrillas, according to U.S. officials. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statement indicated that Carlos Gamarra-Murillo was arrested after negotiating a deal to fly 2,000 guns, 4,000 grenades and 60 grenade launchers with undercover agents. Gamarra-Murillo offered 15,000 kilograms of cocaine and cash in exchange for the weapons. Earlier this year Gamarra-Murillo pleaded guilty to brokering and exporting defense articles without a license and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
Upcoming Events and Seminars in the U.S.
A number of church groups and human rights organizations are sponsoring an international conference entitled, “Partnering for Peace: Colombia and U.S. Communities in Solidarity,” in Chicago on October 21-23, 2005 . This conference aims to educate participants, develop strategies for building lasting community relationships between Colombia and the U.S. , and forge partnerships between U.S. groups and Colombian villages, churches, and organizations. For more information, please visit their website or contact John Lindsay-Poland at the Fellowship of Reconciliation at (415) 495-6334 or at forlatam@igc.org.
Colombia This Week is reproduced with the kind permission of the ABColombia Group in London
Colombia This Week Editing Date: 08/15/05
Fri 05 - Death threats for priest in Putumayo; Araucan trade unionists still detained one year later.
- Colombian priest Wilson Hurtado from the Catholic Diocese of San Mateo (Putumayo) is forced to leave his parish as a result of the death threats that he received from a paramilitary group. According to a public statement from the Colombian Bis hops Conference, a group from the Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) in Puerto Asis retained him in a rural area, instructing him to leave the department immediately, Efe reports.
- On the first anniversary of the deaths of Alirio Martinez, Leonel Goyeneche and Jorge Prieto, the trade union leaders who were executed by members of the Colombian Army in Arauca in August 2004, UK-based Colombia Solidarity Campaign remembers the two other trade union leaders, Raquel Castro and Samuel Morales, who were arrested in the same operation, arguing that ‘t he fact that the two trade unionists are eye-witnesses to the murder of their 3 comrades means that the Colombian state will try extra hard to make the trumped up charges of rebellion and terrorism stick’. It is thought that the judicial trials of the trade unionists will take about 6 months. 500 national and international observers (including a delegation from the Colombia Solidarity Campaign ) are expected to attend either part or all of the trial.
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of using its agents to spy on Venezuela, adding that his country will sever its ties with the DEA and no longer collaborate with the United States: "The DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to support drug trafficking, to carry out intelligence in Venezuela against the government". Mr Chavez said the country would continue to work with other international groups, BBC reports.
Sat 06 – Colombia demands extradition of 3 Irishmen; civilian killed in explosion in Arauca.
- Colombia is demanding that Ireland hand over the three Irishmen convicted of supporting the FARC group. The trio unexpectedly turned up in Ireland after eight months on the run. Colombia's Vice President insists that Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has the "legal and moral obligation" to extradite the men, even though the two countries do not have an extradition treaty: "A Colombian court issued its verdict that confirmed what we believed from the start: that they were three IRA terrorists, explosives experts, who came to Colombia to train FARC members in urban terrorism techniques”, Santos said in a statement, Washington Post reports.
- One person is killed and 29 more injured in the explosion of a bicycle bomb in the city of Arauca. According to the authorities the bomb exploded in the city centre while a police patrol was passing, killing Carmen Rosmira, a street vendor, and injuring many more including two policemen, El Tiempo reports.
- In an interview in Chilean newspaper La Tercera, the General Secretary of the Organisation for American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, says that despite the criticisms of Human Rights Watch regarding the OAS monitoring mission in Colombia, he plans to visit Colombia in the next few weeks in order to strengthen the process, adding that although the Justice and Peace law ‘is not perfect’ and that ‘moral and ethical questions are still un-answered,’ the most important thing now is to stop the conflict, El Tiempo reports.
Sun 07 – US warns Venezuela re FARC and approves Colombian human rights certification
- In an interview with Associated Press, Nicholas Burns, the US State Department's third-ranking official, expressed hope that Venezuela "will refrain from giving support to the FARC," referring to Colombia's largest rebel group. Asked if this meant Venezuela has been supporting the FARC with weapons, Burns said, "Yes." Burns' remarks came on the eve of a meeting between President Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at Bush's Texas ranch, as the State Department announced that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has certified that Colombia's government and armed forces ‘have met congressional human rights standards to qualify for full funding of U.S. assistance programmes’, Washington Post reports.
- The Attorney General’s office reports that the Bolivar bloc of the Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) has been laundering money through a network of landowners and businessmen via a national bank in the city of Florencia (Caqueta). According to the reports US $ 2.6m (6,000 m pesos) was laundered from illegal activities. The investigation started after the killing of Sandra Yaneth Rojas, the bank employee who first denounced the irregularities; nine people have been captured as a result of the investigation, El Tiempo reports.
Mon 08 – Seven killed in Antioquia combats; teacher’s association condemns killing in Sonson.
- Seven people are killed and three minors injured in combats between the ELN and a paramilitary group in Antioquia, authorities report. The fighting took place in Liberia, a rural area of Añori, El Colombiano reports.
- In a public statement, the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office strongly condemns the explosion of a bicycle bomb in the centre of Arauca that killed one street vendor and injured many more. The statement calls upon all armed groups acting in the area to refrain from targeting civilians in a clear violation of international humanitarian law .
- The Association of Teachers in Antioquia (ADIDA) condemns the cruel assassination of Belen Hincapie Patiño, a 54 year old teacher with 26 years experience in the Guayaquil centre in Sonson (Antioquia), urging all the armed groups acting in the Colombian conflict to respect the life and integrity of teachers and calling on the authorities to investigate and punish those guilty of the crime. Four teachers have been killed in Antioquia this year, El Espectador reports.
Tues 09 – Indigenous celebrate int. day amid fears for security; Pastrana pledges aid for drugs.
- Celebrating the UN-nominated International Day for Indigenous People, the National Organisation for Indigenous people in Colombia (ONIC) reports that 66 indigenous have been killed in Colombia this year and more than 18,000 of them have fled their settlements as a result of the internal armed conflict. President of the ONIC, Luis Evelis Andrade also said that 50% of the 90 different indigenous tribes in Colombia are at risk of extinction in Colombia, blaming the fumigations, the hydro-electric, mining and oil mega-projects and the lack of awareness that Colombians have regarding their indigenous ancestors, Vanguardia Liberal reports.
- Former President Andres Pastrana, Colombia's newly appointed ambassador to the United States says he will ask Washington for more aid to combat drug trafficking and warned that “Colombian cocaine cartels are forging ties with terrorist groups around the world”. Pastrana said he will work to build support in Washington for President Uribe's contentious peace process with the country's right-wing paramilitary militias, despite previously criticising it as overly lenient to warlords accused of atrocities and drug trafficking. But Pastrana said he would continue to oppose Uribe's efforts to modify the constitution so the latter could seek a second consecutive term in office. Colombia's Congress has approved the change, but Uribe is awaiting final court approval before he can announce his candidacy, Washington Post reports.
- After last week’s proposal by President Uribe Velez that the government would purchase illegal coca crop from producers, criticism at home and abroad has been harsh. One kilogramme of cocaine base, according to the UN, went for US $807 in 2004. With 80,000 hectares of coca plants in 2004, the programme could potentially cost more than US $64 million. Furthermore, critics contend that the offer will drive up cocaine prices and actually spark the growth of more coca. "It's absurd from the economic point of view," said Congressman Gustavo Petro, explaining that armed groups who traffic in drugs like the FARC and paramilitaries would only raise their prices above the government offer: "It won't solve the issue of narco-trafficking, the farmer will sell to the highest bidder." The US has also been critical of the project, citing examples in other countries like Bolivia where similar strategies failed, US-based Christian Science Monitors reports.
Weds 10 – US may fund demobilisation of paras; combats in Antioquia displace hundreds.
- A secret legal opinion has cleared the way for the Bush administration to help Colombia to fund the disbanding of the paramilitary groups despite a US ban on ‘material support’ to armed groups on the US terrorist list. Under the US Justice Department’s legal opinion, US aid can legally flow to the demobilisation process, ‘provided certain conditions are met’. Congressional aides said the US initial commitment is expected to be nearly US$ 48m, and could grow to as much as US$ 200m over several years, Reuters reports.
- Combats between the Colombian army and the FARC group in western Antioquia have provoked the displacement of 150 people from the municipality of Nariño, leaving another 600 people at risk. The local minister for governance, Roberto Muñoz, reports that combats have extended into other rural area, calling on the International Red Cross and the Colombian government to respond to the emergency in the absence of local resources, RCN radio reports.
- After an advertising campaign aimed at recruiting Colombian soldiers for private American contractor firms in Iraq, US Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky expresses her concerns that US government aid to Colombia is being wasted. The United States has spent more than $4 billion since 2000 on Plan Colombia, a counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics programme that includes training and support for the Colombian police and military. Last month, Congress moved toward approval of an additional $734.5 million in aid to the Andean region in 2006, most of it for Colombia. "We're training foreign nationals who then take that training and market it to private companies, who pay them three or four times as much as we're paying soldiers," Schakowsky said. "American taxpayers are paying for the training of those Colombian soldiers," she said. "When they leave to take more lucrative jobs, perhaps with an American military contractor they take that training with them. So then we're paying to train that person's replacement. And then we're paying the bill to the private military contractors" , Los Angeles Times reports.
Thurs 11- Three soldiers killed in friendly fire; two cattle-ranchers killed by paras in Arauca.
- Three soldiers are killed and six more injured in a friendly fire incident involving two different units of the Colombian Army in a rural area of Chipaque (Cundinamarca). According to reports, both groups were acting on possible threats against electrical infrastructure in the area, Caracol Radio reports.
- The Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Arauca reports the killing of Marcos Alberto Manosalva and his son Narcos Manosalva, cattle ranchers from the settlement of Mata de Gallina, near the city of Arauca. According to reports, a third person escaped the assassins, and was able to testify that the assassins were members of a paramilitary group. The Committee urges the Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo and the OAS mission in Colombia to investigate these killings as paramilitary forces continue to target civilians in Arauca.
- After ‘celebrating’ the move of the Colombian government towards a humanitarian agreement with the FARC group, the Permanent Assembly of the Colombian Civil Society for Peace invites both parties to create a commission of civilians to provide guarantees to the relatives and the parties involved. The proposed names are Monsignor Luis Augusto Castro, Colombian Inspector General Edgardo Maya, National Ombudsman Wolmar Perez and Jaime Zuluaga, from the Assembly for Peace, El Colombiano reports.
- The secretary of the Government in Antioquia, Jorge Mejia reports he has received complaints and reports that paramilitary commander from the Southwest bloc of the Self-Defence Forces (AUC), ‘Rene’ has left the Santa Fe de Ralito haven after being demobilised last January and he is re-organising the ‘demobilised’ group. He also said that villagers in the Southwest of Antioquia are reporting the presence of this paramilitary group now acting under the name of the Central Bolivar Bloc, (BCB), 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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