October 3, 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. Ambassador to Colombia Supports Anti-Drug Spraying in National Parks The Colombian government is considering lifting a ban that prohibits aerial fumigation of coca crops in national parks, a move the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia supports. Currently spraying drug crops in national parks is prohibited and Colombian and U.S. officials claim this has lead drug traffickers to increase coca cultivation in the parks. Meanwhile Colombian and international environmental groups have vowed to oppose any spraying in the parks. U.S. Ambassador William Wood recently told Cambio magazine that he supports aerial fumigation in parks to keep them from turning into “refuges or sanctuaries for coca.” Wood stated, “research shows that the weed killer used in spraying doesn’t seep into the soil or contaminate rivers” or “cause widespread damage to the reserves’ ecosystems.” Drug traffickers and rebel forces have reacted violently towards the air fumigation eradication effort. A Colombian pilot operating a coca fumigation plane was killed on September 30. Col. Henry Gamboa who runs the Colombian Counernarcotics Police eradication unit, said “the plane came under heavy gunfire near the town of El Tarra, 290 miles northeast of Bogotá, while it was fumigating coca.” The US Embassy is investigating the crash. A report earlier this year by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said that “despite a record-setting aerial eradication offensive, 281,700 acres of coca remained in Colombia at the end of 2004 -- slightly more than the 281,300 acres that were left over in 2003 after spraying.” The U.S. government provides millions of dollars annually to support the fumigation program in Colombia.

U.S. Ambassador Criticizes Refusal to Extradite Don Berna In a rare public disagreement, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Wood criticized Colombian President Uribe’s refusal to extradite Diego Murillo Bejarano, a notorious paramilitary militia leader and drug trafficker, to the U.S. President Uribe stated that Murillo Bejarano, charged with cocaine-trafficking and money laundering in New York, would not be extradited as long as he complies with the Justice and Peace law and ceases all criminal activity. Under the Justice and Peace Law paramilitary members serve a maximum of eight years in prison for their war crimes as long as they confess any illegal activity. Colombia's decision not to hand Murillo, known as “Don Berna,” over to the U.S. may have been made to ensure that negotiations continue between the government and the far-right wing AUC paramilitary. The following day, however, Murillo was sent to a maximum-security prison—a step Ambassador Wood called “important and courageous.” Uribe said that the move was necessary “because of the nature of (Murillo’s) crimes.”

USAID Official Testifies Before Congress on Agency’s Assistance to Colombia Adolfo Franco of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently addressed the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere and outlined the progress of USAID assistance to Colombia. According to Franco, USAID will begin implementing its revised country strategy which seeks to increase sustainability of development results “by focusing programs in key economic growth corridors of the country; emphasizing greater program integration and inclusion of Colombian institutions; and incorporating trade capacity building to support a new free trade agreement under negotiation with the United States.” Franco pointed out that these development activities are in place with the goal of eliminating the drug trade in the country. USAID has also continued to provide internally displaced Colombians with food, shelter, health services, as well as access to education.

Cocaine-traffickers arrested in Colombia and Four U.S. States On September 27 th and 28 th federal agents in Colombia and the U.S. arrested twenty-two members of a cocaine smuggling network for conspiring to import “massive quantities of narcotics” to the United States and using New York and California seaports to carry out the illegal operation. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and The Ministry of Judicial Police in Colombia reported that six people were captured in Cali, Colombia and 16 more in New York, California, Florida, and New Jersey. Authorities seized more than 500 pounds of cocaine, some concealed in packages of legal merchandise. According to Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York’s Eastern District, Colombians Jorge Ignacio Figueroa and Jose Escobar Orejuela were “supervising the narcotics operation from the Federal Correctional Center in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.” U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said that “ Escobar allegedly enlisted the help of longshoremen to ensure that the cocaine-laden containers were placed in an easily accessible location and by notifying organization members if law enforcement was at the port.” Each of the 22 defendants faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $4 million fine if convicted.

World Bank’s Colombian Assistance Program Extended The World Bank’s Progress Report on its Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Colombia, released last week, indicated that the global lender will extend the current lending program of $1 billion per year through June 2007 and include a new fourth priority of support for peace. The report also documents the progress achieved through the World Bank’s current assistance plan. Isabel Guerrero, World Bank Country Director for Colombia and Mexico, said that in Colombia “The fiscal situation remains a challenge, but the economy has been growing strongly since 2002, with private investment rebounding, unemployment falling, and improved security conditions.” The lending program supports economic growth initiatives and building an efficient, accountable and transparent government administration . Since the beginning of 2003, the Bank has approved lending for $2.3 billion to support reduction of disaster vulnerability, sustainable development, agriculture, mass transit, and peace and development.

An international conference entitled, “Partnering for Peace: Colombia and U.S. Communities in Solidarity” will be held in Chicago from October 21-23, 2005. For more information, please visit: http://www.chicagoans.net/conference2005 or contact John Lindsay-Poland at the Fellowship of Reconciliation at (415) 495-6334 or at forlatam@igc.org.

Due to staff travel, Colombia This Week will not be distributed until October 24. We apologize for any inconvenience.