· About 60 of the 4,820 demobilised members of United Self-Defence forces of Colombia (AUC) will not be pardoned, Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo reports. The demobilised AUC members are staying in Santa Fe de Ralito, headquarters of the peace talks between the AUC and the government. Those who committed heinous crimes will not be pardoned and are waiting for Congress' decision on the "Justice and Peace" bill, proposed by the government in order to demobilise illegal armed groups, he said. Restrepo also said all members of the paramilitary group will hand over their weapons by the year's end according to the agreement signed with the government, El Colombiano reports.
· Using household compressed gas cylinders as bombs, the FARC group attacks the towns of Toribio and Jambalo, killing three policemen and a girl and wounding 23 people, officials from Cali report. The Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC) reported 23 people were wounded and four houses were destroyed by 25 cylinder-bombs. The group of indigenous peoples called on the government to take charge of the situation. "This FARC attack is a clear violation of international human rights, but they did not just attack the police, but also the civilian population, said Vitonas, Mayor of Toribio, France Press reports.
Sat 16 – Colombia poses ‘dilemma’ for ‘US war on terrorism’; Coke profits drop.
· Three years after the US authorities included FARC, ELN and AUC groups in the US terrorist list, the Colombian government has requested that the US authorities collaborate with the AUC demobilisation. Under the programme, members of the group who agree to give up a life of ‘narco-terrorism’ could be eligible to receive US- funded job training and Colombian-paid stipends. But US congressional aides and terrorism experts say the laws that Bush has used to fight the terror groups are now keeping him from fully supporting the demobilisation process. The Bush administration has put on hold another $1.25 million in "direct assistance" to fund education and job training for ex-combatants. "There you're talking about spending money on demobilised people themselves, which comes very close to (the question of) are you providing 'material support' to the organisation... Suppose they go back?" a Bush administration official said, Reuters reports.
· Coca-Cola company reports 11 percent drop in first-quarter profit in 2005. The Atlanta-based company said it earned $1 billion, or 42 cents a share, for the January-March period compared to a profit of $1.13 billion, or 46 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Shareholders questioned the Chief Executive, Neville Isdell, on the killings of several union workers at Coke bottling plants in Colombia and accusations that some of Coke's plants in India have depleted local groundwater, Washington Post reports.
Sun 17 – Mayor Garzon calls upon the government to tackle paramilitary presence in Bogota.
· After holding a meeting with President Uribe Velez, Mayor of Bogota Lucho Garzon reports that authorities must do more to investigate and tackle the presence of paramilitary groups in the streets of Soacha, south of Bogota. After seeing the intelligence reports, Garzon said ‘reports indicate that commanders concentrated in Santa Fe de Ralito are behind the strategy, and we will not allow the Central Bolivar bloc of the self-defence forces (AUC) to control the city’. 88 youngsters have been killed in 2005 by paramilitary gunmen despite the police patrols, El Tiempo reports.
· The Colombian military justice system absolves the two officers and 10 soldiers involved in the Guaitarilla killing in March last year, in which 7 police officers and 5 civilians were killed. The sentence blames investigators for manipulating the evidence, concluding that the incident was an ‘armed combat’ sparked by fire from the police, Colprensa reports.
· A Venezuelan National Guard patrol has captured five members of the United Self-defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) and seized a cache of arms and ammunition in Yapacana, south Venezuela, Reuters reports.
· Government security forces killed five leftist guerrillas in the mountainous northern Colombian area of Montes de Maria on the border between Sucre and Bolivar provinces, authorities say. Another ten rebels were also reportedly killed in battles in the northern provinces of Antioquia and Choco, El Tiempo reports.
Mon 18- ELN rejects mediation by Mexico; 37 police officers charged with corruption.
· In a statement to the press, the National Liberation Army (ELN) rejects Mexico as a mediator after almost a year of behind-the-scenes work. The ELN said that it objected to a recent vote by the Mexican government condemning human rights abuses in Cuba. "The current Mexican government is not qualified to facilitate peace in Colombia," the ELN said, adding that the rebel army had "an irrevocable commitment to seeking peace." The group wants President Uribe to free ELN prisoners from Colombian jails and negotiate a bilateral cease-fire. Uribe has said the ELN, which funds itself by kidnapping, must unilaterally disarm if talks are to take place. While the country's biggest guerrilla force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and right-wing paramilitary militias have grown rich on the huge cocaine business, the ELN has officially sworn off drug smuggling, Reuters reports.
· The Colombian Prosecutor’s office (Procuraduria) charges 34 officers of the National Police for corruption charges in using money form the US anti-narcotics aid. The detained officials include former General Gustavo Socha and Colonel Edgar Bejarano who headed this institution in 2002. The Prosecutor’s office said that more than 2,700 m pesos had disappeared, El Tiempo reports.
· Medellin-based lawyer’s collective ‘Corporacion Juridica Libertad’ reports the denunciations made by the villagers of San Carlos and Granada in which members of the Colombian Army’s IV Brigade threatened the religious Franciscans that accompany these communities of the Calderas river basin, and accused the villagers of being collaborators of the guerrilla groups.
Tues 19 - Soldier dies fighting for paramilitaries; ‘justice and peace’ law articles in discussion.
· Five paramilitary fighters, including an army sergeant secretly belonging to the illegal group, were killed in combat with Colombian security forces, officials say. Army Commander Reinaldo Castellanos admitted that one of the dead militiamen was a member of the army, in the latest example of links between Colombia's security forces and the right-wing squads. The battle took place near the town of Cucuta on the Venezuelan border. Members of the armed forces have often cooperated with militiamen against their common rebel foes, although the government says aiding the paramilitaries in fighting the Army constitutes treachery.
· The bill presented by the Colombian government to Congress regarding the legal framework for the paramilitary demobilisation proposes five-to-eight year jail terms for those who are found guilty of such crimes as massacres and homicides. It was approved in committee in both chambers of the Congress and needs to be passed in full house by both the Senate and the House of Representatives before it becomes law. Debates will begin in the coming weeks. Interior and Justice Minister Sabas Pretelt de la Vega said the government will present a new edition of the bill with significant changes, El Espectador reports.
· A man described as ‘a major Colombian drug kingpin’ was extradited to Miami to face trial on charges that he led a smuggling network that moved tons of cocaine to the United States. Elias Cobos Munoz was among 41 traffickers on a priority list of targets for US prosecution when he was indicted last year. He and two other suspects, Florentino Riviera Farfan and Jorge Ivan Lalinde Lalinde, were extradited and held without bond, US-based Seattle Post reports.
Weds 20 – Amnesty condemns attacks against civilians; 21 killed in road accident near Riohacha.
· ‘Once again the guerrillas are in breach of international humanitarian law through their indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force’; Amnesty International says in response to reports of combat between the FARC and the security forces in an area populated by members of Nasa indigenous communities. Attacks carried out by members of the FARC have resulted in numerous civilian casualties. During the 14 April attack some 11 civilians were reportedly wounded and ten-year-old Yanson Trochez Pavi shot dead. Three police officers, five soldiers and eight guerrillas were also reportedly killed. On 17 April a FARC attack wounded eight civilians, initial reports suggesting that the casualties were caused both by the FARC and by the security forces during efforts to repel the guerrilla attack.
· At least 21 people have died and 37 have been injured after two buses collided on a highway on Colombia's border with Venezuela. Local officials say the two buses collided on a turn on the highway at Riohacha. "Some who have been hospitalised are in a very bad state," Jorge Guevara, of the Riohacha Legal Medical Institute, said, El Colombiano reports.
· A woman identified as an ‘AUC weapons inspector’ became the seventh person to plead guilty in connection with a plot to trade cocaine for arms to be supplied by businessmen in Houston, Texas. Fanny “Rachel“ Cecilia Barrera de Amaris, 52, of Medellin pleaded guilty in a US court to charges of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to the group, AP reports.
Thurs 21 - 12 men killed in Buenaventura; ICRC and WFP report on crisis among the displaced.
· Twelve Colombian men and boys believing they were about to play soccer were killed with shots to the head and left floating in a river near the city of Buenaventura, Colombian police report. The group, between the ages of 12 and 25, was last seen on its way to play a soccer match near the Pacific Ocean port city in the province of Valle de Cauca. Police said they were investigating the crime and did not name suspects. This area of Colombia, just east of the city of Cali, is a key cocaine smuggling route known to be controlled by paramilitary groups and now disputed by both guerrillas groups ELN and FARC, El Pais reports.
· Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) report that the Colombian displaced population are suffering a serious humanitarian crisis. With a view to remedying the situation, the ICRC and the World Food Programme (WFP) have recently carried out a joint assessment of food and other basic needs among the displaced in six of the country's departments. The data collected shows that displaced families spend 58% of their scant resources on food, most of the rest on housing and public services (water, electricity and gas) and only 6% and 3%, respectively, on health and education, Reuters reports.
· The Mayor of Toribio, Vitonas condemns the assault carried out by the FARC in Toribio: ''We reject this type of guerrilla aggression,'' Vitonas told El Tiempo following the assault,”This was a direct attack on the population and their homes.'' Last month, rebels gunned down a young Nasa indigenous woman on the outskirts of Toribio for allegedly being a spy, and a FARC urban militia member killed a Nasa during a drunken dispute in a bar. Vitonas commented that these types of deaths are hard to prevent because they don't seem to be a result of a specific conflict between the Nasa and the FARC.
· The Venezuelan authorities have freed a group of Colombian soldiers detained earlier in the week while trying to return from leave, authorities report. The eight soldiers were released from detention at a military base in western Venezuela, reports Colombia's embassy in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. The troops said they were crossing Venezuelan territory to avoid an altercation with Colombia's left-wing rebels, who often prowl along the two nation's shared border.
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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