Colombia This Week
16/05/2005
Fri 06- Boy dies after being injured in march on 1st May; Army reports 14 FARC killed.
· Fifteen-year-old Nicolas Neira dies in a clinic in central Bogota after being in intensive care for a week. He was injured while participating in the 1st May workers’ march in central Bogota, when police charged the crowd during riots. Nicolas’ father who was with him during the event accuses the police force of using undue aggression that killed Nicolas, El Espectador reports.
· Army officials report they have killed 14 members of the FARC group and one right-wing paramilitary fighter during combats in regions across Colombia, reporting no casualties among government troops. The most intense fighting occurred in Planadas (Tolima) where an anti-guerrilla army unit killed five members of the revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Other fighting took place in the southern state of Guaviare, as well as in the oil-rich state of Arauca and the cocaine-rich state of Vichada, both of which run along the eastern border with Venezuela, El Tiempo reports.
· The Colombian National Student Union denounces the mass detentions by the public forces in Barrancabermeja after 113 students -most of them minors- were arbitrarily detained. Another five members from the oil workers union, USO, were later detained and held in police custody, Vanguardia Liberal reports.
· The first ever summit between South American and Arab leaders in Brazil next week is intended to boost trade and investment but has already prompted US and Israeli concerns. The gathering of leaders from 11 South American countries and 22 Arab states is billed as a means to reduce dependence on the United States and Europe and strengthen alliances in forums like the World Trade Organisation and United Nations. Colombia will be represented by Vice-president Francisco Santos, Reuters reports.
Sat 07 – US soldier scandal angers Colombians; ICRC: there is a conflict and it’s worsening.
· Colombians are beginning to demand that US soldiers accused in scandals and crimes while on duty in Colombia have their immunity from prosecution lifted to face Colombian courts. After the most recent incident, a munitions-trafficking scandal, Colombians in general and their political leaders are calling for changes to what they view as exaggerated privileges enjoyed by the 800 or so US troops and 600 civilians stationed here as part of Plan Colombia, to fight drugs and guerrillas. Recent incidents that have enraged Colombians include trafficking in drugs, pornography, pre-Colombian artefacts and even traffic accidents, France Press reports.
· “In the light of International Humanitarian Law, the Colombian situation presents all the elements that constitute an internal armed conflict”, says Yves Giovannoni, Head of Operations at the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) for Latin-America and the Caribbean region. The statement distributed to the press from Geneva responds to an internal inquiry from the Bogota-based ICRC office after the Colombian government has been disputing the character of the Colombian armed conflict in order to avoid the International Humanitarian Law principles, El Tiempo reports.
Sun 08 – Mission visits new village in San Jose de Apartado ; 6 injured in explosion in Medellin.
· Representatives of the UN system working in Colombia, the Colombian Women’s Initiative for Peace, Redepaz and the Indigenous Guard visit the new settlement of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado after their move to a new location. Leaders of the community report they have already built 38 new houses for 78 families, (346 people) in the new San Josecito, El Tiempo reports.
· Police in Medellin report that six people have been injured after a grenade exploded in a public place in the town centre. Commander Jesus Emilio Ortiz said it was an accident, not an attack, El Colombiano reports.
· Horacio Serpa, who came second to Uribe in the 2002 elections and aims to be the Liberal Party's candidate again next year, insists that if a new party is created, it would have little impact. "It will be a minor party that only seeks to take advantage of the president's prestige to maintain a grip on the seats of some members of congress," Serpa said, Reuters reports.
Mon 09 – Opposition: elections without guarantees; armed group massacres Valledupar family.
· An editorial in El Nuevo Siglo reports that ten months ahead of the next elections in Colombia, the government is not advancing in the much-needed legislation after the electoral reform was approved. According to the Electoral Register authorities and the National Electoral Council, the situation is worrying because it is not clear how mechanisms approved in the reform will be put in practice.
· 20 members of an armed group reportedly identified by the police authorities as paramilitaries, kill three people from the same family in the municipality of Mongui (Guajira). According to the reports an aggressor, identified by the authorities as Rolando Linero Guerrero from Valledupar, was also killed in the event. The Director of Legal Medicine denounced that relatives of the deceased person visited her at night and demanded the body. However, all the relevant tests had already been conducted on the body, El Tiempo reports.
· Mayor of Bogota Angelino Garzon sends a letter to the Attorney General’s office and the Prosecutor’s Office (Procurador) urging them to investigate what happened in the centre of Bogota on 1st May when a minor was killed during the march. Since then, the father of the deceased child reports that he has been followed by an official car, probably belonging to the Police. Director of the Police, Jorge Castro said he has ordered an investigation, El Tiempo reports.
Tues 10 – CRIC criticises arbitrary detentions in Jambalo; 90% of re-inserted are in Bogota.
· The Regional Council for Indigenous People in Cauca (CRIC) condemns the detention of 12 people from the settlement of Jambalo. The traditional authorities also report that the army did not present any judicial warrant, disregarding the legitimate authorities from the community. The CRIC fears that the Colombian army is trying to stigmatise the indigenous communities living in the area after the combats that took place last month between the FARC group and the army.
· Local authorities allege 90% of re-inserted former paramilitaries are based in Bogota. However, the director of the National Re-insertion Programme from the Justice and Interior Ministry, Juan David Angel denies that the increased presence of the paramilitary groups in areas of the capital in Colombia is ‘real’, claiming that it is merely a ‘perception of the community’, El Tiempo reports.
· “The US military's ability to patrol the skies to intercept illegal drugs entering the country has sharply declined in the past two years,” US Congressman Mark Souder reports. Rep. Souder, who chairs the US House of Representatives committee on criminal justice and drug policy, cited figures showing that patrols through a narcotics transit zone that includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico had fallen by 71 percent in two years from 5,964 hours in 2002 to 1,741 hours last year, Reuters reports.
Weds 11 – High Commissioner Arbour arrives in Bogota; Uribe wants to launch his own party;
· While visiting the country for the first time, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour urges the Colombian government to toughen its proposal to disband the country’s far-right paramilitary militias to ensure that they are held fully accountable for their crimes and pay compensation to victims. "Impunity must be avoided,’’ she said, adding that this armed group has repeatedly violated the agreed cease fire without any consequences for the perpetrators, Reuters reports.
· President Uribe announces he wants to create his own political party this week to formally unite his followers, who until now have been known simply as "Uribistas". The plan is being resisted by the opposition and even some of his supporters, who worry about a political party based on one man's hard-line ideals. Underscoring the controversy generated by the plan, Uribe and his loyalists at the last minute postponed a meeting to set up the still un-named party. Pro-Uribe Sen. Nicolas Maloof blamed "scheduling conflicts" and said the meeting would take place next week. Observers say mounting criticism forced the delay, Associated Press reports.
· According to the Director of Research and Evaluation from Profamilia, Gabriel Ojeda, only 6% of Colombian teenagers are using condoms during their sexual relationships. He says that this is partially responsible for the fact that 1 out of 5 girls under 19 years old has been a single mother or is pregnant. According to reports, the areas where most underage pregnancies take place are the Atlantic and Pacific coast regions, RCN radio reports.
· Rafael Pardo, a leading senator who for years has supported the President, reports he wants nothing to do with the new party that President Uribe is setting up, claiming it would be too close to Colombia's outlawed paramilitary groups, Caracol radio reports.
· The Colombian Penitentiary Institute (INPEC) has run out of money after the first three months of the year. The authorities report they have paid more than 15,000m pesos (US$ 6,4m) in compensation for unfair dismissals. The money had originally been intended for improving 169 prisons, Colprensa reports.
· Kidnaps in the rural areas of Colombia increased during the first three months of this year, according to the GAULA (anti-kidnap group) of the National Police and the Colombian Army. So far 50 people -most of them ranchers and businessmen- have been kidnapped this year, Colprensa reports.
Thurs 12 – Ex-minister held for Galan’s murder; Const. Court rules to investigate disappeared.
· Former Colombian Justice Minister Alberto Santofimio Botero is arrested on suspicion of planning the assassination of Liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989. New evidence emerged linking him to the killing, the Attorney General's office said. Colombian media reports say evidence about him and another Escobar associate, now dead, were instrumental in leading the authorities to detain Mr Santofimio. Mr Galan was shot dead at an election rally south of Bogota, BBC reports.
· The Colombian Constitutional Court rules in favour of the search for people who have disappeared as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia. As a result of the ruling, the police authorities need to investigate (for free) all the cases presented by the victims. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Colombia-based NGO Fondelibertad, in the last 10 years 2,279 people have been forcibly disappeared and more than 3,000 remain kidnapped, El Espectador reports.
· The Colombian authorities seize cocaine valued at more than $300m (£162m) in what they say is the single largest drugs haul ever. They found the cocaine, weighing at least 12 tonnes, on a jungle riverbank near the south-west Colombian coast. Five people have been arrested and a number of weapons and speedboats have been seized. The cocaine is thought to belong to the main right-wing paramilitary group, the AUC, which is engaged in peace talks. The BBC's Jeremy McDermott says that while the paramilitaries are loosely observing a ceasefire, their involvement in the drugs trade appears to have deepened. He says the question of their involvement in drugs trafficking is not on the negotiating table, and many believe paramilitary leaders are hoping to gain an amnesty from the government with a peace deal so they can enjoy the fortunes they have earned from drugs.
· According to the latest reports, the date for the next presidential elections in Colombia will be 28th May 2006 and, -if necessary- the second round of the elections will be on 16 June 2006, the Register’s office 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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