Colombia This Week

21/11/2005

Fri 11 - Delegates from Green Party condemn killing of Indigenous; army returns to Alto Naya.

·         Delegates from the Green Party condemn the killing of a Kankuamo leader from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Andres Talco, reportedly at the hands of paramilitary groups acting in the area. In a letter sent to President Uribe, more than 20 representatives of the party urge the Colombian authorities to investigate this new killing and all the previous ones, as this indigenous community has suffered more than 250 selective killings during the last four years, Colprensa reports.

·         At least 100 uniformed army soldiers have entered the Alto Naya region in Cauca, many with their faces covered, US-based Colombia Support Network (CSN) reports. The Army has not entered this region since more than 50 persons were killed in a 2001 massacre by the Calima bloc of the AUC paramilitaries. They neither identified themselves to residents of the region, nor explained why they were there. The Alto Naya region is home to about 25,000 people, among them Nasa, Eperara and Siapidaara indigenous, peasants and Afro-Colombians. There are concerns that the renewed military presence may destroy the efforts of local residents to create a strong inter-ethnic organization; lead to restrictions in the entry of food and medicine into the zone; and result in the army carrying out arbitrary detentions in order to obtain information from locals, CSN reports.

Sat 12 – Uribe given green light to run for President again; UN office warns re violence in Cauca.

·         Colombia's highest court approves a law that clears the way for President Alvaro Uribe to run for a second term next year. The Constitutional Court ruled that the Electoral Guarantees Law, which was passed by Congress last year to set out the rules for sitting presidents to compete in elections, was constitutional. The decision removes the final hurdle for Uribe to put his name on the ballot. "We are obviously very pleased," said Interior and Justice Minister Sabas Pretelt. Colombia has not seen a president elected to two consecutive terms since the 1800s. Critics of the measure say re-election has a poor track record in the region, with second-term leaders often veering toward authoritarianism, CBS reports.

·         The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia reports in a statement to the press its concern about the violence that is affecting the Cauca department in recent weeks. Among other observations, the statement deplores the killing of innocent civilians, calling on the Colombian police authorities to restrain their use of guns at big gatherings, and calling on the leaders of the indigenous communities protesting about land-tenure not to use violence to achieve their objectives.

·         The Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado denounces that 4 unknown people who identified themselves as functionaries of the Attorney General’s office entered the San Josecito settlement near Apartado without authorisation, asking for the leaders of the community and filming the inhabitants without their permission.

Sun 13 – Uribe changes the command of Patriot Plan; opposition leaders accept Court ruling.

·         President Alvaro Uribe is replacing the army commander overseeing the US-backed offensive against the FARC group in southern Colombia (known as Patriot Plan), amid a failure to kill or capture top guerrilla leaders. Gen. Carlos Alberto Fracica will be replaced by Gen. Gilberto Rocha, Uribe's office said in a statement, without elaborating. While the military has seized areas previously under rebel control and dealt a series of heavy blows to the FARC's infrastructure, no member of the group's seven-member ruling secretariat has been killed or captured. Rocha is the commander of the army's Fourth Division. He has aggressively cracked down on the rebels' cocaine trafficking enterprise in central Meta state, AP reports.

·         Opposition leaders accept the ruling of the Constitutional Court regarding re-election, and praise its decision to impose restrictions on the Electoral Guarantees Law: "The Court certainly improved the Law by ensuring greater fairness among contenders”, said former Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus. The Court, however, set limits on Uribe's ability to use state funds and institutions to promote his re-election. It barred him from using the presidential palace as his campaign headquarters or have his speeches broadcast on the state's official television channel. “The President has made clear that he will abide by all the court's requirements," said Interior and Justice Minister Pretelt on RCN television.

Mon 14 – 3 disappeared after boat-explosion; police use tanks to disperse indigenous in El Japio.

·         Two members of the Colombian Navy and a security guard from the Buenaventura port are believed to be dead after they disappeared in the waters of the city port. According to reports, they were searching an abandoned boat near the city of Buenaventura when the boat exploded, injuring two others, El Espectador reports.

·         On the 14^th day of occupying the farm ‘El Japio’ in Cauca, the Colombian Organisation for Indigenous People (ONIC) reports that tanks have been used by the riot police in the eighth attempt to displace the indigenous communities, resulting in the injury of a young man, named Jose Yonda, who lost an eye. “This despite assurances from the Ministry of the Interior that indigenous authorities would be invited to a meeting with the President to try and find a solution to the land crisis”, ONIC reports in a statement to the press.

·         Hours after being relieved by the President from commanding the Patriot Plan, Gen. Carlos Alberto Fracica says that he was replaced as part of a normal rotation. ''I don't feel that I was relieved of my command in an ill-timed way,'' he told Caracol television. Fracica was removed exactly a year after he took command of Patriot Plan, the Colombian military's biggest-ever assault against the FARC.

Tues 15- UNHCR warns re displacement on Ecuadorian border; candidates fear abuse of power.

·         The UN High Commissioner for Refugees expresses "deep concern" about the humanitarian situation along the border between Colombia and Ecuador. Fighting has driven more than 2,000 people from their homes along Colombia's border with Ecuador since last month, the United Nations reports. UNHCR spokesperson, Jennifer Pagonis said that more than 850 of the 2,000 Colombians who left their homes are known to have crossed into Ecuador. The displacement was the result of an upsurge in fighting between armed groups in the departments of Putumayo and Nariño, according to the UN agency. Over the weekend alone, at least 600 Colombians sought asylum in the northern Ecuadorian town of San Lorenzo. It was the single largest influx so far this year and hundreds could be following, UNHCR warned. "Some of them were badly injured and are receiving medical assistance. One asylum-seeker died of wounds," Ms Pagonis told a news conference.

·         After last Friday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court on the Electoral Guarantees Law, politicians and analysts critical of the Uribe administration express fears for the excess of power that the President would enjoy if he wins the elections next year: "If Uribe wins a second term he will probably wind up controlling the central bank, the Constitutional Court and the Public Auditor’s Office (which acts an a check on government fiscal policies)," said Telesforo Pedraza, a Conservative member of Colombia's lower house of Congress, "Re-election in countries that do not have strong institutional controls presents the risk of individual leaders gaining too much power, like Chavez or Uribe,", Reuters reports.

·         Colombian authorities report that members of the police have detained Luis Venus Alvarez Guerrero, a paramilitary commander, reportedly third in command of the Self-Defence Forces of Casanare. He was captured in the municipality of Melgar (Tolima), El Colombiano reports.

Weds 16 – 12 indigenous freed after being arrested in ‘El Japio’; NGOs support ‘House of Peace’.

·         Twelve indigenous people from the Nasa community are released following the ninth attempt by the police to halt the peaceful occupation of the ‘El Japio’ farm in Cauca, Colombia. The police have prevented ambulances and medical attention from reaching people injured during previous attacks by police. Following the sound of gunfire at about midday, the police announced that the guerrilla were active in the area and that they had ambushed a police patrol (this claim is still unconfirmed), and that the "counter-guerrilla" troops from the army would be called in to remove the indigenous communities from El Japio, the National Organisation for Indigenous People (ONIC) reports.

·         After having a meeting with ELN commander Francisco Galan in the ‘House of Peace’ (Casa de Paz) in Quirama (Antioquia), delegates from the Colombian Civil Society for Peace issue a statement urging the government to guarantee the continuity of this peace initiative and to determine which country could participate as facilitator between this armed group and the Colombian government. The statement is signed by Colombian NGOs Redepaz, Indepaz and the National Network of Women, amongst others, El Colombiano reports.

·         Fernando Arellan Barajas, a recently detained suspect accused by the Colombian authorities of involvement in the car bomb that exploded in El Nogal sport and leisure centre in Bogota in February 2003, claims in court that he has no involvement or contact with the FARC group. He has been presented to the public as one of the 25 people detained by the Attorney General’s office for participating in the attack, El Tiempo reports.

·         Correcting a previous sentence by the regional Court in Yopal (Casanare), the Superior Court changes the sentence of Jesus Emiro Pereire Rivera, (a paramilitary commander of the Capital bloc, operating in Arauca and Casanare) from 6 up to 40 years in prison. Among other killings, he has been accused by the authorities of killing Congressman Octavio Sarmiento Bohorquez and farmers Eddinson Otto and Manuel Delgado, in October 2001, El Espectador reports.

Thurs 17 – Army kills another leader from San Jose de Apartado; AUC to ‘resume disarmament’.

·         In an urgent message sent to the international community, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado  reports that a unit of the Seventeenth Brigade of the Colombian army fired upon a leader of the peace community and representative in Arenas Altas settlement named Arlen Salas, killing him and injuring other unarmed civilians. According to the reports, soldiers threw a grenade at the group, which exploded near Arlen, causing his death. The suffering Peace Community strongly re-affirms their resistance, calling on the international community to investigate and act upon the Colombian authorities in these difficult circumstances, Colombia Support Network reports.

·         Colombia's paramilitaries agree to resume disarmament after a breakthrough in talks with Bogota. The new deal resumes demobilisations and keeps the peace process "on track", Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt said. AUC leaders said they wanted guarantees that their leaders would not be extradited. Speaking after a meeting with AUC leaders to ease the deadlock, Mr Pretelt made no mention of the case of Don Berna, the high profile paramilitary leader and drug lord currently jailed inside the country. However, he did promise the AUC that the government would review conditions in the jails where many of the group's leaders were likely to end up, Reuters reports.  

·         Lacking a ‘quorum’ in the Senate Chamber, the possible re-election of mayors and Governors in Colombia has finally failed. This Constitutional reform needed to pass several debates in Congress before being approved and Congressmen said they had not sufficiently discussed the legislative project, Efe reports.

·         Two dozen university student sympathizers of the FARC group reportedly turned themselves in to authorities in the city of Ibague, entering the government demobilization program El Tiempo online reports. The government announced that the members of the FARC urban militias contacted the Peace Commissioner’s office announcing their intentions. They form part of the Bolivarian urban militias of this armed group acting in Tolima.

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