Colombia This Week
10/07/2006
Fri 30 –Colombian UN ambassador says UNHCHR office will stay; crime rates drop
· The Colombian Ambassador to the United Nations, Maria Angela Holguin, said that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office in Colombia will be maintained in the country, although the agreement that led to its creation in 1996 will be revised. According to the ambassador, this revision is a consequence of the improvement in the human rights situation in Colombia in the last few years. Holguin also said that a new director of the office would be appointed next week, El Tiempo reports.
· According to the Ministry of Defence, the first six months of 2006 registered a 50% drop in the number of kidnappings and a 9.4% drop in that of homicides, compared to the previous year. According to the Director of the Police, Jorge Daniel Castro, the improvement in crime indicators is due to an increased presence of the armed forces throughout the country, El Pais reports.
· Robert Novak, a journalist from the Washington Post, revealed details of the last visit of President Uribe to Washington. According to Novak, Uribe rejected a request by Bush to be “his man of the Andes” and to criticise openly Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Uribe opted for neutrality for pragmatic reasons, as Venezuela is Colombia’s second commercial partner, El Tiempo reports.
· A member of the Popular Women’s Organisation, Maria Jackeline Rojas Castañeda, received an anonymous threat. Jackeline Rojas, who broadcasts a daily radio programme on women’s human rights issues, had been threatened previously by army-backed paramilitary groups, Amnesty International reports.
· According to the Foundation for the Freedom of the Press (FLIP), paramilitary groups constitute the main threat to journalists in Colombia. The foundation received 46 reports of death threats in the first six months of 2006, 21 of which were concentrated in the period before the March legislative elections, AFP reports.
Sat 01– Mass graves found; Attorney General’s office has evidence against Jamundi soldiers
· The Attorney General’s office found the remains of 30 people in a mass grave in Alto San Jorge (Guajira department), an area where the paramilitary groups Resistencia Tayrona and Wayu were formerly active. 15 further mass graves were also found in Fundacion and Zona Bananera (Magdalena department), related to crimes committed by the paramilitary Northern Block between 2002 and 2004, EFE and Colprensa report.
· The Attorney General’s office presented a request of accusation against 15 military officers in relation to the death of 10 policemen in Jamundi on 22 May. The Attorney General Mario Iguaran said that his office is in possession of evidence proving the soldiers’ responsibility in the massacre, El Tiempo reports.
· The representatives of the victims of the Patriotic Union (UP) decided to suspend its “amicable agreement” with the government, saying that the latter has not implemented the measures of protection and assistance recommended by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights in 1997, El Tiempo reports.
Sun 02 – Defence Minister sees no negotiation prospect with FARC ; corruption in DAS
· The Defence Minister Camilo Ospina Bernal said that the FARC will be defeated militarily and that he cannot see any prospect of negotiation. He also added that the guerrilla group have now become drug traffickers and that they will disappear only once the coca crops have been eradicated, Colprensa reports.
· A detective from the police intelligence service (DAS) offered one billion pesos to an adviser to the Attorney General, in exchange for not sentencing Luis Enrique “Micky” Ramirez, ex business partner of Pablo Escobar, El Tiempo reports.
· Arles Porras, alias “Yesid”, a member of the eighth front of the FARC, was arrested in Cali. “Yesid” is considered to be the link between the guerrilla group and the drug traffickers in the region, AFP reports.
Mon 03 – Wayu indigenous ask for reparation ; paramilitary threats in Pereira
· A group of 80 Wayu indigenous from Bahia Portete (Guajira department) have started legal proceedings against the State for a massacre committed by paramilitaries in April 2004, which led to the biggest Wayu exodus in history. They accuse the Army of not having taken protection measures, despite knowing of the paramilitary presence in the area, and of having participated directly in the massacre. If the indigenous are successful, the state would be forced to pay 165 billion pesos ($70m) in reparation, El Tiempo reports.
· Messages containing threats, and signed by the Bloque Nutibara of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), have appeared on street walls in Pereira (Risaralda department). The messages announce a forthcoming “cleansing” in the area. Eight people have been detained in relation to the incident, Colprensa reports.
· Frey David Martinez Salcedo, alias “El Zorro”, head of the 37th front of the FARC, was arrested in San Pedro (Sucre department). “El Zorro” is responsible for the death of the nine marines who died last week in Bolivar department, El Tiempo reports.
· The FARC released two engineers and a business woman who had been taken hostage seven months ago. The hostages were freed in San Jose del Guaviare (Guaviare department), EFE reports.
· Two Colombian drug traffickers were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Mexico. Ruben Dario Nieto Benjumea and Gustavo Adolfo Londoño Zapata were members of the Gulf Cartel, AFP reports.
Tues 04 – FTA to be signed in September ; six police officers killed in FARC attack
· The Trade and Industry Minister Jorge Humberto Botero said that he expects the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the USA to be signed by September 2006, after talks next weeks to resolve the final divergences in the texts. Botero also said that the delay would make it difficult for the treaty to be put into effect in January 2007, when some preferences granted by the USA expire, and he warned that local businessmen would suffer if the Colombian Congress takes more than three months to approve the agreement, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, the second round of negotiations for the FTA between Colombia and Central America started in Guatemala, AFP reports.
· Six police officers were killed and three wounded after a pipe bomb attack by the FARC on a police base in Palmira (Valle department). The site of the attack borders with the municipalities of Pradera and Florida, whose demilitarisation is a precondition of the guerrilla group to negotiate the humanitarian exchange, the BBC and AFP report.
· Research carried out by Cartagena como vamos suggested that at least 421,000 people in Cartagena (Bolivar department) live below the poverty line, a figure that amounts to 42% of the total population. The study also suggests that 10.3% of the population lives in extreme poverty. After a slight improvement between 2002 and 2003, poverty levels increased again in 2004, El Tiempo reports.
· After the death of Gustavo Upegui Lopez, the President of Envigado football club, in Las Palmeras (Antioquia department) last Monday, state intelligence bodies said that the mafia is now re-organising itself as a consequence of the demobilisation of paramilitary bosses. Upegui was believed to be related to the extortion business previously run by paramilitary chief “Don Berna”, El Tiempo reports.
· According to the police, the Norte del Valle Cartel, until recently one of the most powerful drug trafficking networks, is on its last legs. This is due both to the arrest of the main members and an internal war between the rival factions of Diego Montoya and Wilber Varela, Colprensa reports.
Weds 05 – Assistance to displaced still insufficient; Mancuso denounces mafia killings
· According to the Inspector General’s office, the government is not complying with the recommendations of the Constitutional Court in relation to assistance to the displaced population. Ten months ago, the Court had declared that, despite progress, government policies for the displaced were still unconstitutional. In his report, the Inspector General also said that the 1.3 billion pesos ($5.5m) allocated by the government to the assistance to the displaced, is not sufficient to guarantee their fundamental rights, El Colombiano reports.
· Salvatore Mancuso, former chief of the paramilitary Northern Block, wrote a letter to President Uribe and the High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo, after the murder of eight people closely related to him in Tierralta (Cordoba department). Mancuso accused a new group linked to ex paramilitary chief “Don Berna”, Los Traquetos, of killing people related to voluntary programmes of coca eradication, El Tiempo reports.
· The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed its concern over a death threat against Colombian journalist Herbin Hoyos Medina. During his weekly programme on Caracol Radio, Medina had interviewed accused drug traffickers who are awaiting extradition to the USA. The threatening message was signed by an unknown group called “Citizens’ Action and Justice Front for Freedom and Democracy”, CPJ reports.
· During a visit to Colombia, newly elected Peruvian President Alan Garcia denied that he is seeking a regional strategic alliance against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Garcia also said that he would not allow his country to be used as a refuge for terrorists and that he would intensify security along the shared border, Reuters reports.
· Eduardo Pizarro, president of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation, said that in some areas of the country, mainly on the Atlantic coast, demobilised paramilitaries are desecrating mass graves in an attempt to destroy evidence of their crimes, EFE reports.
Thurs 06 – Santofimio trial continues; soldiers arrested for killings of civilians in Antioquia
· The trial of the ex-minister Alberto Santofimio for the murder of the presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989 continued. The Inspector General’s office and the Attorney General’s office found themselves in disagreement when the former said that there was no irrefutable evidence to condemn the defendant and that the main witness, Popeye, was not reliable. On the other hand, the Attorney General’s office asked for Santofimio to be condemned, quoting the testimonies of seven witnesses and the evidence collected over many years that prove Santofimio’s links with drug baron Pablo Escobar, El Tiempo reports.
· 18 military officers were arrested on charges of killing civilians who were then presented as guerrilla members killed in combat in Antioquia department. The soldiers have all been judged by the military justice system and are among the 29 cases that are being investigated after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office in Colombia drew attention to them. The Attorney General’s office requested that most of these cases be transferred to its Human Rights Unit, El Colombiano reports.
· Vicenc Fisas, Spanish expert on conflicts and author of the book “Peace Processes 2006 Yearbook”, edited by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said he is convinced that President Uribe’s second mandate will be characterised by a peace process with the FARC. According to the academic, this is partly due to changes in attitudes by both parties, but also to a global trend by which 90% of conflicts have been resolved through negotiation, Colprensa reports.
· Eduardo Zuñiga, governor of Nariño department, complained that there are three times as many hectares of coca plantations present in his department than the latest UN report says. The same complaint was voiced by the governor of Putumayo department, Carlos Alberto Palacio, who said that coca is now planted under large trees so that it does not appear in satellite pictures, Caracol Radio 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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