Colombia This Week
14/07/2006
Fri 07 – Trade unions criticise tax reform proposal; new director of UNHCHR office appointed
· The president of the General Labour Confederation (CGT), Julio Roberto Gomez, criticised the tax reform announced by the Government. According to the trade unions, components of the reforms such as VAT increases for basic products including food will have a very negative impact on the poorest sectors of society. The Inspector General, Edgardo Maya, also criticised the measure and qualified it as unconstitutional, as it would contradict the principles of tax equity and justice, RCN Radio reports. The government is also planning to introduce a temporary tax to collect $3 billion that will be destined to the Army. The tax would only be applied to the richest 1% of society, Caracol Radio reports.
· The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Louise Arbour, announced the appointment of Juan Pablo Corlazzoli as head of the UNHCHR Office in Colombia. Corlazzoli has worked for over 20 years in the fields of human rights and peace-building and is currently serving as Executive Director of the Programme for the Development of Democracy in Latin America of the UN Development Programme. He is expected to assume his functions in August this year, the UNHCHR Office in Colombia reports.
· The Police presented a report on the monitoring of the 41,000 paramilitaries who have demobilised since 2003. According to the report, 536 among them have been caught committing crimes since 2003, which accounts for 1.3% of the total, while 236 have died or been killed and 141 have not been in contact with the government since laying down their arms. The director of the police, Jorge Daniel Castro, also said that 10% of the demobilised are employed in agriculture, drug eradication and as park guards, Reuters reports.
· The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR ) spokesperson, William Spindler, expressed his concern over the situation in Nariño department. 9,000 people have been displaced since the start of the year and, in the last month, a further 500 displaced people have arrived in the departmental capital Pasto, UNHCR reports.
· The National Victims’ Movement held its third assembly in Bogota. The meeting, which was attended by more than 1,000 delegates, discussed strategies to achieve truth, justice and integral reparation, alongside ways to strengthen the organisation, El Colombiano reports.
Sat 08– Fake paramilitaries not to receive government stipend; FTA discrepancies resolved
· About 12,000 people who demobilised will stop receiving financial benefits from the National Reinsertion Programme, after the government forced the chiefs of the 36 former paramilitary structures to produce updated lists of their combatants. Several paramilitary groups had included informants and occasional collaborators in their lists and in some cases, such as the Resistencia Tayrona block, the number of members of support networks was higher than that of combatants, El Tiempo reports.
· Differences over the wording of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and the USA were resolved. The discrepancies related to the treatment of sugar, chicken and other farm products. Colombian Trade Minister Jorge Humberto Botero said that President Uribe and his U.S. counterpart Bush could meet to sign the agreement in October, after which it must still be ratified by both nations’ parliaments before taking effect sometime next year, Caracol Radio and AP report.
Sun 09 – Attorney General gives Mancuso ultimatum; new pipeline inaugurated in Venezuela
· The Attorney General’s office gave an ultimatum to former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso, who has refused to appear in court for the six cases that are pending against him. Mancuso argued that, as he negotiated with the government under the Justice and Peace Law, all investigations against him should be annulled. However, the Attorney General Mario Iguaran clarified that, until the law is implemented, the trials against demobilised paramilitaries will be carried out as usual, El Espectador reports.
· Venezuela and Colombia have begun work on a $200 million pipeline project, which will see Venezuelan gas and oil reach Central America. The presidents of Venezuela, Colombia and Panama witnessed the welding of the first segment of the pipeline in Venezuela’s Zulia state, the BBC reports. President Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fight against kidnappings, Colprensa reports.
· Army officials reported the death in combat of Jesus Berlan Chiquito, alias “Leytor”, chief of the “Oscar William Calvo” front of the guerrilla group EPL in Quinchia, Risaralda department. “Leytor” was responsible for the kidnapping of Juan Carlos Lizcano, son of the congressman Oscar Julio Lizcano, and had been sentenced in absentia on charges of terrorism, rebellion and extorsion, EFE reports.
Mon 10-Land to be given back to displaced in Choco; paramilitaries’ extradition to be suspended
· The Agriculture Minister, Felipe Arias, announced that 25,000 hectares of land appropriated by African palm companies will be devolved to black communities in Curvarado and Jiguamiando (Choco department). More than 3,000 members of these communities had been displaced in the 1990s due to paramilitary incursions and fighting between the Army’s 17th Brigade and the FARC, Semana reports.
· The Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt said that the paramilitaries who have negotiated with the government will see their extradition suspended. The statement provoked strong reactions from critics of the demobilisation process, who pointed out that Pretelt should have waited until the sentence of the Constitutional Court on the Justice and Peace Law is made known, El Tiempo reports.
· Spanish police arrested one of Colombia’s most famous drug lords and former ally of Pablo Escobar. Colombian police said that they had found no record of current investigations against Leonidas Vargas, who has already served a sentence in Colombia; however, he could still be extradited to the USA, Reuters reports.
· The army managed to gain possession of La Julia (Meta department), an area that had been under control of the FARC for 40 years. The Defence Minister Camilo Ospina announced that they are now close to capturing the “Mono Jojoy”, the chief of the guerrilla group’s Eastern Block, El Tiempo reports.
· 2,700 hectares of coca, out of a total of 4,560, have been eradicated in the Macarena National Park, as part of the Green Colombia operation. The eradication is believed to have cost the FARC about $4 million, AP reports.
Tues 11 – Fire in Los Nevados National Park ; 10,000 bodyguards have no license
· The Colombian government asked for international help to tackle a huge forest fire that has been burning since Saturday in Los Nevados National Park. Environmentalists say the destruction of 5,000 hectares of the park, which is home to the country’s highest mountains and a wide range of wildlife, is disastrous, the BBC reports.
· Supervigilancia, the body that regulates security services, expressed its concern over the high number of unlicensed bodyguards in the country. 10,000 armed people - almost the same number as licensed bodyguards - are providing security services to individuals and private companies without having received any training, El Tiempo reports.
· According to Amerigo Incalcaterra, acting director of the UNHCHR office in Colombia, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, agrees with carrying out an evaluation of the office, as long as it will lead to the strengthening of its mandate. The position was in response to the criticisms made by vice-President Francisco Santos at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the BBC reports.
· In an interview with W Radio, Colonel Byron Carvajal, who is being investigated for the death of ten policemen and a civilian in Jamundi last 22 May, denied the army’s responsibility in the event. Carvajal said that the police officers were not wearing uniforms and were not carrying out an official mission, El Pais reports.
· The FARC published a communiqué on their website where they said that, although they reject any negotiation with the Uribe government, a humanitarian exchange will eventually take place because it responds to the will of the majority of Colombians, RCN Radio reports.
Weds 12 – Row over diplomatic appointment; terrorist attacks in Popayan and Medellin
· Colombia’s ambassador to the USA, Andres Pastrana, resigned his post, saying he could not defend the appointment of former president Ernesto Samper as ambassador to France. The Cali drug cartel donated $5 million to Samper’s election campaign in 1994; however, he was cleared of wrongdoing after saying that the donation had been made without his knowledge. Samper has now withdrawn his candidacy for the Paris embassy “considering the higher interests of the country”. The government also announced that the Foreign Minister Carolina Barco will replace Pastrana as ambassador to the US, Reuters reports.
· Two terrorist attacks took place in the cities of Popayan (Cauca department) and Medellin (Antioquia department). In Popayan, the FARC allegedly threw four grenades at the headquarters of the Army’s 29th Brigade and the residence of the governor of Cauca. In Medellin, two people died and 13 were injured as the result of an explosion in a shopping centre, El Pais reports.
· The National Peasant Association (ANUC) said that 10,000 families in Putumayo department are about to abandon coca eradication programmes, due to the lack of state investment in social areas and in the commercialisation of legal crops, Caracol Radio reports.
· According to figures released by the Bogota mayoral office, the homicide rate in the capital is now the lowest in 21 years. With 18 dead per 100,000 people, Bogota has also one of the lowest homicide rates in America, where the figures are 133, 55 and 34 for Caracas, Sao Paulo and Washington respectively, El Tiempo reports.
· Colombia has been accepted as a member of the Puebla-Panama Plan, an integration initiative between Mexico and Central America, during the organisation’s eighth summit in Mexico, RCN Radio reports.
Thurs 13 – Insulza visits Medellin; Galeras volcano erupts again
· Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), visited Medellin to evaluate the paramilitary demobilisation and reinsertion process. Although he lauded the Medellin process as exemplary, he said that it poses a series of problems that will be analysed in the seventh report of the OAS Mission in Colombia (MAPP), soon to be published, El Colombiano reports.
· The Galeras volcano in Nariño department shot rocks, gas and ash into the air in an eruption that prompted the government to evacuate about 8,000 nearby residents. Experts said that this could be only the beginning of a series of eruptions. A 1993 eruption caused the death of at least 10 people, the BBC and Reuters report.
· An editorial in The New York Times questioned the Colombian government’s commitment to trade union rights. According to the newspaper, 4,000 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in the last 20 years, but the government has investigated only 400 cases, El Tiempo reports.
· Yesid Arteta, former FARC chief, was released after ten years in prison. Arteta was one of the most important men in the list of prisoners proposed to be included in a humanitarian exchange, and could now be used as a bridge with the guerrilla, El Tiempo 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.
If you would like to be put on the mailing list, please send an email message to Colombia_this_week@hotmail.com, indicating why you would be interested in receiving this summary.
ABColombia Group
Mezzanine 2nd Floor
1, London Bridge
London SE1 1BG
Tel: +44-(0)20-7 785 6595
www.abcolombia.org.uk
Top
| 