Colombia This Week
27/10/2006
Fri 20–Petro criticises demobilisation process; Macaco linked to the Black Eagles
§ The opposition senator Gustavo Petro said that the demobilisation process has let the paramilitary groups reconstitute and maintain control of the drug trade. In a Senate speech, Petro accused several fellow senators of being linked to paramilitary chiefs and said that former combatants have killed 3,000 people since the beginning of the demobilisation process in 2002, AP reports.
§ Carlos Mario Jimenez, alias Macaco, former chief of the Central Bolivar Block, is being investigated for his involvement in the new paramilitary group the Black Eagles. The group, which was formed in 2005 after the demobilisation of the Northern and Catatumbo blocks in Norte de Santander department, controls the drug trade in the area, El Tiempo reports.
§ Frank Pearl, new special envoy in charge of generating private-sector employment for demobilised paramilitaries, said that Microsoft has agreed to donate more than $300,000 to open computer centres where former fighters will receive free training for civilian jobs. President Uribe had solicited Microsoft chairman Bill Gates’ help during his last visit to the US, AP reports.
§ Two young peasants, Jose Mario Guerrero Garzon and Hector Jairo Yate, were killed in Ibague (Tolima department). The army later presented the deaths as the result of a confrontation between the armed forces and the guerrilla, and the bodies of the two victims have not been handed in to their families yet, the National Agricultural Trade Union Fensuagro reports.
§ The government and the ELN started the fourth round of exploratory talks in Cuba. The government will ask the guerrilla group to agree to a ceasefire and to put an end to kidnapping, while the ELN will put the issue of displaced people at the centre of the negotiations, EFE reports.
Sat 21– Uribe breaks off talks with FARC; Bush to push for APTDEA renewal
§ President Uribe broke off negotiations on the humanitarian exchange and ordered the military to rescue hostages held by the FARC. Uribe’s decision came after a car bomb exploded in front of a military school in Bogota on Thursday, injuring 23 people. The government blamed the FARC for the attack, although the guerrilla group denies any involvement and has accused the US of planting the bomb in order to obstruct the peace process, Reuters reports.
§ The Bush administration said it will push the US Congress to renew the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (APTDEA), which provides trade preferences to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, and which is set to expire at the end of 2006. Since the inception of the APTDEA in 1991, trade between the US and Colombia has tripled to $15 billion, the Los Angeles Times reports.
§ The Ecuadorean government strongly rejected the statement by President Uribe that leaders of the FARC are hiding in the Ecuadorean jungle. According to Ecuador’s foreign minister, Francisco Carrion, there is no evidence that the FARC leader Raul Reyes is in the country, the BBC reports.
Sun 22–Agrarian law proposal criticised ; NGOs protest against Uribe’s decision
§ The Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) criticised the proposal of agrarian reform which has been approved by the Lower Chamber of Congress. According to the CCJ, the law would legalise the illegal appropriation of land by armed groups and does not respect the rights of indigenous, afro-Colombian and peasant communities, the CCJ reports. The Inspector General, Edgardo Maya, also stated that one of the main purposes of the law is to legalise African palm cultivation on illegally acquired land in Choco department, El Espectador reports.
§ 30 Colombian NGOs called for a demonstration to protest against President Uribe’s decision to break off efforts towards a humanitarian exchange. The protesters want to avoid what happened in 2003, when 10 people were killed by the FARC during an army attempt to free the hostages, Efe reports. Meanwhile, the families of the former deputies of the Valle Del Cauca assembly, who are held captive by the FARC, marched in Cali to protest against the President’s decision, Caracol Radio reports.
Mon 23 –Human rights violations in Choco ; U’wa reject oil project
§ 50 workers of the African palm company Urapalma have illegally occupied the property of Enrique Petro, in the Collective Territory of Curvarado (Choco department), despite the presence of the Army’s 17th Brigade. Petro, alongside two members of the Colombian organisation Justice and Peace, has also been the victim of a judicial persecution, Justice and Peace reports.
§ The U’wa indigenous people rejected a call from the government to participate in a “prior consultation” process about an oil project on their land and are calling for the cancellation of Ecopetrol’s Siriri/Catleya oil project, on the basis that it would destroy their livelihoods. The U’wa presented colonial land titles which uphold their soil and subsurface rights to their ancestral land, Amazon Watch reports.
§ 150 police officers were sent to the municipalities of Florida and La Pradera (Valle del Cauca department), where the humanitarian exchange had been expected to take place and where the number of rebels is reported to have increased in recent months, the Guardian reports.
§ Mass graves, containing the remains of 61 people, were discovered in La Dorada and San Miguel (Putumayo department). The victims are believed to have been killed by paramilitaries belonging to the now demobilised Central Bolivar Block, El Tiempo reports.
§ KPS Ventures, a Canadian multinational, will start prospecting for uranium in the departments of Santander, Norte de Santander and Caldas. Although the investment could reach seven million dollars, the profits would remain in the hands of the company, given Colombia’s lack of resources and specialists in the field, Prensa Latina reports.
Tues 24 –USOC and WOLA concerned over demobilisation ; Garcia sentenced to 18 years
§ The US Office on Colombia (USOC) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) expressed their concern over the demobilisation process in Colombia, after evidence was found in the laptop of paramilitary chief Jorge 40 of crimes committed by paramilitaries after they had demobilised. According to the documents found in the computer, 558 individuals were killed by paramilitaries in Atlantico department during the ceasefire period, and unemployed farmers were paid to take part in the demobilisation ceremonies, USOC and WOLA report.
§ The former chief of the intelligence services’ (DAS) information section, Enrique Garcia Torres, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for deleting the names of several extraditable drug-traffickers from the organisation’s database. Garcia’s lawyers were expecting a lighter sentence, as he had provided information on Jorge Noguera, former DAS’ director, who is investigated for links to paramilitaries, Colprensa reports.
§ The Interamerican Commission of Human Rights imposed a deadline of one month to the organisations defending the victims of the Patriotic Union (UP) to decide whether to go back to an amicable solution with the government or to proceed with the judicial process. According to the Colombian organisation Reiniciar, 140 UP activists have been killed during the Uribe administration, El Tiempo reports.
§ The government will send a bill to Congress by December that will create a new tax on assets to pay for new military equipment. The rate of the new tax and its duration are still being evaluated, but it is expected to be applied only to those owning more than 500 million pesos, Dow Jones reports.
§ Television host Otoniel Sanchez was forced into hiding after unidentified gunmen fired six shots at his house in Cartago (Valle del Cauca department). Sanchez had also received a series of death threats, after he had criticised the local government’s management of public funds in sports, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.
Weds 25 –US aid to remain stable; Uribe defends decision to rescue hostages
§ Nicholas Burns, US Undersecretary of State, said that the Bush administration plans to keep US aid to Colombia at current levels through 2008, despite human rights abuses by the army that have already delayed some US payments. Burns visited Colombia accompanied by 15 senior officials from six agencies including the State and Justice Departments, Secretary of Defence and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The US delegation also expressed his support to President Uribe’s decision to break negotiations with the FARC, the BBC and the Washington Post report.
§ President Uribe defended his order for troops to rescue hostages held by the FARC, after thousands of demonstrators gathered in Bogota asking for a humanitarian agreement. Meanwhile, the Interior Minister Carlos Holguin suggested to the FARC that they turn over a list of hostages they want to exchange for detained rebels to international intermediaries, Reuters and EFE report.
§ At the trial against the FARC rebel Simon Trinidad in the US, a video was presented that shows the defendant’s involvement in the kidnapping of three American citizens. The video, filmed in Ecuador in 2004, shows Trinidad admitting he is a member of the FARC and his participation in the hostage-taking, El Tiempo reports.
§ Victims of paramilitaries in Cordoba department and the Uraba region in Antioquia department denounced the killing of more than 1,000 people since the 1980s. 3,000 people were also forcibly disappeared in the region, Caracol Radio reports.
Thurs 26–Environmental damage costs 7bn pesos pa; Uribe to spend a month with the army
§ According to a study by the World Bank, environmental problems cost Colombia more than the internal conflict. Environmental degradation, particularly due to inefficient basic services such as water and sanitation, cost Colombians 7 billion pesos a year, while the conflict accounts for 5.4 billion pesos, El Tiempo reports.
§ The government announced that President Uribe will spend a month with the army to boost the soldiers’ morale and revise the military strategy against the FARC. Some analysts however interpreted the move as an admission of the army’s failures, El Colombiano reports.
§ The National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC), called for increasing mobilisations to push for a negotiated end to the conflict. The initiative was announced after 10,000 Embera indigenous people from 17 departments held their first national conference in Pereira, RCN Radio reports.
§ The fisherman Lever Castrillon Sarmiento was accidentally killed in Rio Viejo (Sur de Bolivar department) during an army operation against the FARC. The army’s Fifth Brigade was in the area after receiving information on the presence of the FARC’s 37th Front, El Tiempo reports.
§ According to the Auditor General, Julio Cesar Turbay Quintero, 820 billion pesos were diverted from programmes to alleviate child poverty towards investments in state bonds, RCN 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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