Colombia This Week
03/11/2006
Fri 27–Peace negotiations with the ELN; Uribe orders arrest of corrupt official
§ At the end of the fourth round of exploratory talks, the government and the ELN agreed to launch formal peace negotiations. However, both the High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo and the ELN military chief Antonio Garcia underlined the many hurdles that they still have to overcome, the BBC and the Guardian report.
§ During a speech in Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca department), President Uribe accused the city mayor’s secretary Adolfo Chipantiza of trying to get a naval officer to hand over a captured stash of cocaine and ordered police to detain the official, who was sitting in front of him. The police later released Chipantiza pending an investigation into the charges, Reuters reports.
§ A further 22 town coucillors resigned in Norte de Santander department after they received death threats from the FARC. In total, 33 local officials have resigned in the department in the last 10 days. The FARC are supposedly punishing the councillors for not having openly opposed the Free Trade Agreement with the US and for having sold several power stations, El Colombiano reports.
§ After five months, the Inspector General’s office opened an investigation into the death of ten policemen at the hands of army officers in Jamundi. The soldiers are accused of not following their superior’s oders and of not taking the necessary security measures, El Tiempo reports.
§ The peasant brothers Silvio and Noraldo Solarte Narvaez were disappeared and killed in Puerto Vega (Putumayo department). The killers are believed to be paramilitaries belonging to the criminal gang Los Rastrojos, the Colombian organisation Minga reports.
Sat 28– FARC willing to negotiate; new threats to San Jose de Apartado Peace Community
§ The FARC reiterated their willingness to negotiate the humanitarian exchange and then start a peace process, in response to President Uribe’s decision to order the army to rescue the hostages held captive by the guerrilla group. In the statement, published on their website, the FARC did not claim responsibility for the attack that injured 23 people last week, AP reports.
§ Peace Brigades International (PBI) expressed its concern over the new death threats received by members of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community. A group of 40 armed men with paramilitary bandanas appeared at a nearby house saying that their main mission was to exterminate the community and asking for the names of leaders and accompaniers, PBI reports.
§ Alex Jefferson Moreno, member of the Cacarica Community-CAVIDA (Choco department), was accused of belonging to the guerrilla by soldiers of the 17th Brigade, who also threatened to kill him, the Colombian organisation Justice and Peace reports.
Sun 29– Bomb kills two in Villavicencio ; Colombia and Chile to sign FTA
§ A soldier and a taxi driver were killed when a bomb exploded outside an army base in Villavicencio (Meta department). General Guillermo Quinones, commander of the army’s 4th brigade, said that the type of explosives used and the form in which the car bomb was activated indicate that the blast was the work of the FARC, AP reports.
§ Colombia and Chile agreed the text of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The agreement is expected to be signed at the end of November, when President Uribe will visit his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, RCN Radio reports.
§ Representatives from small and medium-sized industries said that they agree with the government proposal to introduce a new tax on assets. However, they suggested that it be called a peace and reconciliation tax, rather than the war tax, and that the new resources be invested in help to the displaced population, Caracol Radio reports.
Mon 30 –Iguaran proposes benefits for drug traffickers ; 4 killings a day in rural Antioquia
§ The Attorney General Mario Iguaran proposed that benefits be introduced for minor drug traffickers who provide information on their bosses. The benefits could amount to a total exoneration from the legal process if the information provided leads to the capture of the drug barons and to the dismantling of their criminal organisations, El Tiempo reports.
§ The Government Secretary for Antioquia department, Jorge Mejia Martinez, warned that the level of violence in the region has registered an increase. According to Mejia Martinez, four people are killed daily in the department’s rural areas. He also blamed the central government for not having provided enough police in areas previously controlled by paramilitaries, El Colombiano reports.
§ The US Department of Justice started a training course for 22 members of the Technical Body of Investigations (CTI) of the Attorney General’s office. The course is attended by doctors, anthropologists, dentists and investigators who will be in charge of helping in the identification of the 12,000 people disappeared and killed by former paramilitaries, RCN Radio reports.
§ The director of the National Drug Directorate (DNE) Carlos Albornoz asked for legislative approval to outsource the selling-off of assets confiscated from drug traffickers. The agency, which manages more than 72,000 assets, is rife with corruption and bureaucracy. Many fear that the DNE will squander the US$2 billion recently forfeited by the extradited leaders of the defunct Cali cartel, AP reports.
§ Oil production in Meta department has overtaken that of Arauca department and is second only to that of Casanare department. The department, which has received more than 306 million pesos in royalties this year, is expected to start producing 120,000 oil barrels a day, El Tiempo reports.
Tues 31 –Death list found in Sucre ; soldiers on trial for murder of three peasants
§ A death list has been found that contains the names of 26 people including social leaders and activists of Sucre department. The list was produced by political leaders linked to paramilitaries and is currently in the hands of the paramilitary groups that are still operating in San Onofrio (Sucre department). Nine of the 26 people in the list have already been killed, the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes reports.
§ Several army officers are on trial for the murder of three peasants in 2005. Mario and Juvenal Guzman Sepulveda and Reinel Escobar Guzman were shot dead in Dabeiba (Antioquia department) and were later reported as guerrilla fighters killed in combat. The case is one of the extra-judicial killinngs denounced by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia last year, El Colombiano reports.
§ According to investigators, the criminal group Black Eagles is now operating in five regions of the country. The group is made up of demobilised paramilitaries belonging to the Catatumbo block and combatants who did not hand in their weapons. The aim of the Black Eagles is to regain control of the territory and dominate the drug trade, El Tiempo reports.
§ A former member of the FARC accused Simon Trinidad, who is on trial in the US, of orchestrating several kidnappings. According to the woman, Trinidad, who headed the 41st front of the FARC, used to instruct the fighters to kidnap any civilians they encountered so that they could be exchanged for imprisoned rebels, El Tiempo reports.
§ The president of the Peruvian region of Loreto, Robinson Rinadeneyra, accused the FARC of planting coca in the area and recruiting local youths. According to Rinadeneyra, 80% of young people in the Peruvian region are used by the guerrilla group to work in the coca plantations and as fighters, Caracol Radio reports.
Weds 01 – FARC bomb kills 17 in Tierradentro; 3,612 victims of paramilitaries ask for reparation
§ A civilian and 16 policemen were killed in a FARC attack on a police station in Tierradentro (Cordoba department). The attack, which was the deadliest since President Uribe was reelected, was carried out by 400 rebels with improvised mortars made from gas cylinders. The event was interpreted as an attempt by the FARC to regain territory once dominated by paramilitaries and as a demonstration that the group is still strong despite government statements that it has weakened, the BBC reports.
§ 3,612 victims of paramilitaries have so far asked for reparation, afer the Justice and Peace Unit of the Attorney General’s office published a notice to the public a month ago. The cities with the higher number of requests are Monteria (Cordoba department) and Santa Marta (Magdalena department). The victims are asking for both financial and symbolic reparation, El Tiempo reports.
§ Oscar Ignacio Martan, member of the Colombian Football Association and main shareholder of the Cortulua football club, was included in the Clinton list for his supposed links to Carlos Alberto Renteria, an extraditable drug trafficker belonging to the Norte del Valle cartel. Once included in the Clinton list, he will not be allowed to engage in businesses with any US person or firm. Martan denied any allegation, El Tiempo reports.
§ Orlando Sabogal, boss of the Norte del Valle drug cartel, was arrested in Spain. Sabogal, alias Alberto, will remain in a Spanish prison until he is extradited to the US, where he is wanted for drug trafficking, Caracol Radio reports.
Thurs 02 –Santos launches anti-drug campaign; landmines affect 1,100 people a year
§ The vice-President Francisco Santos launched an anti-drug campaign called “Shared Responsibility” in London. Speaking in front of representatives of eleven European countries, Santos stressed the need to raise awareness among drug consumers that their habits finance kidnappings and produce victims in Colombia. Five Colombian women, who are victims of the armed conflict, also spoke at the meeting, the BBC reports.
§ According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, in recent months Colombia has recorded more casualties from mines than anywhere else in the world. In the year ending in June, 1,100 people were killed or injured by landmines, more than in Afghanistan, Cambodia or Chechnya. More than 30% of the victims are civilians, almost all of them peasants whose farms have become battlefields, the Washington Post reports.
§ The Organisation of American States (OEA) asked the government for more armed forces to be sent to areas formerly under the control of paramilitaries. The areas where the situation is particularly serious are San Jeronimo, La Gabarra, Uraba, and parts of the departments of Cordoba, Norte de Santander, Narino, Choco and Putumayo, Caracol Radio reports.
§ A further 13 town councillors resigned in Convencion (Norte de Santander department) following threats by the FARC. While they were starting their November session, the local officials received eight telephone calls from the guerrilla leader Ruben Zamora, who demanded their resignation, Colprensa reports.
§ The Liberal Party called for a referendum against the government proposal to cut financial resources to local regions. According to the party’s spokesman, Juan Fernando Cristo, the proposed law would deprive departments and municipalities of five billion pesos a year starting in 2009, 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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