Colombia This Week

24/11/2006

Fri 17 – More charges against former head of DAS; Government launches development plan • The Inspector General’s Office has pressed charges against the former head of the Police Intelligence Service (DAS), Jorge Noguera, who is already facing charges brought by the Attorney General’s Office in relation to paramilitary infiltration of the DAS and killings of trade unionists and academics carried out by the Self-defence groups. Jorge Noguera remains in his post as Colombian Consul in Milan, Italy. El Colombiano reports. • The National Plan for Development aims to reduce poverty to between 35% and 39% by the end of 2010. The pillars of the development plan are development and equality for all, consolidation of the defence and democratic security policies, as well as the reduction of poverty. The plan includes record levels of investment for physical infrastructure to improve competitiveness and productivity of the country in the light of the newly signed trade agreements, and to reach the ambitious goals for economic growth that they set out, El Colombiano reports. • The Inspector General, Edgardo Jose Maya Villazon, has announced the creation of a Special Investigations Group to examine disciplinary and penal procedures, and provide guidelines for the decisions that his office will take in relation to the parliamentarians accused of links to illegal actors. The creation of this group complies with a Presidential Decree from 2000 stipulating that the Inspector General’s Office must supervise accusations against legislators, El Espectador reports. Sat 18 – Uribe breaks silence on scandals; Church calls for justice for murdered international aid worker and Colombian priest • President Uribe has broken his silence to call for legislators accused of links with paramilitary groups to tell the truth and support the Supreme Court investigations which could implicate another 12 congress people. Uribe reminded the country that he has also been accused of links with these groups and challenged any of the 30.000 paramilitaries to link him to them, El Colombiano reports. • In a communiqué to mark the seventh anniversary of the killing of priest, Jorge Luis Mazo, and Basque aid worker, Iñigo Egiluz, the Dioceses of Quibdo, International NGO PTM and the Corporacion Juridica Libertad cited the August 2006 court sentence that found the Colombian State responsible. The organisations declared that even though the sentence is a step forwards, it is insufficient as the intellectual authors have not been brought to justice, the Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad reports. • Two gunmen who identified themselves as belonging to the 30th Front of the FARC guerrilla group have continued the bus burning campaign in Cali bringing the total number of buses burnt this week to five. Last week another three buses were burnt, El Pais (Cali) reports. Sun 19 – Truth Commission report published; Uribe accuses critics • A Truth Commission investigating 1985 events in the Palace of Justice, which was seized by the M19 guerrilla group and stormed by the army, stated in the conclusion of its preliminary report published this week that one of the big remaining mysteries is what happened to people caught in the cross-fire and never found dead or alive. The Commission, including three former Supreme Court judges, received evidence, including photos, to show that the 11 people who disappeared were taken alive by the army, El Colombiano reports. • During a Community Council in Bolivar department President Uribe accused critics of being furious with him because he attacks the guerrilla and said they are not capable of admitting that they defend the guerrilla. Uribe reiterated that leaders with links to paramilitary groups should be brought before the Supreme Court as should people who were political friends of the M19 and who are political friends of the FARC and the ELN, El Pais (Cali) reports. • It has emerged that paramilitary leader Rodrigo Tovar (alias Jorge 40) ordered leaders of the Bloque Norte of the AUC to register unused farms or land so they could be used as reparation or for economic projects benefiting ex-combatants. According to the Justice and Peace Law, reparation was intended, above all, to benefit victims as well as some demobilized soldiers. The Inspector General’s Office has warned that these economic projects could become a huge money laundering operation, Semana reports. Mon 20 – News correspondent detained; Conflict resolution expert criticises lack of truth • A reporter for news channel Telesur has been arrested in Bogotá on charges of terrorism and rebellion. Fredy Muñoz was taken into custody at the capital's airport after arriving on a flight from Caracas. The arrest warrant was issued by a prosecutor on 10 November for charges of terrorism and rebellion relating to a series of bombings along the Caribbean coast in 2002. "This type of accusation undoubtedly surprises us. We think this is an attack against freedom of the press, against the right to information," Andres Izarra, Telesur president, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We are analyzing our legal options for the defense of Fredy Munoz' rights", Associated Press reports. • Natalia Springer, a consultant for NATO and the UN, stated that the Colombian government is applying a very erroneous strategy with the AUC because, amongst other things, it is rendering ex-combatants invisible, and failing to guarantee the minimum requisites for a negotiation with any armed group - truth for the victims. The expert, with experience of the conflicts in Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland and Rwanda, stated that disarming isn’t a problem and demobilisation is easy, but the difficulty lies in dismantling the structure, which in this case has remained intact, El Colombiano reports. • An international mission of experts, including the former UN Rapporteur for the High Commissioner on Human Rights on Latin America Roberto Garreton, is carrying out a mission to verify the situation of human rights defenders. The mission has been left with a strong sense of the insecurity that faces defenders, citing killings of activists despite special protection measures awarded by the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights. Garreton also highlighted apparent contradictions between statements by the government, which on the one hand promotes protection programmes and on the other accuses human rights defenders of defending terrorists. A report of the mission will be published in January, according to El Colombiano. Tues 21 – Plea for Government to renew talks with FARC; International meeting of communities in resistance • The mother of the kidnapped Colombian ex-presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, has appealed again for the government to intervene in the case. Yolanda Pulecio said the only hope for her daughter - abducted four years ago - was if President Alvaro Uribe renewed talks with the FARC guerrillas. The president broke off contact with the FARC in October, after blaming the group for a bomb attack in the capital. BBC News reports. • More than 60 communities, organisations and networks representing diverse sectors of society met in the US to share experiences, analysis, and the results of their work, and to strengthen joint strategies in the face of privatization, environmental destruction and illegal land seizures. Over six years these communities have formed the Network of Alternatives to Impunity and Globalisation to support each other and build links between social movements and communities, Justicia y Paz reports. • An army major and colonel have been accused by the Attorney General of fraud and illegal transportation of explosives only months after El Tiempo revealed the participation of military intelligence officers in a July – August bombing campaign just before Uribe started his second term, El Tiempo reports. Weds 22 – Uribe government rocked by latest scandals; US and Colombia sign free trade agreement • The way in which Alvaro Uribe responds to the charges against former head of the DAS, Jorge Noguera, and the recent scandal about politicians links to paramilitaries will determine the future of his government and that of some of his closest allies, Revista Cambio reports. • The US and Colombia have signed a free trade agreement, although with the Democrats about to control Congress when the new session begins on 4 January, prospects for ratification look dim. In a letter to the US administration, several congressional Democrats said the deal does not protect workers’ rights, Washington Post reports. • A US federal judge declared a mistrial in the case of FARC leader “Simon Trinidad” who was accused of hostage taking, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. Jurors heard five weeks of testimony but were unable to reach a verdict, and lawyers for both sides agreed that the case should end in a mistrial. Prosecutors have said they will try the case again, the Washington Post reports. Thurs 23 – FARC sows terror in Cali; Amnesty fears for Afro-Colombian Human Rights Organisation • The Mayor of Cali believes the city is in a situation similar to that experienced by Medellin in the 1980s when Medellín Cartel boss Pablo Escobar’s men ruled the streets. According to reports some 29 groups of hired assassins (sicarios) have allied with the FARC to sow terror in the city and manage the network of “offices” belonging to drug traffickers, El Espectador reports. • Members of Afro-Colombian human rights organisation Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN) are in danger after PCN member Willington Cuero Solís received a telephone call on 2 November warning him to “take care of yourself and your loved ones” in an on-going paramilitary campaign of harassment against the organisation. PCN activist Washington Vladimir Angulo Cuero was reportedly abducted on 30 October and held for approximately five hours by a group of men who told him they were paramilitaries. After PCN raised the alarm with government and state authorities one of the men in the front of the van received a phone call, after which he reportedly told his companions “we cannot do anything to this guy, we can’t touch him … these are our orders”. They left Washington Angulo on the outskirts of the city,, Amnesty International reports. • Paramilitary leader, Diego Vecino, has threatened that when the paramilitaries appear in the courts, they are going to tell the whole truth. Rodrigo Tovar (alias “Jorge 40”) told journalists that “we must have these debates in public and discuss everything. We cannot continue to cover up the history of the country”. Salvatore Mancuso, said “when we decided to defend ourselves in the absence of the state, we found an open space, we found social, political and military support which strengthened us, that is why we, the self-defence groups, grew”, El Tiempo reports. • The Colombian Foreign Minister, Maria Consuelo Araujo, admitted taking her brother, Senator Alvaro Araujo, to meet with the Attorney General to discuss his case following accusations of links to paramilitary chiefs. This follows the detention of three congressmen and a former parliamentarian for links with the paramilitaries of the AUC. Senator Araujo last week admitted meeting with paramilitary chief Rodrigo Tovar alias “Jorge 40” on two occasions before the demobilisation began,, 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 7785 6595 www.abcolombia.org.uk

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