Colombia This Week
01/12/2006
Fri 24 – Paramilitary chiefs call for allies to speak out; Draft law to declare 2007 year of the displaced
· 19 demobilised paramilitary chiefs have called on all their “sponsors, collaborators and direct beneficiaries, business leaders, workers, local and regional leaders, and members of the armed forces” to tell the truth. If names are uncovered in investigations after paramilitary confessions, the paramilitaries could lose their benefits under the Justice and Peace Law. By implicating the elite, paramilitaries may be hoping for a negotiated solution which could protect them from extradition. El Tiempo reports.
· The UNHCR has welcomed a draft law that, if adopted, would declare 2007 the Year for the Rights of Displaced People in Colombia ten years after Colombia adopted pioneering legislation to protect the rights of internally displaced persons. The new law calls for attention to be paid to gaps in delivery, aims to create greater accountability, and stresses the importance of restitution and reparations for long-term solutions. The proposed law would mark the start of a year-long campaign to raise awareness of the rights of displaced people. UNHCR reports.
· A man who had denounced pressure exerted by paramilitary groups to transfer his land to them has been attacked by gunmen only days before the Human Rights Commission of the Senate is due to visit Sucre department for a public meeting to hear witnesses. Hundreds of people in Sucre have reportedly been forced to sign documents transferring their land to paramilitaries, according to the National Victims’ Movement.
· Faced with levels of urban violence often comparable to war zones, South American security chiefs are looking to Colombia as an unlikely saviour. Rio de Janeiro's newly elected governor, Sergio Cabral, recently announced plans to use Colombian security techniques in an attempt to pull the Brazilian city out of a cycle of violence that claims about 6,000 lives each year. Colombian crime initiatives - which have brought a reduction in urban violence almost unthinkable a decade ago -are also being used as a model by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in El Salvador and Ecuador's capital, Quito. The Guardian reports.
Sat 25 – Inspector General waiting for the truth; Gunmen attack wife of union leader
· Inspector General, Edgardo Maya Villazon, has said that the initial phase of legal investigations into legislators linked to paramilitary groups is very important, but the real process is going to begin when the paramilitary leaders start to confess only then will the country hear the truth. El Espectador reports.
· Gunmen opened fire at close range on the armoured car of Rodolfo Vecino Mony a leader of the oil workers’union, USO. Vecino, who was not in the car, and his family had already been awarded special protection measures by the Inter American Court of Human Rights. Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad reports.
· Controversial former Attorney General, Luis Camilo Osorio, has been accused of ignoring a witness in 2001 whose testimony is now the key witness for current investigations into the links between legislators and paramilitary groups. The former Attorney General is also accused of refusing to investigate high ranking officials, firing his best investigators and alienating international human rights bodies. El Espectador reports.
Sun 26 – National Peace Prize awarded to mothers group; Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation explains Justice and Peace law to victims
· The Mothers of La Candelaria group that has campaigned for the return of their kidnapped or disappeared relatives, with weekly gatherings outside La Candelaria church in Medellin for over seven years, has been awarded Colombia’s national peace prize. Medellin’s Municipal Office for Peace and Reconciliation also received a special mention for their work with demobilised paramilitaries. El Colombiano reports.
· The National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation and the Attorney General’s office organized an event to answer queries about the Justice and Peace Law. The meeting, in Antioquia department, was attended by 120 people, including victims and municipal workers, who discussed the idea of establishing a support network for victims in the region which would help them take advantage of the law. El Colombiano reports.
Mon 27 – 200,000 peso price on policemen; Armed groups still using child soldiers in Colombia
· Cali has faced a string of attacks against police agents and police stations which Governor Angelino Garzon says indicates a strategic alliance between drug traffickers, paramilitaries and guerrillas to protect drug trafficking routes to the Pacific coast. FARC guerrillas have retreated to the port of Buenaventura where new paramilitary groups are also emerging. These groups are reportedly paying hired killers (sicarios), that formerly worked for the Northern Valle cartel, 200,000 pesos (£50) per policeman killed. Cambio reports.
· Armed groups, including guerrilla groups and paramilitaries, that refuse repeated UN demands to stop using child soldiers should be subject to sanctions according to Human Rights Watch. Since 2002, these “persistent violators” have been identified in four reports from UN Secretary-General for violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The UN Security Council, which is to debate the 2006 report on Tuesday, has repeatedly called on parties to the armed conflict to end all recruitment and use of child soldiers, and has demanded that they engage in dialogue with the UN and develop concrete action plans to end their use of child soldiers. Human Rights Watch reports.
· Two paramilitaries belonging to the Cacique Pipinta Bloc of the AUC, were killed in combat with the army in the rural area of Samana, Caldas department. According to the army, ten paramilitaries, belonging to the group that did not demobilise and which specialises in extortion, were also captured. El Colombiano reports.
Tues 28 – Government unveils new statistics on numbers of displaced; Serious obstacles to free trade agreement
· The National Department for Statistics (DANE) has reported that the population affected by forced displacement in Colombia is less than previously thought, at 756,000. These figures contrast with those used by non governmental organisations and the Church. The Inspector General said that the figures cover the period after the Agency for Social Action was established in 2001, and therefore excludes the displacemenmts following the massacres of 1995-2000. El Colombiano reports.
· President Bush's top trade negotiator said the president still hopes to achieve bipartisan support for an aggressive trade liberalization agenda in the next Congress even with Democrats in control. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab called gaining congressional approval for agreements already completed with Peru and Colombia a high priority. The Democratic takeover of the House and Senate has raised speculation that the administration's trade agenda will face serious obstacles in the new Congress. Associated Press reports.
· The presidents of Chile and Colombia signed a Free Trade Agreement yesterday in Santiago, Chile, that was negotiated in just two months and is considered the most ambitious of those signed by two Latin American countries. President Uribe praised Chile for being and example of pragmatism which has not allowed ideological debates to hinder progress. El Colombiano reports.
Weds 29 – Amnesty says paramilitary infiltration of State undermines rule of law; Attempt against leaders of Victims Movement; Court orders proceedings following government failure to meet obligations to displaced
· Amnesty International has declared that paramilitary infiltration of the State undermines the rule of law with the current scandal exposing legislators links to paramilitary groups being the latest of many similar revelations in recent months which confirm long-standing assertions by Amnesty International (AI), the UN, and Colombian human rights groups, and systematically denied by successive Colombian governments, over the links between paramilitaries and officials in the security forces, the intelligence services, the legislature, local government, the civil service, and the legal system, Amnesty International reports.
· The day before the National Victims Movement and Colombian Senate held a meeting in Sucre department to hear testimonies on paramilitary collusion with regional authorities, armed men stopped the car assigned to the Cepeda Foundation and held the driver at gunpoint. The gunmen checked to see if anyone else was in the car, normally used by Ivan Cepeda and Claudia Giron, before fleeing. Ivan Cepeda, son of murdered UP Senator Manuel Cepeda, has played a key role in denouncing paramilitary influence in politics and the demobilisation process. Justicia y Paz reports.
· Colombia’s Constitutional Court has instructed a judge to open proceedings against seven former officials of the government agency responsible for displacement. This ruling is based on a report by the Inspector General’s Office that highlighted failings of the Presidential Agency for Social Action, the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, and INCODER, the agrarian reform agency, for the failure to comply with a three year old ruling that set out obligations and objectives for the government to tackle the issue of forced displacement. El Tiempo reports.
· Opposition lawmakers demanded the resignation of Colombia's foreign minister a day after the Supreme Court announced her brother was being investigated as part of a snowballing scandal linking the country's political elite with paramilitary groups. Maria Consuelo Araujo, who was called to testify before the Senate, struggled to defend herself against opposition accusations that the scandal was prevented her from adequately representing the country abroad. Associated Press reports.
Thurs 30 – Political establishment shaken by continued revelations; Indigenous stand-off with police
· Colombia's political establishment has been shaken by near-daily allegations of how President Álvaro Uribe's allies worked with rightwing militias who for more than a decade used terror in pursuit of their own ends. The Supreme Court has ordered six pro-Uribe lawmakers, including the foreign minister's brother, to answer questions about alleged links with the paramilitaries who are blamed for the murder and torture of thousands of Colombians. Two senators, an acting representative and a former congresswoman from the northern coastal province of Sucre, have been arrested, while one former governor remains at large. Senator Álvaro García, the doyen of Sucre politics, is facing charges of murder for allegedly planning the killing of 14 villagers in 2000 and ordering the murder of an election agency official. The former head of Colombia's intelligence agency during Mr Uribe's first term is also being investigated for collusion. Collusion between the paramilitaries and the military and police forces is well documented, but the extent to which paramilitaries colluded with politicians and local officials was an open secret. The Guardian reports.
· 300 Paez indigenous have occupied the Emperatriz farm in Cauca department, and are involved in a stand off with security forces. The indigenous are repeating their call for the government to meet its commitment to buy plots of land. Security forces claim that the protesters have been infiltrated by an armed group, while the protesters claim that they are unarmed and the police are shooting at them. Seven policemen and six protestors have been hurt. 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.
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