Colombia This Week

23/02/2007

Fri 16 – Five Congressmen arrested for paramilitary links; Supreme Court judge under threat.

·         Colombia's foreign minister rejected called for her resignation after her brother's arrest on charges of kidnapping a businessman and of working with paramilitary gangs, even as the Supreme Court implicated her father in the scandal. Senator Alvaro Araujo is one of five politicians arrested, bringing to eight the number of national politicians jailed for allegedly backing and benefiting at the ballot box from brutal intimidation by the militias. The other lawmakers arrested were Mauricio Pimiento, Dieb Maloof, Alfonso Campo Escobar and Luis Eduardo Vives. An arrest warrant was issued for a sixth, Jorge Luis Caballero. All of the arrested men are from the political camp of President Alvaro Velez. Much of the evidence against the newly arrested politicians comes from a laptop computer confiscated from the right-hand man of Rodrigo Tovar, a paramilitary warlord known as Jorge 40, and from Rafael Garcia, the jailed former information chief of the secret police, Washington Post reports.

·         A Supreme Court official told RCN radio that Judge Yesid Ramirez, in charge of investigating the links between the politicians of President Uribe’s group and the paramilitaries has received death threats since the court began probing the links, RCN reports.

·         A week after the Colombian government dismissed the allegations made by paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso, Carlos Mario Jimenez, alias Macaco, confirmed the denunciations regarding the re-arming of these armed groups, stressing that they cannot understand why the government does not acknowledge the problem. He also said these groups were already active in the Caribbean coast, the Uraba region, the Eastern Plains and the southern border region with Ecuador, El Nuevo Siglo reports.

Sat 17 – NGOs ask US Congress to shift military aid toward social spending for 2008 budget.

·         US aid to Colombia for next year is set to pour in at the same levels as in previous years. But with a Democratic majority in the US Congress, the focus of that aid may shift more toward social spending and away from military assistance. In the 2008 budget request, the Bush administration asked for $586 million for Colombia, a slight decrease from $587 million in 2006. The bulk of aid is earmarked for the Colombian armed forces, with 76 percent allocated to counterinsurgency and anti-narcotics operations and the remainder destined for social programs. "It's disappointing and surprising," said Adam Isacson, of the Centre for International Policy (CIP). "We were hoping that there would be more aid for social programs and less spent on the military," World Politics Watch reports.

Sun 18 – Economy should serve people, say bishops; scandal raises scepticism in Capitol Hill.

·         In a statement issued last week, Colombia's 93 bishops deplored the condition of all state institutions and called on the country's leaders to overcome divisions between Colombians. They also called on employers to consider the poverty that has contributed to the polarisation of Colombian society and fuelled the country's decades-long internal conflict.

·         With a widening scandal linking the president's close supporters to paramilitary groups, policymakers on Capitol Hill say scepticism of Uribe's government is mounting, leading to closer scrutiny of a proposed aid package and free-trade agreement with the Andean nation. "The effects of what we call 'para-gate' among Colombia followers in Congress, are that more and more folks are starting to get a bit sceptical regarding support. Because there's a question of how far-reaching the relationship between the paramilitaries and the government officials is’, a senior aide to a Republican senator said on condition of anonymity. "The confidence that we have in Uribe has been what's carried this for so long. That confidence has been brought into question", The New York Times reports.

Mon 19 – Minister finally quits as brother arrested; Governor of Cesar also investigated for paramilitary links.

·         Colombia's Foreign minister María Consuelo Araújo resigns, four days after her senator brother was jailed as part of a widening scandal that revealed collusion between rightwing militia groups and high profile politicians. Prosecutors were also asked to investigate Ms Araújo's father, a former provincial governor, regional lawmaker and agriculture minister, in the kidnapping of a potential political rival. She is the first cabinet-level victim of the so-called para-politics scandal that has seen the arrest of eight lawmakers allied to President Alvaro Uribe, the Guardian reports.

·         US Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees aid to Colombia, said in a statement that the resignation and recent arrests in Colombia were “positive” but left questions unanswered. He said assurances were needed that Colombia’s government had “severed links to these terrorist groups”. It has emerged in the Colombian press that the former foreign minister's cousin, Hernando Molina, governor of the state of Cesar, is also under investigation by authorities for allegedly collaborating with paramilitary groups to carry out killings and finance his campaign, the New York Times reports.

Tues 20 – Former hostage is named Foreign Minister; UNHCR seeks $14m for Colombian displaced.

·         Colombia's President Uribe Velez has named Fernando Araujo as foreign minister, weeks after he escaped from six years' captivity in the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Mr Araujo, 51, served as a Development Minister in a previous Colombian administration. He will replace Maria Consuelo Araujo -no relation- who resigned early this week, the BBC reports.

·         The UN refugee agency appealed for more than US$14 million to fund its work on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the armed conflict in Colombia. "In Colombia, human rights violations -including extra-judicial killings and disappearances- are common. Illegal armed groups recruit children, often forcibly, in many areas of the country," said UNHCR Director for the Americas Philippe Lavanchy. "More than one million children do not go to school, while 77 percent of previously enrolled children are unable to continue their studies, mostly for financial reasons. It is likely that the displaced population will continue to increase in 2007, with indigenous people and Afro-Colombian groups under the biggest threat," Reuters reports.

·         The Colombian government and the ELN (National Liberation Army) group started the fifth round of exploratory peace negotiations in La Habana. The contacts, led by Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo are due to continue amid mutual accusations between the parties, El Espectador reports.

Weds 21-US court convicts Sonia on drug charges; Senator Petro turns the heat on President Uribe.

·         Nayibe Rojas, a Colombian rebel leader from the FARC group has been convicted in a US. court on charges of conspiring to produce and import cocaine into the United States. Nayibe, also known as Sonia and one of the business brains behind the armed group, was extradited to the US in 2005 by the government of President Alvaro Uribe. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for May 7. She faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison or a term determined by the judge, Reuters reports.

·         Senator Gustavo Petro accused president Uribe of letting a poisonous alliance prosper between the political class and right-wing militias that are responsible for brutal massacres and the theft of millions of acres of land from poor peasants. Petro is turning up the heat on Uribe, calling for a debate in Congress next month on his claims that the president's brother, Santiago Uribe, helped form paramilitary groups in the 1990s and was personally involved in murders. The president was governor of Antioquia state at the time, and Petro suggests he may have helped cover up for his brother: "nobody is asking, was the case shelved at Uribe's behest? he said. Incensed at those allegations — for which Petro has offered no evidence — Uribe appeared on the radio to denounce Petro and other politicians who emerged from the M-19 guerrilla movement as "terrorists in business suits" Associated Press reports.

·         The family members of politician Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages held by Colombian rebels will lobby a US-based rights panel in March for a prisoner swap between Bogota and the rebels, a panel official said. The families will press the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for support against Bogota's apparent determination to use force to rescue hostages. Instead, they want to follow through with a proposed swap of 500 imprisoned members of the powerful FARC for 57 hostages, among them politicians and members of the Colombian police and military, AFPress reports.

Thurs 22 – Uribe: Ingrid could be in a foreign country; OAS mission confirms new paramilitary     groups; Clowns killed on stage.

·         In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, President Uribe suggested that former presidential candidate and hostage of the FARC, Ingrid Betancourt could have been moved into another neighbouring country. He also rejected any possibility of a humanitarian exchange of prisoners with the FARC group, accusing them for laying and making false promises to the relatives of those kidnapped. Uribe asked for specific intelligence from the French government regarding her whereabouts and that of the other hostages.

·         The latest report produced by the MAPP-OEA (Organisation of American States Mission to Support the Peace Process) in Colombia reports it has confirmed the presence of 22 new illegal paramilitary groups active in 10 different departments across the country. The report also confirms that despite the efforts of the Colombian government many of those groups reported in previous reports are still in place and many are in expansion, El Tiempo reports.

·         Two circus clowns have been shot dead during a performance in the city of Cucuta, (Norte de Santander). The gunmen jumped into the arena and fired before fleeing. The audience of about 20 people, mostly children, thought the shooting was part of the show before realising both men had been killed. One clown was shot in the head as he performed on stage, about an hour into the Circo del Sol's evening show. The second, named as 18-year-old Franklin Leal, from Cucuta, was then shot as he stood by the ticket booth. The travelling circus had set up in a suburb of Cucuta about 10 days earlier, El Colombiano reports.

·         A land mine killed five Colombian soldiers after a patrol chasing leftist rebels stumbled in to a mine field, authorities said. A statement from the army said that the soldiers were conducting operations against the FARC, in the rural zone of Buga, (Valle del Cauca). Two more soldiers were injured, Caracol Radio reports.

Top