Colombia This Week

02/03/2007

Fri 23 – Former Director of secret police arrested; 69 army soldiers charged over 2005 massacre.

·         Jorge Noguera, former head of the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) has been arrested and charged in connection with the murders of labour leaders and academics while collaborating with the paramilitaries, his lawyer said.  He is accused of handing over a hit list of human rights workers and trade union activists at the time he was in charge of domestic security. A number of the people on the list were later killed. The arrest of Noguera, who as a regional campaign chief also helped get President Uribe Velez elected in 2002, deepens the scandal that forced the resignation of Uribe’s foreign minister early this week and has badly shaken the president’s political camp, Associated Press reports.

·         The Office of the Attorney General is investigating 69 army soldiers for the killing on 21 February 2005 of eight members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, including Peace Community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra, two children aged 11 and 6, and an 18 month-old infant. The soldiers under investigation reportedly belong to the Alacrán Company of the Counter-Guerrilla Battalion No. 33 of the XVII Brigade of the Colombian army. The massacre occurred in the context of a large military operation in the area, SEMANA magazine reports.

·         A statement from the FARC, that is still holding former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt hostage said she was still held in Colombia and they were open to talks on her release. Betancourt was seized in February 2002. The FARC has repeatedly called for President Uribe to remove troops from two municipalities in southwest Colombia as a precondition for talks to exchange jailed rebels for 60 high-profile captives, El Tiempo reports.

Sat 24 – Attempted murder of journalist in Cali; four army soldiers killed in minefield.

·         The International Federation of Journalists strongly condemns the attempt killing of Edgar Buitrago Rico, director of the regional newspaper La Razon, in Cali. According to the reports two gunmen were stopped by the journalist’s bodyguard when they were trying to access his office. Three people where injured as a result of the shooting. Edgar Buitrago, who had previously denounced death threats against him, is a respected journalist well known for investigating corruption cases in this department.

·         Four soldiers have been killed and three more injured while they were patrolling in the rural area of the municipality of Ortega (Tolima). All belonged to the Caicedo Batallion, Colprensa reports.

·         Violence between the two armed left-wing groups ELN and FARC cost the life of a four year old girl. The confrontation - which took place in the Apure state in Venezuela, 10 minutes from the Colombian border - is believed to have been over control of the illegal smuggling of arms, petrol and narcotics. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Venezuela Director, Merlys Mosquera said that incidents like this one have unfortunately become a daily occurrence in the border region, Relief Web reports

Sun 25 – Uribe now ready for talks with the FARC; Colombian press reports on para-gate scandal.

·         In a statement released to the press President Uribe has expressed willingness to reopen "direct contact" with the FARC “without intermediaries”. He also authorized relatives of people abducted by the armed group to meet the rebels and work towards a prisoner exchange. The president also directed Lucy de Gechen, wife of a senator abducted five years ago, to work towards holding direct negotiations with the rebels on the hostages, the BBC reports.

·         As the so called para-gate scandal unfolds, an article in SEMANA reported how 60 federal and regional politicians, almost all of them supporters of President Uribe are already being questioned by the authorities, and it appears the investigation is edging closer to Uribe himself. Two senators belonging to the political grouping of the president's cousin are under investigation. Critics also want Uribe's brother probed for allegedly supporting the creation of paramilitary groups, a charge the president denies. Opposition senator Gustavo Petro has promised a congressional debate on the rise of the paramilitaries in the northern province of Antioquia during the time Uribe was governor there. Some in the opposition are demanding new elections, claiming paramilitary infiltration has irreparably damaged Congress’ credibility. Despite all this, Uribe himself remains popular, particularly for reducing criminal violence since he was first elected in 2002.  Homicides are down to a two-decade low. "The president should use his political capital to make sure that the parties loyal to him abandon those accused of working with the paramilitaries," said Claudia Lopez, a political scientist who has investigated the paramilitaries' influence on recent elections.

Mon 26 – Colombian government and ELN start fresh contacts; UNHCR presents data on IDPs.

·         An atmosphere of optimism prevailed during the first day of the fifth round of talks between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), officials report. Both sides were heading toward initiating a formal peace process, according to Morris Ackermann, one of the organizers of the talks being held in the Cuban capital Havana. Luis Carlos Restrepo, the government's high commissioner for peace, and Julio Londoño, Colombia's ambassador to Cuba, are heading the government delegation in the peace talks. Rebel leaders Pablo Beltran, Francisco Galan and Juan Carlos Cuellar are representing the 2,500-strong ELN in negotiations with the government. The two sides first began talks in December 2005, with the involvement of civil society groups to guarantee the rebels' safety and with the Cuban government providing facilities. The parties have not yet agreed on a ceasefire. The ELN insists on the government stopping operations against it before a ceasefire is reached. Both sides have intensified efforts to conclude a deal, Relief Web reports.

·         The UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) reports that in 2006, more than 170,000 people, particularly from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, were forced to flee from their homes in Colombia, bringing the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) to some three million. The Government is the main provider of humanitarian assistance for displaced people and in 2005 it approved a budget of US$2 billion to assist them. In spite of this, Colombia represents the greatest humanitarian crisis in the Americas and the situation has not substantially improved. The Colombian crisis has also affected regional stability. More than 500,000 Colombians of concern to UNHCR have fled to surrounding countries, particularly Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama and Costa Rica.

Tues 27 – Three soldiers dead in Antioquia; Colombia's coca fumigation riles Andean neighbours.

·         Army operations in the rural area of Campamento (Antioquia) left three soldiers killed and two more injured after they entered a minefield, a spokesperson for the Army’s IV Brigade, based in Medellín reports. This is the third incident in less than a week, leaving 12 soldiers dead, Caracol Radio reports.

·         After nearly a year without spraying in Putumayo, Colombia restarted fumigation there last December, when 29,650 acres of coca surfaced in the area. That has fueled tensions with Ecuador, which complained herbicides are damaging crops.  Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, threatened legal action and tightened border security. “More than any government, Correa tries to get Colombia to answer,” said Ivan Morales, a community leader in the Ecuador's Sucumbios province. On the frontier, Colombian municipalities say they need more alternatives to fumigation, as coca growers are replanting and keeping coca alive by pruning crops to protect them from spraying. They lose one harvest out of four or five, but “It doesn't finish off the coca,” San Miguel municipal agriculture chief Rodrigo Luna reports to Reuters.

·         In a public statement Amnesty International welcomed news that the Office of the Attorney General is investigating 69 army soldiers for the killing of eight members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. “In light of the fact that over 160 members of the Peace Community have been killed or "disappeared" with impunity in the last 10 years, the news that members of the army are being investigated for the 2005 killings could represent an important step forward in seeking redress for at least some of the victims”.

Weds 28 –US congressman McGovern visits Bogota; more remains of victims exhumed in San Onofre

·         US Democrats could trim some military funds from a Colombian aid package and seek more guarantees from President Uribe after some of his allies are tied to paramilitaries accused of rights abuses. The Bush administration wants Congress to approve US$ 3.9 billion more aid for Uribe to combat the drug trade and leftist rebels. "There is a new Congress in town and the people who oversee a lot of these issues regarding foreign aid care much more about human rights," Rep. Jim McGovern, who will meet with Uribe in Bogota this week, reports. "There will be attempts to try to condition the aid, and there will be attempts to try to reduce the amount of aid going to the security forces. Many of us would prefer our aid to go to strengthening civil institutions," Reuters reports.

·         Investigators have exhumed the remains of 14 victims of paramilitary violence buried in a municipal cemetery in San Onofre without proper funerals. Manuel Hernandez, chief of the federal criminal investigation unit for Sucre department said investigators believe 29 bodies were illegally buried in this fashion from 2001 to 2003. "The people were buried without any identifying marker or name. The cause of death was violent ... from gunfire," El Tiempo reports.

Thurs 01-Car bomb injures 8 in Neiva; army’s investigation ‘opportunistic’ says victims of massacres.

·         A car bomb exploded in the city of Neiva, injuring eight people in an apparent assassination attempt of the town's mayor by the FARC group. Mayor Cielo Gonzalez said she was giving a weekly interview to a local radio station when police removed a suspicious-looking vehicle parked outside. Minutes later, the car exploded a few blocks away while being towed, burning a bus and other passing vehicles and leaving two motorists lying on the ground, Associated Press reports.

·         Days ahead of a visit by US President George Bush to Bogota, Colombian authorities said they are investigating 69 soldiers accused in a massacre two years ago that induced Washington to suspend $70 million in military aid. While US lawmakers said the move was a sign that the case was making progress, friends and relatives of the victims said the government was only trying to free up the frozen aid for its long-running fight against the FARC.  "We don't have any faith in this investigation because it has been the Colombian State that has been attacking us and has shown no interest in stopping the attacks or investigating who is responsible," community leader Jesus Emilio Tuberquia said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

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