Coolombia This Week

16/03/2007

Fri 9 –EU reports on aid programme to the justice system; AUC’ commander jailed for 6 years.

• Adrianus Koetsenruijtez, Ambassador of the European Union mission in Colombia reports advance in the implementation of the EU-funded €13.5m programme to modernise the Colombian Justice system. The report says that more funding is needed from the Colombian government for the Ombudsman’s Office in order to guarantee and provide access to the justice system for people with low incomes, as the program depends almost entirely on the funding of international cooperation, Caracol Radio reports. 
• A Colombian judge has sentenced Pablo Herman Sierra Garcia, a close associate of the paramilitary boss Ivan Roberto Duque (a. Ernesto Baez) to six years in prison, prompting the protest of the victims that testified in the process. He is the commander of the Cacique Pipinta front of the Central Bolivar Bloc (BCB), a group of paramilitaries that terrorised Caldas and Risaralda departments between 1998 and 2005. He has been accused of the murders of more that 50 people, including mayors, councillors, politicians and indigenous leaders during this period, El Tiempo reports.
• New economic data released by Colombia’s central bank reports that the county have missed its 2006 fiscal-deficit target by a wide margin. Despite record GDP growth of an estimated 7 percent, public spending exceeded income by 0.9 percent, more than double the government's revised target. "With the economy going so strong, and still the central government is posting such a huge deficit, you have to wonder what will happen when growth cools," said Fernando Losada, director of emerging markets research at ABN-Amro in New York, Associated Press reports.

Sat 10 – Death threats against trade unionists in Antioquia; FARC frees two policeman hostages.

• Members of the Trade Union Confederation (CUT) in Antioquia denounce fresh threats against the workers of ‘Bochica Exports’ based in La Ceja, a municipality in eastern Antioquia. According to the reports the new emerging right-wing paramilitary groups re-branded under the name of the "Black Eagles" e-mailed, posted and painted graffiti-styled threats against the trade unionists threatening to kill them and their families if they don’t abandon their union activities, El Mundo reports.
• The FARC released Edwin Perez and Carlos Jefferson Muñoz, the two police officers taken hostage nine days earlier near the town of Toribio, (Cauca), the mission of the International Committee for the Red Cross in Colombia reports.
• A navy sergeant was caught stealing a painting from Colombia's presidential palace in an embarrassing security lapse. The sergeant, a member of the palace security detail, cut "El Condor" by Alejandro Obregon from its frame in a cabinet meeting room and carried out the painting under a raincoat before confessing to the robbery. "It is worrying that someone can go in, cut out a painting and casually leave. It shows some vulnerability", palace secretary Bernardo Moreno told local RCN radio.

Sun 11 – Pomp and protests greet Bush during a six-hour visit to Bogota.  

• US President George Bush was in Bogota, for a six-hour visit as part of his five-nation Latin American tour. Nearby, at least 25 people were arrested as riot police using tear gas clashed with demonstrators protesting against the visit.  Mr Bush praised Mr Uribe's efforts to tackle the country's trade in illegal drugs. The visit is overshadowed by a scandal about alleged links between Mr Uribe's allies and right-wing paramilitaries.  President Uribe denied any ties between members of his government and the death squads at a joint news conference with Mr Bush: "If members of the government appear to have links with the paramilitaries, they will be immediately removed from office," he said. Since 2000, Colombia has received billions of dollars of US funds and military hardware.  But Mr Bush said that he would press for support of further funding for the country's efforts.  "It is going to be very important for our United States Congress to see that determination and I believe that given a fair chance President Uribe can make the case," he said, Reuters reports.

Mon 12 – UNHCR reports increase in number of displaced; paramilitaries re-emerge in Colombia.

• Visiting Ecuador, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Gutierrez reported that the number of uprooted Colombians has increased in the last year, totalling more than 3.5million people inside and outside the country. He also said that Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama and Costa Rica have a total of 500,000 Colombians refugees, Reuters reports.
• Increased activities among armed right wing groups have been reported in recent months in Colombia. This coincides with reports of their links to top politicians. The Black Eagles claim to be an offshoot of the United Self-defence forces of Colombia (AUC),  which were supposed to have demobilized after a controversial "peace process" with the government began in 2003.  The chief of Colombia's paramilitary reintegration program, Frank Pearl, said last month that the government had "lost track" of 4,731 demobilised fighters. Former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso stated last month that groups such as Black Eagles were rearming, and now number up to 5,000. Nowhere is the apparent rise of a "new generation" of paramilitaries on display more than in Barrancabermeja. The city has been rocked by 17 execution-style shootings so far this year, as well as three grenade attacks, one of which killed a young secretary at a real estate agency. "The AUC in this region numbered around 5,000. Now, after demobilization, there are six or seven commando-style groups of 50 or less, such as the Black Eagles," says Father Eliecer Soto, the director of the human rights program of the Catholic diocese of Barrancabermeja. “They had to disarm a strong part of their military structure so they could reintegrate their chiefs into civilian life," he says "but there are thousands of paramilitaries active around Colombia, and the massacres are continuing." He estimates that 40 to 50 percent of paramilitaries are still active. But he warns that the problem they represent to critics of "para-political" corruption is the same as before demobilization. Now, he says, it's more terrifying because it's clandestine. So, he says, "the effects on the people are the same", Christian Science Monitor reports.

Tues 13 – Paramilitary scandal widens, governor captured; 18 people kidnapped in Choco.

• The scandal tying political supporters of President Uribe with paramilitary leaders widened as prosecutors filed electoral fraud charges against Trino Luna, the governor of the Magdalena department. Luna was the only candidate in the 2003 Magdalena gubernatorial election and prosecutors suspect him of colluding with paramilitaries to intimidate any would-be opponents. Luna is the first Colombian governor to face arrest in the scandal, which is the fallout of probes by the Supreme Court and the Attorney General's office into paramilitary influence and infiltration.  The prosecutor's office also disclosed that Mayor Jose Francisco Zuñiga of Santa Marta, was under investigation in connection with Luna's case. An arrest order for Luna is pending but will not be executed until Uribe appoints a replacement, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said, the Los Angeles Times reports.
• The Colombian army confirmed the disappearance of four contractors hired by oil company Ecopetrol. The four went missing on Monday near the border with Venezuela, said Gen. Jose Gonzalez, commander of the army’s 18th Brigade. “At this point we don’t have any information on whether they are kidnapped or missing,” he said, AP reports.

Weds 14 – UNHCR boss Gutierrez meets Uribe in Bogota; FARC kidnap 9 geologists in Choco.

• Meeting with President Uribe while visiting Colombia, UN High Commissioner for refugees Antonio Gutierrez pledged support for government efforts on behalf of the nation's displaced people. He stressed the importance of applying the law in a concrete way and carrying it out equally for everyone. During the past two years, the Colombian government has considerably increased resources available to help displaced people. However, practical delivery of the law remains patchy in some areas and not all internally displaced people have equal access to their rights. He pointed out that a commitment to truth and to humanitarian principles is essential to meeting this challenge, UN news reports.
• Members of the 34^th front of the FARC group kidnapped nine geologists as they explored for gold in the Choco department. The geologists are employees of Compañia de Servicios Logisticos de Colombia, said Col. Carlos Pinto the commander of the army’s 15th brigade. “We are carrying out operations to find and rescue them.” Colombia’s air force issued a statement saying nine other people were kidnapped in the same raid, but this was denied by Pinto. The rebels left a note at the scene of the abduction saying they would contact the company with ransom demands, Pinto said. The company declined to comment, Associated Press reports
• Members of the Attorney General’s Office have discovered a new mass grave in the rural area of the municipality of La Victoria (Caldas), recovering the remains of ten people and expecting to find the remains of four more. The area has a strong presence of paramilitaries and authorities are calling the relatives of those disappeared to help in their identification, Caracol radio reports.

Thurs 15 – UN: Colombian army killed civilians; Chiquita admits paying Colombian paramilitaries.

• In her annual report on Colombia the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights says that the Colombian security forces killed civilians in several departments last year and falsely labelled many as leftist rebels slain in combat. The report also states that leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitary groups and, to a lesser extent, government forces were all behind frequent human rights abuses, including torture, executions and disappearances. The UN found that the Colombian army had participated in killing civilians in 21 of Colombia’s 32 departments adding that the numbers of civilian killed in those areas showed an increase over 2005. In many cases, the victims were falsely presented as leftist rebels killed in combat, crime scene evidence was tampered with and the investigation was led by the military's questioned criminal justice system. The report added that such killings with "characteristics of extrajudicial executions do not appear to be isolated incidents" and may have been prompted partly by the government's use of the number of combat deaths as an indicator to measure success against leftist insurgents. Despite its criticism, the tone of the report was softer than in previous years. It was the first under Juan Pablo Corlazzoli, a Uruguayan sociologist who took over as director of the UN high commissioner's office in Colombia last year amid a dispute about the agency's future, Associated press reports.
• US banana company Chiquita Brands International has said it will plead guilty to a count of doing business with a paramilitary group in Colombia. The firm has agreed to pay a court settlement of US $25m (£13m) to resolve an inquiry by the US justice department. Prosecutors said Chiquita paid about US$1.7m between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) in return for "protection". Chiquita says it was only motivated by the desire to safeguard its employees. Prosecutors say Chiquita also made payments to the FARC, Colombia's main left-wing rebel group, BBC reports.

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