Colombia This Week
03/05/2007
Fri 27- EU politicians condemn Uribe’s tactics towards opposition; Kidnapped send message.
· In a letter sent to President Uribe, members of the European parliament express ‘their shock and indignation that members of opposition parties, in particular of the Polo Democratico Alternativo, are victims of accusations, intimidation, espionage and repression whilst they try to carry out their party activities’. The letter also highlights that ‘just a few days ago, Senator Gustavo Petro denounced,, on the basis of sound evidence, the creation and growth of the so-called ‘security cooperatives’ in Antioquia Department, and the fact that many of these cooperatives were and still are involved in drugs trafficking. On Tuesday 24th April, a state attorney tried to carry out an illegal raid on Senator Gustavo Petro’s office, in the Congress building, while days earlier the Senator’s brothers and mother received death threats; the letter finally appealed directly to president Uribe ‘in [his] position as President, that the presidency encourages the right for all Colombians to carry out political activity and have differing opinions in a democratic environment’.
· In a video released by the FARC, twelve kidnapped lawmakers pleaded with President Uribe to re-start stalled talks with their rebel captors. The legislators are among about 60 politicians, soldiers and police — including three American defence contractors held by the FARC. "We've waited five painful years for the government and the FARC to show their political and historical backbone and reach an agreement to set us free," former state legislator Edinson Perez said in the video, in the first proof in seven months that the hostages were alive. The hostages were shown repeating calls for Uribe to concede to rebel demands for a 310-square-mile safe haven near Cali, to conduct talks aimed at negotiating the exchange of the hostages for hundreds of jailed rebels. After the video's release, Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos reiterated the government's refusal to grant the request, saying that "the government has explained over and over such a proposal was unacceptable”, Associated Press reports.
Sat 28 – IACHR funding by the Colombian government causes discomfort to victims’ relatives.
· The relatives of the Colombian kidnapped seeking a humanitarian exchange of prisoners believe that the ‘surprising donation’ of US$500,000 made by the Colombian government to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) has the objective of neutralising a call from this organism urging the Colombian government for an exchange of prisoners between the government and the armed groups. Yolanda Pulecio, mother of Ingrid Betancourt, said to the press that after the recent visit she and other relatives made to the Commission in Washington last month they were expecting a statement, but after the donation the statement had been postponed. She also highlighted the ‘generosity of the donation’ considering that the total budget for the commission is between US$1.5 and 2m a year. The IACHR is one of the international organisms investigating the most important cases of human rights violations in Colombia, Caracol radio reports.
Sun 29 – Attorney General in the US seeking funds and extradition orders for Chiquita bosses.
· Colombian Attorney General Mario Iguaran is meeting with US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and US Senator Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. With both, he is sure to talk about Chiquita Brands and the US Based coal company Drummond. Ex-paramilitary fighters seeking to benefit from reduced sentences under a government amnesty have led authorities to clandestine graves in vast areas they once controlled. With thousands of victims still to be disintered, Iguaran is now going after the businesses that he alleges helped pay the bills. Fruit giant Chiquita agreed in March to pay US$25 million to settle with the US Department of Justice after acknowledging that its Colombian subsidiary, Banadex, secretly funneled US$1.7 million to the death squads operating in zones where it had banana plantations. In 2001, a Banadex ship was used to unload 3,000 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition for the paramilitaries. At the time, the paramilitaries were consolidating control of the Uraba banana region through massacres and assassinations. "This was a criminal relationship," Iguaran said. "Money and arms and, in exchange, the bloody pacification of Uraba”, Associated press reports.
· An arms trafficking network has been discovered by the Colombian Secret police (DAS) in which members of the Colombian Army’s Rapid Response Force (FUDRA) were dealing with the FARC group in providing arms and munitions, including M-60 machine guns. As a result of the investigation, one sergeant of this elite group is in prison while another officer has reportedly joined a paramilitary group. According to the report there are 35 members of the Colombian army jailed in La Picota prison accused of arms trafficking with the Colombian illegal armed groups, El Tiempo reports.
Mon 30 – Record cocaine shipment discovered as Uribe travels to the United States.
· Colombia's navy made the largest drug seizure in the nation's history when it uncovered up to 27 tons of cocaine buried along the Pacific coast, the defence minister reports. The cocaine, with a wholesale value of more than US$500 million, was found buried in 1,000 packages of 55 pounds each near the coastal town of Pizarro, (Nariño). Later, Navy Admiral Guillermo Barrera told The AP by telephone that 919 packages of cocaine had been found. The different numbers could not be immediately explained. The figures put the cocaine seizure between 24 and 27 tons. Santos said the seizure was the result of eight months of undercover police work and he called it the "biggest in the history of Colombia. The seizure came as President Alvaro Uribe travels to Washington on Tuesday to shore up support on Capitol Hill and the White House for the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia, an anti-narcotics and counterinsurgency program that has cost American taxpayers more than $5 billion since 2000, Associated Press reports.
Tues 01 – R. Isaza alleges ‘Alzheimers’; Attorney General: Colombian Army killed trade unionists.
· In an episode that has deeply upset relatives of the victims, the veteran paramilitary commander Ramon Isaza, one of the founders of the Self-Defence forces of Colombia in the Magdalena Medio region, reported to the Attorney General’s office as part of the so called ‘justice and peace process’ that he could not remember most of the episodes in which he ordered the killings of the hundreds of victims of the paramilitary groups because he is suffering from ‘Alzheimer’s syndrome’. Hundreds of people were demonstrating outside the Attorney General’s headquarters in Bogota, trying to gain access to the building and demand explanations for the fate of their killed or disappeared relatives, Semana reports.
· On International Workers Day, Colombian Trade unions marched to the centre of the city in the biggest demonstration for years. Colombian Attorney general Mario Iguaran reported from Washington that some of the killings of the Colombian trade unionists were committed by members of the Colombian army, either by action or omission, El Espectador reports.
· After Al Gore's snub to President Uribe last week, Colombian business federations bought ads in the nation's largest newspaper with open letters of support for Uribe. Colombian business leaders argue that a trade agreement is needed to open new markets for Colombian goods. But critics say it could increase American agribusiness exports like soybeans, effectively restricting access to the important Colombian market for relatively poor neighbouring countries like Bolivia, Reuters reports.
Wed 02 -Five years on, Bojaya’s victims still displaced; paramilitary leader charged over killings.
· Survivors of one of the single deadliest attacks in Colombia's armed conflict are still coming to terms with the bloodshed that devastated Bojaya five years ago. In what has come to be known as the massacre of Bojaya, a mortar round fired by the FARC crashed through the roof of the town church on the 2nd May 2002 and killed 119 people who were sheltering there to escape fighting between guerrillas and paramilitaries. Five years on, concerns remain about the lack of security along the Bojaya River and this is hampering reconstruction efforts. While the country's armed forces are present in Bojaya itself, irregular armed groups still control some rural areas. Since 2002, there have been eight separate mass displacements from the area. Today, dozens of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities along the river are still at high risk of displacement. "Safety is an essential condition for successful return," says Julio Roberto Meier, UNHCR representative in Colombia. "As long as the conflict continues, the cycle of displacement and return followed by fresh violence and fleeing goes on." He added that the decision to return must be un-coerced, calling for continuing support to 1,000 people from Bojaya who, five years after their displacement, live in precarious conditions in Quibdo, Alertnet reports.
· Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, better known as ``Jorge 40,'' a feared paramilitary boss, has been charged with ordering the murders of two union leaders at a coal mine owned by US mining company Drummond, which is being sued in a US court for alleged complicity in the killings. Jorge 40 is accused of ordering hit men to kill the two men, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. Tovar is imprisoned as part of a peace deal with the government under which some 31,000 paramilitary fighters have disarmed. In exchange for confessing to crimes, including mass murder and drug trafficking, the paramilitary bosses are to receive prison sentences of no more than eight years. More than 800 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in the last six years, including 58 in 2006, according to government figures, Associated Press reports.
Thurs 03 – Paramilitary scandal clouds trade deal; three soldiers death leaves FARC operations.
· Uribe met US Congresswoman and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington, aiming to win the support of the US Democrats for the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. After the meeting, Ms. Pelosi‘s office issued a statement expressing concern about the paramilitary scandal without making a direct reference to the fate of the free trade agreement. "Many of us expressed our growing concerns about the serious allegations of connections between illegal paramilitary forces and a number of high-ranking Colombian officials," Pelosi said. "It is essential that the Colombian government investigate and prosecute such officials, including those at high levels", the New York Times reports.
· An Army official has been killed while piloting a helicopter in western Caldas. According to the reports, Lieutenant Colonel Juan Ricardo Muñoz was hit by bullets while leading an army rescue operation to liberate Diego Mejia Isaza, a kidnapped businessmen held hostage by the FARC. In a separate incident, two soldiers died in an ambush by the FARC. The soldiers were patrolling when they came under attack in the rural area of San Antonio, (Tolima), El Tiempo reports.
· Labour and human rights groups in the United States have been publicly objecting to the free trade agreement with Colombia during president Uribe’s visit to Washington this week. The AFL-CIO labour federation reports that more than 400 unionists have been murdered since Uribe took office in 2002, with only seven convictions. Of the 236 murdered between 2004 and 2006, there has been only one conviction, the AFL-CIO said. US democrat Congressmen Reid and other lawmakers want an end to impunity for the murderers of trade unionists and strong steps to prevent further killings. While in Washington, Uribe has defended his government's efforts to rein in paramilitary groups and reduce murders of union members but said Colombia was willing to do even more to persuade the Democratic-led U.S. Congress to pass the trade agreement, Reuters reports.
· Bogota’s Health Secretary Hector Zambrano reported that 146 women have died in the last year while undergoing clandestine abortions in the city, warning the authorities of how extended this practice continues in the capital. He also added that in the entire country the figure nears 1000 victims. Months after the Colombian Constitutional Court de-penalised abortions in three specific circumstances, only 10 cases have been reported, six of them involving sexual violence against minors between 11 and 14 years old, Caracol radio reports.
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