Colombia This Week

22/06/2007

Fri 15 – “Berna” cleared of killing of congressmen; Colombian Congress approves gay rights bill

• A judge from the city of Monteria has cleared paramilitary commander Don Berna for the killing of regional Congressmen Orlando Benitez. Benitez was killed along with his sister and his driver in April 2005 near the settlement of Santa Fe de Ralito, after reportedly disobeying Don Berna’s demand that he seek Berna’s permission to run a campaign as Mayor in the municipality of Valencia. Days after the killing, the Colombian authorities accused don Berna of ordering the killings after finding that his gunmen were behind the assassination. Don Berna was subsequently captured after a few days in hiding, El Tiempo reports.
• Colombia's Congress approved a bill granting same-sex couples rights similar to their straight counterparts, a move seen as the biggest advance for homosexuals in this Roman Catholic country. The measure supported by President Uribe but opposed by the church, grants gay couples living together for more than two years the same social security and estate inheritance guarantees as heterosexuals in common law marriages. "This makes Colombia a more democratic, more open place," said activist Virgilio Barco, son of a former president of the same name. "It marks the first time that legislation like this has passed at a national level in Latin America," he said, El Tiempo reports.

Sat 16 – Santos: cuts in US aid will increase problem; DNA affected by fumigation, study reveals.

• A proposed cut in US aid would hobble Colombia's anti-cocaine efforts and result in tonnes more of the drug reaching the United States, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos claimed. Democrats who control the US Congress proposed cutting $110 million per year in aid supporting the spraying of herbicides on crops used to make cocaine, a move that Santos said would result in "a lot" more of the drug reaching US streets. "Our preliminary calculations show that we would have to reduce by one-third our coca eradication efforts, which would mean a corresponding increase in cocaine production," Santos said. "My message to the US Congress is please don't weaken aid at this particular moment," Santos said, Reuters reports.
• US- funded aerial spraying of coca plantations in Colombia near the Ecuadorian border has severely damaged the DNA of local residents, according to a new study. Blood samples from 24 Ecuadorians living within three kilometres of the northern border had 600 to 800 percent more damage to their chromosomes than people living 80 km away, found scientists from the Pontifical Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador. The border residents who were tested had been exposed to the common herbicide glyphosate during a series of aerial sprayings by the Colombian authorities begun in 2000. The Ecuadorians suffered a variety of ailments immediately following the spraying, including intestinal pain and vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, dizziness, numbness, burning of eyes or skin, blurred vision, difficulty in breathing and rashes, says the study, which is to be published in the journal Genetics and Molecular Biology. The extensive damage to DNA found in the randomly selected individuals may activate the development of cancer or other developmental effects resulting in miscarriages, according to lead researcher César Paz y Miño, head of human molecular genetics at the Catholic University of Ecuador.

Sun 17 – Lawsuits against Chiquita Banana in Miami; father walks the country for hostage son.

• A Florida-based law firm has filed a lawsuit against the Chiquita Banana Company seeking compensation for the deaths of 22 people allegedly killed by a paramilitary group paid by Chiquita. The suit is the second of its type filed this month, The Miami Herald reports.
• Gustavo Moncayo, a Colombian father whose soldier son has been held hostage for nearly ten years by the FARC has begun hiking across the country in the hope he can break a deadlock over freeing kidnap victims."This is perhaps the worst drama one can live, but we are still fighting," he said. "At times I feel like I am going to collapse, but I keep going and keep my spirits up." The plight of Colombia's hostages was highlighted this month when President Alvaro Uribe freed a senior FARC guerrilla commander in the stated hope his release would prompt rebel leaders into a deal on exchanging jailed rebels for key hostages, Reuters reports.

Mon 18 –  UNHCR extends work to the Venezuelan border; Rodrigo Granda travels to Cuba.

• The UN refugee agency reported that the growing number of Colombian refugees arriving in Venezuela has forced it to step up its intervention along the border, extending activities on the Venezuelan side of the border with new projects in the Amazonas region to the south, and the Sur del Lago region further to the north.  UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters that the intervention will begin with the training of armed forces and civilian authorities in refugee law and human rights. The aim in both regions will at first be "conflict prevention, to reduce the risk of tension that large influxes of people can cause," he added. The humanitarian situation in Colombia is increasingly cause for concern; the rates of forced displacement registered last year in the region of Catatumbo to the north and Arauca further to the south were some of the highest in the whole of Colombia, Redmond said. These regions see also some of the worst indices of targeted killings, land mine accidents and armed fighting, the UNHCR reports.
• Rodrigo Granda, who had served as a diplomat for the FARC told Associated Press that he was going to Cuba for medical exams and rest after more than two years in jail. A peace facilitator for the Roman Catholic Church, Dario Echeverry, accompanied Granda. He told Caracol Radio that he hopes Granda "can construct a space for himself that will allow him to work for peace and reconciliation in Colombia," but did not say how or whether the rebel leader might contact insurgent representatives while on the island. President Uribe released Granda from prison on June 4 at the request of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who hoped the action would encourage the FARC to free former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen, Agence France Press reports.

Tues 19 – Uribe accused of being funded by drug lords and paramilitaries; Granda asks US for swap.

• President Uribe dismissed accusations made by a fugitive drug lord that he had received cash from paramilitaries and drug traffickers during his 2002 presidential campaign. Uribe brushed off the charges made by Fabio Ochoa, one of the world's top drug pins who Colombian police say is on the run in Mexico with a reward of $5 million offered by the US government for his capture. Ochoa told Semana magazine he believed Uribe received funding from paramilitary commanders and drug traffickers before his first presidential victory five years ago. The Colombian leader was re-elected last year. "My campaigns have been run spotlessly," Uribe said at a public event. National police commander Gen. Oscar Naranjo asked Mexican authorities to help hunt Ochoa down . But the scandal over paramilitary ties to Uribe's allies has some US Democrats questioning a new aid package for Colombia. Some want Uribe to do more to tackle paramilitaries and spend more on social programs instead of fumigation, Semana magazine reports

Weds 20 – Conservatives derail gay rights; Colombian displaced celebrate refugee day in Ecuador.

• A landmark gay rights bill was derailed at the last minute by a bloc of conservative senators. The bill, which had been endorsed by President Uribe, would have made Colombia the first nation in Latin America to grant gay couples in long-term relationships the same rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security as heterosexual couples, Slightly different versions of the bill had been approved by Colombia's Senate and House of Representatives and Tuesday's vote on the final, reconciled version was expected to be routine. But Sen. Manuel Virguez Piraquive, from a small party closely linked to an evangelical church, called for an unusual floor vote on the bill. Other conservative lawmakers then broke ranks with the pro-Uribe faction backing the bill and it was defeated, 34-29, in the 102-member Senate. Many of the bill's supporters were absent. The call for an individual vote was unusual, and some said unprecedented. Parties usually vote as blocs on the final, reconciled versions of bills in Colombia's legislature. Sen. Armando Benedetti, a sponsor of the bill, criticized Uribe for not defending the initiative more forcefully. "He said he supported the bill during his presidential campaign, but since then he's been silent," Benedetti said, Associated Press reports.
• Kicking off World Refugee Day celebrations, more than 25,000 people flocked to a cultural and trade fair in Ecuador’s capital Quito at the weekend where Ecuadorians and Colombian refugees sold handicrafts, food and other goods at some 220 stands that were open for business. The event was promoted by the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR).  Up to 250,000 Colombians are believed to have sought refuge in Ecuador, though only 45,000 have registered with the government or UNHCR as refuges, UNHCR reports.

Thurs 21- Colombian Congress tries to soften corruption law; Guatemalan drug pin detained in Bogota.

• President Uribe vowed to veto a bill passed by Congress that would allow lawmakers accused of corruption to be investigated by each other rather than by law enforcement officials. The measure was quietly approved in a rush of votes before the last legislative session ended on Wednesday. It says members of Congress accused of corruption will not be investigated by the inspector general's office, as mandated under current law, but by their fellow legislators. A presidential spokesman confirmed that Uribe will veto the measure.  More than a dozen lawmakers, most of them from parties loyal to Uribe, are in jail awaiting trial for supporting right-wing death squads funded by drugs traffickers. In response to the scandal, Democrats controlling the US Congress say they will reduce aid to Colombia. The move by Colombia's Congress to try to soften corruption investigations could further damage the country's standing overseas, said Jorge Rojas, head of Colombian human rights organisation CODHES. "They were trying to protect lawmakers who are linked to illegal groups, and that sends the wrong message," he said, Reuters reports.
• Colombian police arrested a suspected top Guatemalan drug trafficker who had fled a Mexican prison by bribing guards while he awaited extradition to the United States. Agents from Colombia's DAS security police arrested Otto Herrera in Bogota after refusing a $700,000 bribe he offered each of them to set him free, police said. "This shows Colombia is not, and will not, be a refuge for criminals," DAS Director Andres Peñate said in a statement. US officials had offered a $2 million reward for information leading to the capture of Herrera, who police said is accused of shipping between 5 and 7 tonnes of cocaine a month into Mexico and transporting drugs into United States, Associated Press reports.
• Former US President Bill Clinton announced a plan to fight poverty in the developing world in partnership with the mining industry, which is often aaccused of exploiting the poor and the environment. The Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative has initial commitments of $100 million each from two philanthropists -- Canadian financier Frank Giustra and Carlos Slim, a Mexican businessman.  The initiative will start in Colombia and hopes to expand to Peru, Mexico and other Latin American countries soon. It would then move on to other continents, Reuters reports.

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