| Colombia
Peace Presence Update, April 2006
In this Update:
State Department Responds to Congress on Peace Community
Last month, we reported on the letter from 59 congressional representatives to Secretary of State Rice, calling for a cut in military aid until the Colombian government fires commanders in the Army’s 17th Brigade and makes substantial progress in investigating and prosecuting massacre and other crimes against the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Many of you contacted your representative to urge him or her to sign the letter, which drew much media attention in Colombia.
Three weeks later, the State Department replied to the representatives, saying that the Colombian Defense Ministry had ordered a “special program of human rights and international humanitarian law training” for the 17th Brigade. Defense Ministry officials also met with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights representatives to “plan a joint strategy to manage the situation in San José de Apartadó,” said the letter signed by Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Bergner.
The letter left a number of questions unanswered. Who is carrying out the “special” training for the 17th Brigade? A key problem has been the military’s failure to distinguish between civilians and insurgents. How does the “special” training address that problem? What does the directive actually say? With no prosecution of perpetrators for more than 160 killings in San José de Apartadó, what is preventing the Colombian Attorney General’s office from advancing in investigations of these crimes? When will the United States hold the military accountable for them?
Maybe State officials are asking the same questions, since Secretary Rice has not yet certified Colombian compliance with human rights conditions for the release of a portion of military aid for Fiscal Year 2006. To ask these questions of the State Department yourself, contact Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere, Charles Shapiro by fax at 202-647-0791, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Jonathan Farrar by fax 202-647-5283.
Intelligence agency scandal rocks Uribe government
It’s as if FBI director Robert Mueller were publicly charged by other FBI officers with erasing the criminal investigative files of key members of Al Queda, of getting its sleeper cell members into flight school, and of delivering electoral fraud on behalf of terrorist groups.
Only a few weeks before the vote for his re-election on May 28, President Alvaro Uribe, Bush’s strongest ally in Latin America, faces a fierce scandal over links between his government and right-wing terrorist groups. The scandal involves collaboration between the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) – the Colombian equivalent to the FBI and Immigration Service -- and the paramilitary groups operating in the Colombian Caribbean region.
The revelations originated in an interview with a former DAS official, Rafael Garcia, published by the widely respected magazine Semana and Herald Tribune. According to Garcia, former DAS chief Jorge Noguera maintained close links with paramilitary capos operating the Caribbean region, including a commander known as Jorge 40. Noguera is accused of giving Jorge 40 a 10% commission of DAS contracts and lending him a bullet-proof SUV equipped with electronics that allowed him to pass through police and military checkpoints.
Most chilling is the accusation that DAS gave paramilitary groups a list of labor leaders and leftist intellectuals, several of whom were later assassinated by paramilitary squads. Shortly after the killings, families of the victims accused DAS of participation in the murders, calling them state crimes. Garcia himself has been in prison since last summer for erasing the records of criminal investigations into paramilitary terrorists and narco-traffickers.
Also prominent among the accusations is the charge that DAS facilitated a fraud in the 2002 elections that gave President Uribe 300,000 votes in the Caribbean region and secured the victory of Uribe supporters associated with paramilitaries into the Congress. DAS is also said to have been involved in a plot to assassinate several Venezuelan officials, in an attempt to destabilize the Chavez government. Noguera was Uribe’s campaign manager for the Caribbean province of Magdalena and was later appointed head of DAS.
Kill the Messenger
President Uribe reacted angrily to questions by the press regarding the scandal. With a “kill the messenger” approach, Uribe dodged the questions. Instead he irately stated in a radio interview: 'I'm not going to allow to stand accusations that the government assassinated labor leaders or was implicated in a conspiracy against Venezuela.” He added: "This topic is so delicate that the reports gave grounds for rendering the government illegitimate. (…) The harm isn't to Alvaro Uribe. The harm is to the legitimacy of Colombian democracy, to a country that for the first time is beginning to see a bonanza of investment."
After the initial revelations of DAS infiltration by paramilitaries last year, Uribe appointed
Noguera
consul in Milan, Italy, instead of initiating a criminal investigation.
U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Signed
Grassroots Mobilization Organized to Halt Deal in Congress
Despite strong opposition by civil society and an injunction by a Colombian court, the United States and Colombia finalized the negotiations of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement in February. Washington reached a similar deal with Peru a few weeks earlier.
The Colombian government admitted that the agreement will have both losers and winners. Among the losers are most Colombian farmers, who would be forced to compete with highly subsidized U.S. products; protection for labor rights, safety and the environment, which will be subject to deregulation; and lower- and middle-class health care users, who will be affected by higher medication prices.
Furthermore, the free trade treaty is likely to have a negative impact on the Colombian armed conflict. Significantly privileged under the agreement is Colombian palm oil -- the very same crop that is promoting violence and displacement among Afro-Colombian communities in the Chocó region.
The treaty still faces several hurdles before it enters into force, including congressional approval in both countries and, in Colombia, by the Constitutional Court. Grassroots groups in the United States are organizing efforts to urge Congress to deny approval to treaty.
For more information on such efforts, go to: www.witnessforpeace.org/campaigns or www.citizen.org/trade/afta/ or www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/afta
May 21 and 22: Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia
People of faith in the United States and Colombia are expressing solidarity with Colombian communities affected by the war through prayer and political action. The day of prayer will take place on Sunday, May 21, when hundreds of congregations across the country are expected to join in remembrance of the victims of the war and rejoice with Colombia’s many and diverse peacemakers.
On Monday, May 22, people will demand respect for the values of peace, justice and human rights, and that U.S. funds be directed to alleviate poverty in Colombia rather than fueling the war with military aid. In early June, the House of Representatives is expected to consider an amendment to re-direct military aid to Colombia to social programs.
To join the prayer and action and to get materials, including a list of participating churches, please visit www.peaceincolombia.org.
Building Peaceful Resistance to the "Other War":
A Human Rights Delegation to Colombia - August 6-20, 2006
As war rages on in Iraq, four decades of conflict between armed actors in Colombia has led to the killing, displacement, and kidnapping of indigenous people, women, union activists, youth, journalists, and human rights workers. Many peace communities in Colombia face violent pressure and displacement from the armed forces and paramilitary and guerilla groups.
Despite the Colombian government’s ties to the most frequent human rights abusers - paramilitaries - the United States continues to fund the Colombian military and fuel the war. Over $740 million, 80% of it military, is to be delivered in 2006.
The FOR delegation will meet with Indigenous, Afro-Colombian, youth and women's organizations, Colombian and U.S. government officials and travel to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Delegates will come to have a greater understanding of the peaceful resistance growing in Colombia, the "drug war", and U.S. military intervention. Our permanent and growing accompaniment work allows FOR to assemble a unique and rich delegation experience.
Thirteen hundred dollars covers all delegation expenses, including translation, qualified FOR delegation leaders, lodging, meals and transportation (including airport pickup). Airfare to and from Bogotá is NOT included. For more information or an application call 415.495.6334 or e-mail: amanda@igc.org Applications and a non-refundable deposit of $200 must be received by June 16.
Thanks and an Appeal:
Last month we appealed to readers for help with technology, and in response, Mike Domer in Missouri very generously donated two laptop computers for use by the FOR’s human rights observation teams. Thank you, Mike!
Another way you can directly help the work of human rights observation in Colombia is by donating airline miles. A donation of mileage (35,000 miles) will pay for the cost of transporting an FOR team member to Colombia, and can be tax-deductible for the full listed price of the ticket. All cash contributions are tax-deductible also. If you are interested in contributing airline miles, please contact the TFLAC office at 415-495-6334 or amanda@igc.org.
Seeking Colombia team applicants:
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is seeking qualified applicants for its field teams in Bogotá and San José de Apartadó, for openings in 2007. Team members must be committed to nonviolence and the goals of the FOR Colombia program, speak Spanish with fluency, and be prepared to serve for at least one year.
Team members in San José provide protective accompaniment to community members and document events of the armed conflict. Team members in Bogotá work with other nonviolent initiatives, support the team and community of San José, and organize delegations.
All applicants must complete a full application, have an interview, and participate in a six-day training in October, 2006, which will be in San Francisco. For information and application, go to www.forusa.org/programs/tflacvolunteers.html or call 415-495-6334.
Letter from the Field
“You’re waiting for heat to pierce your skin”
Arenas Altas is a settlement and ‘Humanitarian Zone’ of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, a district where FOR has a permanent accompaniment team. The team regularly accompanies community leaders as they visit Arenas Altas.
In November and January, the army killed two residents of Arenas. The following is an account by FOR team members Paul Kozak and Gilberto Villaseñor of events on March 29.
“When members of the community were caught in the middle of cross-fire in Arenas Altas on March 29 and emerged unharmed,” wrote Peace Community leaders of these events, “it was not thanks to the good will of the armed groups; rather it was thanks to the international presence.”
We departed with community leaders around 9 a.m. for Arenas Altas, where the leaders were to have a meeting with those from the settlement. When we arrived, half of the people who had shown up for the meeting had left. At first it wasn’t clear why, but then we learned that there was guerrilla and army movement in the area.
Apparently there were two known guerrilla milicianos – part-time combatants - who had passed through the field and had been confronted by community members and asked to leave. The community members told them that their presence put the community in danger and asked them to go back. The milicianos obliged and turned around, just before we arrived. Thus most of the people from Arenas became petrified and returned to their homes. The settlement has a kiosk – an open structure where civilians can go if there is combat – and we waited there for community members to gather to proceed with the meeting. We learned that only about 10 milicianos remain in the entire district.
Then we saw a continuous trickle of about 30 army soldiers walking through the soccer field on their way up to the ridge. They had a man and a younger male with a sack over his shoulder in custody -- Jesus Guisao and his son Victor, known by everyone as civilians, though they are not members of the Peace Community.
We were asked to accompany two Peace Community members to go and talk to the army. A woman who belongs to the Peace Community spoke to the soldiers as they passed through a gate, asking them if she could speak with the commander, trying to explain that the men they had detained were civilians and hard workers. One of the soldiers said in passing that they should talk to the National Police. All of the soldiers pretty much ignored her, saying “we’re in a hurry”, “the commander’s up ahead”, until finally one soldier stopped to speak with us.
He told us that they spotted Jesus running away from the military, so they decided to grab him and his son and take them into the police station in Apartadó for interrogation. The soldier, a young person, said not to worry, that the Army was there to help the civilian population, that they had been taught to do public works.
The woman from the Peace Community explained that Jesus was a civilian, that someone was trying to make some money off of him by saying he is a miliciano. Her hands trembled ever so slightly as she spoke. We were impressed by the woman’s courage in speaking out, knowing that she may have to deal with these soldiers in the future without the presence of internationals.
We returned to the kiosk to relay information to the others and make decisions about how to proceed. The plan was to inform the FOR team in Bogotá, the Ombudsman’s office, and the other two Peace Community settlements. (One of the three would have been great. In baseball terms, it would put us in the Hall of Fame.) Pablo accompanied two community members to the top of a cocoa grove beyond the settlement and returned to the settlement. At 1:15 p.m. Pablo and a community member walked to the ridge behind the school to call Bogotá.
As the phone was dialing, all of a sudden gunfire sounded from directly behind us. Two guerrillas were attacking the army. Pablo and the other community members froze. A few seconds later, responding gunfire by the army came from the other side, with us in the middle. You’re waiting for heat to pierce your skin. We calmly walked a short distance, hoping to avoid a stray bullet. Then the normally poised Pablo (who was as calm, cool, and collected as a quarterback in the pocket) lost his poise and hit the ground, scampering to a patio at a nearby house.
A community member approached him and said that the best idea would be to join the others. After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity as the shots continued, the two walked down toward the kiosk in open air in front of it all. They arrived luckily, with chills in their spines and found others huddling behind the bathrooms of the school.
Meanwhile Gilberto was in the kiosk when he heard and felt the shots being fired. At first he was confused: he had only seen the Army soldiers passing through and they could be seen on the ridge. From where he was standing, it wasn’t clear who was firing at whom, but almost everyone reacted quickly. The pulsating shots kept coming. Gilberto was in front of an elderly woman on the floor, and she stared at him as though she was lost for a minute; it seemed so long. He was trying to get her up and out of the way but she wouldn’t move. Finally another community member came and convinced her to get up, and he sheepishly followed her.
The exchange of gunfire continued for about 15 minutes. In the meantime it was decided that a white flag would be hung to acknowledge our innocence. Some industrious men put together the flag and we waited. When the firing ceased, soldiers could be seen coming down the hillside to the entrance of the settlement. We waited anxiously together, children clinging to parents, parents grasping onto children, all with anguished expressions.
Half an hour later, people finally dared to disperse to their homes, as it became apparent that the intense danger of the moment had dissipated. Some people tried to eat lunch. Pablo and a community leader trekked again up the filo to communicate with the outside world. An explosion was heard in the distance followed by gunfire. At 3:00 p.m., a fighter helicopter – apparently a U.S.-made Blackhawk - entered the air overhead, circling just outside of the settlement. People scurried to get a full glimpse as it started to fire down below. It was a surreal view. Most people only see a helicopter like that in action in a movie. Finally at 4:00 p.m., the helicopter left the area.
We decided, along with community leaders, that the team should split, with Gilberto going back with a community member to FOR’s home base, while Pablo would accompany other leaders back to the community displacement camp, “San Josecito”. One of the groups met up with a resident on the way and discovered an interesting turn of events. During a second combat, an army soldier was shot and killed near the path. There was a pool of blood, gauze, an IV, and a broken mirror. According to someone nearby, the soldier was carried to the house and they tried to revive him there. The troops were quite angry for having lost their compañero. Jesus escaped during the exchange of combat. Instead of continuing to San Josecito and risking an encounter with angry soldiers, the group decided to take the trail back home.
It was an unbelievable day, one that we are glad to have known, although we hope it is never repeated. When you think the world is going to end today, just think that it is already tomorrow in Australia. That is not the wisest thing ever said, but then again how war makes us all so very unwise.
If you have any further questions about the FOR Colombia program or if you need to update your email address or unsubscribe, please contact us. Thank you again for your ongoing support.
In Peace
Susana Pimiento Chamorro
Colombia Program Coordinator
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