Colombia next(last) Week

Dear All,

As I will be in training all week, I won’t be able to prepare Colombia next Week for next Monday.

You will receive the next news summary on Monday 20th March 2006.

Regards,

Laura Fano Morrissey

Fri 24 – Arrest warrants suspended for ELN leaders; senatorial candidate killed in plane crash

· The government agreed to suspend capture orders for Antonio Garcia and Ramiro Vargas, leaders of the ELN, in an effort to build trust in the peace talks hosted by Cuba. ELN spokesman Francisco Galan, a captured rebel commander temporarily released from prison to take part in the negotiations, will remain out of jail. The armed group’s leaders had demanded recognition as head of a political force, not terrorists. The two sides stated they are now optimistic; however, an agenda for future negotiation has yet to be agreed upon and a cease-fire sought by the government has not been dealt with, Reuters reports.

· Pedro Juan Moreno, a senatorial candidate and former adviser to President Uribe, died alongside three other people in a helicopter crash in Mutata, in the north-west of the country. The reasons behind the accident are still unclear, AP reports.

· The Galvis family, which owns and runs the newspaper Vanguardia Liberal in Bucaramanga, has been spied on by members of the police intelligence service (DAS) for several months. The newspaper had published various articles on local officials’ allegations of corruption, El Colombiano reports.

· Asoinca, the teachers’ union of Cauca department, denounced the killing of the teacher Guillermo Zemanate Bermeo, whose body was found in Popayan (Cauca department), the Colombian organisation Solidarity Committee for Political Prisoners reports.

· Four army officials have been detained in relation to the abuse of 21 young soldiers by senior officials. Nine more soldiers have been found in the Tolima training centre bearing marks of torture, Colprensa reports.

Sat 25 – Nine people killed in FARC attack; armed confrontations in Nariño

· Nine people died and 11 were injured in Puerto Rico (Caqueta department), after the FARC attacked a passenger bus that had lost track of the military convoy it was travelling with. The departments of Putumayo and Caqueta have been experiencing an armed strike, called by the FARC, since 16 February 2006 which is affecting more than one million people; a total of 24 vehicles have been burnt since it started. The FARC said it would continue the action until the congressional elections on 12 March and recently expanded it to the northern departments of Norte de Santander and Arauca, AP reports.

· Armed confrontations between the FARC and a new paramilitary group, New Generation of Self-defence Forces, were reported in Andes Sotomayor (Nariño department). As a result of the battle, 40 families have been displaced. According to the authorities, the FARC were also organising a terrorist attack against the Transandean gas pipeline and various towns in the department, El Tiempo reports.

Sun 26 – IACHR condemns government for Uraba massacre ; Jorge 40 to demobilise

· The Interamerican Court of Human Rights sentenced the Colombian state to the payment of 12,500m pesos (about $5.7m) for a massacre ordered by the Castaño brothers in 1990. 43 people were forcibly disappeared in Puerto Bello (Antioquia department) in retaliation for a livestock theft by the guerrilla group EPL. In its sixth sentence against the Colombian state for violations of human rights, the Court, recognised the responsibility of the state in not taking adequate measures to stop the massacre; however, it did not find any evidence of the army’s direct involvement in the event, El Tiempo reports.

· Before his approaching demobilisation, the paramilitary commander Jorge 40 visited the territories under his control in Cesar department. He was accompanied by government and OAS officials, by whom he demands a commitment to protect the communities in the area, El Tiempo reports.

· Fabian Marulanda, secretary of the Episcopal Conference, said the Catholic Church supports the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US. However, he added, it is necessary that the government adopts measures that minimise the adverse effects of the treaty on the poor, Caracol Radio reports.

Mon 27 – 8 councillors killed in Huila ; Free Trade Agreement signed

· Eight town councillors were killed by a group of FARC rebels disguised as policemen in Rivera (Huila department), AP reports. Meanwhile, President Uribe asked the international community and NGOs to publicly condemn recent FARC attacks, Caracol Radio reports. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia (OHCHR) strongly condemned the massacre of bus passengers in Caqueta as a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law, which prohibits attacks against the civilian population, and asked the Colombian government to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, OHCHR reports.

· Authorities confirmed that the Free Trade Agreement with the US was finally signed after two years of negotiations. According to Robert Portman, US trade representative, the deal is designed to advance free trade, promote economic development and combat cocaine trafficking. However, poultry farmers fear it will open the Colombian market to a flood of US chicken leg imports, the BBC reports.

· The second round of exploratory talks between the government and the ELN ended with no agreement other than to meet again in April. The two parties hope to define an agenda for formal peace negotiations by then, Reuters reports.

· The Panamerican Health Organisation stated that rural areas in Colombia are struggling with the presence of less and less medical personnel. The reasons behind this scarcity are lack of economic incentives, isolation, violence and insecurity, Caracol Radio reports.

· Out of 820 candidates for the congressional elections, only 162 are women, female candidates complained. Seven parties had signed a pact in December stating that they would offer women a “significant�? representation, without however specifying a quota for female candidates, El Tiempo reports.

Tues 28 – Paramilitaries infiltrating politics; increase in drugs and guns markets

· Unlike drug baron Pablo Escobar who ran in the 1982 elections, drug cartels and paramilitaries are now infiltrating politics through the use of bribes, threats and violence to force voters to elect their favourite candidates. According to research by Gustavo Duncan from the University of the Andes, the regionalisation of drug cartels was achieved with the support of local government officials, local elites and the armed forces, El Tiempo and the Houston Chronicle report.

· According to the International Relations and Security Network (ISN), the market for small arms overlaps with the cocaine market. Purchases for arms are no longer made with cash but with cocaine, while the military response to the conflict as a result of Plan Colombia has increased the markets for both guns and drugs, ISN reports.

· According to the Agriculture Minister Felipe Arias, Colombia will spend 500b pesos ($222m) a year for subsidies, low-cost loans and other programs to help farmers hurt by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Juan Camilo Chaparro, analyst at the independent think-tank Fedesarrollo, remarked that important sectors such as education will be damaged by this substantial diversion of resources, Bloomberg reports.

· Amnesty International strongly condemned the recent spate of killings of civilians by the FARC. The human rights organisation urged the government and guerrilla forces to sign a humanitarian agreement to protect the civilian population from the conflict, and the FARC to commit to respect international humanitarian law, Amnesty International reports.

Weds 01 – OAS Mission critical of demobilisation; IMF and World Bank pleased with FTA

· The Organisation of American States (OAS) Mission in Colombia published its sixth report on the process of paramilitary demobilisation. Sergio Caramagna, who leads the Mission, stated that several demobilised blocks are reassembling and forging new criminal networks; in particular, 4,000 members of the Cordoba block have gone back to their territories, wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying arms. Although the report described the overall demobilisation process as positive, it urged the government to speed up the reinsertion programme, El Tiempo reports.

· Both the IMF and the World Bank expressed their satisfaction with the signing of the FTA. Robert Remnhack, head of the IMF mission to Colombia, also said the country’s economic growth in 2005 was excellent. Guillermo Perry, head of the World Bank’s Latin American section, said the increase in trade, which will result from the agreement, would contribute to reduce poverty; however, he admitted that, in the short term, inequality could increase, unless internal measures are implemented, El Colombiano reports.

· Colombian police found 13kg of uranium in Bogota. Brig. Gen. Gustavo Matamoros said it is not clear yet whether the material is weapons-grade, or whether it was destined for the FARC. A man and a woman were arrested in the raid, although they were soon released, as possession of uranium is not specifically forbidden by any Colombian law, Reuters reports.

· President Uribe launched his re-election bid with the movement Primero Colombia, promising to finally defeat the FARC in the countryside. Soon afterwards, he met with the Conservative Party to discuss their 8-points manifesto which includes measures to reduce poverty, unemployment, displacement and agrarian reform, El Colombiano reports.

· The International Narcotics Control Board released its annual report, according to which, although coca cultivation has decreased in Colombia, drug trafficking in amphetamines and ecstasy is expanding, El Tiempo reports.

Thurs 02 – Armed strike extends to Antioquia; ELN declares election truce

· The armed strike imposed by the FARC extended to Antioquia department, where five vehicles were burnt and nine municipalities are in the dark after an electricity pylon was destroyed, El Colombiano reports. The guerrilla group also detonated a bomb in the Macarena National Park, which left three farm workers seriously injured, the BBC reports.

· The ELN declared a truce for the congressional elections, which will be held on 12 March. According to Antonio Garcia, spokesman for the armed group, the truce would start a few hours before the elections and end a few hours afterwards, the BBC reports.

· 504 paramilitaries from the Putumayo Southern Front surrendered 293 weapons at a ceremony in Puerto Asis (Putumayo department). The block’s commander, alias Ernesto Baez, declared on the same day that Carlos Palacio, governor of Putumayo, had requested support from the paramilitary group for his electoral campaign in 2003, EFE reports.

· According to a poll by YanHaas released by RCN, 19.79% of respondents would vote for the Radical Change party, while 19.38% would support the Liberal Party. The left-wing party Polo Democratico would only obtain 8% of the votes, Angus Reid reports.

· Yesid Nieto, spokesman for the seven powerful clans that control 80% of emerald exports from Colombia, lies in a coma, after being shot in Bogota. Analysts said that the attack could spark a renewal of the war between the clans that claimed more than 20,000 lives before a truce was reached in the early 1990s, EFE reports.

Colombia This Week is a news summary produced and distributed by ABColombia Group. Sources include daily Colombian, US, European and Latin American newspapers, and reports from non-governmental organisations and the UN System. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the ABColombia Group.

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Laura Fano Morrissey

Information Worker, ABColombia

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By Lionheart on Mar 6, 2006, 08:01 in Politics & the war.