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Colombia This (last) Week

Fri 05 –OCHA concerned about indigenous groups; 1.2m hectares stolen from displaced people

· The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed its concerns over the situation of indigenous people in Colombia. 12 out of the 91 indigenous groups that comprise just over 2% of the country’s population face extinction due to the armed conflict, in particular because of armed disputes over land. Jan Egeland, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, recognised the effort of the Colombian government in providing constitutional recognition to indigenous people, but said that much more is needed to protect them, OCHA reports.

· According to a survey by the Episcopal Conference and the University of the Andes, displaced people lost 1.2m hectares to armed groups, for a total value of almost 1,000b pesos (about £225m). The document also suggests that these lands have been passed though several hands, so that the original owners cannot be traced, and raises concerns over how the government will be able to hand them back to displaced people, Colprensa reports.

· According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Latin America and the Caribbean have registered a drop in the number of working children since 2002, from 17.4 to 5.7 millions. Colombia is mentioned in the report for having freed 2,838 children involved in the armed conflict since 1999, El Tiempo reports.

· The Trade Minister, Jorge Humberto Botero, acknowledged that the English version of the Free Trade Agreement with the US is substantially different from the Spanish one and that, if ratified, it would damage the Colombian agricultural sector, Caracol Radio reports.

· The Mayor of Medellin, Sergio Fajardo, visited the area Comuna 13 of the city, where demobilised paramilitaries have set up agricultural projects. Fajardo said that these projects show the success of the city’s reinsertion programme, El Colombiano reports.

Sat 06– 10 arrested for killing of Rivera councillors; explosives found in Bogota

· 10 alleged members of the FARC have been arrested in Huila department in relation to the killing of nine town councillors in Rivera on February 27. According to the authorities, the rebels were part of the Teofilo Forero column of the FARC, which operates in the southeast of the country, AFP reports.

· Two alleged members of the FARC were detained in Bogota on charges of possession of explosives which, according to the police, would have been used to carry out a terrorist attack on the capital’s bus system, RCN Radio reports.

· 89 electricity pylons have been attacked by armed groups in the first three months of the year. Repairing the damaged infrastructure has cost five billion pesos, Caracol Radio reports.

Sun 07 – FARC behind Gaviria’s killing ; Venezuela to withdraw from the Group of Three

· One of the killers of Liliana Gaviria, Norbey Garcia, was arrested after a week of investigations. Garcia and his four accomplices, who are still at large, are members of the Teofilo Forero column of the FARC, and are believed by authorities to have planned the kidnapping to destabilise the elections and show the failure of the Democratic Security policy, El Tiempo reports.

· The Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced that his country would withdraw from the Group of Three, an 11-year-old trade bloc with Mexico and Colombia. Chavez added that Venezuela needs to free itself of old mechanisms that undermine South American integration, Bloomberg reports.

· The Liberal Party candidate Horacio Serpa decided to send his son and daughters abroad, in the wake of the recent spate of political killings and kidnappings. The vice-president Francisco Santos said that, although he respects Serpa’s decision, the government would be able to offer his family the necessary protective measures, Caracol Radio reports.

· The police has accused the NGO Asowejar of obstructing the manual eradication in the Macarena National Park by sending peasants into the area. The director of the police, Jorge Daniel Castro, said that if this continues the park will need to be fumigated, EFE reports.

Mon 08 – New York City Bar criticises Uribe ; four people killed by landslide in Bogota

· The New York City Bar criticised President Uribe for the comments he made on the judge Ramiro Bejarano. Bejarano had asked Uribe for clarifications over the case of paramilitary infiltration in the DAS and was then criticised by the President. The New York City Bar said that Uribe’s behaviour was not in line with international standards that guarantee the independence of judges and lawyers, El Tiempo reports.

· Four people died in a landslide in Bogota and much of the capital remains under emergency warning due to elevated river levels. According to the state rescue agency, heavy rains and flooding since the beginning of the year have killed 102 people and damaged 7,100 houses, AFP reports.

· The announcement by Hugo Chavez that he would not attend the inauguration of Costa Rican president Oscar Arias produced disappointment among the Colombian government, which had hoped to discuss the two countries’ recent frictions. The Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister Carolina Barco said that Colombia would make every effort to schedule a bilateral meeting as soon as possible, El Universal reports.

· According to the 2006 World Bank annual report, Colombia’s per capita income is numbered 123 in a list of 203 countries, while its total income is numbered 43. Such a discrepancy suggests that resources are very unevenly distributed and explains why the report categorises Colombia as a middle income country, although half of its population is poor, El Tiempo reports.

Tues 09 – Human rights organisations receive threats ; Medellin demobilised carry arms

· The Colombian lawyers’ collective Jose Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR) reported having received an email containing threats and accusations of siding with the guerrilla. The same email has also been sent to the National Indigenous Organisation (ONIC), the Latin American Institute of Alternative Services (ILSA), the Trade Union Confederation (CUT) and the Colombian Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development, CAJAR reports.

· Alonso Salazar, government’s secretary of Antioquia department, reported that demobilised paramilitaries in Medellin are still carrying arms. When ordered by the Ministry of Defence to hand them over, the demobilised were taken by surprise and said that the restriction on carrying arms does not appear in any agreement signed with the government, El Tiempo reports.

· The Attorney General’s office opened an investigation into allegations of election fraud involving Jorge Noguera, ex director of the police intelligence service (DAS). Noguera, who was appointed consul in Milan after leaving the DAS, has handed in his resignation, VOA reports.

· The Security and Democracy Foundation produced a report on the levels of violence during electoral campaigns. According to the report, the current electoral campaign registered the lowest level of violence in 12 years, while the most violent campaign was in 1998, AP reports.

· The second member of the group responsible for the death of Liliana Gaviria, Augusto Rendon Benjumea, alias Julio Florez, was arrested, Colprensa reports.

Weds 10 – Reduction in social spending is unconstitutional; army orders internal investigation

· The Auditor’s office stated that a reduction in social spending took place between 2005 and 2006, from 46.3% to 43.7% of the total budget. The Auditor Antonio Hernandez also said that such a reduction is not in line with the constitution, which dictates that social spending needs to be increased every year, El Tiempo reports.

· The army’s Commander in Chief, General Mario Montoya, ordered an internal investigation on the 24 cases of dead people who were presented by the Fourth Brigade as guerrilla members killed in combat but who, according to their families, had been forcibly disappeared, Caracol Radio reports.

· According to a report by the NGO Save the Children-US, the child mortality rate in Colombia is the lowest among 78 developing countries. However, the report also stresses that the rate of 25 children out of 1000 who die before their fifth year is still very high compared to the industrialised world, El Tiempo reports.

· Chinese and US agents seized more than 300 pounds of cocaine smuggled from Colombia into China and arrested nine people, including two Colombian nationals. The operation confirmed that Colombian drug-trafficking organisations are expanding their distribution operations into Asia, AP reports.

· 12 paramilitaries were arrested in Bogota in relation to more than 50 “selective murders” in the south of the capital. The men were part of the Centaurs Block, a group which demobilised in April, RCN Radio reports.

Thurs 11 – Spanish expert says victims are priority; CCJ says Gomez was killed

· Mario Lopez Martinez, member of the Institute for Peace and Conflict of the University of Granada and world expert on truth commissions, said that the victims need to be the priority for the National Commission of Reparation. Lopez Martinez also said that Colombia is an exception among the 40 cases he studied, as the commission has been set up in the middle of the conflict, rather than after one. According to the expert, mistakes have been made in the demobilisation process, such as the payment of a stipend to the demobilised and the short term allowed for their reinsertion, El Tiempo reports.

· The Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) reported that the death of the historian Jaime Gomez was a political assassination, rather than an accident, as reported by several media. The pronouncement came after an independent forensic team produced the results of its investigation, the Colombian human rights organisation CODHES reports.

· President Uribe presented his programme for the next four years, which will focus on social issues. If he gets re-elected, his five main areas of work would be: reaching the target of basic education for all in 2010, strengthening the housing programmes, giving support to new enterprises, building major infrastructure and completing the Democratic Security policy, El Colombiano reports.

· Raul Reyes, spokesman for the FARC, invited the Colombian population to vote in the next presidential elections for any candidate other than President Uribe and assured that the guerrilla group will not obstruct the election process, AP reports.

· The Constitutional Court voted to partially legalise abortion. The court decided to permit terminations in cases of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother or foetus is in danger. It is estimated that about 400,000 clandestine abortions are carried out in Colombia each year, the BBC 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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By Lionheart on May 16, 2006, 09:59 in Politics & the war.