Hostages are alive, say Colombian rebels

juancegomez says on May 16, 2005, 18:43:

He also said that his Commander, Manuel Marulanda, is also still alive, despite being 75 years old now.

So yes, those that wanted to celebrate that fellow's death would apparently be out of luck, at least for the moment. Still, he can't live forever and it'll be nice to see what sort of Byzantine struggle for power develops once the guy bites it.

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platano says on May 16, 2005, 18:54:

The FARC utilizes lies when convenient for propaganda... and this comunique seems self-serving propaganda. Reyes said: "The prisoners in the power of Farc are extremely depressed to see that time passes and the president shows no interest in their lives or freedom."

Yeah, right. Kidnappers, liars and murderers. And on the run now that Uribe has the reins. FARC is losing the war now that the Colombian Army has USA support.

Plátano, el banano verde
Estudiante del Manual de Urbanidad y Buenas Maneras por Manuel Antonio Carreño
Oxigeno Verde ¡Libertad por Ingrid y los demás!

plátano

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Mr. Hollywood says on May 16, 2005, 19:33:

They believe their own bullshit WAY too much The problem with the FARC is that they actually believe their own bullshit. Any sane person reading this story thinks, "Okay then, fuckers, if your hostages are suffering so badly and you're such a caring group of people, why not just LET THEM GO?"

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utopiacowboy says on May 16, 2005, 21:34:

"Yeah, right. Kidnappers, liars and murderers. And on the run now that Uribe has the reins. FARC is losing the war now that the Colombian Army has USA support." WTF??????? You can't be serious, Platano.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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platano says on May 16, 2005, 23:00:

UTC..... me serious? Uribe and Bush got hold of the reins and they're roundin' up the terrorists. Ain't that the way they see it in West Texas, cowboy?

Remember, now, this is an entertainment site. I'm just givin' the folks what they want to hear.

:)

I try never to be serious, but always to be sincere. They are very different.

Plátano, el banano verde
Estudiante del Manual de Urbanidad y Buenas Maneras por Manuel Antonio Carreño
Oxigeno Verde ¡Libertad por Ingrid y los demás!

plátano

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Scalestick says on May 17, 2005, 08:44:

GIB I'm not here to crap on you as I believe everyone is entitlted to their opinion and I for one probably have very little right to be commenting on an issue I have not experienced first hand. But I am planning to visit Colombia and feel I should know as much as I can about it culturally as well as politically, not to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong but to be aware. So I have been doing a lot of reading and research, from both sides of the camp, to try and reach a balanced picture - or at least to the best one can obtain from publications.

I am also concerned about human injustices whereever they occur. I agree with your comment about ideals and the methods used to obtained them often clash with each other - I suppose clash is a mild word in this context.

With all due respect, read this article that doesn't put a very shining light on the PARAs either, from some people who have had first hand dealings with this. I'm treading lightly here, I repeat that I'm not trying to crap on anyone, I'm just trying to get an objective opinion.

I think everyone on this forum would like to see an end to all this human destruction. I don't know the answer, I'm only concerned.

Anyway, here it is:

Bush's Other Oil War
Commentary, Brad Miller,
Pacific News Service, Oct 26, 2004

Editor's Note: As the presidential candidates continue to wrangle over Iraq, another war rages closer to home, where America's thirst for petroleum empowers vicious paramilitaries in the Colombian countryside.

BARRANCABERMEJA, Colombia--Out of the swamps of Colombia's Magdalena Medio rises the "Cristo Petrolero," a metal statue depicting Christ the oil worker. His outstretched arms offer salvation to the city of Barrancabermeja, a gesture that appears to release a flock of black vultures circling above.

Since oil was first discovered along the Rio Magdalena in the early 1900s, companies such as Texaco, Occidental, British Petroleum and Harken Energy, where George W. Bush sat on the board of directors, have arrived to stake claims throughout Colombia. Their investments brought an initial economic surge. The largest refinery in the country was established here in the "Petroleum Capital" of Colombia, which is now one of the most militarized cities in the country. It is also one of the most violent, since oil exploration also brought pollution, conflict, paramilitary violence and most recently, Plan Colombia.

The billion-dollar aid package known as Plan Colombia, initiated by the Clinton administration under the guise of the "war on drugs," has always stressed military force and the destruction of illicit crops, virtually ignoring development and crop substitution to reduce the drug trade. But under the Bush administration, U.S. tax dollars are now being used directly for counterinsurgency purposes, with $98 million being allocated to train elite units to guard oil pipelines and infrastructure. Colombia is one of the top eight oil exporters to the United States.

On Oct. 9, Congress voted to raise the cap on the number of military advisors allowed in Colombia from 400 to 800, and the number of contract workers from 400 to 600.

According to Francisco Ramirez, president of the miner's union Sintraminercol, the strategy of the military and paramilitaries under Plan Colombia is to "enter the areas, get rid of the people and secure the region for multinational corporations." Ramirez says the petroleum and mining industries have direct connections to the paramilitaries, armed groups such as the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia that commit over 70 percent of the human rights abuses in the country, as documented by Amnesty International.

In addition, according to Human Rights Watch, the Bush administration continues to break the law as specified in the Leahy Amendment, which states that Colombian military units may not receive U.S. aid until they break ties with the paramilitaries. The "paras" work in collusion with the military, feeding off and gaining strength from U.S. military aid, paychecks from wealthy landlords and their own illicit drug operations.

"They (the multinational corporations) clearly pay the Autodefensas for security," confirms Jorge Gomez, who serves as the government's public defender for the Magdalena Medio Region, which comprises the districts where Harken Energy's subsidiary, Global Energy Development, operates.

Bush's connection with Harken started in 1986 with a six-figure consulting job, a seat on the board of directors and $2 million in stock options. Six years later, Global Energy Development was awarded five contracts in Colombia by the Director of Mines and Minerals Rodrigo Villamizar, who Bush met at a fraternity party in Austin, Texas, in 1972. In 2000, Bush recruited Villamizar, who had taken exile after an unrelated corruption scandal, to develop a strategy for Colombia. Villamizar recommended an expanded U.S. role to eliminate the leftist Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionario de Colombia and Ejercito Liberacion Nacional guerrillas, who were impeding the investment of multinational corporations.

In a crackdown on the 40-year-old insurgency that has seen the guerrillas involved in kidnapping, extortion and the drug trade, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe initiated several "Zones of Rehabilitation and Consolidation" in Autumn 2002, escalating military operations in the more economically important areas of the country. Uribe and the Colombian Congress also passed their own "anti-terror" legislation, granting the military judicial police powers as they conducted mass detentions of rural activists, indigenous leaders and trade union members.

In the town of Buturama, Global Energy Development has operated several wells since 1997. According to the ex-mayor, the area is controlled by paramilitaries, who arrived a year before the corporation.

Paramilitaries also rule the city of Aguachica, which is located in the center of Global's Bolivar concession, developed with the help of $55 million from the World Bank.

"They kill a lot of people here," says German Bueno. "Quietly." Bueno, who works for the Corporation Centro de Estudios para el Desarollo Alternativo, a community development organization, describes times when the killing was done openly, when paramilitaries massacred an entire cooperative and stuck their heads on fence posts.

Global's investment brought a temporary boom to Aguachica, as local workers were hired in the initial development and construction phases. But it was a "fictitious boom," says Vicente Sarmiento, a professor at the Escuela de Cuidania, because oil companies enjoy large tax breaks and don't transfer technology to local workers or invest heavily in the community. Global's money also brought inflation, prostitution and crime, and Plan Colombia's military operations and fumigation filled the outskirts of the city with squatters as campesinos displaced from their farms.

It is unclear exactly what a John Kerry administration would change in Colombia. Kerry has been a supporter of Plan Colombia, and as the United States looks to free itself from its dependency on Middle-Eastern oil, it will look elsewhere -- to Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia -- to satisfy its thirst for petroleum.

But the Bush-Cheney administration, with its close ties to oil companies, has little reason to stop the civil war that has killed over 4,000 non-combatants per year and displaced 3 million people.

PNS contributor Brad Miller recently returned from his fourth trip to Colombia's Magdalena Medio.
Comments
MARK RAINES on Nov 15, 2004 06:53:22, said:
Having been in Colombia myself now for years, and yes worked under the auspices of 'Plan Colombia" I must admit I never put this formula together as completely as you did in this column. Now I know the real reason why Bush/Cheney is so intent on letting this war continue under cloak and dagger. This war is part of Colombia’s culture and Society and it will never end. The Colombian military as with the USA has no intent to end this 40 plus year war. Without it where would those who really control the country that being the armed forces go for jobs/advancement to general? I have never seen such a clumsy attempt by a government military to defeat a guerrilla force whom they out number/ and now most certainly outgun with over 70 new helicopters ($500 million ) upgrades to their entire Air Force ($300 million )knows where they are, interviews their leaders, even socializes with them. We are only adding to the longevity to this war as neither side within Colombia wants to see an end to it.

Do not even let anyone compare these guerrilla’s to those we now face on the GWOT. This is all about oil…….and though I conclude that the USA does need to break its dependence on Middle East oil, why do we have to lie about our intentions in Colombia. This was a favor to Oil Companies, not to the Colombians, and for that part Americans.

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carter says on May 17, 2005, 09:57:

GIB Im no expert on the issue but a German friend living in Palamino had her land taken off her by the PARA's. They would definatly not be getting any hot coffee off me. they to rob from the people so there leaders can build wealth and setup a nice home in Miami.

She just wanted to set up a nice house on the beach and live a quiet life but instead got f$%ked over by those that also claim they are fighting for the people.

Why do you believe the PARAs are not following similar tactics and not interested in lining there pockets?

what propaganda are you reading?

how close are you getting to look in the eyes of these guys in the hunt?

On another note here are some photos one of my mates took while spending time with the FARC, military and PARAs in Colombia.

www.conflictpics.com

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juancegomez says on May 17, 2005, 16:44:

The article seems to be overrating a considerable number of things ("Colombia is totally full of oil! It's all about oil! Everybody is doing everything for oil! Plan Colombia/paramilitary/military/US soldiers are clearing the ground for Bush/Cheny companies and multinationals to move in and suck out all the oil, and nothing else! It's all about oil! The war will never end because of oil! etc."), forgets quite a few things (what about the MILLIONS that U.S. and EUROPEAN oil companies have paid to GUERRILLAS? What about all the other crap that the guerrillas do, for that matter? What about actually placing a lot of stuff in context?), and tries to get a couple of things right (that the paramilitaries are bloody DAMNED murderers and that a shameful, yet minoritary, number of individuals in the military and police cooperate with them, for example, and that there's definitely an interest in oil, but with several qualifiers and finer details involved, not conspiracy theories and extrapolation), IMHO.

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carter says on May 18, 2005, 09:00:

Very funny GIB Sorry to disapoint you but I aren't no gringo living in Miami. Im an Australian living in small town Colombia not Bogota like yourself. I have travelled Colombia over the two years Ive been here and spent most of my time in rural Colombia. I do not get my news from papers or from the Bogota gossip grapevine but from the people and I have met the PARAs

It sounds like you had a weekend away from the city which is nice to hear, you might start getting different sides of the story as you visit other towns. An experience in one town shouldn't set your views on the PARAs they are all fighting for different reasons and many for the same reasons as the FARC and the ELN. For revenge and a paycheck.

The woman who had her farm taken from her was here for over 5 years and after dealing with these people over along period I think she knew who she was dealing with. I´ll take her word over yours (sorry)

But as I said Im no expert Ive only been here for 2 years.

GIB don't become an expert to quick a year is a short period, you can have your views but maybe after 4-5 years we can both have a better understanding of whats really ahppening here.

My advice is travel more and talk to the people.


PS I apologise that I stated that I would not have a coffee with the Paras. After I have made sure they aren't going to rob me I would gladly have a cup of coffee or beer with them as I have in the past. Talking to the people involved is a good way to learn. And as I said above I understand why alot of the soldiers are fighting with the FARC or Paras and that is a paycheck or revenge. If that same Para's father and mother was killed by the military instead of the Farc he would just as quickly be on the otherside.

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platano says on May 18, 2005, 09:23:

Carter, Very well said! I'm a big fan of talking with the folks be they militares, narcos, paras, ordinary campesinos, or guerrillas.

Friends of mine (who were retired) and who are not rich, had their house taken by the paras in the countryside near Cali. Now they live in a small apartment in Bogota and have to continue working. They have sued the government for not providing protection and expect that perhaps a monetary settlement will be forthcoming for their grandchildren, but they never expect to see any compensation for their losses in the years they have left.

Plátano, el banano verde
Oxigeno Verde ¡Libertad por Ingrid y los demás!

plátano

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