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U.S. certifies Colombia on rights |
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Tags: Articles
After a long delay, the State Department decided to certify Colombia on human rights, allowing the country to obtain about $70 million in aid. The move drew complaints from rights activists.
BY PABLO BACHELET
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WASHINGTON - The State Department has issued a long-delayed human-rights certification for Colombia, freeing about $70 million in aid despite complaints that its government is soft on security forces accused of abuses, human-rights activists said Tuesday.
The department was expected to issue a formal statement today, one day before President Bush is to meet with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe -- a top U.S. ally in the war on drugs -- at his Texas ranch.
As a condition of U.S. aid, the State Department must certify every six months that Colombia's government is investigating and prosecuting security force members alleged to have committed human-rights abuses. The last certification was due at the end of last year but was not issued until now because of U.S. concerns about recent charges of abuses.
Plan Colombia, a massive U.S.-funded antidrug program launched in 2000, has helped Colombia's police and armed forces get training and equipment to fight drug traffickers, guerrillas and paramilitaries.
But for the first time since the plan's money began flowing, the State Department late last year delayed the rights certification because of concerns that Uribe's government had not moved strongly enough in some cases of alleged abuses.
Uribe was elected in 2002 on a promise to return security to a country almost torn apart by leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries. Security forces have long been accused of cooperating with the paramilitaries, which regularly execute suspected guerrilla sympathizers.
Eric Olson, Americas director for Amnesty International, said U.S. officials did not cite specific instances of progress at a briefing Tuesday on recertification, noting only a Bogot? ``strong commitment to do more.''
''This decision is a major blow to the promotion of human rights in Colombia and is based on only the narrowest reading of the law and the thinnest of evidence,'' said Dr. William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA.
Lisa Haugaard, executive director for the Latin America Working Group, a Washington-based advocacy group usually critical of U.S. policies, said the U.S. government was sending a ''very weak message'' to Colombia.
She said the certification delay had led to progress on a few high-profile cases monitored by the U.S. embassy, but that other cases were ``moving with agonizing slowness.''
Last month, Colombia charged three soldiers and an informant in the 2003 deaths of three labor union leaders in the province of Arauca.
Prosecutors also have ordered the arrest of six soldiers in the killing of a family last year in a rebel stronghold. |
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Q&A: Colombia 'peace communities' say enough is enough |
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LONDON (AlertNet) - After four decades of conflict that has forced up to 3 million Colombians from their homes, some villagers have decided to take a stand and try to break the cycle of violence and displacement. So-called peace communities have sprung up across the country, declaring themselves neutral and banning arms from their borders.
In rural areas caught up in the crossfire between leftist rebels, drug traffickers and far-right paramilitary militias, it?s a courageous strategy ? and one that has drawn some deadly attacks.
One of the earliest and most famous of these groups is the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado. It was set up by a village of a thousand people in the mountainous region near the Panama border. The community is made up of peasant farmers growing corn, cocoa beans and bananas. The region is an area of strategic importance and strong guerrilla and paramilitary presence.
Andrea Ingham, an analyst with the British-based NGO Peace Brigade International Colombia project, has visited the community regularly to monitor the human rights situation there. She spoke to AlertNet about life in the shadow of violence.
ALERTNET: Why was the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado set up?
ANDREA INGHAM: Almost 3 million Colombians have been forced to flee fighting in their rural communities, and many of them are now living in awful conditions in the cities. The leaders of San Jose did not want this to happen to their community so they decided to take a strong stand against the fighting.
In 1997 after several villagers had been killed by different armed actors, they declared themselves to be neutral and publicly stated that they would not collaborate with any armed actor ? legal or illegal.
They put up a placard at the entrance to the village, clearly stating their position. If anyone entered the village armed, they would be asked to leave.
What difficulties has the community encountered?
There are constant attacks on the community. Their leaders are harassed and threatened, and since they adopted their neutral stance, over 100 people have been killed. The community says that paramilitaries carried out most of the attacks, but a few were killed by guerrillas.
One of the worst incidents took place in February 2005 when two of their leaders and their families were tortured and killed, including children aged two and six. One of the leaders killed was Luis Eduardo Guerra, who had represented the community across Europe, North America, and in meetings in the vice-president?s office, which oversees human rights.
The Colombian press covered this incident for almost two months.
What happened then? Was there any reaction to the media coverage?
President Alvaro Uribe visited the region and decided to set up a police station in the village. This concerned the community even more because they thought it would make them a target for the guerrillas.
So what did the community do?
They built a wooden town 15 minutes away from San Jose and moved there. The original village is now a ghost town, with a police station in it. In June the police station was attacked by guerrillas, confirming the community?s fears.
But the community feels more vulnerable now. Wood does not give them good protection from stray bullets.
What other problems have they encountered?
Paramilitaries have set up roadblocks outside the village to try to isolate the community. They have killed bus drivers and confiscated food to try and frighten people.
So how have they found the strength to continue in the face of such opposition?
They are trying to maintain their strong community, and keep their life on the land. They want to make sure their children have as happy a childhood as possible, despite the conflict. No matter how many setbacks they face, they carry on and on. They believe in their principles and they really believe in what they?re doing and that gives them the strength.
There has been massive displacement in their region. But they have managed to stay. |
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In Colombia, Indigenous Peace Initiatives Under Attack |
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Editor's Note: In Colombia, U.S. troops and advisors are contributing to a widening civil war where peasants and the indigenous are caught in the crossfire.
NEW YORK -- The carnage in Iraq has pushed several other U.S. military commitments from the headlines. Afghanistan jumps to mind. But nearly forgotten is Colombia, where the United States has 800 troops and 600 more private contractors on the ground. The troops, largely advisors from Army Special Forces, are ostensibly barred from combat missions, but they intimately direct Colombian army operations. The parallels with Iraq are increasingly obvious for those who care to look.
As in Iraq, U.S. forces have been implicated in attacks on civilian communities. As in Iraq, U.S.-backed forces and increasingly ruthless insurgents alike are making life unsustainable for local people caught between both sides. And perhaps even more so than in Iraq, civilian initiatives for peace and local autonomy are themselves being targeted by all sides in the conflict.
In recent weeks, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has launched a major counter-guerilla offensive called the Patriot Plan, in apparent emulation of the U.S. anti-terrorist legislation. One frontline in this contest is Toribio, a Nasa Indian village in the mountains of conflict-torn Cauca department, where residents have proclaimed their own right not to participate in the war.
Toribio maintained a precarious autonomy until it was occupied by government troops in August 2003, and secured from guerilla attempts to take the town after several weeks of fighting. This April, the guerillas again mounted an offensive to drive the army from Toribio, and the town has since become a war zone once again.
Ezequiel Vitonas, a former mayor of Toribio and a leading voice in the Association of Indigenous Councils of North Cauca (ACIN), was in New York City in May for the annual meeting of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. "We have a policy of not involving ourselves in the conflict of the country," Vitonas says. "We seek to protect our form of self-government and self-determination." But Vitonas says the Nasa community process, which includes health, educational and economic systems, "is not liked by either the left or the right."
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attacked Toribio on April 14, and the government sent in the new U.S.-trained High Mountain Battalion, an elite force of battle-hardened troops, backed by a larger force of regular troops. Military planes and helicopters circled above. On the following day, Uribe himself arrived in Toribio -- the latest in a series of grandstanding moves to govern from the war zones.
Over the next two weeks, bullets flew through the village intermittently. A young child was killed, some 20 residents were wounded and as many homes destroyed. Hundreds of residents have been forced to flee to makeshift refugee centers some 50 kilometers away. Vitonas claims residents saw North American soldiers in camouflage directing the Colombian troops during the operations.
Peasant peace initiatives are also under attack throughout Colombia. In February, eight civilians, including community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra and three children, were massacred in the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, a village in northern Uraba region that eight years ago declared its lands neutral and demilitarized. Witnesses identified the killers as members of the Colombian military, and peace community members saw the army's 17th and 11th Brigades in the area around the time of the murders.
Uribe's administration has done little to investigate the murders, but the president wasted no time in accusing the peace community leaders of being "auxiliaries of the FARC." Army and National Police forces have flooded San Jose. All but five of the 100 families that formed the Peace Community have been forced to abandon their homes and land. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is helping to manage a camp that has been formed by displaced residents.
After the massacre, SOA Watch, the group that monitors the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (now officially the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), reported that the commander of the 17th Brigade of the Colombian army received training at the SOA. Gen. Hector Jaime Fandi?o Rincon attended the "Small-Unit Infantry Tactics" course in 1976.
Now Tolemaida, a key military base outside Bogota, figures in a scandal concerning U.S. troops arming Colombia's outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups, the most brutal actor in the civil war. On May 3, Colombian authorities arrested U.S. Army Warrant Officer Allan Tanquary and Sgt. Jesus Hernandez at a luxury estate near the Tolemaida base with nearly 40,000 rounds of ammunition allegedly intended for the paramilitaries. The two were turned over to the United States under a 1974 treaty granting U.S. forces in Colombia immunity from prosecution.
"The marginal peoples of the planet must find a way to unite to promote our own methods of development," Ezequiel Vitonas says. But this is becoming a greater challenge every day as Colombia's war escalates, with Pentagon direction, in a strategy that seeks to polarize and eliminate any political space not beholden to armed factions.
PNS contributor Bill Weinberg is editor of World War 4 Report. He is working on a book about Colombia for Verso Books. |
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Massacre in Colombian Peace Community |
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Once again, the trail of blood leads to the SOA:
SOA graduate commands accused brigade
"We have always said, and in that we are clear, that until this very day we are resisting. And our work is to continue resisting and defending our rights. We don't know until when, because the truth we've lived in our story is this: today we are here talking; tomorrow we may be dead. Today we are here in San Jose de Apartado; tomorrow the majority of people here could be displaced because of a massacre." -- Luis Eduardo Guerra, in an interview on January 15 of this year, 37 days before he was assassinated by the Colombian military
On February 21-22, 2005, eight members of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community in Uraba, Colombia -including three young children, were brutally massacred. Witnesses identified the killers as members of the Colombian military, and peace community members saw the army's 17th and 11th Brigades in the area around the time of the murders.
Among those killed was Luis Eduardo Guerra , an internationally recognized peace activist and a co-founder of the Peace Community. In November 2002, Luis travelled from Colombia to Fort Benning, Georgia to speak out against the School of the Americas and to give a first hand testimony about the brutal impact that SOA training and US foreign policy have on the dire situation in Colombia.
General Hector Jaime Fandino Rincon is the commander of the 17th Brigade of the Colombian army. Like Luis Eduardo, Fandino Rincon also travelled to the School of the Americas -- not to speak out for justice and peace like Luis, but to attend the "Small-Unit Infantry Tactics" course in order to become "familiar with small-unit operational concepts and principles at the squad and platoon level, [to] receive training in planning and conducting small-unit tactical operations." Fandino Rincon is a 1976 graduate of the notorious School of the Americas. In December of 2004 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
Since the massacre, the Colombian administration of Alvaro Uribe has done little to investigate the murders. No investigation into the military or the 17th or 11th Brigade has begun. All the focus now of the government agencies intervening in the situation is to force the community members to testify at risk of their lives' instead of focusing on the military that was in the area at  the time of the murders.
Police and military forces have flooded San Jose against the wishes of the Peace Community, which has taken a fundamental stance against any and all armed actors. Since the massacre, all but five of the 100 families that formed the Peace Community have been forced to leave their homes and land.
Those killed on February 21 and 22 included Luis Eduardo, his partner Bellanira and their son, Deiner, 11. Also massacred were Alejandro Perez, Alfonso Bolivar Tuberquia Graciano, his partner, Sandra Milena Munoz Pozo and their young children, Santiago, 18 months, and Natalia, 6 years old. (Click here for more background information).
 The Peace Community sent a delegation to locate and identify their bodies. They found a gruesome scene, with Alejandro, Alfonso, Sandra, Santiago and Natalia in a communal grave. They had all been killed with machetes, with their heads and extremities severed. The community found Luis, Bellanira and Deiner's bodies thrown near a river. They had been beaten badly and had their throats cut.
 The community writes:
"The military presence in the zone before, during and after the massacre points clearly to the Colombian Army as being responsible for this latest attack on the civilian population. We are facing a new humanitarian crisis in the zone and the death of our friends and of Luis Eduardo, leader of the community, is a sure signal. We know that the whole strategy of terror and impunity is going to continue. Soldiers have threatened a number of families and warned them that if they don't leave, the same thing is going to happen to them. They are also looking for the surviving witnesses of the massacre who are terrified at the danger their lives are in."
The Colombian military, paramilitary units and guerrilla forces have targeted this community, founded an attempt to created a space free of weapons and independent of any armed actors, since  its inception in 1996. One hundred fifty two members of the community have been killed in eight years, and not a single perpetrator has been brought to justice, even though the Colombian justice system has gathered the testimonies of hundreds of people identifying those responsible.
For years, official reports from the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and even the State Department have established the collusion and collaboration between the U.S.-trained Colombian army and right-wing paramilitaries forces in many war-torn regions of the country. With military support, the paramilitaries are operating as surrogate death squads and thugs. A United Nations report confirmed this trend, stating that "Members of the military participated in massacres, organized paramilitary groups, and spread death threats. The security forces also failed to take action, and this undoubtedly enabled the paramilitary groups to achieve their exterminating objectives."
 The Peace Community writes:
"In this context, it is important to understand the Army-paramilitary strategy to clear villages and take control of the land. First come the indiscriminate bombings and then the operations in which they eliminate everything they come across: animals, crops, homes and, as the most recent events show, entire families. But there is no doubt that the strategy is working: just two weeks ago we pointed out that as a result of these operations in Mulatos and Resbalosa, only 10 families remained, and now nine of them have been displaced to San Jose."
Many of the Colombian officers cited as responsible for massacres and other human rights abuses graduated from the SOA, and the strategy of using paramilitary groups for the military's dirty work is nothing new for SOA/ WHINSEC students. Roberto D'Aubussoin established the Death Squads that were responsible for much of the violence in El Salvador in the 1980's, and Benedicto Lucas Garcia masterminded the creation of the Civil Defense Patrols in Guatemala. Mexico's Jose Ruben Rivas Pena, who took the SOA's elite Command and Staff Course, called for the "training and support for self-defence forces or other paramilitary organizations in Chiapas."
 The story of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community, while appalling, is all too common in Colombia. And yet stories of Colombia's ongoing war recognized by the United Nations as "the world's greatest humanitarian disaster after Congo and Darfur" are absent from much mainstream media coverage.
 Since 2000, the U.S. has sent $3.3 billion to Colombia in aid - making it the world's top recipient after Israel and Egypt. The aid is mostly military, and the Pentagon also has troops on the ground (officially barred from combat). In October, Congress approved doubling the U.S. troop presence in Colombia to 800. The cap on the number of U.S. civilian contract agents, pilots, intelligence analysts, and security personnel was also raised, from 400 to 600. The measure came as a little-noticed part of the 2005 Defense Department authorization act, and was a defeat for human rights groups, which had been pushing for a lower cap. The new 800/600 cap is exactly what the White House asked for.
The Colombian conflict is rooted in social inequalities. Between 60 and 68 percent of the population are currently living at or below the poverty line. The Bush administration's military approach has remained at the forefront of their failing strategy to "solve" the problem. The SOA-style repression that is killing thousands every year is supposed to maintain the status quo - to keep the rich powerful and the poor silent.
It is up to us to change the political climate by working towards a culture of justice and peace and by defying the systems of violence and domination. History is made by movements, mass movements of people who organize themselves to struggle collectively for a better world.
"The ideas of Luis Eduardo, his thoughts and his arguments will continue inside us with more strength than ever. He believed the civilian population had the right to live with dignity. We also believe this and will carry on defending this principal even if it costs us our lives." - San Jose de Apartado Peace Community, March 2005
Take action today!
Click here for actions you can take to demand accountability for this massacre -- and to close the SOA/ WHINSEC. |
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The Facts 
