WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #564, NOVEMBER 19, 2000
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*3. COLOMBIA: US ARMY COLONEL FIRED OVER MONEY LAUNDERING
US Army Col. James C. Hiett, who pleaded guilty on Apr. 17 of
this year to charges of laundering cash from his wife's drug
deals while he headed US anti-drug operations in Colombia, has
been dropped from Army personnel rolls and as a result will
receive no military retirement pay, army spokesperson Lt. Col.
Russell Oaks said on Nov. 6. Oaks said Hiett cannot appeal the
decision.
On July 13, a federal judge sentenced Hiett to five months in
prison, five months of home confinement and one year probation.
His wife, Laurie Hiett, pleaded guilty on Jan. 27 to charges she
shipped packages containing $700,000 worth of heroin and cocaine
from the US embassy in Colombia to New York, using the diplomatic
mail service. She was sentenced on May 5 to five years in prison.
[See Updates #521, 532, 534, 536, 537, 546.] [Washington Post
11/7/00]
Gen. Barry McCaffrey announced on Oct. 16 that he will resign
from his post as director of the White House Office of Drug
Control Policy on Jan. 6, two weeks before the scheduled Jan. 20
inauguration of the next US president. McCaffrey played a key
role in persuading Congress to approve the $1.3 billion in US aid
for "Plan Colombia," allegedly to combat the drug trade. [Reuters
10/16/00]
*4. KEY US LEGISLATOR URGES CHANGES TO PLAN COLOMBIA
US Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), chair of the House International
Relations Committee, has abruptly withdrawn his support from the
US package of $1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia,
arguing that the US is on the brink of a "major mistake." Gilman
sent a letter during the week of Nov. 13 to White House drug
policy coordinator Barry McCaffrey, calling on the Clinton
administration to redirect its assistance, including at least 40
Black Hawk helicopters, from Colombia's military to its National
Police. Gilman has long admired the Colombian police, which he
views as more effective and less tainted by human rights
violations.
"If we fail early on with Plan Colombia, as I fear, we could lose
the support of the American people for our efforts to fight
illicit narcotics abroad," Gilman said. "If we lose public
support, we will regret we did not make the mid-course
corrections for Colombia that I have outlined here."
Last summer, Gilman voted to support Plan Colombia, a $7.5
billion strategy drafted jointly by US and Colombian officials
and approved by Congress as a plan to curtail drug cultivation
and trafficking in Colombia. Congressional sources said Gilman
was troubled by recent military failures in rural areas where
rebel forces operate. Gilman is expected to relinquish his
position as chair next year because of term limits. [New York
Times 11/17/00]
*5. COLOMBIAN DEATH SQUAD LINKED TO POLICE, US
New evidence has emerged linking Colombia's National Police and
US military and intelligence units to "Los Pepes," a death squad
that in the early 1990s targeted associates and relatives of
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar Gaviria. The revelations were
reported in El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language Miami daily, on
Oct. 15, and are being reported in-depth in a series published in
the Philadelphia Inquirer starting on Nov. 12. [MH 10/15/00; PI
11/12/00, 11/13/00; Semana (Colombia) 11/13-19/00] On Nov. 13,
Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) called on US president Bill
Clinton to order an investigation into the allegations. [AIUSA
press release 11/13/00]
Organized in February 1993, Los Pepes were funded by the Cali
drug cartel and operated under the command of brothers Fidel and
Carlos Castano Gil, founders of Colombia's paramilitary movement.
Fidel died in a gunfight in September 1994; Carlos now heads the
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), an umbrella group
of rightwing paramilitary death squads. [ENH 10/15/00]
*6. COLOMBIAN REBELS SUSPEND PEACE TALKS
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia's
main leftist rebel group, suspended peace talks on Nov. 14,
saying that the talks can only be resumed if and when the
government takes action against rightwing paramilitary groups.
[CNN en Espanol 11/14/00 with info from AP] In a Nov. 12
communique, the FARC stated: "The grotesque self-kidnapping of
the seven parliamentarians and the interview of [Interior
Minister Humberto] de La Calle with the genocidal paramilitary
gangs, is the final phase of a conspiracy against the
negotiations table and the peace process." [FARC Communique
11/12/00] [The last of seven Congress members allegedly kidnapped
by the AUC in late October were freed a day after a Nov. 6
meeting between De la Calle and AUC leader Carlos Castano Gil--
see Update #563, in which De la Calle's name contained a typo in
one place.]
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Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY
339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139
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