>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >----------------------- >Yours in solidarity >Per Rasmussen >Denmark > >Familien Rasmussen >http://home0.inet.tele.dk/pera/ <http://home0.inet.tele.dk/pera/> >Cuba SI! >http://w1.1559.telia.com/~u155900388/ >Viden er Magt! - Magten til folket! >http://w1.1559.telia.com/~u155900373/ > >1. Wellstone heads to Colombia to question drug war 11/28 >2. Venezuelan VP criticizes Plan Colombia-related aid from US 11/25 >3. VIETNAM AND COLOMBIA: Clinton talks trade, U.S. prepares new war 11/30 >4. U.S. fails to regulate export of chemicals Colombians use to make cocaine >11/22 >5. Washington steps up rhetoric in fight against Colombian guerrillas 11/22 >6. U.S. drug czar says bloody campaign against insurgents is inevitable >11/21 >7. The war on coca: How far will the U.S. go? 11/20 >8. Colombian paramilitary leader confirms funded by narcotics "tax" 11/19 >9. 1,700 Arrested at School of the Americas Protest 11/19 >10. URGENT ACTION: DEFEND THE DEFENDERS & DEMAND JUSTICE! 11/28 > _____ > > >Star Tribune Tuesday, November 28, 2000 >Wellstone heads to Colombia to question drug war >Rob Hotakainen >WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With tight security arrangements in place, Sen. Paul >Wellstone is headed to Colombia today to investigate the U.S. government's >plan to spend $1.3 billion on a military operation that includes destroying >coca fields. >The Minnesota Democrat will arrive tonight in Bogota and meet with Colombian >President Andres Pastrana on Wednesday to discuss "Plan Colombia," an >attempt to eradicate the drug fields that supply as much as 90 percent of >the cocaine that finds its way to the United States. >A stepped-up aerial fumigation program is set to begin shortly in Colombia, >and Wellstone intends to observe a spraying operation already underway. >With kidnappings running rampant in Colombia, Wellstone is not being allowed >to travel alone in Barrancabermeja, where he intends to meet with the city's >mayor and human-rights defenders. >"It's not an easy trip," Wellstone said in an interview on Monday. "The >number of massacres that have taken place in Colombia -- and the number of >people that have been kidnapped and executed every day -- is pretty >frightening." >Colombia has a homicide rate about 10 times higher than that of the United >States and, with more than 3,000 abductions in 1999, the highest kidnapping >rate in the world. >Wellstone will be accompanied by Jim Farrell, his policy adviser and press >officer, and Charlotte Oldham-Moore, his foreign-policy adviser. >Oldham-Moore said Wellstone had originally planned to fly to Barrancabermeja >on a civilian aircraft, but those plans were changed; he'll fly there on a >military aircraft. >"They're taking extremely high-level security arrangements for him," she >said. "They're not allowing him to even travel in the city because it's so >infiltrated by paramilitaries and guerrilla groups." >As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Wellstone has been a >persistent critic of U.S. military aid to Colombia, which Congress voted to >continue in June. >In July, Wellstone urged Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to >investigate the reported killing or disappearance of 71 Colombian civilians >in February. >Wellstone described the incident: "They come in ... they drink, they rape, >they murder. Human-rights workers are trying to get to the village and the >military is stopping them. We don't want our money to be used for that. >That's what I want to focus on." >Wellstone, who is making his first trip to Colombia, said his travel is time >d to a key decision awaiting President Clinton: In December, Wellstone said, >the president must decide whether to waive human-rights protections that >Congress wanted Colombia to meet before receiving any aid. >Among the conditions is that Colombia is to ensure that Armed Forces >personnel who have committed gross human-rights violations are brought to >justice, and that those who have helped paramilitary groups are suspended >from duty with the Colombian Armed Forces. >"I am especially focused on the human-rights questions because the president >is going to make a decision in December," Wellstone said. He opposes a >waiver, saying, "The reason [the conditions are] in the legislation is that >we're going to insist that the government live up to that." >The trip also will give Wellstone an opportunity to make his case that the >United States would be better off by giving more money to pay for drug >treatment in the United States instead of trying to destroy Colombian coca >fields. >"The history of these eradication efforts is that they just grow it >somewhere else," Wellstone said. "And there is some not insignificant >controversy about the use of the herbicide. We've been down this road >before. ... I want to find out more, but I'm certainly very skeptical. I >think people have every right to say, you know, 'Look, this is getting into >the water, we're concerned about the rashes, we're concerned about >respiratory problems.' ... And the question becomes if this just invites >further conflict if people in the countryside have no alternative way of >feeding their families." >Wellstone is not the only Minnesotan raising questions in Washington. >Earlier this year, Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., said the $400 million cost of >the helicopters alone in Colombia would provide treatment for 200,000 >Americans addicted to drugs. >"This is ludicrous and this is wrong," said Ramstad, who called the military >operation a "Colombia boondoggle." >Wellstone called the situation in Colombia "incredibly complicated" and said >the trip is important for him. >"I can't do this unless I see it with my own eyes," he said. "This is a big >part of my work in the Senate in terms of foreign policy." >Wellstone said he is following the work of Don Fraser, the former mayor of >Minneapolis and a longtime Minnesota congressman. Wellstone called him "a >giant in the international community when it came to human-rights >questions," adding that his trip to Colombia "is very much in our >tradition." >Wellstone plans to return to Washington on Friday. >"We're going to be very careful," he said. > _____ > > >AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Saturday, 25 November 2000 >Venezuelan VP criticizes Plan Colombia-related aid from US >CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's vice president on Saturday criticized the >180 million-dollar aid figure Washington is considering offering to >Colombia's neighbors to combat the side-effects of Bogota's multi-billion >dollar anti-drug program. >Isaias Rodriguez told the "El Nacional" newspaper that the sum, mooted by US >anti-drug czar Barry McCaffrey during a visit to Bogota Monday, was "not >very significant" compared with the potential negative consequences on the >region of Plan Colombia. >The US aid is aimed at alleviating the possible spillover effects of Plan >Colombia on neighboring countries Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and >Panama-such as cross-border guerrilla incursions and transfer of drug >cultivation. >"The estimates made in Bogota by the US anti-drug czar Barry McCaffrey >appear not to be quite concordant with the extent of the effects" that Plan >Colombia may have, Rodriguez said in the article. >McCaffrey said Monday the United States would collaborate with Colombia's >neighbors in the event of negative impact on the Andean region, during his >visit Monday to evaluate progress on the 7.5 billion dollar Plan Colombia. >The United States is contributing 1.3 billion dollars to the plan which >Colombian President Andres Pastrana is pushing to tackle narcotics >trafficking, end his country's long-running civil conflict and improve >living standards. >Rodriguez said that no discussion had taken place as to whether the >government of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez would accept the US aid, and >added that Washington had made no formal proposal as yet. >Rodriguez said that such a US initiative was a positive move, however. >Copyright 2000 Agence France Presse > _____ > > >Nov. 30, 2000, Workers World newspaper >VIETNAM AND COLOMBIA: Clinton talks trade, U.S. prepares new war >By Deirdre Griswold >Even as President Bill Clinton was in Vietnam on Nov. 17-19 declaring that >this much-abused country was no longer "the enemy," Pentagon advisors were >on the other side of the world doing the same kinds of things that led to >the disastrous war in southeast Asia almost 40 years ago. >Clinton's visit was welcomed by the Vietnamese as a formal recognition by >the U.S. government that the war is indeed over and that relations between >the two countries should be normalized. It is characteristic of the >right-wing nature of U.S. politics, however, that such a trip had to be made >by a lame-duck president who brought few guarantees with him. >The militarists and patriotic breast-beaters will probably never get over >the photos of Clinton standing below a giant frieze of Ho Chi Minh, leader >of Vietnam's liberation struggle against French, Japanese and U.S. >imperialism. It was a satisfying sight, however, for all those around the >world who had struggled to end imperialist intervention in Vietnam. >This is not to say that the U.S. president's agenda was all peace and good >intentions. He was there as a salesperson for U.S. corporations that want to >increase business with Vietnam, both for the immediate profits to be gained >and because they hope to influence its social development in a capitalist >direction. >Clinton had to admit, however, that 3 million Vietnamese people died in the >war. After having paid such a price for their independence--which to the >Vietnamese means having the right to build a socialist society--they are not >going to let it slip away just because Coca-Cola and Nike are investing >there. >Does Clinton's visit mean that U.S. imperialism has learned the lessons of >the Vietnam War? Not if you look at what is happening today in Colombia. >---VIETNAM AND COLOMBIA >Vietnam and Colombia have very different histories. Nevertheless, U.S. >intervention in Colombia is unfolding in a way that is eerily reminiscent of >Vietnam. >The U.S. began pouring money into the French colonial war in Vietnam in the >1950s. By 1960, the French were out and the Pentagon was sending military >"advisors" to prop up the hated dictatorship of Washington puppet Ngo Dinh >Diem. Before the public in the U.S. was even aware of what was going on, >U.S. soldiers had begun to die in Vietnam. >Who were the "enemy"? For the most part, ordinary Vietnamese peasants who >had been resisting foreign domination for generations. During the colonial >period, they organized self- defense units under the leadership of the >Vietminh, the Vietnamese communist movement. It was to break their will that >Diem's troops, backed by U.S. arms and money and trained by U.S. advisors, >forced whole villages into "strategic hamlets," beating, torturing and >murdering those who refused to live in these concentration camps. >It was all part of the war on communism and the "domino theory." All of Asia >was so ripe for revolution that if the communists won in Vietnam, said U.S. >strategists, all the other countries would "fall" like dominoes. >While the U.S. today seems on top of the world since the breakup of the >Soviet Union, in fact the strategists for imperialism are deeply worried. >Their system, which sucks the wealth out of the Third World through direct >investment and through the mechanism of financial control via the >International Monetary Fund and World Bank, has created an increasingly >intolerable situation in scores of countries in Africa, Latin America and >Asia. >The area of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela is undoubtedly red-flagged >in the situation rooms of the CIA and Pentagon. Poverty, unemployment, and >stifling debts to the imperialist banks have brought the masses of people >into militant struggle for social change. >In Colombia, the government is weak and allied with right- wing death >squads. Two guerrilla movements have liberated large areas of the country. >The main one, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army, >known as the FARC- EP, controls an area in the south as large as >Switzerland. >The FARC is led by Marxists and has been struggling for revolutionary change >for 40 years. It has broad support among the oppressed workers and peasants >of Colombia. The National Liberation Army--ELN--also has a base of support >in the population and has liberated territory. >On the right are death squads that are in fact clandestine arms of the >government and the military. They have carried out horrible massacres in >many villages in an effort to keep the peasants from having any contact with >the guerrillas. >Nevertheless, the guerrilla armies continue to grow and to show their >strength. Recently, the FARC shot down a Black Hawk helicopter supplied to >the Colombian Army by the U.S. >---AGENT ORANGE ALL OVER AGAIN >As in Vietnam, the U.S. is now spraying large areas of Colombia with >herbicides, killing anything green while exposing present and future >generations to what is proven to be toxic and genetically damaging >substances. The excuse then was that the ground cover had to be destroyed >because it sheltered the guerrillas. >Now a new excuse has been found for poisoning the soil and water and >depriving the peasants of their crops. It is the "war on drugs." It is not >the peasants but their illicit crops that are the target, says the Pentagon. >However, the phony "war on drugs" story is already viewed with great >skepticism by people everywhere, including in the U.S. >Especially since the officer in overall charge of the U.S. anti-drug >operation, U.S. Army Col. James Hiett, was convicted of money laundering and >his wife jailed for sending nearly a million dollars worth of heroin and >cocaine to the U.S. from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, this flimsy excuse for >the chemical assault on Colombian peasants is winning few supporters. > _____ > > >KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE, Wednesday, 22 November 2000 >U.S. fails to regulate export of chemicals Colombians use to make cocaine >By Kevin G. Hall >MANAUS, Brazil-Although the Clinton administration has declared a risky and >controversial $1.3 billion war against Latin America's cocaine trade, it >isn't fighting on what may be the easiest and most promising front. >The administration is providing massive military and other aid to help >Colombia and other Andean nations stop coca growing, processing and >trafficking, but experts say the chemicals needed to refine cocaine from >coca leaves continue to flow unhindered to drug labs. Each country involved >blames another for the problem. >"I don't remember in the past decade a systematic and massive campaign in >South America to control precursors," said Roger Rumrill, a Peru-based >expert in Andean narcotics production. "This is a contraband product, and >many people are involved, ranging from businessmen to the government _ >including police." >In theory, it's much easier to interdict shipments of the chemicals used to >make cocaine than it is to ferret out cocaine smuggling. The companies that >make the chemicals, known as precursors, are well-known. The precursors are >usually shipped by land or sea, and their bulk and modest value make it hard >to hide them. >So why not declare war on 55-gallon drums of sulfuric acid, acetone, >potassium permanganate and other chemicals chugging up the Amazon? >Not so fast. Global free-trade rules permit little regulation of chemicals >that have legitimate uses. The same chemicals that are used to refine >cocaine have many legitimate uses, including water purification, so >shipments can't be seized unless authorities have reason to believe they're >intended for use in making cocaine. >The United States has asked South American countries to document who is >using these chemicals. The effort to track precursors hasn't been very >disciplined, however, and seizures remain meager, despite years of >encouragement by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the State >Department. >U.S. anti-drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey acknowledged in an interview that >effective measures to keep precursor chemicals out of the hands of cocaine >producers "ain't there yet." As proof the initiative "has been a failure," >McCaffrey noted that Colombia produced 520 metric tons of cocaine last year. >To make cocaine, jungle drug-lab operators need lots of kerosene. It's >poured with water into plastic-lined pits filled with leaves from the coca >plant. Barefoot workers stomp the mixture into a mushy paste. >Next, sulfuric acid and potassium permanganate are added to dry and condense >the paste. >Solvents such as acetone are then used to dissolve the cocaine base, which >is poured or pressed through cloth to yield snowy white and highly addictive >cocaine hydrochloride crystals. >Colombian Defense Minister Luis Ramirez Acuna, interviewed in Brazil's >steamy Amazon capital of Manaus, said precursor chemicals are shipped to >clandestine cocaine labs via canoes and riverboats on "water highways" in >the Amazon River system in Brazil and the Orinoco River system in Venezuela. >Not so, said Venezuelan Defense Minister Gen. Ismael Hurtado, who, like >Ramirez, was in Manaus for a regional military conference. >"Let's not forget that one of the biggest exporters of these chemicals is >the United States, not Venezuela or Brazil," Hurtado said. He said his >country, a major petroleum exporter and a leading manufacturer of solvents >used to make cocaine, has been cracking down hard on precursors Venezuelan >police interdicted shipments of 75 tons of potassium permanganate last year, >according to government figures, plus 1,585 gallons of solvents. This year >seizures are running lower, possibly due to tougher import regulations. >Colombia says it sidelined 522,000 gallons of liquid precursors and almost >523 pounds of solid precursors this year. >Colombian police closed 27 companies and indicted 59 people for >precursor-related offenses. >Colombia blames Brazil, home to South America's biggest chemical industry, >particularly the vast free-trade zone in Manaus, where legitimately imported >chemicals are often repackaged and diverted to upriver drug labs. >According to Mauro Sposito, the head of Brazil's anti-drug operations in the >Amazon region, 256 companies in Manaus import chemicals that also could be >used to make cocaine for their manufacturing operations. >Sao Paulo, in southern Brazil, also produces lots of precursor chemicals, >but they're trucked to Bolivia, not shipped by river. So Sposito sees no >Brazilian precursor problem. "Up to now, we haven't had a single >apprehension of chemical products (on the rivers)," he said of his force of >180 men and 18 patrol boats. >The U.S. State Department, in its March 2000 report on international >narcotics, said Argentina and Brazil are the leading makers of precursors. >Paraguay and Bolivia are transit points for the chemicals, it said, and >Brazil, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador are increasingly the hosts of >clandestine cocaine labs. >"Everybody needs to do more in this area, needs to be more aware of chemical >control as a potentially potent law enforcement tool," said a U.S. Drug >Enforcement Administration official charged with fighting the diversion of >precursor chemicals, who asked not to be identified. "We can include >ourselves in this area, too." >Mexico, the chief transit point for cocaine that's headed for the United >States, limits precursor chemicals to entry and exit through 12 points. >Mexico has pressed, unsuccessfully, for the United States to adopt similar >restrictions. >Under federal law, U.S. exporters of 22 regulated precursor chemicals must >notify the DEA 15 days prior to export and must list the recipient. A >speedier process covers exports to long-standing customers. >U.S. chemical manufacturers say they have worked with the DEA to identify >"warning indicators" such as uncommon routes, unusual delivery times or >requests and unfamiliar buyers. >"They (DEA) are more aggressive now than I have ever seen. The illegitimate >customers are getting a lot more savvy," said Marybeth Kelliher, senior >manager of international trade for the American Chemical Council, whose 193 >members boast 90 percent of U.S. manufacturing capacity. >Progress is being made in controlling one key precursor, potassium >permanganate _ a chemical used in water purification and cocaine manufacture >that is produced in only a dozen or so countries. Paperwork on any shipment >greater than 97 pounds is shared with authorities. The DEA says more than 35 >million pounds were tracked between April 1999 and September 2000, with 51 >shipments stopped totaling almost 6.6 million pounds, with 35 arrests. The >effort is believed to have cut cocaine production sharply in Bolivia. >One weakness continues to be brokers: legitimate intermediaries in >international trade who are harder to regulate because they are not the >chemicals' end users. They often operate in free-trade zones such as Manaus >and elsewhere, where the DEA says controls are weaker. >"The real problem is that what you are really doing is controlling licit >trade," said a State Department official who's working to prevent the >diversion of precursor chemicals and requested anonymity. "A lot of >countries don't like to provide information on what they consider licit >trade." >Copyright 2000 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service > _____ > > > >AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Wednesday, 22 November 2000 >Washington steps up rhetoric in fight against Colombian guerrillas >BOGOTA -- The United States hardened its stance against Colombian guerrillas > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. 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