From: Pakito Arriaran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 10:37:19 -0500
Subject: Weekly News Update on Colombia #590, 5/20/01
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #590, MAY 20, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*2. COLOMBIA: BUSH ANNOUNCES NEW "AID" PLAN
On May 16, the administration of US president George W. Bush
announced details of its proposal for a new "aid" package that
would provide $882 million to seven countries in Latin America,
including Colombia and its neighbors. Under the "Andean Regional
Initiative," Colombia would still be the largest recipient of US
aid, receiving $399 million, or 45% of the total. Of the Colombia
aid, $146.5 million would go for economic and social programs and
$252.5 million for counter-narcotics and security programs.
Bolivia is set to get a total of $143.5 million; Peru is to get
$163.7 million for social programs and $77 million in security
aid; Ecuador, $76.5 million total; Venezuela, $10 million in
security aid; Brazil, $26.1 million total; and Panama, $20.5
million.
State Department officials touted the new proposal as a "more
balanced" approach to the region than in the past. "Look at the
figures and the fine print a little closer, though, and you will
find less of a change than meets the eye," wrote the Chicago
Tribune in a May 18 editorial. The $1.3 billion aid package
approved last year under President Bill Clinton consisted mostly
of military aid for Colombia. But an analysis by the Washington-
based Center for International Policy (CIP)--cited in the
Tribune--shows that the decrease in weapons aid to Colombia in
the new package is offset almost dollar-for-dollar by increases
in military aid to the other nations.
William Brownfield, deputy assistant secretary of state for
Western Hemisphere affairs, acknowledged that the US was able to
shift the focus of the aid largely because it had already
financed the "big ticket" items for Colombia. Brownfield said the
Bush administration remained committed to Plan Colombia and its
military objective to force drug-financed rebels into peace
negotiations.
"While Plan Colombia was a two-year supplemental appropriation,
Bush's funding proposals are neatly folded into the regular
annual appropriation process," the Tribune also notes in its
editorial. "Does that signal the beginning of a prolonged US
military involvement in the region?" [New York Times 5/17/01; AP
5/16/01; UPI 5/16/01; CT 5/18/01]
*3. COLOMBIA: INDIGENOUS MARCH FOR PEACE
On May 14 thousands of indigenous, Afro-colombian and campesino
residents of the southwestern Colombian department of Cauca set
out from the departmental capital, Popayan, north toward Cali,
capital of the neighboring department of Valle del Cauca, to
protest recent massacres in the region, among other issues. Cauca
is the department where the highest percentage of Colombia's
indigenous population lives, and there are also numerous Afro-
Colombian communities there.
On May 15, at the coliseum in Santander de Quilichao--where
hundreds of campesinos have been living since they were displaced
by an Easter week paramilitary massacre in the Alto Naya region--
thousands from all over Cauca and supporters from around the
country joined in to begin a 55-kilometer march on foot to Cali.
When it left Santander de Quilichao on May 15, the march had
25,000 participants; by the time it reached Cali on May 17, there
were as many as 32,000. The march culminated in Cali on May 18
with the third "Public Hearing for Life and Hope," attended by
some 42,000 people, including many Cali residents who came out to
support the marchers. [El Pais (Cali) 5/15/01, 5/16/01, 5/17/01;
El Colombiano (Medellin) 5/18/01, 5/19/01; El Tiempo (Bogota)
5/19/01; Statement from CRIC, no date, distributed 5/16/01 by
Amazon Alliance; Xinhua News Agency (China) 5/15/01]
The march was called by the Indigenous Regional Council of the
Cauca (CRIC), the Indigenous Authorities of Colombia (AICO), the
Integration Committee of the Colombian Macizo (CIMA) and the
Integration Movement of the Colombian Macizo (MIMACIZO) [Macizo
is the name used locally for a section of the southwestern Andes
that cuts through Cauca department], together with the Unitary
Workers Federation (CUT), the National Association of Campesinos-
Unity and Reconstruction (ANUC-UR), the Social Indigenous
Alliance (ASI) and other groups.
In a statement explaining the reason for the "Great March for
Life and Against All Forms of Violence," the convening
organizations note that they have been trying to draw attention
to the massacres and displacement of campesino communities in the
region for over a year, "principally in two Public Hearings for
Life and Hope held in July 2000 and February 2001 in the city of
Popayan. Yet it seems that the only thing that interests the
enemies of society is to see the countryside vacated, and all
types of cultural unity and solidarity broken, since currently
they have intensified their barbaric actions and violations of
international humanitarian law." According to the convening
organizations, in April paramilitaries killed more than 150
indigenous, black and campesino residents of Alto Naya, Cajibio,
Mondomo, La Rebolla, Toribio, Miranda, Mondomo and Canoas, in the
north of Cauca near the border with Valle [see Updates #585,
587]. Most of the bodies have not been found.
The marchers are demanding an end to armed violence in the
southwestern region of Colombia, "especially the acts of
barbarity carried out in the coastal area and Alto Naya region by
paramilitary groups," and seeking guarantees for the return of
displaced people to their communities, among other demands. [CRIC
Statement distributed 5/16/01]
"We want to make known the magnitude of the paramilitary actions,
of the subversive occupations, of the government actions, of the
fumigations against the so-called illegal cultivations. That
businesspeople, legal and illegal, national and multinational,
are financing the paramilitaries," said the final declaration
signed by the partipating organizations. [ET 5/19/01]
=======================================================================
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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Pakito Arriaran * enege brigadak
soulcialist stiliagi
http://inquilino.net/palante/enege.html
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