From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2001 18:50:28 -0500 (CDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: CLM: Weekend Digest 8 July 2001
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COLOMBIAN LABOR MONITOR
www.prairienet.org/clm
Sunday, 8 July 2001
11. ASSOCIATED PRESS -- Saturday, 7 July 2001
Radio News Director Killed in Colombia
13. ASSOCIATED PRESS -- Saturday, 7 July 2001
Federal police to protect Brazilian team in Colombia
14. ASSOCIATED PRESS -- Saturday, 7 July 2001
Colombia's prisons director resigns after massive rebel-mounted
prison escape
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* 11 *
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, 7 July 2001
Radio News Director Killed in Colombia
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BOGOTA -- Gunmen shot and killed the news director of a radio station in
southern Colombia, officials said.
Jose Dubiel Vasquez was the second news director from Voice of the Jungle
Radio killed since December.
He was walking out of the station in the city of Florencia on Friday after
the morning news program when two men passing on a motorcycle opened fire.
Officials said they did not have any suspects.
Vasquez, 55, arrived in Florencia at the beginning of the year to replace
his slain predecessor, Alfredo Abad, killed by motorcycle gunmen in
Florencia in December. That murder has not been solved.
Florencia, 230 miles southwest of Bogota, is the capital of Caqueta State,
long a stronghold of leftist guerrillas. Drug traffickers and right-wing
paramilitary groups are also present in the state.
The family of a Colombian congressmen shot and killed by suspected
guerrillas in Caqueta in December are partial owners of Voice of the
Jungle an affiliate of Caracol, one of Colombia's largest networks.
Colombia, with its 37-year armed conflict, is one of the world's most
dangerous places to be a journalist. Last year, twelve journalists were
killed, at least three of them directly related to their work, according
to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press
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* 13 *
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, 7 July 2001
Federal police to protect
Brazilian team in Colombia
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BRASILIA, Brazil -- Federal police agents will fly to Colombia with
Brazil's national soccer team to protect the players during the Copa
America, the country's top soccer official said Saturday.
Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Soccer Confederation, said
the agents will work together with Colombian police and will stay with the
team wherever it goes during the 18-day tournament, which begins
Wednesday.
Teixeira said he asked the government in June for a plan to guarantee the
team's safety ''considering the news of terrorism affecting the country.''
Political killings and kidnappings led the South American Soccer
Confederation to suspend the Copa America, and there were rumors it could
be moved elsewhere. But in a surprising turnaround, the confederation
reversed its decision last week and confirmed the tournament in Colombia.
Canada dropped out, claiming it had released its players when the
tournament was suspended and couldn't bring them back on such short
notice. Argentina said it will confirm on Tuesday whether it will take
part.
Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari played down the concerns, saying his
squad ''will be concentrating on the games and not worried about what
might happen.''
Brazil flies to Cali on Monday, where it opens the defense of its title on
Thursday against Mexico.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press
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* 14 *
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, 7 July 2001
Colombia's prisons director resigns
after massive rebel-mounted prison escape
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BOGOTA -- The director of Colombia's embattled prison system has resigned
after nearly 100 inmates, led by leftist rebels, blew their way out of a
high-security prison.
The resignation Friday of Fabio Campos was prompted by last month's
massive escape from Bogota's La Picota prison when 19 rebels inside the
high-security facility blew open a hole with dynamite and escaped along
with 79 other inmates.
In his resignation letter made public by the state news service, Campos
accepted the ''political responsibility'' for the escape _ mounted by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC _ but denied that his
office could have done anything to prevent it.
The federal prisons houses a dangerous mix of leftist guerrillas, rival
right-wing paramilitary members, and drug traffickers.
Last week, a skirmish in another Bogota prison between jailed guerrillas
and inmates who refused to cooperate in a rebel escape plan killed at
least 10 inmates and injured 22 others.
Days before, the FARC announced a policy of freeing jailed rebels by force
because of the government's refusal to release some 400 imprisoned rebels
as part of a huge prisoner swap.
During his nearly two-year stint, Campos said that he had overseen
construction of more than 6,000 cells and added 2,500 guards to the
notoriously overcrowded prison system. Campos will be replaced by police
Gen. Victor Paez.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press
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