From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 08:52:47 -0500 (CDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: COLOMBIA: Weekly News Update #600, 7/29/01
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #600, JULY 29, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[.....]
3. Ecuador: Indigenous Begin March
4. Colombia: Oxy Finds No Oil on U'wa Land
5. Colombia: Ex-Army General Arrested
6. Colombia: US House Approves Military Aid
7. Colombia: Judge Orders Halt to Spraying
8. Peru: New President Inaugurated
9. Panama: Youth Protest at US Embassy
[.....]
*3. ECUADOR: INDIGENOUS BEGIN MARCH
On July 24, Ecuador's indigenous and grassroots organizations
began a mass march that will spread across the country to protest
the government's economic and social policies. The mobilization,
called by the broad Coordinating Committee of Social Movements
(CMS), began in Zamora Chinchipe, in the southern Amazon region.
Marchers are expected to reach Quito on Aug. 10, Ecuador's
independence day. The protests focus on opposing a bank bailout
and the planned privatization of the electric company and other
public institutions. Also participating in the mobilization are
striking doctors and health workers, teachers, retired workers
demanding higher pension payments, and other sectors. The
mobilization followed the July 23 decision by the Confederation
of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), to maintain its
suspension of dialogue with the government until the next CONAIE
congress is held on Oct. 12. [La Hora (Quito) 7/25/01; El
Telegrafo (Guayaquil) 7/24/01; El Diario-La Prensa 7/24/01 &
7/25/01, both from EFE]
Some 3,000 striking doctors marched in Quito on July 26 [see
Updates #597, 599]. Riot police used tear gas to attack a group
of 1,200 doctors from around the country who had gathered at the
Eugenio Espejo hospital and were trying to join the march; some
30 newborn infants had to be treated for tear gas inhalation when
the gases spread into the hospital's maternity ward. [ED-LP
7/27/01; LH 7/27/01; ET 7/27/01]
The government insists it can't afford to give doctors or anyone
else a raise. Hector Teran, president of the National
Confederation of Public Servants (CONASEP), said his sector's
wage demands could be met with $40 million--about 10% of what the
government has spent on a bailout of the Filanbanco and Pacifico
banks. [LH 7/19/01]
*4. COLOMBIA: OXY FINDS NO OIL ON U'WA LAND
Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) has stopped drilling at the Siriri
field in Colombia (formerly called the Samore bloc) after finding
gas and condensates but no oil, a company official said on July
27. Occidental still considers it "possible" that oil may be
discovered at the Siriri site, a spokesperson said, but drilling
will not resume for at least a year as more seismic studies will
probably be needed and the company will have to consider security
concerns and the site's highly complicated geological structure.
The Siriri field is located near the Venezuelan border in the
47,000-hectare Gibraltar Basin, about 140 km from Occidental's
existing Cano Limon field in eastern Colombia. Exploration at
Siriri started in February 2000, and its possible reserves were
at first estimated by the company at 1.4 billion barrels. At the
time test drilling began, Occidental rated the chances of
discovering a commercially viable oil deposit at Siriri to be
about 20%. [Reuters 7/27/01]
The Siriri field is located on the traditional land of the U'wa
indigenous people, who have been trying to stop the drilling
project for nine years with help from international supporters,
using nonviolent tactics ranging from shareholder resolutions to
civil disobedience. The latest news came as thousands of U'wa
take part in AjReowa, a special time of fasting, meditation,
teaching, singing and prayer which lasts from June through
August. Their prayers have been focused on driving Oxy away from
their land. The U'wa believe that oil is the blood of Mother
Earth, and that its extraction kills her. [U'wa Updates 7/28/01]
*5. COLOMBIA: EX-ARMY GENERAL ARRESTED
Colombian retired army general Rito Alejo del Rio was arrested on
July 23 in Bogota on charges that he sponsored rightwing
paramilitary death squads from 1995 to 1997, while serving as
commander of the army's 17th Brigade, based in the northwestern
department of Antioquia. Del Rio was forced into early retirement
amid human rights accusations in April 1999 [see Update #480].
According to Robin Kirk of Human Rights Watch, "an abundance of
information" links Del Rio to paramilitary activities. Troops
under his command actively aided the paramilitaries by providing
intelligence information or by setting up roadblocks during
massacres to prevent the entry of anyone who could stop the
killing, according to Kirk. She also said paramilitary forces
based in Antioquia and neighboring Cordoba department under the
command of leader Carlos Castano began expanding nationwide
during Del Rio's tenure in the area.
Coming a day before the US Congress was set to vote on a new
military aid package for Colombia, Del Rio's arrest was clearly
timed to make it appear that the government is severing its
longstanding ties to notorious human rights violators. Cracking
down on army officers who work with the paramilitaries is one of
several conditions governing current US aid to Colombia's
security forces. [AP 7/23/01; Los Angeles Times 7/24/01] Del Rio
took a Cadet Orientation Course from the US Army School of the
Americas (SOA) in 1967, when the school was based in Panama. [SOA
Watch website, http://www.soaw.org]
*6. COLOMBIA: US HOUSE APPROVES MILITARY AID
On July 24, the US House of Representatives voted 381 to 46 to
approve a $15.2 billion foreign aid bill that includes the Andean
Regional Initiative (ARI, also known as the Andean Counter-drug
Initiative), a package of $676 million in mostly military aid for
Colombia and its neighboring countries. The bill has now gone to
the Senate for consideration. In addition to the ARI, the bill
includes $2.7 billion in military and economic assistance for
Israel, $2 billion for Egypt, $768 million for the states of the
former Soviet Union and $600 million for Southeast Asia and the
Balkans. The deal was sweetened for Democrats with the inclusion
of $474 million for AIDS programs and $425 million for
reproductive health assistance.
The House defeated, in a 240-188 vote, an amendment by Rep.
Barbara Lee (D-CA) that would have shifted $60 million from the
ARI and military assistance programs to a World Bank trust fund
to fight AIDS. The House voted 249-179 against an amendment by
Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) that would have cut the aid to
Colombia by $100 million, with half that money going into
tuberculosis programs and the other half into child survival
programs. McGovern said his goal was to alert the Colombian armed
forces that patience is running out with individual officers
accused of working with rightwing paramilitary groups which
massacre civilians.
The House approved by voice vote an amendment by Rep. John
Conyers (D-MI) which caps at 500 the number of US military
personnel in Colombia, and limits the number of US civilian
contractors who can operate there to 300. President George W.
Bush had sought to eliminate the cap on civilian contractors. The
contractors, many of them retired US military personnel, are
involved in many of the ongoing US operations in Colombia,
including piloting the planes that spray herbicides over drug
crops. After listening to fumigation supporters in a debate over
the spraying program, Conyers withdrew an amendment that would
have halted the program, which has been criticized as harmful to
local residents and the environment.
Rep. David Obey (D-WI) blasted Congress for failing to adequately
debate the Colombia aid issue. "The Congress ought to have a
full-blown, detailed briefing on this issue," Obey said. "The
leadership of both parties has been disgracefully negligent to
allow us to drift into this war without any real thought about
what the outcome is going to be." Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) also
expressed concern: "I think there's a great deal of uncertainty
over how this program is working," he said. Hoekstra introduced
an amendment--which was approved by voice vote--to hold up $65
million in aid to Peru until the Bush administration certifies
Peru has acted to prevent the shooting down of civilian planes.
Last April a Peruvian Air Force plane opened fire on a plane
mistakenly believed to be carrying drugs, killing a US missionary
and her infant daughter [see Updates #586, 591].
Congress approved $1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia
last year, in a bill promoted by then-president Bill Clinton, a
Democrat [see Updates #543-546]. Much of that funding has yet to
be disbursed, but the new initiative is to ensure that financing
"continues in 2002 for both a military component and social
programs that include alternative development for coca farmers
forced out of work by aerial eradication," according to the Miami
Herald. [AP 7/25/01; Reuters 7/25/01; Washington Post 7/25/01; MH
7/25/01]
*7. COLOMBIA: JUDGE ORDERS HALT TO SPRAYING
On July 27, Colombian circuit judge Gilberto Reyes Delgado
ordered the "immediate suspension" of all aerial spraying of
herbicides over the countryside in Colombia while he decides on a
legal complaint filed July 18 by the Colombian human rights group
Minga, acting on behalf of 62 indigenous communities in the
country's southern Amazon region. Minga lawyers argued that the
government had violated the law by going ahead with the
fumigation program without prior public consultation. Under the
Colombia's 1991 Constitution, a consultation process is required
before implementing any project that could affect the country's
indigenous communities. The complaint also argued that the
spraying should be suspended until a proper study is completed
into its effects on humans and wildlife.
A legal ruling is expected during the week of July 30 after Judge
Reyes hears arguments from the government. If the judge rules
against continued spraying, the government will almost certainly
appeal the decision. [St. Petersburg Times (Florida) 7/28/01]
The US-sponsored fumigation program, which targets coca and poppy
fields as part of an anti-drug strategy, has come under increased
scrutiny in recent weeks. On July 24, Klaus Nyholm, director of
United Nations (UN) counternarcotics programs in Colombia, called
for international monitoring of the spraying to examine the
affected areas and the mix of chemicals being used. Nyholm said
the UN has collected ample evidence that herbicides are being
forcibly sprayed on the food crops of subsistence farmers. [AFP
7/24/01; AP 7/24/01]
Meanwhile, a group of 20 US activists followed up a July 8-17
visit to Colombia with a July 18 vigil at the site of the US
military's training school for Latin American officers in Fort
Benning, Georgia, to protest the fumigation program and US
military aid and intervention in general. Eleven of the activists
were arrested after crossing onto the grounds of the former
School of the Americas (SOA), now renamed as the Western
Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation (WHISC). During
their trip to Colombia, the activists witnessed the effects of
the spraying and spoke with local residents who had been affected
by it. [SOA Watch Press Release 7/18/01]
*8. PERU: NEW PRESIDENT INAUGURATED
Alejandro Toledo Manrique was inaugurated on July 28 to a five-
year term as Peru's new president. Toledo was sworn in by the new
Congress, whose 120 members were seated on July 23. In his
inaugural speech, Toledo addressed the 12 heads of state from
South American nations and Panama who were present at the
ceremony, urging them to back "an immediate freeze on arms
purchases in the region." [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 7/24/01,
7/29/01 from EFE; CNN en Espanol 7/28/01]
On July 26, Toledo revealed the names of his cabinet members,
headed by lawyer Roberto Danino as prime minister (chief of the
cabinet). Danino lives in Washington, where he works for the
influential law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, and is a member
of several corporate and organizational boards of directors,
including Coca Cola, the Americas Society, the Mountain Institute
and the Carnegie Endowment. As economy minister, Toledo confirmed
his choice of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a Miami resident and former
president of First Boston International [see Update #593].
Kuczynski is president of the Latin American Enterprise Fund and
a member of the board of directors of the ROC Taiwan Fund, among
other institutions. First vice president Raul Diez Canseco,
elected on the ticket with Toledo, will also serve as minister of
industry. The presidency minister will be economist Carlos Bruce.
To serve as defense minister, Toledo chose legislator David
Waisman, a civilian who headed congressional investigations into
wrongdoing by former president Alberto Fujimori and his spy
chief, Vladimiro Montesinos Torres. Prominent political
commentator and analyst Fernando Rospigliosi, another civilian,
will head the interior ministry. As foreign minister, Toledo
selected lawyer Diego Garcia Sayan, who served as justice
minister during the transition government that called new
elections following Fujimori's ouster last fall. Fernando
Olivera, leader of the Independent Moralizing Front (FIM) party,
will be the new justice minister. [CNN en Espanol 7/27/01]
On July 25, Peruvian police arrested former attorney general
Blanca Nelida Colan on charges that she covered up a corruption
network. The same day, police arrested Jose Portillo, former
chief of the electoral institute, and three other people for
alleged participation in the falsifying of signatures that
allowed Fujimori to run for a third consecutive term. [CNN en
Espanol 7/26/01 with info from Reuters, AP]
*9. PANAMA: YOUTH PROTEST AT US EMBASSY
Young people participating in the 2nd World Youth Festival
demonstrated in front of the US Embassy in Panama City on July 26
to protest the presence of representatives from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) in the country. The young people blocked
traffic on Avenida Balboa while shouting slogans against IMF
policies. Several demonstrators scaled the embassy fence to hang
protest banners as police watched. No arrests or other incidents
were reported.
Later the same day, students and youth from the festival joined
activists from the National Confederation of Trade Union Unity
(CONUSI) at a separate demonstration at the US embassy, where
they protested plans for the hemispheric trade initiative known
as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA, or ALCA in
Spanish). This time riot police prevented demonstrators from
hanging banners on the embassy fence. Police reported no violence
or arrests. [La Prensa (Panama) 7/27/01]
The World Youth Festival took place July 21-28 at the now-
abandoned former Howard US Air Force Base in Panama, with the
participation of some 8,000 young people from around the world.
Several columnists in the daily La Prensa complained that many of
the participants seemed more interested in partying than
attending workshops or events focused on social issues. [LP
7/24/01, 7/25/01, 7/29/01] Six Costa Rican participants went to
the Grassroots Human Rights Coordinating Committee on July 24 to
charge that the festival was badly organized, that organizers had
sought to avoid debate on political issues and that police
harassed some of the female participants at the festival. The six
also complained that the Panamanian government had denied entry
to a group of Cuban delegates. [LP 7/25/01]
[.....]
=======================================================================
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