From: Pakito Arriaran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 09:24:46 -0500
Subject: Weekly News Update on Colombia #604, 8/26/01
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #604, AUGUST 26, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*7. COLOMBIA: INDIGENOUS MARCH IN CAUCA
On Aug. 20, some 17,000 indigenous Colombians and their
supporters marched in a "Minga for Life and Against Violence"
from Toez--site of the "Dignity in Resistance" Congress of the
Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca (CRIC)--to the central park
in Santander de Quilichao, capital of Cauca department. ["Minga"
is a word used to describe collective action.] The Dignity in
Resistance Congress was convened by the indigenous authorities of
Cauca to address the increasing violence and displacement faced
by indigenous communities in the region. Participants included
international delegations from Canada, the US, Spain, and other
countries. At the park in Santander de Quilichao, the marchers
gathered to listen to the final declaration of the CRIC congress,
which rejects abuses by all armed groups against indigenous
communities, and reiterates the CRIC's commitment--together with
other grassroots movements and organizations in Colombia--to
autonomy, peace and social justice. The indigenous communities
have established an unarmed "civilian guard" of community members
to protect them. [Canada Colombia Minga Update 8/20/01]
*8. COLOMBIA: PEACE COMMUNITIES FACE THREATS
On Aug. 2, some 100-200 rightwing paramilitaries reportedly
entered the rural village of Bocas de Curbarado in Choco
department, part of the Peace Community of Natividad de Maria.
("Peace Communities" have chosen to reject and nonviolently
resist the presence of all armed groups in their communities.)
The paramilitaries rounded up the residents, accused them of
being guerrilla sympathizers and threatened to kill them.
A day later, Aug. 3, police retrieved a mutilated body from the
Atrato river, which marks part of the border between Choco and
Antioquia departments; the body is believed to be that of local
campesino Orfides Flores, who disappeared on Aug. 1 after going
to gather food for his family. On July 14, paramilitaries from
the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) had threatened
members of the peace community and of the local non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) who work with them.
Residents of the Peace Community of La Union in Apartado
municipality, Antioquia department, who were forcibly displaced
by paramilitaries on July 30 [see Update #602], are now planning
to return to their homes on Aug. 23.
Amnesty International (AI) is urging messages to President Andres
Pastrana (fax # +571-286-7434, 284-2186, 337-1351), expressing
concern for the safety of residents in Natividad de Maria and
other Peace Communities in Choco, and of the families returning
to La Union. Messages should urge authorities to take all
measures deemed appropriate by the communities themselves to
guarantee their safety; and should call for investigations into
paramilitary attacks and threats, and particularly into links
between the army's XVII Brigade and paramilitary groups active in
the region. [AI Urgent Action Appeal Update 8/21/01]
*9. COLOMBIA: ARMY ATTACKS AS US PLANS VISIT
The US-backed Colombian military launched a major air and land
offensive in southeastern Colombia on Aug. 17 against the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in an effort to
show that US aid and training has boosted its effectiveness
against the rebels. On Aug. 22, the army used a US Blackhawk
helicopter to retrieve bodies of some of the dozens of rebels
reportedly killed in combat, in an apparent effort to prove their
claims of heavy rebel casualties. [Miami Herald 8/23/01, 8/24/01
from AP]
On Aug. 25, FARC representatives told members of a civilian
commission that makes recommendations to government peace
negotiators that the offensive is an escalation of the conflict,
but denied the military's claim that 100 rebels had been killed.
The FARC said five of its fighters had been killed, among them
the leader "Urias Cuellar." [El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 8/26/01 from
AFP]
The army launched a simultaneous offensive in northern Colombia
against the country's second-largest leftist rebel group, the
National Liberation Army (ELN), which has stepped up its actions
since the government broke off peace negotiations on Aug. 6. [ENH
8/24/01 from AFP]
The latest offensives come as Colombia prepares for a three-day
visit, beginning on Aug. 29, of a high-level US delegation led by
Marc Grossman, under-secretary of state for political affairs and
the highest level US official to visit Colombia since President
George W. Bush took office in January of this year. The
delegation will also include senior officials from the Justice
Department, the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the
White House drug czar's office, State Department spokesperson
Philip Reeker announced. The delegation is expected to raise
concerns with Colombian president Andres Pastrana Arango about
the FARC's alleged abuse of its safe haven in southern Colombia,
under FARC control since late 1998. Secretary of State Colin
Powell also may stop in Colombia either before or after a trip to
Peru, Sept. 10-11, said a State Department official, speaking on
condition of anonymity. [Miami Herald 8/23/01, 8/24/01 from AP]
*10. ARGENTINA: US LEADS WAR GAMES
Some 1,500 troops from the US and eight South American countries
were scheduled to participate in military exercises in
Argentina's northwestern Salta province between Aug. 17 and Sept.
16. The exercises, code-named "Cabanas 2001," are to include 700
soldiers from Argentina; 200 from the US; 45 each from Brazil,
Chile, Peru and Uruguay; and 40 each from Bolivia, Ecuador and
Paraguay. Venezuela and Mexico are sending observers. As of Aug.
19 the exercises had apparently not begun. Argentine
investigative journalist Stella Calloni reported in the Mexican
daily La Jornada that the participating troops started arriving
on Aug. 15, even though Argentina's Congress had not yet given
its authorization, as required by the Constitution.
The operation is part of a series of exercises that began with
"Cabanas 2000," held in Cordoba province last September. Experts
say the exercises are linked to the US-sponsored Plan Colombia
and to US strategies for "low-intensity warfare" in South
America. According to the government's June 20 request for
congressional authorization, "the exercise will develop the tasks
that take place during a UN [United Nations] peacekeeping
operation. The purpose is to sharpen the training of the region's
armed forces in a battlefield composed of civilians, non-
governmental organizations and potential aggressors."
Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky connects "Cabanas 2001" to
a report by Brig. Gen. Juan Carlos Mugnolo, "Threats to the
Argentine Republic." The report, which Verbitsky first reported
on in February of this year, discusses a hypothetical support by
the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for
undefined "violent groups" in Argentina, analyzes environmental
and human rights groups, considers possible Argentine military
participation in the conflict in Colombia and touches on such
subjects as immigration, the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers
Movement (MST), Paraguay's homeless movement, and money
laundering.
Salta province shares borders with Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile.
Two Argentine piqueteros (protesters) were killed there by
federal border police (Gendarmeria Nacional) on June 17 [see
Update #595]. [LJ 8/20/01; Verbitsky article from Comunistes de
Catalunya, email received 8/21/01]
US Marines participated in a joint exercise with Argentine naval
forces in the northeastern province of Entre Rios Aug. 9-15.
According to military sources, some 70 soldiers each took part
from the US and Argentina; local residents say 450 soldiers
participated, with helicopters, various military vehicles and
three ships. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 8/25/01]
=======================================================================
Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY
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