From: Red Palante! <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 00:18:45 -0500
Subject: Weekly News Update on Colombia #617, 11/25/01
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #617, NOVEMBER 25, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*6. COLOMBIA: GOVERNMENT, ELN RESUME TALKS
The Colombian government and the leftist National Liberation Army
(ELN) agreed on Nov. 24 to formally resume peace talks, including
ceasefire negotiations set for Dec. 12. Colombian Peace
Commissioner Camilo Gomez and representatives of the ELN signed
an "Accord for Colombia" in Havana, Cuba, in the presence of
diplomats from Cuba, Spain, France, Norway and Switzerland,
according to the official news agency Ancol. The new accord also
lays down a plan of action through the end of Pastrana's term of
office on Aug. 7, 2002, Ancol reports.
President Andres Pastrana had halted peace talks with the ELN,
Colombia's second largest guerrilla group, on Aug. 6; the talks
had stalled over a rebel demand for a demilitarized zone in
northern Colombia which would serve as a base for formal
negotiations--a condition violently opposed by the rightwing
paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). [AFP
11/25/01]
On Nov. 18, as the government began meeting with the ELN in Cuba,
the AUC kidnapped six mayors of municipalities in Antioquia
department. The six were part of a group of 23 Antioquia mayors
who had been actively engaged in a dialogue with the ELN toward
reducing violence in the region--specifically, they had discussed
a proposal to move police stations to the outskirts of urban
centers in exchange for an end to rebel attacks on the towns. The
AUC released the six mayors on Nov. 20 after apparently warning
them to stop contacts with the ELN "bandits." The mayors issued a
communique on their release, emphasizing that they will continue
to work for peace, but that conditions do not exist to allow the
continuation of direct contacts with illegal armed groups
operating in the region. [El Nuevo Herald 11/20/01, 11/21/01 from
AP; El Colombiano (Medellin) 11/21/01]
*7. COLOMBIA: MORE PARAMILITARY MASSACRES
On Nov. 18 five hooded individuals in civilian clothes massacred
13 Colombian indigenous people and campesinos who were traveling
along a highway through the community of Gualanday, Corinto
municipality, Cauca department. The killers pulled their victims
from buses and other vehicles and murdered them on the highway,
at a site where a military checkpoint was located shortly before
the killings. The presumed paramilitaries then left the scene on
motorcycles.
Most of the victims were Paez indigenous people; two were minors-
-15 and 16 years old--and members of the indigenous guard, a
group set up by Paez communities to defend themselves against
armed violence. [The indigenous guard members are armed only with
staffs--see Update #616.]
Police say the massacre was carried out by the United Self-
Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), although the Miami Spanish-
language daily El Nuevo Herald cites investigators saying that
the AUC has denied the charge, and that other evidence suggests
the group may not have been responsible. The killers used
automatic pistols and revolvers, and bore no AUC insignia (AUC
members often wear armbands identifying them as such). [ENH
11/20/01; EFE 11/19/01; Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia
(ANNCOL) 11/20/01 via colombia.indymedia.org; El Pais (Cali)
11/20/01]
Also on Nov. 18, presumed AUC members murdered three campesinos
in the village of Aranzazu, in Caldas department. On Nov. 17,
presumed AUC members massacred six campesinos in San Rafael
municipality, Antioquia department. A week earlier, Nov. 11, AUC
members massacred at least 12 campesinos in the rural village of
El Choco in Cocorna municipality, and at least three more in San
Carlos municipality, both in the southeast of Antioquia, where
the AUC has been waging an ongoing massacre campaign since March
[see Update #583]. [ENH 11/19/01 from AFP; EFE 11/11/01]
*8. COLOMBIA: MUDSLIDE KILLS GOLD MINERS
On Nov. 22, heavy rains caused a mudslide that collapsed part of
a condemned strip mine in the Colombian municipality of
Filadelfia, Caldas department, killing dozens of freelance gold
prospectors. A second avalanche buried others who were trying to
rescue the victims of the first collapse. The victims had
resorted to illegal mining in order to feed their families,
despite government warnings that erosion had made the mine
unsafe. By the evening of Nov. 23, authorities had recovered more
than 43 bodies. Dozens of others remain missing, and the death
toll may reach 80. [CNN en Espanol 11/23/01 with info from
Reuters, AP; AP 11/23/01; Miami Herald 11/24/01 from AP]
=======================================================================
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
http://home.earthlink.net/~nicadlw/wnuhome.html * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Resistencia Cultural
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