From: Red Palante <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 12:37:21 -0500
Subject: Weekly News Update on Colombia #611, 10/14/01
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #611, OCTOBER 14, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*3. COLOMBIA: DRUMMOND UNION LEADER KILLED
On Oct. 6 in La Jagua de Ibirico municipality, in the northern
Colombian department of Cesar, paramilitaries murdered Gustavo
Soler Mora, president of the union representing Colombian workers
at a coal mine owned by US-based multinational Drummond Ltd.
Soler was also on the national board of the Unitary Workers
Central (CUT) labor federation.
Soler had worked at Drummond for seven years, and had previously
served as president of the Drummond workers' union from 1996-
1998. He was again elected president of the union after president
Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and vice president Victor Hugo Orcasita
were murdered on Mar. 12 of this year [see Update #581]. Drummond
worker and union activist Candido Jose Mendez was murdered on
Feb. 28 of this year; Manuel Enrique Charris, another Drummond
worker who was active in the union, was murdered in Soledad
municipality (Atlantico department) on June 11.
In response to the latest murder, some 1,000 Drummond workers
shut down the mine with an open-ended strike on Oct. 8.
Sintramienergetica, the national union representing mine and
energy workers, says the government has denied or ignored
numerous requests for protection for threatened unionists.
[Vientos del Sur (VISUR) 10/9/01 from colombia.indymedia; El
Tiempo (Bogota) 10/8/01]
*4. COLOMBIA: ANOTHER CONGRESSPERSON MURDERED
Colombian congressperson Luis Alfredo Colmenares Chia was
assassinated on Oct. 8 by a hired killer in the street in the
northern Bogota neighborhood of Santa Barbara. Colmenares, of the
Liberal Party, was a former governor of Arauca department who was
elected in 1998 to represent Arauca in the House of
Representatives. Several months before his death, he had ceded
his post to his alternate. [La Republica (Lima) 10/9/01 from EFE]
Interior Minister Armando Estrada said the murder appeared to be
arranged by paramiltary groups. [Hoy (NY) 10/11/01 from AP]
Colmenares' murder came less than a week after Octavio Sarmiento,
another congressperson from Arauca, was murdered by presumed
paramilitaries [see Update #610].
On Oct. 11, paramilitaries murdered student leader and peace
activist Camilo Zuluaga on the road between Dolores and Prado in
Tolima department, in central Colombia. Zuluaga was active in
human rights issues and was the leader of the National Assembly
of Youth for Peace. [Communique from Asamblea Permanente de la
Sociedad Civil por la Paz, Equipo de Comunicaciones 10/12/01]
On Oct. 10, paramilitaries entered the southern demilitarized
zone controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) to murder taxi driver Lelo Celis. Celis was popular among
journalists in San Vicente del Caguan because the FARC allowed
him to move easily throughout the zone. Knowing he was a target
of paramilitaries, he never left the demilitarized zone. His body
was found with a bullet in the head on the road between San
Vicente and Puerto Rico, in Caqueta department, just three
kilometers from the army checkpoint that marks the entry point
into the FARC-controlled area. Residents of San Vicente now fear
further killings; they say paramilitaries have been setting up
checkpoints near Puerto Rico. Students who live in San Vicente
and study in Florencia have reportedly stopped traveling for fear
of being murdered. [Vientos del Sur (VISUR) 10/11/01]
*5. COLOMBIA: DEATH SQUADS KILL 66 IN A WEEK
Suspected paramilitaries killed at least 66 people between Oct. 7
and 13 in massacres across Colombia. On Oct. 7 paramilitaries
abducted 14 fisherpeople from the villages of Tasajera,
Puebloviejo and Cienaga La Aguja in the Cienaga Grande de Santa
Marta area of Magdalena department. Ten of the victims were later
found dead; four others were released unharmed. Residents of
Tasajeras responded to the massacre with a protest that blocked
traffic on the local highway. In Samaniego municipality, Narino
department, suspected paramilitaries killed at least 10
campesinos between Oct. 8 and 11. On Oct. 9, paramilitaries
murdered four members of a single family, including a 17-year old
boy, in the village of Aguas Claras, El Carmen de Viboral
municipality, in the eastern area of Antioquia department.
On Oct. 10, paramilitaries murdered at least 30 people--including
four minors--in a single massacre across the villages of Alaska,
La Habana, and Tres Esquinas in Buga municipality, Valle del
Cauca department. Valle police commander Javier Dario Pareja
confirmed that the massacre was carried out by the Calima Bloc of
the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). [El Tiempo
(Bogota) 10/12/01; Equipo Nizkor/Derechos Human Rights/Serpaj
Europa Solidaridad Urgente 10/11/01 from El Pais (Cali), El
Heraldo (Barranquilla)]
Defender of the People Eduardo Cifuentes Munoz called for an
investigation into possible negligence by the commanders of the
Colombian Army's Palace Battalion, based in Buga just a half hour
from the massacre site. Cifuentes noted that state security
agents are supposed to protect the lives of all citizens; he
questioned how a massacre could have taken place so close to an
army base. Army commander Gen. Fernando Tapias blasted Cifuentes
for making accusations without first verifying the facts. "I know
that since the first moment when the massacre took place the
troops of the Palace battalion were in pursuit of these
terrorists," said Tapias, referring to the paramilitaries. [ET
10/12/01]
On the night of Oct. 10, suspected paramilitaries murdered Luis
Elias Marin Pena, mayor of the municipality of Cartagena del
Chaira in Caqueta department, together with his driver and three
other people traveling in the car with them. The AUC is
considered responsible for the massacre, which took place near
the municipality of Montanitas, in Caqueta. [El Nuevo Herald
10/12/01 from AP; ET 10/12/01]
On Oct. 12 or 13, AUC commandos massacred five men and two women
in a remote zone of the area known as Baja Bota Caucana, in Cauca
department, according to a communique from Cauca governor Floro
Tunubala. [Hoy (NY) 10/14/01 from AP]
Analysts consulted by the Bogota daily El Tiempo suggested that
the latest wave of massacres is a reaction by the AUC to the
accord signed on Oct. 5 between the government and the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) concerning talks
for a possible ceasefire. "It's a reaction to begin to break any
possibility of a truce and ceasefire," suggested Leon Valencia, a
demobilized former rebel from the Socialist Renewal Current
(CRS). [ET 10/12/01] On Oct. 7, President Andres Pastrana
announced the extension until Jan. 20 of the authorization
allowing a safe zone for peace talks where security is basically
under the control of the FARC. [Hoy 10/9/01]
On Oct. 4, paramilitaries from the AUC abducted nearly 50 people,
including entire families with small children in the village of
Puerto Lajas, El Tarra municipality, Norte de Santander
department. Some of the victims were later released, while others
were executed, dismembered and thrown into the Catatumbo river;
many remained missing as of Oct. 9. On Sept. 25, paramilitaries
abducted nearly 100 coca leaf collectors in another rural area of
Catatumbo and forced them to work on the AUC's coca crops.
Letters urging that the government dismantle paramilitary groups
and protect civilians can be sent to President Andres Pastrana
Arango at fax #571-566-2071. US residents can also call their
Congress members to urge them to halt all military aid to
Colombia. [AI Alert 10/9/01]
*6. COLOMBIA: FARC RELEASE KIDNAPPED GERMANS
On Oct. 11, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
released German citizens Ulrich Kuenzel and Reiner Bruchman, who
had been kidnapped on July 18 by the FARC's Sixth Front [see
Update #599]. The two, both employees of the German aid
organization GTZ, were released to a delegation of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR) in Cauca
department. Thomas Kuenzel, another GTZ employee and the brother
of Ulrich, had been kidnapped with the others but escaped to
safety (or was released) on Sept. 23. [El Tiempo (Bogota)
10/12/01]
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