From: Red Palante! <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 02:31:56 -0500
Subject: Weekly News Update on Colombia #621, 12/23/01
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #621, DECEMBER 23, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*6. COLOMBIA: ANOTHER UNION LEADER KILLED
On Dec. 16, paramilitaries from the United Self-Defense Forces of
Colombia (AUC) forced the board of directors of the Andes local
section of the Antioquia Municipal Government Workers Union
(SINTRAOFAN, an affiliate of the Unitary Workers Federation, CUT)
to come to a site known as Farallones de Bolivar, located on the
road that leads from Andes municipality to Bolivar municipality
in Antioquia department. There the paramilitaries shot to death
Francisco Eladio Sierra Vasquez, president of the union local, in
front of his colleagues. The paramilitaries had threatened
members of the union on July 26, 2000, warning that all the
municipal workers must renounce their membership in the union and
give up their collective bargaining agreement or they would be
murdered. On Aug. 13, 2001, the paramilitaries repeated the
warning, setting a new deadline of Aug. 16. [Message from the CUT
Human Rights Department 12/17/01, via Equipo Nizkor]
Correction: Update #619 incorrectly reported that murdered union
leader Aury Sara Marrugo was president of the Bolivar section of
the United Union of Workers (USO). He was president of the
Cartagena section. Cartagena is the capital of Bolivar
department.
*7. COLOMBIA: US CONDITIONS NEW AID
On Dec. 19, the US House of Representatives voted 357-66 to
approve a long-delayed $15.3 billion foreign aid spending bill
for 2002 that includes $625 million for President George W.
Bush's "Andean Regional Initiative," a "counter-drug" plan for
Colombia and six neighboring South American countries. The Senate
began debating the measure on Dec. 20, and was expected to
approve it quickly. The Bush administration is also expected to
quickly approve the measure, which reflects a compromise worked
out in conference committee. The Bush administration had
originally requested $713 million for the Andean initiative; the
House cut that figure down to $675 million in the bill it
approved last July 24 [see Updates #598, 600]. On Oct. 24 the
Senate approved its version of the bill, reducing the package to
$547 million [see Update #613].
The compromise measure places a series of human rights conditions
on more than $300 million destined for Colombia. The funds are to
be released gradually, with 40% to be held up pending a report
from the US State Department, certifying improvement in the human
rights situation. Among other things, the US secretary of state
must certify that the commander of the Colombian armed forces is
suspending any troops found violating human rights and is making
them available for prosecution in civilian courts. Another
condition requires the US to deny visas to members of
paramilitary groups and their supporters. In response to concerns
about the health and environmental effects of spraying of the
herbicide glyphosate over large areas of the Colombian
countryside, the new funding package requires the US-sponsored
aerial eradication of drug crops in Colombia to meet the same
health and safety standards that would apply in the US.
"The Congress wants to provide assistance, but not a blank check,
given the history of the Colombian armed forces and the abuses
that have gone on, as well as the failures of the Colombian
judicial system to hold people accountable," said Tim Rieser, an
aide to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who sponsored the language.
During a two-day trip to Colombia on Dec. 17-18, Lorne Craner,
the US assistant secretary of state for human rights, told
President Andres Pastrana, Defense Minister Gustavo Bell and top
military leaders that the Colombian government must sever all
ties with paramilitary groups and must work to improve the
country's human rights situation. Craner said other visiting US
officials and lawmakers have been hammering home the same theme
in recent meetings here with senior Colombian officials. "I think
by now they've gotten the message," Craner told reporters on Dec.
18.
Last year, the administration of then-president Bill Clinton
invoked a waiver for "national security" reasons to bypass
similar human rights conditions included in a $1.3 billion US
funding package for Colombia. Most of that funding has already
been disbursed. Craner said he told Colombian officials that no
such waiver is included in the new package. [New York Times
12/20/01; AP 12/20/01; Reuters 12/19/01; El Pais (Cali) 12/21/01
from EFE]
*8. COLOMBIA: PEACE TALKS RESUME
On Dec. 21, the Colombian government announced it was
reestablishing its formal recognition of the leftist National
Liberation Army (ELN) as a political force, and revoking arrest
warrants issued against 10 ELN leaders, as part of the formal
resumption of the peace process. In exchange, the ELN agreed to
extend its unilateral holiday ceasefire, which began at midnight
on Dec. 17, beyond the current deadline of Jan. 6. Contact
between the ELN and the Colombian government broke down in
August, but resumed in November [see Updates #617, 620].
Negotiations on a permanent ceasefire are now scheduled for
January.
Talks with the country's largest leftist rebel group, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), have made no
progress, and the FARC has not declared any truce for the
holidays. [CNN 12/21/01; El Nuevo Herald 12/23/01 from AP; BBC
12/22/01]
=======================================================================
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
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