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Colombia seeks support for paramilitary bill ISN SECURITY WATCH (15/07/05) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is stumping for support from European leaders for his controversial efforts to disarm and demobilize the country's right-wing paramilitaries after decades of conflict and thousands of deaths. Uribe's European trip is a contentious one, as his proposed "Peace and Justice Law" has already come under heavy fire from leading media outlets and human rights groups, who say the legislation is tantamount to granting immunity to mass murderers and terrorists. Last month, Colombian lawmakers ratified the law, which benefits paramilitary leaders who lay down their arms, granting them shorted sentences and in some cases total immunity from prosecution for crimes such as murder and drug trafficking. The law stipulates that paramilitaries must confess their crimes and hand over any assets acquired illegally in order to receive leniency. Uribe is expected to formally approve the bill soon. Both the 13,000-strong right-wing paramilitary group United Self- Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and their leftist opponents use the cocaine trade to fund a war that claims thousands of lives every year. The AUC has also been accused of ordering the deaths of politicians and civilians and is on the US State Department's watchlist of extremist groups. Paramilitary leaders are currently in talks with the government to discuss disarmament. Many of the leaders have informally agreed to hand in their weapons in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Some consider Colombia's accommodation of paramilitaries a blatant case of hypocrisy by the right-wing Uribe, who has made the fight against the country's left-wing rebel groups the top priority of his administration since assuming office in 2002. Earlier this month, The New York Times published a scathing commentary on the Peace and Justice Law, saying it should instead be called the "Impunity for Mass Murderers, Terrorists, and Major Cocaine Traffickers Law". Colombian leaders have been defending the new law almost daily in the media and abroad, hoping to drum up political and financial support for the plan. "I don't consider it a law for impunity," Colombia's High Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said shortly after Colombia's Congress approved it. <h5>Uribe seeks support in Europe</h5> Along with bolstering trade ties with European nations, one of the Colombian president's priorities on his visit is the search for additional funding to pay for both his paramilitary disarmament plans and the continued battle against the Marxist rebels. Colombia has received more than US$3.3 billion in tactical and military support from the US to combat drug trafficking and rebel groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). On Wednesday, Uribe met with Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who appeared to back Colombia's position on the paramilitaries, despite hailing from the opposite end of the political spectrum. Spain's leading newspaper, El Pais, speculated this week that "Zapatero already seems to be convinced that Uribe's plan is in fact the best way to eradicate a paramilitary force." The journal noted that the Spanish prime minister now faced the arduous task of trying to convince the rest of the EU to see things the same way. At home, Uribe already has the support of an overwhelming majority of Colombians, who are weary of decades of fighting and would like to see an end to the war, no matter how it is achieved. "The bottom line in this complex situation is that public opinion in Colombia seems to be substantially in favor of pacification within the framework of Uribe's law," opined El Pais. Uribe would very much like to win British Prime Minister Tony Blair's support, as well as financial backing from London to help implement it. However, international rights groups like Human Rights Watch (HRW) are urging Blair to stand tough and not support the Peace and Justice initiative. "Uribe is about to sign a law that would let Colombia's paramilitaries off the hook for their terrorist acts," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for HRW. "The British government should urge Uribe to scrap this law and replace it with one that allows for a genuine demobilization of these groups," he said. That seems unlikely, considering the US' support for the law. The London terror attacks may also work in Uribe's favor while he appeals for European support to battle rebels at home. Even though Colombia is making strides towards ending paramilitary violence, the nation still faces an ongoing insurgency from leftist rebels, which the State Department and certainly Uribe - whose father was killed by left- wing guerillas in the early 1980s - also consider terrorists. On Thursday, Colombian soldiers killed 15 leftist rebels in a firefight, the largest death toll for the nation's second-largest rebel group in over three years. The troops clashed with the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the southwest province of Valle, a rebel stronghold. Last month, FARC rebels scored a victory against Colombian troops, killing 19 soldiers in a firefight near the Ecuadorian border. Even though Uribe claims the Colombian government is winning its war against the rebels, he did admit that Colombian intelligence failures had been in part responsible for the soldiers' deaths. (By Carmen Gentile in Rio de Janeiro) ________ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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