From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subj: COLOMBIA: Weekly News Update #585, 4/15/01
Date: 4/16/01 8:29:36 AM Mountain Daylight Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Colombian Labor Monitor)
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #585, APRIL 15, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <wnu(a)igc.org>
[.....]
4. Colombia: US Plans New Regional "Aid"
5. Colombia: Rightists Attack Peace Zone
6. Colombia: Indigenous Under Attack
[.....]
[.....]
*4. COLOMBIA: US PLANS NEW REGIONAL "AID"
On Apr. 9, the administration of US president George W. Bush
unveiled its 2002 budget proposal, which includes $731 million
for the "war on drugs" in the Andean region. "Some 50% of these
new combined funds will go to Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and
neighboring countries to maintain and continue their success in
the eradication of illegal drug crops and to avert the
overflowing of violence and drug trafficking from Colombia,"
according to the text of the proposal. The document stipulates
that half of the resources are to go to alternative development,
the defense of human rights, aid for displaced communities and
the reform of judicial and democratic institutions, according to
Reuters. The Bush administration has ordered the State Department
to oversee reducing coca cultivation by 30% in Colombia;
eliminating it completely in Bolivia; and negotiating new
eradication goals for coca and poppy cultivation in Peru, after
the new government there takes office in July. [El Nuevo Herald
4/10/01 from Reuters, quotes retranslated from Spanish]
*5. COLOMBIA: RIGHTISTS ATTACK PEACE ZONE
Army-backed rightwing paramilitaries are waging an offensive in
the southern area of Bolivar department, in northern Colombia,
apparently aimed at blocking peace talks between the government
and the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN). A round of
dialogue was scheduled to begin on Apr. 12 in a special 1,900
square-mile "safe haven" made up of two rural municipalities--
Cantagallo and San Pablo--from which the army has withdrawn. The
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) has fiercely opposed
the army's withdrawal from the zone, and has sponsored protests
by local residents, under the auspices of the organizations "No
al Despeje" (No to the Withdrawal) and the Civilian Association
for Peace (Asocipaz) [see Updates #576, 578].
More than 1,000 paramilitaries have stormed ELN-dominated towns
and villages in Bolivar, burning homes and halting the flow of
food and medical supplies. The ELN said the offensive started on
Apr. 2, a day after they resumed peace talks with the government.
The offensive prompted ELN commanders to stay away from the Apr.
12 session.
ELN commander "Pablo Beltran" said his group had joined forces
temporarily in Bolivar with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) in order to fight the AUC, according to a report
in the Bogota daily El Tiempo on Apr. 10. Some 800 AUC members
attacked rebel positions in the area on Apr. 10; at least seven
rebels and four paramilitaries were killed. On Apr. 9 or 10,
rebels blew up a truck full of paramilitaries, killing 14 of
them.
In a letter posted on Apr. 12 on the AUC's internet site, AUC
chief Carlos Castano said that in attacking the ELN bases in the
area, his fighters were only "trying to do what the army has been
prevented from doing." [Associated Press 4/7/01, 4/10/01; Agence
France Presse 4/11/01; EFE 4/10/01; Reuters 4/10/01]
Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said on Apr. 10 that the
AUC has threatened to kill government peace negotiator Camilo
Gomez. Castano acknowledged on Apr. 10 that he had intended to
abduct Gomez to lecture him, but did not say he planned to kill
him. [AFP 4/11/01; AP 4/10/01]
Also on Apr. 10, unknown assailants killed Eliecer Sarmiento
Fuentes, a San Pablo resident and member of the group "No al
Despeje". An unidentified opponent of the demilitarized zone was
reportedly also killed. Pedro Castellanos, president of Asocipaz
in San Pablo, charged that there is an assassination plan against
leaders of the anti-withdrawal movement. [EFE 4/10/01; El Tiempo
4/12/01]
*6. COLOMBIA: INDIGENOUS UNDER ATTACK
The Sixth Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) is allegedly threatening the traditional leadership of the
Regional Indigenous Organization of Cauca (CRIC) in southern
Colombia. In written documents placed in public spaces, the FARC
has identified the traditional leaders of the Toribio and San
Francisco communities as "military targets," falsely claiming
that they are allied with paramilitaries because the CRIC has
refused to allow any armed groups into its territories. In two
unsuccessful attempts on Apr. 1 and 6, the FARC's Sixth Front
tried to assassinate Cristobal Secue Tombe, respected elder and
grandfather of Cauca's indigenous movement.
The Canada-Colombia Solidarity Campaign is urging people to write
to the FARC, demanding that they respect indigenous territories
and autonomy and stop falsely identifying indigenous leaders as
paramilitaries. The FARC can be contacted via email at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[Canadian Colombian Association Urgent Action 4/7/01]
On Apr. 10 the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of
Colombia (AUC) attacked the indigenous and campesino communities
of La Paela, El Ceral, and Alta Naya, in Cauca department,
leaving at least 25 people dead or missing and forcing some 7,000
to flee their homes. [Agencia Informativa Pulsar 4/12/01; AFP
4/14/01; AP 4/14/01]
[.....]
=======================================================================
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
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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