February
1999February
1999Announcements
A list of new resources including publications and links to the world wide web
PLEASE NOTE: The U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office is currently producing a calendar of events and activities that promote human rights, peace and justice in Colombia. The calendar will be updated and distributed on a monthly basis. Please send me announcements of advocacy activities (letter writing campaigns, demonstrations), educational events (tours, conferences, seminars, forums, etc.), publications (and website activities), ongoing projects (research or otherwise) in the U.S. and Colombia. We would like to include information on the sponsoring org and intended audience, so please include this in the email. The calendar will help many groups in the US and Colombia focus on proactive planning as well as have a betteridea how to coordinate activities. Please title the subject line of the.email "Events for calendar". Thanks for your participation.
This is a historic moment in Colombia. On Thursday, January 7, the Colombian government and the FARC, Colombia's largest guerilla force, entered into preliminary discussions to pave a path for possible peace negotiations. The discussions took place in the Southern region of Colombia in an area demilitarized for the purpose of holding neutral talks. On February 10, Colombian officials entered into secret negotiations with Colombia's second-largest guerilla force, the ELN, in Caracas Venezuela. All sides failed to reach agreement on preliminary agendas, time-lines or locations of future peace talks. Both talks have been suspended until Spring.
At the same time, violence in Colombia has increased dramatically.
An estimated 308,000 people were internally displaced in 1998, up from 250,000 in 1997, bringing to more than one million the number who have fled their homes in the past decade.
In January of this year, following a holiday cease-fire declared by right-wing paramilitary groups, over 140 people were killed throughout the country by these private militias to demonstrate their political power and demand a seat at the negotiating table.
Moreover, violence directed at human rights defenders and non-governmental work has intensified. Just three weeks ago four prominent human rights leaders of a legitimate established NGO were sequestered, two members of another were assassinated and Carlos Castano, the infamous leader of the consolidated Self -Defense Forces of Colombia issued a public threat to all domestic and international human rights and non-governmental organizations including the human rights unit of Colombia's Attorney General's Office. These recent killings bring the total of human rights defenders killed in Colombia since May 1997 to over thirty.
Below, is a timeline of recent events in Colombia focused on peace efforts and increased violence, particularly focused on civilians and human rights defenders.
Phil Chicola, office director, and other US State Department officials from the Office of Andean Affairs, met in secret meetings with senior leaders of the FARC in Costa Rica. Jamie Rubin, US Press Secretary, stated that these meetings did not mark a change in US policy toward Colombia or toward organizations named as terrorist. He insisted that the meetings were meant to show support for peace efforts in Colombia, to emphasize that the U.S. had not changed its views on counter-narcotics efforts and to press them on issues of kidnapped US citizens (but not negotiate with them).
The Marxist-led Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest and most powerful insurgency, took advantage of a cease-fire declared by Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries, the United Self -Defenses of Colombia (AUC), to launch a bloody assault on the mountain stronghold of AUC leader Carlos Castaño. At least 30 people were killed in the raid and Castaño, a fervent anti-Communist, vowed to avenge the attack.
The 18-day Christmas and New Year's truce declared by right-wing paramilitaries ended at midnight.
Opening ceremonies to preliminary peace talks began in San Vicente del Caguan between the FARC and Colombian President Andres Pastrana. Although he was expected, 68-year old Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, head of the FARC was absent at the talks. The FARC has since announced that security threats to Marulanda, including a possible assassination plot by other FARC guerillas to kill both Pastrana and Marulanda prevented his appearance.
Following the end of the paramilitary truce, the paramilitary alliance United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), began assaults in northern provinces of Antioquia and Cesar, killing 140 people over a number of days.
FARC leader Manuel Marulanda appears at preliminary peace talks and reportedly speaks to delegations from Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua and other countries, stressing his desire for peace.
FARC leaders invited U.S. Officials to witness first-hand that rebels are not narco-guerillas. FARC leader Jorge Briceno insisted that the Colombian government has manipulated the US government into believing rebels are entrenched in narco-trafficking in order to obtain military assistance to fight the counter-insurgency war.
Alleged members of right-wing paramilitary groups, specifically the AUC (United Self Defense Forces of Colombia) massacred 27 people, including children, in Playon de Orozco, a village in the Magdalena province. Police and military spokesman said that at least 70 armed actors entered the village and singled out people attending a baptismal mass in a local church, took them outside and killed them.
In San Pablo, an area in the Bolivar province, 14 people were killed, including women. Armed actors took the victims from their homes and a pool hall before dawn, accused them of supporting guerillas or informing for guerillas and shot them execution-style in the street.
Early Sunday morning, police reported that eight people were shot by the paramilitary in Toluviejo, a remote northern town in Sucre.
President Andres Pastrana threatened to break off fledgling peace talks with Colombia's top Marxist guerrilla group if it made good on threats to kidnap leading politicians to press its demands.
Colombia's top Marxist guerrilla group suspended peace talks, less than two weeks after they officially began, and accussed the government of backing the wave of paramilitary violence. The peace talks, which began Jan. 7, were suspended until April 20. Talks on the exchange of imprisoned guerrillas for captured soldiers and policemen (Canje) were put off until April 26.
The worst earthquake to hit Colombia in more than a century strikes Armenia, killing over 878 people and injuring over 3,410. The 6.0 magnitude earthquake devastated entire towns in the coffee-growing region of Colombia.
Four employees of the Instituto Popular de Capacitación (IPC), a leading human rights organization in Medellín, were kidnapped from their office. Two of the employees were released on Tuesday, February 9. The remaining two were released after three weeks in captivity on Thursday, February 18.
Two employees of the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) were pulled from a bus traveling between Medellín and Bogotá and killed by reputed paramilitaries. Over 30 human rights defenders have been killed in Colombia since May 1997 and many more have been threatened and detained.
Carlos Castaño, Colombia's infamous paramilitary leader, took responsibility for the kidnapping of the IPC employees, announcing that they are being held as prisoners of war. In his statement, Castaño issued an unprecedented public collective death-threat by declaring Colombian human rights advocates as military targets.
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori criticized Pastrana's handling of peace negotiations and deployed more troops along their common border. Fujimori declared that Colombia's problems threaten regional stability.
Colombia's second largest guerrilla force, the ELN began secret peace talks with Colombian government officials in Caracas, Venezuela. The talks were focused on negotiating a demilitarized area to hold a National Convention on peace with ELN leaders, the Colombian government and civil society leaders.
In response to the increasing threat to human rights workers and the lack of government guarantees, the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners, closed both its national and regional offices yesterday until the Colombian government provides adequate protection measures. The Committee is a non-governmental human rights organization that has worked for 25 years to provide legal and humanitarian assistance to those detained for political reasons in Colombia.
Prominent US and international human rights, religious, humanitarian and grassroots organizations issued a letter to Colombian President Andres Pastrana to express concern over the growing threat to Colombian human rights defenders and to urge the President to take "quick and decisive action to ensure the safety of the human rights community."
Colombia's second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), suspends secret preliminary peace conversations with the Colombian government held in Venezuela.
Justicia y Paz, one of Colombia's oldest and largest human rights organizations closed offices on February 19 to protest the Colombian State's failure to provide protection/accompaniment for victims and family members of the massacre of Trujillo (1988-1994). It was unclear whether the offices would remain closed for an extended period of time.
By Winifred Tate
Bogota, Colombia
Winifred Tate is a fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America and an anthropology Ph.D. candidate at New York University. Ms. Tate has just returned from a three-week trip to Colombia where she conducted research in Bogota and in the Southern coca-growing region, including parts of the Despeje.
Prospects for peace in Colombia look increasingly bleak. At his August inauguration, President Andres Pastrana promised to make peace his government's top priority. But a paramilitary offensive has driven the nation's human-rights crisis to new heights, and government conversations with the two largest guerrilla armies are foundering. Whether or not negotiations get off the ground, it looks like the hemisphere's most deadly civil conflict will get only worse this year.
The government has agreed to honor until May 7 the demilitarization of a 42,000-square-kilometer zone in the southern jungle region, the site of discussions with the largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Government troops withdrew from the zone last fall as a FARC condition for talks. But the conversations have stalled following a wave of paramilitary violence that claimed more than 150 lives in early January. On April 20, FARC and government representatives are scheduled to discuss government progress against paramilitary groups. On April 26, they are supposed to discuss an exchange of FARC-held soldiers for imprisoned guerrillas.
The only concrete result of conversations to date is a January 25 agreement that reaffirmed each side's commitment to a negotiated settlement. The pact also committed the FARC and the government to work together on pilot programs to address the social and economic roots of illicit crop production. The programs will test FARC support for voluntary eradication programs and the feasibility of developing joint ventures in guerrilla territory.
Efforts to begin a dialogue with the second-largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), have faltered. ELN leaders called discussions "paralyzed" after a February 15 meeting with government representatives in Caracas. The meeting failed to resolve logistical questions surrounding a National Convention, a proposed series of meetings between ELN leaders and civil-society representatives to develop a negotiating platform. The talks stalled when the ELN requested a demilitarization of four municipalities in the northern department of Bolivar.
A complicating factor has been the response to the January 25 earthquake in Colombia's coffee-growing region. Some say the disaster could have drawn the government and guerrillas together. With national and international media distracted, the "he-said-she-said" gossip around peace efforts could have given way to fundamental issues such as land tenure and human rights.
But Pastrana used his visit to the earthquake region as a photo opportunity instead of trying to organize relief programs. In Armenia, the hardest-hit city, the disorganization led to looting and rioting. The government then reverted to its age-old reliance of addressing crises with repression. Reconstruction will require organization and hundreds of millions of dollars, diverting resources and civil-society leadership from peace efforts for years to come.
Even without the earthquake, securing peace would have been, at best, a long and delicate process, given what appears to be a lack of commitment by the crucial interest groups.
The business community's most progressive elements, largely foreign-educated, support the peace process as the "only option" for expanding foreign investment opportunities in Colombia. These proponents include mogul Julio Santodomingo, owner of the Bogota daily El Espectador, the Avianca airline, the Caracol radio and television networks.
But securing concessions from elites will be difficult. A poll of Colombian business leaders published February 7 in the Bogota daily El Tiempo found 84 percent in support of peace efforts but only 24 percent willing to make any economic sacrifice in the process. And, if the talks failed, 65 percent said they would support authoritarian tactics like those of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori.
The role of civil society remains unclear, given the lack of any specific role for civil-society leadership in the FARC conversations and given the recent breakdown in the ELN dialogue. The FARC says it will work with popular groups after it agrees with the government on a negotiations agenda, but it's unclear how popular representatives would be chosen and how they would participate. Within the FARC, according to sources, advocates of a "military line" have been gaining influence and are pressing for a stronger guerrilla presence in the cities.
The Colombian military, for its part, has been increasingly public in its criticism of the peace process. The criticism accompanies intensified paramilitary activity. Carlos Castano, head of the largest paramilitary force, the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia (AUC), declared in a February communique that all non-governmental organizations were "military targets" because of their alleged guerrilla ties. Other targets, he said, included government investigation agencies. On January 28, Castaño's forces kidnapped four human-rights workers from their Medellin office (all four have since been released). On January 30, his people killed two members of the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners as they traveled from Medellin to Bogota.
Pastrana, meanwhile, says he isn't giving up. Government spokespersons in the FARC dialogue lead powerful interest groups: Pastrana's Conservative Party, the Liberal Party opposition, hard-line regional politicians, and the business elite. Pastrana is pushing political and civil-society leaders to sign a "national accord" for peace, and he has reactivated the National Peace Council, a joint government-civil society commission. Even if he rejuvenates popular support for the peace process, maintaining this fragile coalition and guaranteeing the safety of human-rights and peace advocates will remain as much bigger challenges.
This story appears in the March edition of Connection to the Americas, the magazine of the Minneapolis-based Resource Center of the Americas.
"Human Costs of America's Arms Sales," a documentary by the Center for Defense Information.
The United States is still the world's number one arms dealer and most client countries have bad records on human rights. Governments in Indonesia, Colombia, and Turkey rely on U.S. military weaponry rather than genuine political reform to remain in power. If you would like to purchase a copy, please contact: Center for Defense Information 1-800-234-3334.
Discounted Cost $19.00
"Human Costs of America's Arms Sales," a documentary
by the Center for Defense Information.
The United States is still the world's number one arms dealer and
most client countries have bad records on human rights. Governments
in Indonesia, Colombia, and Turkey rely on U.S. military weaponry
rather than genuine political reform to remain in power. If you would
like to purchase a copy, please contact: Center for Defense
Information 1-800-234-3334. Discounted Cost $19.00.
Colombia Update: "Peace Process: Light at the end of the tunnel?" Winter 1999. Publication of the Colombia Human Rights Committee. To receive a copy, please contact Alison Giffen 202-232-8090, agiffen@igc.org.
"Just the Facts: A Summary of a civilian's guide to U.S. military assistance to Latin America," an International Policy Report of the Center for International Policy. To purchase a copy, please contact Adam Isacson, CIP, 202-232-3317, isacson@ciponline.org.
War Without Quarter: Colombia and International Humanitarian Law
Contact: Human Rights Watch, http://www.hrw.org, or HRW 350 Fifth
Avenue 34th Fl., New York, NY 10118-3299
"Forced Displacement in Colombia,"Project Counseling Services.
This report released in May of 1998 paints a full picture of
displacement in Colombia - the history, the current situation and the
impact of violence on various sectors including women and children.
It has very useful charts and maps. Available in English.
Contact: Alison Giffen, U.S. Colombia Coordinating Office tel:
202-232-8090, fax: 202-232-8092 email: agiffen@igc.org
or Project Counseling Services tel: 445-7163 fax: 241-5139 email: pcs@amauta.rcp.net.pe
"Boletin Informativo, Numero 5, Edicion Especial,"
Coordinacion Colombia Europa.
This is the latest update on the activities of the Coordinacion. The
Boletin includes articles on human rights defendors. This issue
focuses on those who have lost their lives.
Contact: Alison Giffen, U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office, tel:
202-232-8090, fax: 202-232-8092 email: agiffen@igc.org
Human Rights Watch has recently updated their web page to include the 1999 country report: www.hrw.org/hrw/worldreport99/americas/colombia.html
For updated information on U.S. security and military assistance to Colombia visit "Just the Facts, a civilian's guide to U.S. defense and security assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean."www.ciponline.org/facts
Alison Giffen
Director
U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
Phone: 202-232-8090
Fax: 202-232-8092
Suite 200 1630 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington D.C. 20009
agiffen@igc.org
