June
1999June
1999Announcements
Summary of developments in the Colombian conflict, including the U.S. role
Timeline of recent developments in U.S.-Colombia relations
Analysis - A report from the Center for International Policy on its U.S. Congressional Delegation to examine rights and peace in Colombia
A list of new resources including new links to the world wide web
PLEASE NOTE: The U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office is currently producing a calendar of events and activities to promote human rights, peace and justice in Colombia. The calendar will be updated and distributed on a bi-monthly basis. Please send me announcements of advocacy activities (letter writing campaigns, demonstrations), educational events (tours, conferences, seminars, forums, etc.), publications (including website activities), ongoing projects (research and other) in the United States and Colombia. We would like to include information on the sponsoring organization and intended audience, so please include this in the email. The calendar will help many groups in the United States and Colombia focus on proactive planning as well as suggest ideas as to how to coordinate activities. Please title the subject line of the email "Events for calendar". Thank you for your participation.
The Colombian government is scheduled to reconvene preliminary peace negotiations with Colombia's largest insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), on July 7, 1999. The upcoming negotiations come at a critical time. Colombian President Pastrana has grown weaker as armed actors escalate violence and critics of Pastrana's approach to peace raise their voices.
In the past three months, Pastrana's administration has been dealt serious blows. Pastrana has been criticized by all sides for his approach to peace negotiations. The human rights community criticizes Pastrana for failing to adequately address human rights issues including the crisis of 1.8 million internally displaced people. Non-governmental organizations, unions, religious groups and other community-based organizations criticize Pastrana for failing to include civil society initiatives in peace talks. The right, including members of Pastrana's own Conservative party, criticize him for making too many concessions to the FARC.
Most critical are the armed actors not being included in the peace negotiations. The military have long been critical of Pastrana's initiatives for peace, particularly his demilitarization of an area in southern Colombia. In May, Pastrana announced that he would indefinitely extend this zone. In protest, Defense Minister Lloreda resigned, publicly denouncing the move. Some 14 generals and many colonels followed Lloreda's lead and resigned. Pastrana quickly pacified the military, accepting only the resignation of Lloreda, and extending the demilitarization pact for only six more months.
The ELN, Colombia's second largest guerrilla group, has continuously taken a back-seat in Pastrana's moves toward peace. In order to pressure Pastrana into granting similar government concessions to the ELN, a demilitarized zone in particular, the ELN hijacked an Avianca domestic flight with 43 passengers on April 12. On Sunday, May 30, ELN kidnapped 140 people while at Mass in Cali. Although Pastrana originally denounced the acts as terrorist, cut off relations with the guerrilla group, and issued arrest warrants for ELN leaders, last weekend, he agreed to repair relations and include the ELN in negotiations if it releases the remaining hostages.
The paramilitaries have also continued their attacks against civilians. On May 21, 1999, Senator Piedad Cordoba, president of the Congressional Committee on Human Rights, was kidnapped by 15 armed men. Sen. Cordoba is also a member of the Congress' Commission on Peace. Carlos Castano, leader of Colombia's largest paramilitary organization, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), claimed responsibility for the act. Senator Cordoba was released on June 4. Upon her return, she said that the paramilitaries should be included in peace negotiations.
In late May, Colombian paramilitary pursued FARC guerrillas over the Panamanian border into the Darien Gap region. Panamanians fled their homes in the village of La Miel in fear of possible incursions between the guerrillas and Colombian paramilitary groups or their Panamanian sympathizers. Panama has since deployed its national police to secure the area.
In early June, 2,800 Colombians fled to Venezuela following paramilitary attacks on May 29 in Northeastern Colombia. The first influx of 2,200 refugees from June 1 to 3 were from the village of La Gabarra. The majority of these refugees returned to Colombia soon after. The second influx of 600 refugees came from 15 villages in the area of La Pista and requested asylum from the Venezuelan government. On June 13, these 600 refugees were forcibly repatriated to Colombia.
While most of the 1.3 million Colombians who have fled their homes are internally displaced, refusal of Venezuela to accord refugee status, as it is required to do under the 1957 Convention on Refugee Status, is cause for concern.
U.S. military officials were quick to use recent developments to illustrate the need for increased military presence in the area. Gen. Wilhelm, chief of the U.S. Southern Command, reported to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the encroachment on Panama presented particular concern, as Panama does not have a standing army. Meanwhile, the United States military has continued to militarize the region. The United States is currently equipping and training a joint counter-narcotics battalion in the Colombian Army made up of over 1,000 Colombian soldiers. In addition, it is establishing three new forward operating bases in and around Colombia.
Some neighboring countries have not submitted to all U.S. requests for increased military cooperation. Venezuela has refused the United States rights to use its airspace for operations other than counter-narcotics and Panama has refused U.S. offers to assist in containing Colombian guerrillas.
Although all actors in the Colombian conflict -- including U.S. attempts to militarize Colombia and neighboring countries - continue to escalate the war, the majority in Colombia continue to agree that the war is unwinnable and peace is the only way out. The peace talks set to resume on July 7th between Pastrana and the FARC are unprecedented.
Other groups may begin to be included in the process as well. As Victor G. Ricardo recently reported to a U.S. Congressional delegation, organized by the Center for International Policy, early concessions were necessary to bring the FARC to the table and although it was necessary to limit the participants early on, there may be a role for others in the future. Finally, civilian initiatives continue to carve out a role for themselves in negotiations, so as to promote a lasting peace. The Permanent Assembly for Peace, a civilian initiative that includes a wide variety of social sectors and attracted more than 3,000 participants at its inaugural session, will meet for the second time in Cali, July 27 - 30.
Below is a timeline of these and other recent events in Colombia and an article on the recent Congressional delegation to Colombia.
The following timeline was produced by Andrew Pawuk, Intern U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
SATURDAY, 29 MAY 1999.
Panamanians from the village of La Miel, Panama fled their homes with the arrival of forces from the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). The rebel group has been hiding in Panama in the dense jungle in the hills above La Miel, Armila and other Caribbean coastal villages just across the border from Colombia. Many of the residents fear the possibility of a clash between the FARC, which has numbers estimated to be 500 rebels in the area of the Darien Gap, and Panamanian paramilitary groups looking to expel the rebel group. The Panamanian government announced that it would be sending troops to the border area. U.S. officials said the conflict could pose a threat to the Panama Canal at a time when the United States is withdrawing its troops from Panama to meet the Dec. 31, 1999 deadline to turn the canal over to Panamanian authorities. (Reuters)
SUNDAY, 30 MAY 1999.
Four people were killed by a right-wing paramilitary group in northeastern Colombia, near the border with Venezuela. The slayings occurred on a road linking the oil-producing town of Tibu with the paramilitary stronghold of Gabarra, and were carried out by a band of some 80 armed men, according to officials. Those executions come as a Panamanian congressman accused Colombian paramilitaries of attacking and harassing Panamian Indians suspected of collaborating with leftist rebels in a town bordering the two countries. (Reuters)
MONDAY, 31 MAY 1999.
50 leftist guerrillas from the ELN abducted some 140 worshippers at La Maria Catholic Church in an elite district of Cali before releasing 79 captives as they tried to shake off army and police pursuers. As the army and police pursued the kidnappers by helicopter and on land, 12 soldiers were wounded outside Cali, and two rebels were killed in a shoot-out with army units while a third was captured alive. One of the trucks carrying a group of hostages broke down, forcing the driver to leave 34 captives behind. By early Monday, 84 people had been freed, including about 20 children. As of Wednesday, June 2, 1999, the ELN had 34 hostages including children, elderly, two French nationals, and Roman Catholic priest, Jorge Cadavid. (Reuters, El Espectador)
TUESDAY, 1 JUNE 1990.
Colombian detectives Monday arrested a top lieutenant of right-wing paramilitary leader Carlos Castano. Detectives from the Attorney's General office captured Javier Piedrahita Sanchez in Barranquilla. Sanchez was brought to Bogota where he faces murder charges and is accused of belonging to the Auto-Defensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). Meanwhile, Castano stated his desire to become a senator and to turn his armed group into a legal political party.
2,200 refugees from the area of La Gabarra are reported to flee to Venezuela to escape paramilitary attacks in late May. These refugees voluntarily repatriated to Colombia on June 5, reporting they received good care from Venezuelan authorities. (U.S. Committee for Refugees)
WEDNESDAY, 2 JUNE 1999.
After a raid on paramilitary forces in Barrancabermeja, 12 civilians were found dead and one girl was wounded by a stray bullet. The armed men used all-terrain vehicles to spread the violence in the highly populated and poor neighborhoods of Las Granjas and La Esperanza. During the massacre, two young boys were caught in the middle of the killing while crossing a street corner. According to eyewitnesses, the armed group seemed to belong to the paramilitary force of Autodefensas Unidas de Santander y el Sur del Cesar (AUSAC). The victims included a local guerrilla commander in Barrancabermeja. (El Espectador)
20 people were killed from May 29 to June 1 by right-wing paramilitaries, who erected a roadblock near the Venezuelan border in Tibu. The paramilitaries took an estimated 10 to 15 hostages. The victims were accused by the paramilitary of aiding leftist rebels. (Agence France Press)
Another group of armed men kidnapped 6 people on June 1 in the small town of Amalfi. The men, wearing civilian clothes, detained several employees of the local hospital, El Carmen. (Agence France Press)
After an estimated 150 members of the FARC penetrated Panama, Foreign Minister Jorge Ritter announced that the United States military would not be asked to assist in the situation. Ritter also stated that the Panamanian and Colombian governments would deal with the situation themselves. (Reuters)
FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 1999.
Senator Cordoba, chair of the Colombian Senate Committee on Human Rights and member of the Senate Peace Commission was released. She was abducted by paramilitaries on May 21, 1999, upon leaving a clinic in Medellin. It was reported that during the 15 days she was detained, she was first held in Medellin and then taken by helicopter to discuss peace negotiations with Carlos Castano.
MONDAY, 7 JUNE 1999.
A new wave of 600 Colombians from the area of La Pista begin to flee a paramilitary offense by seeking refuge in Venezuela. These refugees receive little assistance from Venezuelan authorities and are forced to live in deplorable conditions. (U.S. Committee for Refugees)
TUESDAY, 8 JUNE 1999.
Following high-level government meetings, President Pastrana announced Tuesday that the National Liberation Army (ELN) promised to release 84 hostages taken in two separate incidents, the April 12 hijacking of Avianca flight 9463 and the May 29 kidnapping of over 100 people during Sunday Mass in Cali. The kidnappings are part of an ELN effort to press Pastrana into including them in a peace process begun with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). To promote talks with FARC, Pastrana has demilitarized an area in the south the size of Switzerland. He is now under pressure to do the same for the ELN. (Agence France Presse)
A special representative from the United Nations announced that children are the main victims in the ongoing war in Colombia. According to humanitarian organizations, an estimated 15,000 males in the Colombian army are "children". (Agence France Presse)
The FARC raided Puerto Rico, Caqueta. They killed three people, and stole food, boots, soap and toothpaste. (El Espectador)
WEDNESDAY, 9 JUNE 1999.
Nicolas "Gabino" Rodriguez, commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN), traveled to the Vatican for secret talks last weekend along with former German security minister Bernd Schmidbauer. "Gabino" was received by a senior prelate who agreed to his demand that the Church play a role in negotiations aimed at winning the release of over 90 hostages from an Avianca hijacking in April and from the kidnapping of churchgoers in Cali. (Reuters)
Soldiers and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) clashed Wednesday in several regions of Colombia as reports surfaced that guerrillas killed three residents and kidnapped a dozen more from a remote rural village. The guerrillas accused the villagers of collaborating with rival right-wing paramilitary groups. (AP)
The Colombian army reported that it engaged in fighting with FARC units in Contratacion, a town in the northern state of Santander, and in two towns housing Indian reserves in the western state of Cauca. Civilian and army officials reported that there were no deaths, but the guerrillas destroyed homes, rural banks and a police station in its attacks. (AP)
The army's 4th Brigade reported clashes with FARC rebels in Angostura, a town 160 miles northwest of Bogota in Antioquia. No details of the fighting were available. (AP)
THURSDAY, 10 JUNE 1999.
Members of the FARC continue to remain encamped around the small fishing village of La Miel, Panama. With fear of possible attacks by guerrilla and paramilitary forces from Colombia and Panama, villages in the area have been abandoned, creating hundreds of internally displaced in the Darien Province. (AP)
During a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) the United States proposed the creation of a multinational force to guarantee the security of the Western Hemisphere. U.S. is reportedly pushing a plan to support Colombia's neighbors with aircraft and intelligence in their efforts to contain Colombian guerrillas. Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela opposed the U.S. proposal. (Global Intelligence Update)
The Red Cross said it was attending to the humanitarian needs of some 600 people abducted and being held in captivity in Colombia. The abductions of civilians by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), National Liberation Army (ELN), Popular Liberation Army (EPL) guerrillas and paramilitary forces all violate international humanitarian law. Colombian authorities estimate more than 1,500 people, including some 150 foreigners, are being held by rebel groups and common criminals. Almost 50% of the world's kidnappings take place in Colombia. (Agence France Presse)
MONDAY, 14 JUNE 1999.
More reports of massacres came out of La Pista, Santander, a town that borders Venezuela and has been controlled by the FARC. On May 29, according to human rights workers and villagers, about 150 armed men in camouflage fatigues mounted a roadblock on a rural highway and forced dozens of vehicles to stop. After the vehicles were stopped, paramilitary forces asked to see identification cards and checked a list of names. If the name of a traveler was on the list, the person was ordered to lie face down on the ground and was subsequently shot in the back of the head. (AP)
Five badly decomposed bodies were found along side of a highway near Catatumbo on the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Paramilitary forces have been actively conducting operations in the area. (Miami Herald)
TUESDAY, 15 JUNE 1999.
The National Liberation Army (ELN) released 33 hostages today in El Cerdo. Each of the released hostages was kidnapped during Mass in Cali on May 30, 1999. On June 15, the ELN continues to hold 20 worshipers and 24 Avianca passengers. (Agence France Presse, Reuters)
Three army officers have been arrested for an alleged role in a kidnap-murder case that spurred an exodus of members of the Jewish community from Colombia. The three are accused of masterminding the October kidnapping of Benjamin Khoudari, a Bogota textile manufacturer and prominent member of Colombia's closely knit Jewish community. The three officers demanded $10 million for ransom from the Jewish community, received $64,000, and subsequently murdered Khoudari and buried him in a shallow grave. Colombia's chief rabbi, Alfredo Goldschmidt told reporters that, "in 1998 and 1999, if you add both years, around 10 to 15 percent of the Jewish community left (Colombia)." (Reuters)
The U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) announced that Venezuelan and Colombian authorities coerced 600 Colombian refugees to return to their homeland after having fled to Venezuela to escape local paramilitary units. International observer and USCR policy analyst Hiram Ruiz said that it was a "flagrant violation of international law and warrants international condemnation." (Associated Press, El Espectador, U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office)
Amnesty International condemned the FARC and ELN for holding hostages and demanded that it release them. (El Espectador)
According to El Espectador, the Colombian army used 10 helicopter gunships, 4 Black-Hawk helicopters and Hercules aircraft to transport over 2,000 troops to fight the FARC. The troops were deployed to areas in Arauquita, Saravena, and Fortul. (El Espectador)
FRIDAY, 18 JUNE, 1999.
The National Liberation Army (ELN) suspended the planned release of hostages from an Avianca flight that was hijacked over Colombia 67 days before because of fighting in southern Bolivar province, where the captives were to be freed. (Reuters)
Roy Howard Saykay's wife, Norma Reron, sent a letter to President Clinton to advocate U.S. intervention in the release of her husband and the 38 hostages that were kidnapped by the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Cali, Colombia last month. Over 160 people were kidnapped including Reron's husband, who is from Long Island, NY. (Reuters)
SATURDAY, 19 JUNE 1999.
Four people died and three were injured in Norte de Santander. A group of more than 10 armed men arrived at a commercial establishment in the neighborhood of Juan Atalaya and began shooting indiscriminately. The paramilitary forces spray painted "Autodefensas Campesinas de Cordoba y Uraba (ACCU)" immediately following the massacre. The ACCU is linked to Carlos Castaño, a key paramilitary leader.
German congressman Bernd Schmidbauer met Saturday with President Pastrana. The two agreed to work for the unconditional release of 63 hostages kidnapped by the ELN. The Colombian government stated that it will resume contacts with the ELN after hostages are freed.
SUNDAY, 20 JUNE 1999.
An estimated 30,000 Colombians, including former hostages, marched in the streets of Cali and Bucaramanga Sunday, demanding the release of hundreds of people kidnapped by leftist guerrillas and other armed groups. (Agence France Presse)
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government decided to resume peace talks on July 7. The two sides have yet to agree on the membership of an international commission to verify agreements reached in the talks. (Associated Press)
MONDAY, 21 JUNE 1999.
In a letter, 68 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged Colombian President Pastrana to continue preliminary peace negotiations and support protection measures for human rights defenders who have come under increasing threat by all sides of the Colombian conflict. (El Espectador)
TUESDAY, 22 JUNE 1999.
Right-wing paramilitary groups killed 28 people in the last four days in four separate incidents. Officials from the northwestern state of Antioquia reported that 12 peasants were shot in San Carlos by several men who accused them of helping leftist rebels. Eight farm workers were shot in the hamlet of Aguas Blancas, and authorities also blamed the paramilitaries. In another incident on June 20, 4 people were killed by right-wing Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC) in an entertainment complex in the city of Cucuta near the northwestern border with Venezuela. (Agence France Presse)
In a statement to a U.S. Senate foreign relations subcommittee, Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, chief of the U.S. Southern Command, said that Panama's security forces are not ``manned, trained or equipped'' to deal with the problem of the Colombian civil war spilling over the border into Panama. After the 1989 U.S. intervention to capture Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian military was dismantled and now relies on a national police force for security. Under the Panama Canal treaties, the United States is required to remove all its military personnel from the country by the end of the year, a process that is well under way. (Associated Press)
Panama's foreign minister, Jorge Ritter, strongly objected on Wednesday, June 23 to Gen. Wilhelm's statement, that Panama needs U.S. military assistance to defend itself from Colombian rebels and drug traffickers. The mission of U.S. troops in the Panama Canal Zone, said Ritter, "has not been to protect the waterway, nor to monitor our borders, much less to safeguard Panama ... they have been historically linked to the implementation of U.S. policy in the region." (Agence France Presse)
WEDNESDAY, 23 JUNE 1999.
68 Colombians in Cordoba died in fighting between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the paramilitary and the army. Guerrillas tried to storm the Auto Defensas Unidas de Colombia's (AUC) mountain hideout in the Nudo de Paramillo mountains, where paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño is reportedly in command. Army officials intervened when 200 to 300 members of the FARC were said to have killed ten peasants since this past weekend. "This is a total and absolute war. Things are very complicated. We're fighting [the guerrillas] with planes and helicopter gunships," Gen. Victor Julio Alvarez, head of the army's 1st Division, told reporters. (Reuters, El Espectador)
THURSDAY, 24 JUNE 1999.
In Cali, Colombian President Pastrana announces that if the ELN releases its hostages, it will be permitted to join the peace talks slated for July. (Miami Herald)
The Colombian government revealed that Jose Manuel Cifuentes, commander of El Llanito military base, was responsible for deliberately authorizing the massacre of 8 people in Barrancabermeja. (El Espectador)
FRIDAY, 25 JUNE 1999.
Two television reporters, Juan Carlos Aguiar and cameraman Jhon Jader Jaramillo have fled into hiding after their footage of the savage beating of shoe repairman Jorge Evelio Cardona was broadcasted nationally. Six police officers who were eyewitnesses to the beating threatened the reporters yelling, "Turn over the video, you stoolies. We're going to kill you if we end up going to jail." The reporters handed the tape over to prosecutors and have been under constant threat since. (Reuters)
SATURDAY, 26 JUNE 1999.
Four police officers were killed and seven others were wounded by the FARC in Barrancabermeja.
The Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Richard Grasso, flew into Colombia's demilitarized zone and, held face-to-face talks Saturday with FARC leaders Manuel Marulanda and Raul Reyes. Grasso made an offer to the FARC leaders to visit the United States and see the NYSE to "get to know the market personally." (Reuters, AP)
On May 31, the Center for International Policy led a delegation of U.S. Congressional representatives and staffers to Colombia to educate them about the peace process and human rights crisis. The following is excerpted from an article that will appear in the Summer edition of "Colombia Update". To subscribe to this publication, please send an email to agiffen@igc.org with your mailing address.
The delegation was the first congressional trip in years whose main focus was not counternarcotics. Instead, CIP sought to familiarize progressive sectors of the U.S. Congress with some of the broader issues surrounding Colombia's difficult and complicated conflict. Meetings emphasized the peace process, human rights concerns, and perceptions of U.S. policy toward Colombia.
A peace process is the only viable way to end Colombia's conflict. Human rights abuses and forced displacement are worsening, and the Pastrana government is doing almost nothing to stop them. Coca cultivation will remain widespread without alternative development programs. U.S. policy appears divided and contradictory, often helpful but occasionally threatening to escalate the conflict.
These were some of the most frequently heard views during a delegation to Colombia organized by the Center for International Policy (CIP). From May 31 to June 3, Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA), a member of the House International Relations Committee, and staffers for six other members of Congress met with U.S. and Colombian government officials, human rights organizations, academics and experts, business representatives, and church leaders. The group also held an unprecedented meeting in the southern "demilitarized zone" with leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
After a one-hour flight to San Vicente del Caguan (population about 14,000), the largest town in the demilitarized zone, the group drove two hours down a dirt road to the hamlet of La Machaca, where the meeting took place. With the exception of several FARC roadblocks, often run by very young-looking but well-equipped guerrillas, life in the zone appeared rather normal from the windows of the group's vehicles. The town of San Vicente was busy, with all stores and saloons open for business, and the countryside -- nearly all of it cleared for cattle pasture -- seemed peaceful.
The meeting with Reyes and an advisor named Comandante Arturo was cordial, with Rep. Delahunt and other members of the delegation raising concerns and the FARC representatives responding to them. Reyes consistently responded very diplomatically, emphasizing points of agreement and glossing over areas of potential disagreement.
Though many with whom the delegation had met in Bogota doubted the FARC's real desire for peace, Reyes insisted that his group has wanted peace "for decades." The problem, he said, was that the FARC has not been able to work with a government that was serious about pursuing peace. Reyes went on to lavish praise on President Pastrana and the Conservative Party for its commitment to peace, while claiming that the Liberal Party and the media are "conspiring to sabotage the process."
Reyes agreed with Rep. Delahunt that drugs are an enormous problem, not just for the youth of the United States but for Colombia as well. He did not address accusations that the guerrillas themselves profit from the drug trade, but called for a vast alternative development effort to wean coca-growing peasants away from illicit crops. Within the demilitarized zone, which includes about 10,000 hectares of coca, Reyes said, the FARC and the Colombian government were about to embark on a pilot crop-substitution program. Reyes said the FARC is willing to cooperate with the U.S. government on alternative development, adding that "the FARC is the best ally the United States could have against drugs."
When the delegation inquired about the three indigenous rights activists from the United States murdered in March, Reyes apologized and emphasized that the killings were a mistake that violated FARC policy. He said, however, that the FARC would not even consider turning the murderers over to the authorities of Colombia or any other country. The FARC leadership, he said, will soon hold a consejo de guerra, or court-martial, to determine exactly what happened and how the killers will be punished. Reyes said he regretted the State Department's decision to cut off all contact with the FARC as a result of the killings, and that he hopes that these contacts may be renewed.
Asked about the three New Tribes missionaries kidnapped from Panama in 1993, Reyes insisted that the FARC does not know what happened to them, but that a joint FARC-Colombian government commission is being formed to investigate the matter.
Rep. Delahunt urged the FARC several times to consider taking significant and verifiable steps to demonstrate their good will and their desire for peace. He emphasized that such steps -- reductions in coca production or the acceptance of international human-rights observers in the zone, for instance -- would give an enormous boost to supporters of the peace process within and outside Colombia.
"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
"A Charade of Concern: The Abandonment of Colombia's Forcibly Displaced" the Women's Commission delegation report from Colombia. May 1999. To obtain a copy, please contact the Women's Commission, tel: 212-551-3111, or by email.
Colombia Update: "Human Rights Defenders, Civilians, Targets of Armed Actions," Summer 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
*NEW WEB RESOURCE* The Washington Office on Latin America has just produced "U.S. International Drug Control Policy, A Guide for Citizen Action, May 1999," the best resource to date on the problems of U.S. anti-narcotics policy. To find out more about U.S. drug policy or ideas for action, download this guide from the WOLA website or order a copy for $2.00 by calling 202-797-2171.
The U.S. State Department released its annual human rights report on Colombia in late February. It can be found in English and Spanish
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States has published its 1999 human rights report on Colombia: http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Colom99en/table%20of%20contents.htm
Human Rights Watch has recently updated its web page to include the 1999 country report: http://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" http://www.ciponline.org/facts
You can also visit the Colombia Support Network's webpage for advocacy activities: http://www.igc.apc.org/csn/
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
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