Paramilitary Threats and Assassinations
Human Rights Takes a Beating in Colombia
By ADAM ISACSON
This is not the first time that Colombian human rights defenders have
received a wave of e-mail threats from people claiming to be re-armed
paramilitaries. This time, however, the threats that several
individuals and organizations received late last week have come after
a series of murders.
Most of the labor and human-rights activists killed during the past
month were organizers of the March 6 protests on behalf of the victims
of state and paramilitary violence. Even the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights' field office in Bogot=C3=A1, which has said little publicly
for months, issued a statement last week expressing concern.
Iv=C3=A1n Cepeda, a leader of Colombia's National Movement of Victims of
State Crimes, explained the worsening situation in his regular column
in the Colombian weekly El Espectador. Cepeda calls for the
resignation of Jos=C3=A9 Obdulio Gaviria, a controversial advisor to
President Uribe, who may have green-lighted some of the violent
retribution when he smeared the March 6 mobilizations as an event
organized by the FARC.
Here is a translation (with a few edits) of Iv=C3=A1n Cepeda's column
lifted from the website of Britain's Colombia Solidarity Campaign.
The dismissal of Jos=C3=A9 Obdulio Gaviria
Iv=C3=A1n Cepeda Castro
El Espectador 14 March 2008
In the next few days, with those individuals and organisations who
would like to add their names, I will lodge the following petition.
Se=C3=B1or President of the Republic, the below signed citizens and
organisations, in use of our constitutional right to address the
authorities with respectful petitions, request the dismissal of your
advisor Jos=C3=A9 Obdulio Gaviria.
As you know, on March 6 hundreds of thousands of people
participated in events in 102 cities in Colombia and around the world
in solidarity with the victims of the paramilitaries and state crimes.
By means of a public communiqu=C3=A9, the Government pointed out that it
did not sup****t this demonstration, but offered guarantees for the
programmed events to take place. Nevertheless, Mr. Gaviria made public
declarations that affirmed that neither you nor he would participate
in a march "convened by the FARC." In spite of the March 6 organizers'
request that these slanderous assertions be officially withdrawn, no
government spokesperson did so.
This situation generated an atmosphere of increasing insecurity.
On February 11, 2008, the day after Gaviria's declaration, a
pronouncement was made by the [paramilitary] Autodefensas Unidas de
Colombia that also affirmed that the march was instigated by the
guerrillas. Then, on February 13, threats started against
organizations promoting a day of action in Nari=C3=B1o. On February 28,
individuals shot at the apartment of Adriana Gonz=C3=A1lez, a march
organizer in Pereira.
Four trade union leaders have been assassinated in the week after
the 6 March protests. Carlos Burbano, vice-president of the National
Hospitalworkers Union was disappeared on 9 March in San Vicente del
Cagu=C3=A1n. He had led the local March 6 demonstration. His corpse was
found at the municipal rubbish dump with his face disfigured by acid.
In Caquet=C3=A1 the preparations for March 6 were frustrated when General
Oscar Naranjo affirmed that a FARC leaflet calling for department-wide
participation in the demonstrations had been found.
General Naranjo did not mention that the actual demonstration
organizers had denounced parallel calls by armed groups. Women from
Caquet=C3=A1 who were going to take in a national march of displaced
people
decided not to come because of the fear spread by the official
announcement. Libardo Pedrozo, one of the organizers of the displaced
people's march, was threatened. On March 12, threats were made against
28 human rights defenders and several social organizations. These were
signed by the group called the 'Black Eagles' that announced it "will
be implacable" against the March 6 conveners.
All these cir***stances demonstrate the continuity of the sinister
actions of paramilitary structures and those who carry out state
crimes. Their violent reaction owes to the massive citizens'
repudiation they received on March 6. But the government too has
responsibility for this situation. The declarations made by Jos=C3=A9
Obdulio Gaviria generated a propitious atmosphere for violence that
has cost the lives of four trade unionists. We will initiate legal
proceedings against him. Further, we ask you Mr President, to dismiss
him: the initiation of violence is a serious crime.
Assassinated Trade Unionists in the week of 6 March
Carmen Cecilia Carvajal, teacher. Killed 4 March, in Oca=C3=B1a,
Norte de Santander.
Leonidas G=C3=B3mez Rozo, member of the bankworkers union,
Uni=C3=B3=
n
Nacional de Empleados Bancarios (Uneb), president of the CITY-BANK
Branco. Killed on 5 March, in Bogot=C3=A1.
Gildardo G=C3=B3mez Alzate, teacher and activist of the
Asociaci=C3=
=B3n
de Institutores de Antioquia (Adida). Killed 7 March, in Medell=C3=ADn.
Carlos Burbano, vice-president of the Hospitalworkers Union,
Asociaci=C3=B3n Nacional de Trabajadores Hospitalarios. Killed 11 March,
San Vicente del Cagu=C3=A1n, Caquet=C3=A1.
Here is the (rather unhinged) text of one of the threats received by
dozens of human-rights defenders.
RE-ARMED BLACK EAGLES
FIRST VIRTUAL COMMUNIQU=C3=89 - ARMED STRUGGLE PHASE A
MARCH 12, 2008
By virtue of what we have called our rejuvenated organization and
the new direction of our armed struggle, we allow ourselves to inform
of our serious intentions to openly declare that many Colombians who
share our ideals have required, in all the national territory, many
compatriots' daily desire is for a TOTAL REARMAMENT OF PARAMILITARY
FORCES, who defend private property and the collective interests of
thousands of Colombians. It was a great error to promote a
demobilization process that brought us to the brink of the disaster we
are confronting, THE POLITICAL RECOGNITION FOR WHICH THE FARC-EP HAS
FOUGHT DURING MORE THAN 50 YEARS is evident, and has undermined the
honor of many Colombians, WE HAVE BEEN CLEARLY DEFEATED IN THE
POLITICAL AND MILITARY FIELD, today the Colombian guerrillas are
seeking to sown their ideology in foreign territories, they enjoy
international status, and in addition to this they bask in the high
sup****t of many Chiefs of State, it is time to generate a change of
attitude, which confronts these consequences which are a product of
flimsy governments, with no direction or determination, prostrated to
U.S. policies and strategies, ALVARO URIBE VELEZ represents submission
and self-interest, trickery, irresponsibility and, even worse, A FALSE
COMPATRIOT WHO WITH DONATIONS OFFERED IN AN ABSURD DEMOBILIZATION
TRIED TO OBTAIN HIS INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION IN ORDER TO PERPETUATE
HIMSELF IN POWER.
We loyally believe that paramilitarism has been a method of social
and political domination that has its roots in the doctrine of
national security and is democratic. It began as an anti-subversive
strategy and ended up becoming a model of territorial control, with a
convergence of the most backward sectors of the armed forces,
political parties and private enterprise.
The State's abandonment of the effort to protect its monopoly on
use of force is extraordinarily dangerous and unforeseen. AGUILAS
NEGRAS are not emerging groups but a figure on the national scene,
these words were invented by the Minister of Interior and Justice
CARLOS OLGUIN SARDI, a conservative bureaucrat who only EXERCISES
POLITICAL PRESSURES IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN HIS FAMILY AND CLOSE FRIENDS
IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, on the contrary we have continued and re-
started our armed struggle with the sup****t and toleration of the
State and the citizenry in general, which orient us to act within
military parameters and policies defined by those who urge us forward.
Based on these proposals, all those entities, institutions,
diplomatic representations and common people who receive this virtual
communiqu=C3=A9 are declared PHASE A MILITARY OBJECTIVES (MEDIA, NGO'S,
EMBASSIES, CONGRESSPEOPLE AND EX-CONGRESSPEOPLE, GENERAL CITIZENRY WHO
SUP****TS AND LOGISTICALLY COLLABORATES WITH THE NARCOGUERRILLAS) which
means breaking the back of the FARC-EP's current military and
political structures, in addition to the consequences that these
imply, like murders, disappearances and everything that concerns our
political and military ideology, which intends to finish off, for once
and for all, the help it gets from citizen participation disguised as
unconditional sup****t, both armed and political, to these narco-
terrorist groups, as our supreme commander calls them, it is time to
say COLOMBIA LIVES, if COLOMBIA LIVES IN PEACE.
JAIRO ALONSO HENAO GUTIERREZ COMANDANTE CAMILO
COMANDO CENTRAL AGUILAS NEGRAS EN REARME
Adam Isacson is an analyst at the Center for International Policy.
merengue wrote:
> Parapol=EF=BF=BDtica, obst=EF=BF=BDculo para avanzar en las sesiones
ordin=
arias del
> Congreso que comienzan el martes
>
> "Esto tiene nerviosos a varios representantes y senadores",
reconoci=EF=BF=
=BD un
> congresista uribista. Actualmente 22 legisladores est=EF=BF=BDn
detenidos =
y al
> menos 30 est=EF=BF=BDn, de alguna manera, vinculados.
>
> **** eso, el senador uribista Armando Benedetti manifest=EF=BF=BD que ****
e=
l
> esc=EF=BF=BDndalo habr=EF=BF=BD "un Congreso minimizado".
>
> Sin embargo, la presidenta del Senado, Nancy Patricia Guti=EF=BF=BDrrez,
> considera que esta investigaci=EF=BF=BDn no afectar=EF=BF=BD el
desarrollo=
de las sesiones.
>
> "La parapol=EF=BF=BDtica no va a tener mayor incidencia en el
funcionamien=
to del
> Congreso, ****que la discusi=EF=BF=BDn sobre las vacantes queda resuelta
co=
n los
> segundos renglones. Sin embargo, creo que cada decisi=EF=BF=BDn de la
Cort=
e
> contra un congresista tiene una repercusi=EF=BF=BDn pol=EF=BF=BDtica",
dij=
o.
>
> Segunda reelecci=EF=BF=BDn, un tema 'picante'
>
> En cuanto a la eventual reelecci=EF=BF=BDn del presidente =EF=BF=BDlvaro
U=
ribe V=EF=BF=BDlez, si
> bien la mayor=EF=BF=BDa de los congresistas consultados es consciente de
q=
ue el
> proyecto de referendo no ser=EF=BF=BD presentado en este
per=EF=BF=BDodo, =
s=EF=BF=BD hay quienes
> dicen que el tema influir=EF=BF=BD en la actividad legislativa.
>
> "Va a haber una gran expectativa y muchos asuntos se mover=EF=BF=BDn en
to=
rno al
> tema. Ahora, =EF=BF=BDqu=EF=BF=BD tal que el Presidente diga que quiere
se=
r candidato?,
> eso eclipsar=EF=BF=BD los dem=EF=BF=BDs proyectos", dijo el
representante =
Roy Barreras,
> de Cambio Radical.
>
> "Es un debate que va a estar presente en todas las discusiones, ****que
> la oposici=EF=BF=BDn lo va a volver un tema recurrente, as=EF=BF=BD sea
co=
mo excusa para
> no debatir a fondo los proyectos del Gobierno", coincidi=EF=BF=BD el
> representante Nicol=EF=BF=BDs Uribe, del partido de 'la U'.
>
> Otro hecho que marcar=EF=BF=BD el inicio de estas sesiones tiene que ver
c=
on la
> moci=EF=BF=BDn de censura al ministro de Agricultura, Andr=EF=BF=BDs
Felip=
e Arias.
>
> Aunque la fecha todav=EF=BF=BDa no se ha fijado, tiene la trascendencia
de=
que
> ser=EF=BF=BD el primer ministro en contra del cual se votar=EF=BF=BD con
l=
a nueva figura
> de la moci=EF=BF=BDn, que solo exige la mayor=EF=BF=BDa en una de las
c=EF=
=BF=BDmaras para que
> sea aprobada.
>
> Tambi=EF=BF=BDn tiene la im****tancia de que ser=EF=BF=BD el primer
enfrent=
amiento, en
> las sesiones que comienzan, entre la oposici=EF=BF=BDn y el uribismo,
pues=
la
> coalici=EF=BF=BDn de Gobierno ya cerr=EF=BF=BD filas al lado de Arias.
>
> Pero no todos son pesimistas sobre los logros de este per=EF=BF=BDodo.
El
> presidente del partido de 'la U', senador Carlos Garc=EF=BF=BDa Orjuela,
> consider=EF=BF=BD que los debates van a estar centrados **** la reforma
pol=
=EF=BF=BDtica,
> la ley de segunda vivienda y otros proyectos que tienen que ver con la
> inversi=EF=BF=BDn vial.
>
> **** su parte el senador del Polo Democr=EF=BF=BDtico, Jorge Enrique
Robled=
o,
> estim=EF=BF=BD que las sesiones ser=EF=BF=BDn igual a las dem=EF=BF=BDs.
"=
No se ven sucesos
> extraordinarios que las vayan a afectar, pero de todas maneras vamos a
> ver qu=EF=BF=BD liebre salta", concluy=EF=BF=BD.
>
> Algunos proyectos clave que se debatir=EF=BF=BDn este semestre
>
> * Reforma pol=EF=BF=BDtica. A este proyecto de acto legislativo le
re=
stan 4
> debates que deben ser tramitados antes del 20 de junio. La iniciativa
> introduce reglas m=EF=BF=BDs severas para los partidos
pol=EF=BF=BDticos.
> * TLC con Chile. Le falta un debate en la plenaria de la
C=EF=BF=BDma=
ra.
> * Derecho a huelga. Esta iniciativa y la que pretende regular las
> cooperativas de trabajo asociado, pretenden dar mejor=EF=BF=BDas a los
asu=
ntos
> laborales, requisito para impulsar el TLC en el Congreso de Estados
> Unidos. Apenas entra a discusi=EF=BF=BDn en las comisiones
s=EF=BF=BDptima=
s.
> * Segunda vivienda y ley forestal. Dos pol=EF=BF=BDmicos proyectos
qu=
e
> fracasaron en las sesiones extras. El primero, que facilita la compra de
> una segunda vivienda a extranjeros y colombianos residentes en el
> exterior, tiene enfrentados al Gobierno y a las diferentes bancadas. A
> juicio de los congresistas, el proyecto presenta irregularidades. El
> segundo, busca revivir la ley que tumb=EF=BF=BD la Corte Constitucional,
p=
ara la
> explotaci=EF=BF=BDn forestal de vastas zonas del pa=EF=BF=BDs.
>
> REDACCI=EF=BF=BDN POL=EF=BF=BDTICA
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