Category: Colombia War

The disappeared mayor

The initial communique from the Northern Cauca indigenous councils on the kidnapping of Arquimedes Vitonas, the mayor of Toribio and activist in the indigenous movement, has been translated. I include it below. I will try to put something together soon on the kidnapping for the ZNet site this weekend. Below the communque are emails and phone numbers that you can use to pressure the government—and it is almost certainly the government that is responsible.

ASSOCIATION OF INDIGENOUS AUTHORITIES OF NORTHERN CAUCA, PROJECT NASA AND MUNICIPAL MAYOR’S OFFICE OF TORIBÍO CAUCA, COLOMBIA, COMMUNICATE TO PUBLIC OPINION:

The whereabouts of the indigenous authorities of the Municipality Toribío is currently unknown. On Saturday, August 22nd, 2004, they left from the Toribío Reserve located in the Municipality of Toribío Cauca, for the Department of Caquetá in the Municipality San Vicente del Caguan (former neutral zone of the FARC used for negotiations with the government, and now controlled by the Armed Forces) located in the Alta Mira Reserve, Veredes Laureles. The commission is composed of: Plinio Trochez, current governor of the Indigenous Authorities of the Toribío Reserve, Arquímedes Vitonas Noscue, current Mayor of the Municipality Toribío, Gilberto Muñoz Coronado, Coordinator of CECIDIC, former Mayor of Toribío, Rúben Darío Escue, Acting Governor of the Indigenous Authorities of San Francisco, and Erminson Velasco, driver of the vehicle in which they were traveling together. Since their departure, no news has been received in Toribío from the Commission.

On August 25th, 2004, the Municipal Representative if Toribío received a phone call in the afternoon from the Secretary of the Government Department of Cauca saying that it had been brought to his attention that the Mayor and his accompanying commission had been kidnapped. He gave no mention of who the possible perpetrators of this act could have been and spoke of an armed group of unknown identity. This information was received by the Government Secretary on the afternoon of August 24th; which for unknown reasons was only released today August 25th, 2004, at 4 pm.

The Commission was on its way to fulfill prior agreements that were made on behalf of the traditional authorities of both Reserves, who had invited to the Municipal Mayor, as well as the former Mayor, given his experience in development planning and advising for life (development) plans, an activity beneficial to the residents of the Alta Mira Reserve in the Department of Caquetá. This activity has been planned since the majority of the communal authorities of Alta Mira were former residents of the Toribío Reserve, but had been forced to leave due to land scarcity. Of the members of the Toribío Mayor’s Office, the last piece of news was received on Sund! ay, August 22nd, 2004 when Gilberto Muñoz Coronado made a phone call from his cell phone to his wife, at which time they were still located in Neiva City.

We, the indigenous communities of Cauca have publicly announced the decision to carry out a mobilization in mid-September to protest the aggressions committed against our people by armed groups. Moroever, the mobilization is aimed at rejecting the package of constitutional reforms that the central government is promoting and that affects the autonomy, security and rights of indigenous communities through the negotiations for Free Trade with the United States. It is within this context that these confusing and disturbing events have taken place.

In Toribio the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) was born, recognized internationally for advancing an exemplary process for the entire continent, of autonomy and land recuperation. The Paez (also knows as Nasa) people have struggled in resistance since the colonial period and have been recognized by prestigious entities with the Prize for the best Development Plan, the First Prize for the Ecuatorial Initiative 2004, among others. Mayor Vitonas is a prestigious figure in his community having been recognized at the national and international levels. He has been honoured by UNESCO as a Master of Wisdom and was President of the Departmental Assembly of Cauca.

The responsibility for the uncertainty in which we find ourselves consumed, lies with the government and Armed Forces, who generated the information about the said kidnapping. Moreover, it is unacceptable the attitude of the departmental government who gave the information in a backward and unofficial manner and since then has denied knowledge of the events. We demand that the national government and the Armed Forces clarify these facts immediately, to sustain their sources with credible evidence and give us clear information about the whereabouts of the commission.

We request that the national and international communities intercede with the Colombian government to demand that the information be immediately clarified, that an official report is made, that the security and well-being of the commission is guaranteed, and that the steps taken thus far by the Armed Forces and departmental government be clearly explained.

The association of Indigenous Authorities from Northern Cauca, NASA Project and the Mayor’s Office of Toribio Cauca, Colombia.

Toribio – Cauca, August 25, 2004

Information Centres

(0928) 49 8281 Mayor’s Office of Toribio.
acin@telecom.com.co
(0928) 49 83 26 Nasa Project

Please direct letters to:

President of the Republic
Carrera 8 n. 7-26 Palacio de Nariño,
Santa Fe de Bogotá
Teléfono. +57.1.5629300 ext. 3550 (571 ) 284 33 00
Fax (571 ) 286 74 34 – 286, 68 42 -284 21 86
Mailto:auribe@presidencia.gov.co

Ministry of the Interior and Justice
Carrera 8 # 8-09 – Bogotá
Fax: 0057-1-286.80.25
Mailto:mininterior@myrealbox.com
Mailto:ministro@minjusticia.gov.co

Ministry of Nacional Defence
Avenida El Dorado con carrera 52 CAN Santa Fe de Bogotá
Télex: 42411 INPRE CO; 44561 CFAC CO
Tel-fax: +57.1.222.1874
E-mail de la Secretaría General: infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co

Attorney General’s Office
Carrera 5 n. 15-80 Santa Fe de Bogotá
Tel-fax: +57.1.342.9723, +57.1.281.7531

District Attorney General’s Office
Diagonal 22 B n. 52-01 Santa Fe de Bogotá.
Tel fax: +57.1.570.2022
Mailto:contacto@fiscalia.gov.co
Mailto:denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co

Defender of the People
Calle 55 n. 10-32 Santa Fe de Bogotá
Fax: +57.1.346.1225

Vice President of the Republic
Presidential Council for Human Rights
Calle 7 No 6-54 Piso 3
Santa Fe de Bogotá, D. C.
Telefax: +57.1.337.1351
Mailto:fsantos@presidencia.gov.co

Programa Presidencial de Derechos Humanos y DIH
Mailto:rdh@presidencia.gov.co

A kidnapping in Cauca

I am writing to apologize for taking so long to write back. Readers were writing me asking about my safety. You are too kind. In fact it is not my safety that I am writing about right now. Nor the safety of the Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike, which I should have been writing about this week. Today I need to write to you about Cauca.

Do you remember Cauca? I write about it a lot. I prepared a photo essay about it based on a visit I made in February of this year. Could you read it now, please? Could you please read this quote, in particular, that struck me so powerfully?

Part of the spirit of the Nasa’s movement is expressed by the mayor of Toribio, the town that is the historic heartland of this movement. Arquimedes Vitonas in a speech in Cali in February 2004, told the assembled leaders of the indigenous movement in Northern Cauca: “With this war, they can kill many of us, but they cannot kill all of us. Those of us who live will continue with our work. Those of us who die, will have died defending our process.”

Arquimedes Vitonas is a remarkable person, an exemplar of a remarkable movement. He is a graduate of Northern Cauca’s indigenous university. He is one of the leaders who was chosen to be mayor because the community knew he would follow their mandate and their plan. And I know personally just how much wisdom and integrity he has. A couple of years before I went up to Northern Cauca thanks to an invitation by the Nasa (signed personally by him) I interviewed him here in Canada. The thing about a leader like Arquimedes is that he really is a representative of a community and a process, and an attack on him is explicitly an attack against the community and against their process.

The Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca believe that Arquimedes Vitonas was kidnapped three days ago, along with a number of other key indigenous leaders. They are still not sure whether it was the paramilitaries or the guerrillas who did the kidnapping. But they believe that quick and massive pressure can make a difference now. The usual people to write to:

President of the Republic: auribe@presidencia.gov.co
Vice President: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
Minister of Defence: siden@mindefensa.gov.co
Presidential Human Rights Programme: cefranco@presidencia.gov.co

Uribe visits Chavez!

So in spite of all the strange border incidents of the past year and a half, Colombian paramilitary raids into Venezuela, attempted deployment of Colombian tanks against Venezuela, displacements of Colombians to Venezuela due to paramilitary massacres, all the while Colombia accusing Venezuela of aggression, it seems that Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe Velez is in Venezuela right now for meetings with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez Frias. On the agenda: a 205km, $98 million natural gas pipeline project that will cross both countries and make it possible for countries to export gas through Central America.

Again, for all the trouble on the border, it’s important to remember that these two countries are very closely linked, as are the fates of their peoples, politically, geographically, culturally, historically. They do $2.5 billion USD of business per year. There are some 2 million Colombians in Venezuela.

If there is any news of what was discussed at the meeting tomorrow, I’ll report it here.

FARC and the massacre at La Gabarra

Following up on yesterday’s post on the massacre at La Gabarra. As I suggested, the place to go to find FARC’s views is ANNCOL and they have a statement now on their site, taking responsibility for what happened, claiming that everyone they killed were paramilitaries, and accusing the Colombian government, the ‘bourgeois press’, and the human rights organizations of crying ‘crocodile tears’. Uribe took the opportunity to denounce human rights organizations generally, and specifically Amnesty International, who responded publicly to the President’s filthy accusations.

Another major massacre in Colombia

Today’s El Tiempo headline is about a massacre of 34 peasants in the Colombian department of Norte de Santander. The peasants were apparently ‘raspachines’, those campesinos who occupy the lowest rung of the agricultural economy, harvesting coca leaf for small wages. They were doing this harvesting in a paramilitary-controlled zone. Survivors, quoted in El Tiempo, say it was done by the 33rd front of FARC. A very pro-FARC perspective can be found at the ANNCOL website. I went there looking for either a claim of responsibility, an apology, or an angry denial of the smear campaign accusing them of the massacre, but nothing so far.

The truth is, the strategy of the war, increasingly adopted by the FARC, is to kill civilian ‘supporters’ or ‘sympathizers’ rather than combatants — in this case, as Wilson Borja (a very decent member of the Colombian Congress) said, they killed poor peasants who were victims of the whole system long before they were killed — in his words, “those who benefit least from the illicit business”.

Uribe’s courageous attack on the pacifists

This is good. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez, the same guy who asked the US to do for Colombia what they were planning to do in Iraq, back in January when the war was being planned, wants international observers out of the country. He wants the Colombian police to arrest and deport them. These international observers are a miniscule fraction of what is needed in Colombia to prevent Uribe’s own military and police from torturing and slaughtering their way through Colombian communities. But these tiny efforts leave Uribe in a rage: “I reiterate to the police: if these [foreign human rights observers] continue to obstruct justice, put them in prison. If they have to be deported, deport them.” – Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, 27 May 2004. Specifically, he is upset about the presence of volunteers in the peace community of San Jose de Apartado, a community that has suffered massacre after massacre at the hands of Uribe’s own paramilitaries.

Here is a report from the Task Force on latin America, and below is a note from the peace community itself about harrassment of the international volunteers there.

Statement of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó

The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó again denounces new attacks against it. Today, June 2 at 6 a.m. Army and police troops entered the town center of San José de Apartadó, where the Peace Community lives, together with the state intelligence agencies DAS [Department of Administrative Security, the state police] and SIJIN [judicial police]. Members of these two agencies spoke with representatives of Peace Brigades International (PBI), who were accompanying in San José, and asked for their documents. The PBI representatives presented over their documents in good order, but in spite of that, they were cited for June 3 to verify their information with the DAS in the town of Apartadó.

After that, the DAS and SIJIN agents as well as members of the security forces fanned out through the San José town center with video cameras, filming members of the community, their homes, and the community areas. They asked people of the community, who were then beginning their daily work, for specific community leaders Wilson David and Gildardo Tuberquia directly by name and exactly where they live. They also asked when the community meets and what they do in those meetings. They said that now the security forces will take total control of the town of San José and will put a police station in the town center. Meanwhile, several of them went to San José’s small stores and, although their owners indicated that they would not sell to them as part of an armed group, they did not respect this decision, treated them badly and by pressure forced them to sell their goods because, according to them, “just as you sell to the guerrillas, you also have to sell to us.”

The operations went on until 8:30 a.m., and the Army troops remained surrounding the San José town center, creating a situation of uncertainty for the community.

As a community we have to say that this action by the Colombian state worries us, because it is a result of the statements the president made [see “Urgent Call to Solidarity”]. In the first place, we are concerned regarding the international presence, as President Uribe himself expressed his willingness to deport foreigners who accompany San José, under the pretext that they have obstructed justice, which is totally false. The presence of international organizations fulfills an exclusively humanitarian function and of accompanying the community’s process. We are concerned and alarmed that they want to end our process, which bases its principles on a peaceful resistance independent of any armed group. The presence of the Army and police in the midst of our houses and schools puts us at risk as a civilian population, and for us it is clear that if this presence continues, we would have to withdraw in a new massive and forced displacement, while the San José town center would be inhabited by Colombia’s security forces. We are concerned that the security forces and intelligence agencies inquire [indaguen] about our leaders by name, that they want to know where they live and we wonder why.

For all these reasons, we ask for national and international solidarity, for urgent statements against these actions that appear to condemn us to a new displacement and a humanitarian crisis. We ask for statements against the harassment of our leaders, against the harassment of international group that, with their presence, encourage us to continue forward, as they are witnesses to the transparency of our process and of our daily life. We ask for persuasive statements that support a peaceful experience developed in the midst of war, and that we have maintained for these seven years in refusing to live with any armed group. The security forces have always been around San José; in fact, we have always asked how these attacks on the community can occur if the Army is surrounding the town. For more than two years we have demanded the permanent civilian presence of the state through someone from the offices of the National Ombudsman and the Inspector General. If what they want is to be in our houses and put at risk our children, then as a civilian population we will be obliged to a new displacement and perhaps lose everything that we have built in these years. But we believe that we have to do it, that we have to continue firm in our principles as a peace community, transparent principles for which many friends and family members have died, victims of an inhuman conflict. We reiterate that we continue in our decision to not collaborate with any armed group – guerrillas and paramilitaries-Army – and we demand of all armed groups that they not force the civilian population either to collaborate or live with them. It is a universal right.

PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE DE APARTADO
JUNE 2, 2004

A bomb in the mail

Followers of the Killing Train will remember the city of Cali, Colombia, and its public sector union, SINTRAEMCALI. SINTRAEMCALI has a record of militancy and successful resistance to privatization, protecting not just their own jobs but the public services badly needed by people in Cali. Recently they did a building occupation, which they called off after assessing the situation.

Three days ago two unionists from SINTRAEMCALI were seriously wounded by a letter-bomb (see below). This is not the first bombing against SINTRAEMCALI workers. Privatization by bombing is a favoured tactic, it seems, in this world order…

PRESS STATEMENT: Two SINTRAEMCALI members gravely injured by letter bomb

The Events:

At approximately 5.30pm Monday the 7th of June 2004 at the Water and Sewerage Plant Located on Kr 15, Calle 59 the guards on duty at the time Carlos Gonzalez and Gustavo Tacuma found a large unidentifiable package. Carlos Gonzalez attempted to open it and it immediately exploded causing the loss of his right hand and eye and serious burns, Gustavo Tacuma incurred damage to the cornea and second degree burns.

Carlos Gonzalez lost his hand in the explosion and had to have his arm amputated up to the elbow. Gustavo Tacuma is currently in a critical condition in hospital and breathing on a respirator.

Despite being immediately informed of the explosion police arrived three hours later and in a force of more than 150 Metropolitan Police Officers and agents from the National Intelligence Services (SINJIN), Technical Investigation Services (CTI) and the Security Administration Department (DAS) who carried out a thorough search of the of the premises. We denounce the conduct of the police in this operation which, similar to many other occasions, seeks to lay blame on the workers of EMCALI for the serious injury of SINTRAEMCALI activists

This attack comes just over week after the workers of EMCALI held the Permanent Assembly inside the CAM Tower from the 26th to the 29th of May 2004 to show their opposition to the Operational and Labor Restructuring imposed by the government in favour of national and international banks. This legitimate protest action was repressed by Alvaro Uribe Velez who assumed control of the situation , taking over from local civil and political authorities and the police under the Mayor and Governor, and imposing military control. The President ordered the forced isolation of the building resulting in the injury of supporters outside and threatened the workers inside with a full assault from the Elite Anti Terrorist Command if they continued to demand negotiations regarding the future of the Company. In spite of this coup d’etat at the local level, Governor ANGELINO GARZON and Mayor APOLINAR SALCEDO and the SINTRAEMCALI Negotiators signed an agreement for a civil and democratic end to the Assembly with a commitment to a Popular Consultation regarding the proposal for Operatiional and Labour Restructuring.

We urgently demand:
A thorough investigation in to the bomb attack that the intellectual and material perpetrators may be brought to justice.

That the Colombian government provide guarantees for the safety and security of Colombian Workers

The respect of the fundamental constitutional rights to life, security, liberty of opinion, information, assembly, social protest and the right to form labour unions and as such that the Colombian Government comply with international agreements it has signed committing to respect of the above.

That the Colombian Government make a declaration before the United Nations, the Organisation of American Status, The Diplomatic Bodies seated in Colombia and the International Labour Organisation so as to guarantee the protection of the human rights of the leaders and activists of SINTRAEMCALI.

That the Colombian Government explain the reasons for the ongoing and systematic persecution of Union Leaders and activists in the Vale del Cauca.

National and International Campaign against Privatisation, Corruption and the Criminalisation of Social Protest: FORBIDDEN TO FORGET

Asociación Para la Investigación y Acción Social NOMADESC
Sindicato de Trabajadores de Las Empresas Municipales de Cali SINTRAEMCALI
Sindicato De Los Trabajadores Universitarios De Colombia SINTRAUNICOL
La Unión Sindical Obrera USO
Asociación para el Desarrollo Social Integral ECATE
Central Unitaria De Los Trabajadores CUT – VALLE DEL CAUCA
Corporación Servicios Profesionales Comunitarios SEMBRAR
Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Minería en Colombia SINTRAMINERCOL
Movimiento Estudiantil del Valle del Cauca y Nariño
Fundación Comité De Solidaridad Con Presos Políticos Seccional Valle del Cauca
Sintramunicipio Bugalagrande, Sintramunicipio Yumbo, Sintramunicipio Dagua
Sintrametal Yumbo, Organizaciones Barriales Juveniles Artísticas y Populares de Santiago de Cali

Asociación para la Investigación y Acción Social Nomadesc E-mail: Nomadesc@latinmail.com
Campaña “Prohibido Olvidar” E-mail dhprohibidolvidar@yahoo.com

Colombia and Venezuela, again

In a state of preoccupation about the recall referendum trap that Venezuela has found itself in, I thought I would check Colombia’s national newspaper, El Tiempo, to see what they are saying about it. El Tiempo is actually a better paper, even on Venezuelan issues, than any of the Venezuelan papers. I saw something that is quite ironic. It seems that yesterday, the very day that the results of the signature drive for the recall referendum came out in Venezuela, the Colombian Congress narrowly passed legislation enabling Colombia’s current president Alvaro Uribe Velez to be re-elected.

So, while the oligarchy of one country conspires to cut the term of a decent president in half, the oligarchy of another conspires to double the term of a most indecent president (see ZNet Colombia Watch for a mountain of articles about Uribe, going back years, and for the most damning piece, see this interview with Javier Giraldo).

When Uribe tried to get his own re-election prepared in a referendum in October 2003, it failed. So he defied the will of the people, defied the constitutional court, defied the constitution itself, and has finally slipped his re-election through the cracks, with no one paying attention.

Imagine if Chavez had tried to pull the same thing? Imagine the appalled notes of concern about democracy and constitutional process and the will of the people, coming from not only the State Department but other equally hypocritical sources?

Imagine, in other words, if Venezuela was ruled by someone like Uribe instead of someone like Chavez?

The frightening thing is that you don’t need to imagine it. If the US and the Venezuelan elite have their way, that’s exactly what you are going to see. And when that happens, you’ll find parts of the ‘left’ supporting it, the kind of ‘left’ that supported the paramilitary killers to take over Haiti and are supporting the ongoing slaughter there by focusing — at a time when Aristide has been driven out, the will of the people torn to shreds — on supposed crimes committed by the very parties (Aristide, Lavalas) who are now being hunted down, hounded, and murdered. You can be sure these people will be back to claim that whatever the US is doing in Venezuela is for the best, and what the ‘left’ in Venezuela really wants.

USO: the punishment for winning begins

A few days ago I blogged about the end of the oil worker’s strike in Colombia, and how they won an agreement preventing the privatization at some cost to the workers. The pattern after a successful strike or demonstration in Colombia is very predictable: workers, especially union leaders, start getting picked off and assassinated by paramilitaries. That began yesterday with the murder of Fabio Burbano at his home, yesterday night, according to a communique from USO. He was a part-time worker and a union activist.