Colombia Solidarity Campaign Bulletin 30th May 01

A. COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN DAY SCHOOL AND NATIONAL MEETING

B. PRINTED COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN BULLETIN SUBSCRIPTION

C. CONTENTS OF THIS ELECTRONIC EDITION

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A. COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN DAY SCHOOL AND NATIONAL MEETING
10am - 5pm Saturday 16 June

1. Reports from Colombia - Alexander Lopez, president SINTRAEMCALI
2. The Environmental Impact of Plan Colombia
3. The Role of the Multinationals
4. Campaign Proposals

Venue: The Cock Tavern, 23 Phoenix Road, junction with Charlton Street, London NW1 (near Eversholt Street) between Euston and Kings Cross.

Entrance: 3.00 waged, 1.50 unwaged

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B. PRINTED COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN BULLETIN SUBSCRIPTION

Printed copy annual subscription is 5 unwaged, 10 waged, 20 organisations. This includes membership of the ColSoC which we would like you to do anyway as we are very short of money. (Outside UK add on international postal rates - enquire).

Send cheque to 'Colombia Solidarity Campaign', PO Box 8446, London N17 6NZ.

Special reports in the next edition on:

Mining Communities under Multinational - Paramilitary Assault The Regional Impact of Plan Colombia

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C. CONTENTS OF THIS ELECTRONIC EDITION:

I. BUSH ESCALATES REGIONAL WAR II. BALANCE POSITIVO DEL PARO NACIONAL/ POSITIVE EVALUATION OF NATIONAL STOPPAGE III. STATEMENT IV. COLOMBIA'S CONTRASTS IN FIGURES V. THE ANDEAN REGIONAL INITIATIVE VI. UN PUEBLO MASACRADO / A MASSACRED PEOPLE VII. EASTER WAVE OF PARAMILITARY ATROCITIES IN NAYA VIII. FROM THE PRESS IX. BARRANCABERMEJA X. EL CONFLICTO COLOMBIANO ES UNA GUERRA DE CLASES XI. THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF TRADE UNIONISTS IN COLOMBIA XII. LOS CRIMINALES DE LA EXTREMA DERECHA NO PARAN LA OLA DE SANGRE / THE CRIMINALS OF THE EXTREME RIGHT HAVE NOT STOPPED WAVE OF BLOOD XIII. SOS FROM CAUCA VALLEY UNIVERSITY XIV: DOMINGO TOVAR - WORKERS, PEASANTS, STUDENTS AND INDIGENOUS FIGHT XV. THREE MONTHS IN CAQUETA, SOUTH COLOMBIA XVI. COMUNIDADES AFRO-COLOMBIANOS / AFRO-COLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES XVII. BP AND PIPELINE DAMAGE IN COLOMBIA XVIII. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH MO MOWLAM? XIX. THE BRUSSELS MEETING XX. WHAT IS THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK? XXI. ZAPATISTAS, NEO-LIBERALISM, EMIGRATION AND DRUG TRAFFICKING XXII. COLOMBIAN REFUGEES IN THE FRONTLINE XXIII. ACTIVITIES

Photos and map are not included for reasons of space. If you want them please let me know.

The e-mail address of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign is colombia_sc.hotmail.

I. BUSH ESCALATES REGIONAL WAR
Although it has been barely reported in the British media, Bushs first 100 days have seen a massive increase in the USAs war drive into Latin America. Bush has wrapped Plan Colombia in a new flag, the Andean Regional Initiative.

The main elements are: $400 million more military aid to Colombia $300 million more military aid to neigbouring Andean countries greater emphasis on waging the propaganda war as well as the actual fighting.

These latest measures bring total US spending on the plan to $2.3 billion over two years. The international banks and other donor countries have agreed funds to the Colombian government totalling a further $1.7 billion dollars.

Stopping drugs is the pretext for Plan Colombia, not its root cause. Just like Bushs refusal to endorse the Kyoto agreement to cut fossil fuels, US military intervention in Colombia follows the dictates of Big Oil. Bushs solution to the US energy crisis is not to cut demand, but to control all potential supplies. Meanwhile Esso, Shell and BP have all declared record profits.

The Colombian people are to be sacrificed on the altar of oil imperialism.

IIa. BALANCE POSITIVO DEL PARO NACIONAL Un Balance altamente positivo podemos registrar, luego de las poderosas movilizaciones realizadas en las principales ciudades del Pas, en desarrollo del Paro Nacional de 24 horas en 22 de marzo convocado por el Comando Nacional Unitario.

En convenio con el F.M.I, algunas de las cuales se debaten en el congreso de la rep=FAblica, para la Privatizaci de EMCALI E.I.C.E., mediante la modalidad de Sociedades por Acciones. Estas protestas fueron entendidas no solo por los trabajadores estatales, sino tambi por otros sectores sociales como las madres comunitarias, Organizaciones de Veedura Ciudadana y por la defensa de los servicios p=FAblicos.

La jornada se convirti en una de las mayores demostraciones de inconformida en los ltimos aos en Cali y las principales ciudades del Departamento, calculndose en una cifra superior a los 50.000 manifestantes: pero uno de los mayores logros de este paso es haber dejado sentadas las bases para continuar el trabajo que garanticen acciones de mayor envergadura, detener la ofensiva Neoliberal que tiene quebrando el aparato reproductivo, privatizar las Empresas Estatales generando aumento en las tarifas de los servicios publicos y presiona reformas administrativas de ajuste fiscal que producen desempleo y mayor concentraci de la riqueza a favor del gran capital financiero Nacional e Internacional.

Desde ya convocamos para el segundo semestre del presente ao, un Primero de Mayo unitario y combativo el cual debe contar con una mayor participaci de sectores Populares Campesinos, desempleados, estudiantes, adems del movimiento Sindical.

por ALEXANDER LOPEZ MAYA, SINTRAEMCALI

IIb. POSITIVE EVALUATION OF NATIONAL STOPPAGE We are able to make a highly positive balance of the powerful mobilisations that took place in all the principal cities of the country as part of the 22 March National Stoppage called by the National United Command.

The prposed privatisation of EMCALI, by setting up a shareholding company, is in agreement with the IMF demands. These policies are being debated in the Colombian Congress.

Our protests were attended not only by state sector workers but also by other social sectors such as the community mothers, Citizens Rights Organisations, and for the defence of public services.

The day became on of the biggest demonstrations of discontent in recent years in Cali, and the other cities in the Department. It is estimated more than 50,000 demonstrators took part. But one of the greatest achievements is to have put in place grass roots organisation to continue the work, and to guarantee a wider base of opposition to stop the Neoliberal offensive. This onslaught is crushing the apparatus of social reproduction, privatising state corporations, generating an increase in prices of public services, pressurising for administrative reforms and a fiscal adjustment that would produce unemployment and greater concentration of riches in favour of big national and international finance capital.

now we are calling for the second big demonstration of the year, the First of May, united, combative, which should count on a greater participation of popular sectors, the peasants, the unemployed and students as well as the Trade Union movement. ALEXANDER LOPEZ MAYA , SINTRAEMCALI

III. STATEMENT The Colombia Solidarity Campaign (ColSoC) actively campaigns for a socially just and sustainable peace in Colombia based on respect for the diversity of the Colombian people. The Campaign is a federation of interested organisations and individuals, and as such, we work in a non- sectarian way, incorporating a diverse range of opinions and using a range of tactics.

The ColSoC was created to actively oppose PLAN COLOMBIA. Specifically:

opposes any US or British/European military intervention, believing that this will only escalate the problems in Colombia

opposes the policy of fumigation, and works for a solution to the coca problem based on the real needs of the people

recognises the role that is played by Multinational Corporations in violating workers rights and exploiting both the people and the environment of Colombia

recognises the horrific human rights situation in Colombia, and that the overwhelming majority of atrocities can be attributed to the action of the paramilitary organisations

Furthermore, the ColSoC recognises the collusion between the Colombian=

government, the armed forces and the paramilitary death squads, and calls for an end to the impunity that this creates.

We will actively campaign through multiple strategies, and give a platform, co-ordination and support to all Colombian organisations and individuals working for the above aims.

We will also support the right of Colombian refugees to asylum, and campaign actively to defend them.

Towards this end we will seek to forge alliances and work with any organisations in the UK, Europe and beyond who seek to challenge PLAN COLOMBIA.

IV. COLOMBIA'S CONTRASTS IN FIGURES Population Colombias total population was 40.8 million in 1998, of which 74.1% was urban. The urban population doubled from 15.4 million to 30.2 million in just 13 years.

Incomes
At 20.5% the official rate of unemployment is the highest in Latin America (real rate is 25% plus). The average GDP per capita was $2,392 in 1998. But the richest 10% took 46.9% of all income.

Economy
Stockmarket values increased from $1.4 billion in 1990 to $19.5 billion in 1997.

Colombias external debt more than doubled from US $14.2 billion in 1985 to $33.3 billion in 1998.

Servicing the foreign debt went up from 16% of export earnings in 1980 to 34.6% in 1996.

Foreign Direct Investment leapt up from 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1980 to 18.7% in 1996.

Between 1980 and 1996, fuel exports, principally oil, increased from 3% to 34% of total exports.

Public Expenditure Total government expenditure was 14.5% of GDP in 1995, it was 42% in the UK that year.

In 1996 pensions in the UK constituted 10.2% of GDP. In Colombia they constituted just 0.9% of GDP. Total social service expenditure in UK was 22.8% of GDP, in Colombia it was 6.1% of GDP.

Homicides
In 1994 there were 78.6 recorded homicides per 100,000 people. The second highest recorded homicide rate in the world is Jamaica at 29.8 homicides per 100,000 people.

Biodiversity
Colombia is the country with the most animal and bird species (2,054) in the world.

V. THE ANDEAN REGIONAL INITIATIVE: Bush's strategy finds a name In keeping with earlier statements from senior members of his administration, President Bush has re-launched an escalated version of Plan Colombia now known as the Andean Regional Initiative. Subject to congress approval, $250 million will be made available to the governments of Peru and Bolivia with an additional $100 million funding to go to Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela as part of an increased investment in the US sponsored war in Colombia.

While this latest development seems to have escaped the notice of the English speaking press in America and Europe, the implications for Colombias neighbours could be huge. Although couched in the usual media-friendly language, it is clear that this is an escalation of the conflict in order to solidify and enhance US economic and political hegemony in the Andean region; a necessary pretext to full economic integration under a US corporate-friendly free trade agreement.

Testifying in front of the House budget panel, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that the new initiative would "provide alternative sources of income, alternative crops, democracy, nation building and the preparation of military and police forces to handle the kind of challenges they face in the Andean region". By this we can take "democracy, nation building and preparation of military and police forces" to mean the eradication of popular resistance to the imposition of "alternative sources of income", i.e. corporate ownership of the local economy.

This escalation of funding for a perceived regional aid package is also a useful spin to put to an increasingly sceptical audience. Congress are the first of these audiences.

Funding needs to be found in order to raise much needed capital, currently unforthcoming from Bush's sceptical European partners. The fact that Bush is seeking every available means to slash capital expenditure to pay for tax cuts means that Washington-based funding for his war in Colombia will be harder to come by, hence the need for Powell's charm offensive with its high-minded talk of addressing 'tough social issues'.

Also, keenly aware of the distress caused by civic society's outrage at the crimes committed in their name by the Pentagon and White House, the revamped initiative will play a useful role in heading off the protests amongst a domestic audience uncomfortable with the words of the delegation of Colombian state governors or influential Senators like Paul Wellstone, for example, who have pointed out the ecological, economic and social calamity being caused by the extensive use of crop spraying in the 'war on drugs'.

Finally, and most importantly, Powells words are also meant for the ears of Colombias neighbouring governments, few of whom have shown any interest in throwing their support behind Plan Colombia. Ecuador and Venezuela are already experiencing large influxes of refugees displaced by the devastating crop eradication programmes in states such as Cuaco, Putumayo and Bolivar. The talk of addressing the needs of the 'victims of the conflict will act as a much needed pacifier to the government of Ecuador, already experiencing armed conflict along its Colombian frontier and having to accept an escalating US military presence within its borders.

However, behind the kind words the more sinister implication of the initiative is the ability that this gives the US to arm the security forces throughout the Andes in order to suppress popular resistance, improve the US's ability to deploy military force where any armed insurrection occurs beyond Colombia and to enhance reactionary and military forces support for Plan Colombia throughout the region. In so doing, the initiative would enhance the US aim of isolating President Chavezs pro-peace process and pro-Cuba government in Venezuela. It would also help to impede the possible return to government of the similarly populist Alan Garcia in Peru in the forthcoming elections, unlikely though this may seem at present.

The announcement of the Andean Regional Initiative also puts paid to speculation about the Bush administrations change of attitude towards Andean policy. Comments recently made by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, about the need for 'demand-side initatives' in the war on drugs was taken by some to hint at a cooling off of US sponsored militarism in Colombia. Those who understand this strategy only in terms of the 'drugs war' have seen their short sighted analysis exposed here. Following a visit by a concerned delegation of pro-Plan Colombia Senators a spokeswoman commented that 'there was nothing to cause concern about the administration's commitment to continue the support'.

Much of this relaunch has been about winning 'hearts and minds', but it is the hearts and minds of the oligarchic and military powers in the region that Bush is most intent on winning over to his vision of Andean economic subservience to the United States in the name of 'security'.

by Matthew Dykes

VIa. UN PUEBLO MASACRADO En Colombia 147 masacres han sido registradas en los 4 primeros meses de este ao, el numero de muertos que han dejado estas masacres ascienden a casi 800, esta suma duplica a los muertos que se registraron durante el mismo periodo el ao pasado.

Las victimas, como siempre, es la poblaci ms indefensa: campesinos, indgenas y comunidades negras, quienes se encuentran sometidas a toda clase de atropellos y no reciben protecci de ninguna clase. Estas comunidades se ven inmersas en un conflicto del que no quieren ni son parte, estan atrapados en un sistema econmico que los utiliza y los empobrece cada da, y son victimas de las inversions nacionales y extranjeras que a cualquier costo quieren aprovechar sus tierras, sus minas y en general cualquier riqueza que ellos posean; por estas razones son sometidos al desplazamiento forzado de sus tierras y de su cultura o son victimas de massacres inhumanas. En estas massacres se utilizan metodos crueles, antes de asesinarlas las victimas son sometidas a torturas realizadas frente a sus hijos y mujeres, en algunas ocasiones utilizan motosierras para descuartizar a las personas vivas. Despues de cada massacre las viviendas de las comunidades son quemadas y saqueadas sus pertenencias, en la mayoria de ls ocaciones se llevan el ganado o animales domesticos que posee la poblaci.

Dos de las masacres mas violentas ocurridas en las ultimas semanas se realizaron en los municipios de Tierraalta y la Naya donde se asesinaron cerca de 50 campesinos y dentro de los que se hayaba una mujer embarazada, varios enfermos y ancianos.

Los autores materiales de estas massacres son los paramilitares, quienes son utilizados para asesinar a las comunidades a sus lideres y para sembrar el terror en los sobrevivientes. La mayoria de estas massacres son denunciadas ante las autoridades del estado, o el estado tiene conocimiento de ellas, pero nunca se realiza una investigacion seria por parte de las autoridades, quedando en la impudidad este tipo de delito de lesa humanidad.

Las Autodefenzas Unidadas de Colombia que dirigen las paramilitares, y que son acusados de cometer las peores violaciones a los derechos humanos, fueron incluidos en la lista de =93otras organizaciones terroristas=94 por parte del departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos, pero con la salvedad de que este grupo no constituye ninguna amenaza contra la seguridad nacional de los Estados Unidos, por lo tanto no se tomaran ninguna medida encontra de ellos.

Otra burla la realiza el Estado Colombiano quien esta ofreciendo una gran recompenza por la captura del lider de las AUC, Carlos Castano, pero todo mundo sabe donde se encuentra, Carlos Castano es entrevistado frecuentemente por la prensa nacional e internacional, ofreciendo grandes reportajes sobre su vida y sus hazanas.

por Damaris Hernandez

VIb. A MASSACRED PEOPLE 147 massacres have been committed in Colombia in the first four months of this year, and the number of dead left by these massacres has reached almost 800, double the figure for the same period of last year.

The victims, as always, comprise the most vulnerable members of the population; campesinos, and indigenous and black communities who endure all types of atrocities without receiving any protection. These communities have become immersed in a conflict in which they want or have no part. They are trapped in an economic system which exploits and impoverishes them every day, they are victims of both national and foreign investors who exploit their land, their mines and whatever resources they possess; and for these reasons they are forcibly displaced from their land and there culture, or they become victims of inhuman massacres. Extreme cruelty is a part of these killings; victims are often tortured in front of their families and children, and on some occasions chainsaws have been used to de-limb living people. After each massacre, the houses are all burned, possessions are stolen and livestock all taken away.

Two of the most violent massacres that have taken place in the last few weeks happened in the municipalities of Tierra Alta and La Naya, where almost 50 campesinos were killed, including a pregnant woman and various old and ill people.

The material authors of these massacres are the paramilitaries, who are used to murder whole communities and especially their leaders, and to sow terror among the survivors.

The majority of these massacres are denounced to the state, but no serious investigations are ever mounted, and the authors of these crimes continue to enjoy impunity.

The United Self-defence Forces of Colombia (AUC by their acronym in Spanish) who run the paramilitaries, and who are accused of some of the most brutal human rights violations, were recently included in a new list of 'terrorist organisations' by the State Department in the United States, but with the benefit that since they pose no threat to United States national security, no sanctions will be targeted towards them.

Another joke is that the Colombian State is offering a massive reward for the capture of the AUC leader, Carlos Castao, even though everyone knows where to find him, and he is often to be seen in the national and international press, offering epic stories about his life and works.

by Damaris Hernandez

VII. EASTER WEEK BRINGS WAVE OF PARAMILITARY ATROCITIES IN NAYA, VALLE DEL CAUCA Hundreds of terrorised people from the region of Naya, Cauca, have been forced to leave their homes and seek refuge from a wave of paramilitary violence that has crucified their communities this Easter and killed 33 of their friends and neighbours. They come with stories of chain saws, shootings and hangings carried out by a paramilitary unit that entered their region in the middle of last week.

With each passing day, the number of paramilitary victims has increased. On 15 April 2001, the Peoples Defender announced that the number of people murdered by this armed group had reached 33.

The paramilitary strike began on Wednesday at 2:30 in the afternoon in the hamlet of Rio Mina, Naya. Some 500 hooded gunmen arrived, dragged several people from their homes and shot them in the back of the head. One hour later, they set up a base in the hamlet of Patio Bonito, where they are said to have murdered all the members of one family.

Some time later they went on to Palo Seco where they dragged a further five campesinos from their houses. Witnesses who managed to hide themselves saw the paramilitaries torturing their neighbours and then cutting their throats. They heard the screams. An hour and a half later the 'paras' stopped in Alto Serrano where they entered the home of two campesinos and shot them in the back of the head.

They then entered the villages of El Crucero, La Playa and El Ceral, list in hand, accusing the inhabitants of supporting the guerrillas. The number of victims rose to 33 as they mercilessly summoned their victims, including a number of children, and slaughtered them in front of family and friends.

More than 500 terrorised people, mainly campesinos and indigenous people, have fled their homes following this latest series of atrocities and are now seeking refuge in churches, schools and towns in other parts of the region.

Traumatised witnesses to the violence are relating what they have seen: "We heard shooting all around", said a 28-year-old indigenous woman who managed to survive. "My friends were shouting that we did not belong to any guerrilla group, but these savages shot them in the head and then hung them."

"They cut open one womans stomach with a chain saw" said another witness.

by Liz Atherton, Colombia Peace Association

VIII. FROM THE PRESS

Outlaw role seen in Colombia effort Wednesday, 28 March 2001

GUAMUEZ VALLEY, Colombia - While Colombia insists it is cracking down on outlawed paramilitary groups, commanders of the right-wing units boast that they are actually spearheading the government's US-funded offensive to wipe out the booming cocaine industry in guerrilla-held jungles in the south.

President Andres Pastrana and the military's top brass have repeatedly vowed to crackdown on the burgeoning paramilitary forces and on officers and soldiers found collaborating with them. But there is credible evidence to back the paramilitary commanders' assertions that they are actually functioning as the vanguard of ''Plan Colombia'' - the campaign to eradicate illicit drug crops that Washington is financing with $1.3 billion in mostly military aid.

In months of covert operations in large swaths of Putumayo province in remote southern Colombia, both sides say, the right-wing forces have driven out leftist guerrilla units and killed suspected leftist sympathizers.

That cleared the way for the army's US-trained antinarcotics battalions to move in without fear of ambush and with less risk of having their helicopters and defoliant-spraying aircraft shot down.

The army's 24th Brigade and Anti-Narcotics Brigade ''know where we are, and they draw up sketches and decide to spray where they know we have consolidated those zones.

They have depended entirely on us,'' said a paramilitary chieftain known by the nom de guerre ''Commando Wilson.'' A former member of an army antiguerrilla unit, he now runs paramilitary operations in Putumayo.

''Plan Colombia would be almost impossible without the help of the [paramilitary] self-defense forces. If we did not take control of zones ahead of the army, then the guerrillas would shoot down their planes,'' he added, speaking on condition that the village that houses the paramilitary regional headquarters not be identified.

He said overall strategy was planned between his ''superiors'' and the military, and he swaps the coordinates of his fighters' positions with the army daily.

There are army detachments 20 minutes away on either side of the paramilitary command post. The dirt road through the valley is pockmarked with foxholes manned by paramilitary sentries. Trucks packed with up to 40 camouflage-clad fighters, bristling with machine guns and rocket launchers, rumble along the road regularly as they head out on search-and-destroy missions.

by Karl Penhaul, BOSTON GLOBE

A War Against Ourselves Saturday, 28 April 2001

"They are killing us," the pilot of the small plane carrying an American missionary family said as a Peruvian Air Force fighter fired. Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, died.

But the "they" in the pilot's words were not just the Peruvian gunners, and the "us" were not only Veronica and Charity Bowers. The ultimate cause of their death was U.S. drug policy, the war on drugs; and that war has damaged the lives of millions of Americans.

The attack on the Bowers family focused attention on an obscure part of the drug war: surveillance flights by C.I.A. contract employees who target suspected drug-smuggling planes for the Peruvian Air Force... the C.I.A. employees who spotted the Bowers's plane tried to stop the Peruvian fighter from shooting at it before first checking its markings. But a tape of their communications showed that the Peruvian crew had trouble understanding them because the C.I.A. men spoke little Spanish. A former pilot in the C.I.A. operation told The Washington Post, "That's one of the fallacies of the whole program: the language barrier."

But the real point is not a particular flaw like the C.I.A.'s idiocy in using English-speaking spotters. It is the futility of the whole operation.

by Anthony Lewis, NEW YORK TIMES

IX. BARRANCABERMEJA Desde el domingo 18 de marzo, varias organizaciones de derechos humanos, hemos denunciado ante las autoridades nacionales, entre ellas la Polica Nacional, la abierta presencia paramilitar en el sector nororiental del puerto petrolero, y hasta ahora, 4 das despuFs, las unidades policiales y del ejercito acantonadas en Barrancabermeja, no han realizado ning=FAn tipo de acci contra estos grupos irregulares:

Los paramilitares que entraron al barrio Bost, el da miFrcoles 21 = de marzo en un bus de servicio p=FAblico se mantienen all, estn haciendo presencia permanente en el barrio y han citado a los habitantes de dicho barrio a una reuni de la que hasta ahora desconocemos cundo y dde se realizar.

En este momento, 22 de marzo a las 12:10 pm, una comisi compuesta por organizaciones sociales de Barrancabermeja, organizaciones internacionales de acompaamiento y Defensora del Pueblo, se encuentran en el Barrio Bost, su misi es recoger la informaci sobre lo que= ha sucedido en este sector. A su llegada al barrio constataron dos situaciones:

La abierta presencia paramilitar en el barrio, afirman miembros de esta comisi que unos diez paramilitares se encuentran frente a la entrada de la casa cural de la parroquia sagrada Familia, incluso pararon uno de los taxis en que se movilizaba parte de la comisi para preguntar quies eran.

La total ausencia de fuerza p=FAblica en el mismo barrio a pesar de las denuncias que durante toda la maana se han dado a conocer sobre la presencia paramilitar all.

Exigimos que las autoridades civiles, as como la fuerza p=FAblica, asuman por fin, con seriedad y responsabilidad, su deber constitucional de garantizar la vida de los pobladores de Barrancabermeja y la de los habitantes del barrio Bost por el riesgo en el que se encuentran en estos momentos.

MESA REGIONAL DE TRABAJO PERMANENTE POR LA PAZ EN EL MAGDALENA MEDIO, CORPORACION SERVICIOS PROFESIONALES SEMBRAR.

Since Sunday 18 March severeal human rights organisations have denounced to the national authorities, including the national Police, the open paramilitary presence in the north east sector of this oil port. Up till now, 4 days later, units of the police and army based in Brrancabermeja have not carried out any action against these irregular forces:

The paramilitaries who entered Bost district on Wednesday 21 March in a public service bus are still there. They are setting up a permanent presence in the district and have summoned the inhabitants of the district to a meeting, but up to now we do not know where and when it will take place.

At this moment. 12.10pm on 22 March, a delegation composed of social organisations from Barrancabermeja, international accompaniment organisations and the Public Defender (Ombudsman) has gone into Bost district. Its mission is to collect information as to what is happening in the barrio. On its arrival at the district the delgation note two things:

The open presence of the paramilitaries in the district. Members of the delegation affirmed that some ten paramilitaries were stationed opposite the entrance to the priests office of the Holy Family parish church. They stopped taxis that the delegation was using to asked who it was.

The total absence of public forces in the district in spite of the protests that had been made through the whole morning to let officials know about the paramilitary presence there.

We demand that the civilian authorities, as well as the public forces, finally assume, in full seriousness and responsibility, their constitutional duty to guarantee the lives of the people of Barrancabermeja and the inhabitantes of Bost district in the light of the risk that they are now under.

PERMAMENT REGIONAL WORKING GROUP FOR PEACE IN MAGDALEN MEDIO, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CORPORACION.

Xa. EL CONFLICTO COLOMBIANO ES UNA GUERRA DE CLASES Guerra contra la droga, cvil o militar, declarada o no declarada, regular o irregular, rural o urbana, o lo que ella sea, el caso es que la guerra que vive Colombia es una guerra de clases y uno de los mayores problemas que impiden su soluci es la negativa de la clase alta en aceptar que es una guerra de clases.

Hace dos aos por esta Fpoca el periodista y humorista colombiano Jaime Garz en una conferencia ante los estudiantes de comunicaci de una universidad de Cali hablaba de la existencia de una FRANJA DOMINANTE que manejaba el pas para sus propios intereses y en la cual los colombianos debian buscar las explicaciones del conflicto existente. Dos meses ms tarde Garz fuF asesinado en Bogot corriendo as la m= isma suerte del caudillo liberal Jorge EliFcer Gaitan quien el 9 de Abril de l948 fu asesinado por su lucha en contra de lo que llamaba las oligarquias liberales y conservadoras causantes de la miseria de la mayora de los colombianos.

Colombia historicamente ha sido administrada como una finca por una clase alta conformada por las castas descendientes de inmigrantes extranjeros que con la ayuda de sus propios gobiernos o intereses econmicos de sus paises han adquirido posiciones de privilegio para servir ms a sus mentores que al propio pas del cual tambi son s= us hijos. Primero llegaron los colonizadores Espaoles, luego hubo oleadas de Ingleses y Fraceses que tambien se disputaron las mejores riquezas, despuFs llegaron inmigrantes procedentes de Estados Unidos, Italia, Libano, Israel, Alemania, Siria y muchos otros paises quienes a travFs de varias generaciones fueron concentrado el poder poltico y econmico en detrimento de la mayora de sus compatriotas que son mestizos descendientes de indigenas, negros esclavos llevados del Africa y otros inmigrantes de paises pobres o de menores escalas sociales de los paises capitalistas.

LA GUERRA
La voracidad de los ricos parece no tener limites dados los innumerables recursos que posee Colombia ; muchas veces entre ellos mismos han desatado guerras civiles donde los pobres siempre han llevado la peor parte y sufrido la mayor cantidad de victimas.Tambi h habido guerras cuando los ricos han querido eliminar a los pobres para as imponer su hegemona y los han obligado a levantarse en armas a veces con tanta furia que han tenido que recurrir a la guerra sucia para debilitarlos o en otros casos a las ayudas de la burguesia internacional y el imperialismo para derrotarlos.

Es claro entonces que la guerrilla colombiana es una consecuencia de las injusticias sociales y no la causa del conflicto actual como se trata de demostrar a travFs de la propaganda y aunque ella no tiene el respaldo de la totalidad de la poblaci s recoje las aspiraciones de muchos sectores que a lo largo de la historia han sido marginados y victimizados.

LOS DUEOS DEL PODER
El semanario britanico " The Economist "en un informe especial publicado este 2l de Abril demuestra como dsde l930 los gobiernos colombianos se han sucedido unos a otros entre un puado de familias cada uno con dos gobiernos a su haber como los Lpez, los LLeras y los Pastranas que actuan como dinastias que se reparten entre ellos todos los principales medios de poder.

El diario el Tiempo que es el de mayor circulaci e influencia nacional es de propiedad de la fmilia del actual ministro de hacienda JUAN MANUEL SANTOS que tiene aspiraciones presidenciales y es descendiente de el expresidente Eduardo Santos. El segundo periodico en importancia, el Espectador, es de propiedad del grupo economico Santodomingo, pero es dirigido por Carlos lleras de la fuente, hijo del expresidente Carlos lleras Restrepo, y el caso ms actual es el de el presidente Andres Pastrana A, hijo del expresidente Misael Pastrana B, hermano del director del periodico la prensa y propietario Fl mismo de una programadora de televisi con franquicia del estado.

LA PAZ
Pese al estado de violencia permanente, el pueblo colombiano siempre ha tenido una inquebrantable vocaci de paz, al punto que la minora que controla el poder siempre h manipulado ese deseo y le ha desviado la atenci de los verdaderos origenes del conflicto proponiendole soluciones parciales como procesos de paz, elecciones,reformas, Asamblea Constituyente, Referendums etc. DFsde Belisario Betancourt los presidentes han agitado el discurso de la paz, han dibujado palomas, batido pauelos blancos, realizado marchas, propuesto planes como el "Plan Colombia", mientras los rios de sangre ha ido aumentando su caudal y la brecha que separa los ricos y los pobres se ha ido haciendo ms profunda; de ah que resultan interesantes las palabras del profesor de filosofia de la Universidad de Berln ERNEST TUGENDHAT quien en su visita a Medellin a comienzos de Abril dijo que el problema del conflicto en Colombia no radica en buscar la paz a cualquier precio."

LA DROGA, LOS RICOS Y LOS POBRES
Las diferentes bonanzas de la droga han fortalecido a las clases altas que aunque en publico se lavan las manos y critican el narcotrfico, en privado facilitan toda su infraestructura como bancos, negocios de comercio exterior, transporte, haciendas, propiedades, amistades, influencias, etc para que el negocio prospere y ellos puedan mantener su estatus como clase dominante.

El fenmeno paramilitar que actualmente vive Colombia es el resultado de una estrategia contra insurgente del estado colombiano por orientaci de los Estados Unidos, pero es tambi el desarrollo de un fenmeno de expansi y control por parte de la clase dominante que alimentada por el narcotrfico ahora tiene todo el poder econmico, poltico y mili= tar para desarrollar su proyecto hegemico . Por eso estan librando su propia lucha de clases contra los campesinos, trabajadores y pobres de Colombia y por eso hay narcotraficantes muertos como Pablo Escobar quien proceda de extracci popular y hay narcotraficantes vivos Y libres como los OCHOA DE MEDELLIN Y CARLOS CASTAO cuyas familias siempre han pertenecido a los grandes terratenientes de Antioquia y Uraba.

CUPULA MILITAR
Aunque la tropa colombiana en su mayoria es de extracci campesina y trabajadores, la cupula de las fuerzas armadas siempre ha sido de extracci burguesa y por eso la forma tan obsesiva como defienden los privilegios de sus amos que son los suyos propios. Los oficiales del ejercito, la marina, la fuerza aerea y la policia no estan en el frente donde se sufren las heridas o se recibe la muerte, ellos dirigen la guerra dsde sus cuarteles para lo cual se han preparado en los 700 cursos que reciben en Estados Unidos y en Europa cada ao; ellos obtienen dividendos de los negocios de compra y venta de armas y equipos militares, reciben comisiones de grupos econmicos y multinacionales, tienen cuantiosas propiedades y compaias de seguridad privada, reciben pensiones a temprana edad y aunque gozan de inmunidad para ser juzgados por la justicia civil por delitos propios de su actividad, hay casos cuando deben dejar sus cargos y entonces se dedican de tiempo completo al paramilitarismo o son nombrados agregaos militares en cualquier embajada colombiana en el mundo.

LA CLAVE DEL CONFLICTO
Hace poco el periodista Mauricio Gomez hijo de el asesinado excandidato presidencial Alvaro Gomez y nieto de el expresidente Laureano Gomez dijo que lo ms extraordinario de Colombia es que hay una guerra cvil donde los bandos no estan definidos." Esta es la tpica explicaci que dan los "expertos" colombianos y las analistas internacionales amigos del gobierno que incluso cuentan al pueblo de su parte, pero La realidad es que los bandos estan claramento definidos: De un lado estan los ricos con una estrategia clara de poder de la mano de los Estados Unidos y de otro lado estan los pobres que hay que reconocer que s estn confundidos entre la necesidad de vivr con dignidad y sus aspiraciones de paz inmediata que aunque son perfectamente compatibles todos se las quieren mostrar como si fueran antagonicas.

La importancia de lo que pasa en Colombia es que ello es el reflejo de los mismos problemas que se viven en toda America latina raz por la cual la lucha tambi es contra el imperialismo norteamericano que no est dispuesto a abandonar a su suerte a sus burguesias nacionales ni mucho menos a permitir que los pobres del sur se levanten con dignidad y rabia contra los ricos del norte.

por Alberto Garca

Xb. THE CONFLICT IN COLOMBIA IS A CLASS WAR Whether it is a war against drugs, whether civilian or military, declared or undeclared, regular or irregular, urban or rural, whatever form it takes, the war in Colombia is a class war. And one of the biggest problems that prevents this war's solution is the refusal of the upper class to accept that they are engaged in class war.

Two years ago the Colombian humorist and comedian Jaime Garz addressed=

communication students at the university in Cali. He spoke of a 'dominant layer' that is running the country in its own interests, and in which Colombians must find the explanation of their conflict. Two months later Garz was assassinated. He had the same fate as the liberal leader Jorge Elicer Gaitan who was assassinated on 9th April l948 for his struggle against the liberal and conservative oligarchy who caused the misery of the majority of Colombians.

Historically Colombia has been administered as if it were the private estate of the upper class. This class was formed out of the families descended from the foreign immigrants who, with the help of the governments or the economic groups of their mother countries, had acquired positions of privilege from which to better serve their mentors. The Spanish colonists came first. Then it was the English and the French. And then came immigrants from the USA, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, Germany, Syria and many other countries. Through several generations this layer has concentrated political and economic power. This concentration is to the detriment of the majority of Colombians who are the mixed race descendants of the indigenous people, black slaves brought from Africa, and other immigrants from poor countries, or from countries with less social status than the capitalist countries.

The War
Given the innumerable resources that they possess in Colombia, the voracity of the rich does not seem to have any limits. They have mounted civil wars amongst themselves many times, where the poor have carried out the worst part and suffered the greatest number of victims. There have also been wars when the rich have wanted to eliminate the poor so as to impose their hegemony, so that the poor have been obliged to rise up in arms with such a fury that the rich had to resort to a dirty war to crush the uprising. At other times the international bourgeoisie and imperialism have come to their aid to defeat the poor.

Contrary to what is argued in propaganda, it is clear then that the Colombian guerillas are a consequence of social injustice and they are not the cause of the current conflict.

Even though they do not have the backing of the entire population, it is true that the guerillas encapsulate the aspirations of many sectors that have been marginalised and victimised throughout history.

The Masters Of Power
The British weekly "The Economist", in a special report published on 2l April demonstrates that since l930 Colombian governments have been led by one or other of a handful of families. The Lpez, LLeras and Pastrana families have each had two governments. These families act like dynasties sharing between themselves the principal means of power.

The daily "El Tiempo", which has the biggest circulation and national influence, is the property of the family of the current Finance Minister, Juan Manuel Santos. Santos has presidential aspirations and is a descendant of the former president Eduardo Santos. "El Espectador", the second most important newspaper, is the property of the Santodomingo group, but it is led by Carlos Lleras de la Fuente, son of ex-president Carlos Lleras Restrepo. And then there is the most prominent case which is current President Andres Pastrana A, who is the son of ex-president Misael Pastrana B, brother of the editor of "La Prensa" newspaper and is the owner of a private television channel that has been awarded the state franchise by the government.

The Peace
In spite of the permanent state of violence, the Colombian people have an unshakeable vocation for peace, a desire which the minority who controls power have always manipulated. The elite has diverted attention away from the true origins of the conflict, proposing partial solutions such as 'Peace Processes', elections, a Constituent Assembly, referenda etc. From Belisario Betancourt onwards, Colombian presidents have agitated the words of peace, they have drawn doves, they have waved white handkerchiefs, held marches, proposed plans like "Plan Colombia". Meanwhile the rivers of blood have increased in volume, and the chasm that separates the rich and the poor has grown ever deeper. So it is interesting to hear the words of philosophy professor Ernest Tugendhat from Berlin University who, in his visit to Medellin at the beginning of April, said that "the solution of the conflict in Colombia does not lie in the search for peace at any price".

Drugs, the Rich and the Poor
The drug bonanza has strengthened the upper class. Even though in public they wash their hands and criticise narco trafficking, in private they facilitate the whole infrastructure such as the banks, businesses in the export trade, transport, ranches, properties, friendships, influence etc so that the business prospers while they are able their status as the dominant class.

The paramilitary phenomenon which Colombia is enduring is the result of a strategy of the Colombian state oriented by the USA. But it is also the development of the phenomenon of expansion and control by the dominant class fed by the drugs trade, which now has all the economic, political and military power to assert its own hegemonic project. That is why it is unleashing its class struggle against the peasants, workers and poor of Colombia. And that is why drug dealers like Pablo Escobar who came from common stock are dead, while other drug dealers are alive and free such as the Ochoa from Medellin and Carlos Castao whose families are amongst the big landowners of Antioquia and Uraba.

The Military Command
Even though the majority of Colombian troops are drawn from the peasantry and working class, the commanders of the armed forces are always of bourgeois extraction and that is why they so obsessively defend the privileges of their masters, for they are also their own. The officers of the army, the navy, the air force and the police are not in the front line where they might suffer injuries or die. They lead the war from their barracks. Colombian officers have been trained in the 700 courses that they attend in the USA and Europe every year. They receive a dividend from the business of buying and selling arms and military equipment, they get commissions from the domestic economic groups and the multinationals, they have numerous properties and private security companies, they come into pensions at an early age. Even though they enjoy immunity from being judged for their crimes in the civilian justice system, there are cases when they have to leave their posts at which point they dedicate themselves full time to the paramilitaries, or they become military attaches in a Colombian embassy somewhere around the world

The Key to the Conflict
A little while ago the journalist Mauricio Gomez, son of assassinated presidential candidate Alvaro Gomez and grandson of ex-president Laureano Gomez, said that "the most extraordinary thing about Colombia is that it is a civil war where the factions are not defined". This is a typical explanation given by Colombian 'experts' and international analysts friendly with the government, or those who speak to the people on its behalf.

But the reality is that the two factions are well defined. On the one side are the rich with a clear strategy of power, held up by the hand of the USA. And on the other side are the poor who, it must be recognised, are confused between the necessity to live in dignity and their aspirations for an immediate peace. These two aspirations, peace and dignity, are perfectly compatible, but the enemies of the poor want to represent them as being antagonistic.

The importance of what happens in Colombia is that it is the reflection of the same problems in which the whole of Latin America lives; and for that reason whose struggle is also against North American imperialism which is not disposed to abandon the national bourgeoisies to their fate, nor even less to let the poor of the south raise themselves up in dignity and rage against the rich of the north.

by Alberto Garca

XI. THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF TRADE UNIONISTS IN COLOMBIA
The following is an abridged translation of a report prepared by the CUT Human Rights Section for the United Nations Human Rights Commission, March 2001.

The United Central Workers Union of Colombia "CUT", through the Human Rights Department has reported continuously on the violation of civil and political rights that Colombian Trade Unionists have been victims of. The armed social conflict, in which the country is engulfed, obviously affects the Trade Unions, and this is not a new phenomenon. Since the creation of the CUT (1986) over 3000 leaders, activists and workers have been killed. Some were killed because of their association with activism on the political left, others either for the quality of their Human Rights work, or for working towards a peaceful and permanent solution to the armed conflict, and more still for industrial disputes. Furthermore, Trade Unionists have become victims of the paramilitary accusation that they are an auxiliary army of the guerrilla movement. In 1999 there was a reduction in the number of trade unionists that were killed. In 2000, however, assassinations and threats increased, and the paramilitaries were overwhelmingly responsible

Year No of Victims
1991 109
1992 148
1993 216
1994 113
1995 181
1996 253
1997 156
1998 91
1999 69

THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ASSASSINATIONS in 2000 was 128. In 2001, 25 trade union leaders and activists have so far been assassinated.

SECTORS WITH THE MOST ASSASSINATIONS
Education Unions: Federation of Colombian Educators - FECODE, Association of University Professors - ASPU- National Union of University Workers and Employees of Colombia - SINTRAUNICOL. In 2000, 52 were assassinated Unions of the Departments, Municipalities and Public Service Providers, Electricity and Petrol. In 2000, 23 were assassinated
Agricultural and Food Unions: 9 assassinated
Health Sector Unions; 7 assassinated
Legal Sector Unions: 3 assassinated
Construction Unions: 3 assassinated
The remaining crimes were on colleagues affiliated to other branches of the union movement.

FORCED DISAPPEARANCES
We denounce the forced disappearance of GILBERTO AGUDELO MARTINEZ, President of the National Union of University Workers of Colombia - SINTRAUNICOL, which occurred in April 2000 and he is still missing.

On 14 January 2001, in the city of Cali, GERMAN MEDINA GAVIRIA, assigned to the energy sector, was leaving his home to go to work but never arrived.

On 19 January, in the municipality of Rio Negro, in the department of Antioquia, RUBEN DARIO GALLEGO was forcibly disappeared. He was affiliated to the Association of Antioquian Institutions - ADIDA, FECODE and CUT

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS
On 11 January, in the municipality of Yumbo (Valle del Cauca) an attempted terrorist attack with explosives occurred against our colleague EZEQUIEL ANTONIO PALMA JIMENEZ, director of the Municipal Workers Union of Yumbo SINTRAMUNICIPIO YUMBO. As a consequence of this criminal act, his brother's car was destroyed and his house was seriously damaged. EZEQUIEL and his family were unharmed.

On 12 January of this year RICARDO NAVARRO BRUGES fell victim to an assassination attempt by armed men. The incident occurred in the city of Santa Marta (Magdalena). He was unharmed but was forced to leave the region in order to save his life. RICARDO NAVARRO BRUGES is the president of the National Union of University Workers of Colombia - SINTRAUNICOL Santa Marta section, which is composed of workers form the Technological University of Magdalena.

On 15January 2001 GUSTAVO ALEJANDRO CASTRO LONDONO, was the victim of an attempted assassination in the city of Villavicencio (Meta). This criminal act was carried out by armed men who caused serious injuries, and for that reason he has been hospitalised in the Meta Clinic. GUSTAVO CASTRO is a union leader in the health sector and he is also on the Executive Committee of the CUT, Meta Subregion.

The new wave of violence violates our autonomy and independence as trade unionists, furthermore it involves us directly in the armed conflict within which our only proposal is that a solution must come through political negotiations. The trade union movement has been threatened at every level: at the National Executive level, at the regional level, in the Federations, in National Unions and their base of leaders. We are considered military objectives by the paramilitaries.

The deepening of the conflict has its roots in social reasons. However the response of the State to reduce the cost of violence and overcome inequality has been insufficient to achieve substantial improvement in the human development index. Furthermore huge differences exist between and within departments both socially, and economically.

The state has continued to avoid its responsibilities by stating that 'in Colombia trade unionists are not killed for being trade unionists, the deaths against them are just a manifestation of the armed conflict'. On another occasion the government stated that it was another victim of the internal conflict, and by stating this they seek to absolve themselves from responsibility for these crimes. We emphasise that the threats and assassinations, coupled with bomb attacks which have risen to 16 in the last three (3) years are carried out specifically because people are trade unionists, and not randomly, as suggested by the state.

by Jesus Gonzalez

XIIa. LOS CRIMINALES DE LA EXTREMA DERECHA NO PARAN LA OLA DE SANGRE

ASESINADO LIDER EN AGUACHICA
El da 11 de Abril de 2001 fue asesinado SAULO GUZM=C1N CRUZ en el Municipio de Aguachica Departamento del Cesar, GUZM=C1N CRUZ era el presidente del Sindicato de trabajadores de la salud del Cesar Seccional filial de la Confederaci General de Trabajadores Democrticos de Colombia (CGTD).

ASESINADO ESTUDIANTE
23 de Abril de 2001 fue asesinado HUMBERTO CONTRERAS SERENO, este crimen fue efectuado en Barranquilla capital del departamento del Atlntico. El compaero era estudiante de la facultad de Derecho de la Universidad del Atlntico, es de resaltar que se destaco por ser un lder estudiantil en esta regi del pas y en el sector universitar= io a nivel nacional.

DESAPARICI FORZADA DE EDUCADORA
El da 19 de Abril de 2001, fue victima de desaparici forzada EUMELI= A ARISTIZABAL, el hecho se llevo a cabo en el Municipio de Ccorna departamento de Antioquia. La educadora es afiliada a la Asociaci de Institutores de Antioquia ADIDA organizaci sindical afiliada a la CUT. Este hecho criminal de DESAPARICI FORZADA fue llevado a cabo por un grupo armado no identificado

SECUESTRAN HIJA DE DIRIGENTE SINDICAL
El da 18 de Abril de 2001, siendo las 9:30 a.m. sali de su lugar de residencia la joven PAULA ANDREA GOMEZ MORA, hacia la Universidad Automa de Occidente en la ciudad de Cali, donde cursa el primer semestre de Comunicaci Social. Paula es hija de EDINSON GOMEZ, trabajador afiliado al sindicato de trabajadores de las empresas municipales de Cali - SINTRAEMCALI, quien ha sido amenazado en varias ocasiones, con panfletos y cartas. Gracias a las acciones urgentes y a la alerta temprana ante el Comit de Protecci para Defensores de Derechos Humanos y Dirigentes Sindicales del Ministerio del Interior, adems por la acci humanitaria de la Cruz Roja Internacional y la Oficina de Gesti de Paz de la Gobernaci del Valle del Cauca el da viernes 20 de Abril FUE LIBERADA la joven estudiante.

SECUESTRADO
Desde el 24 de Febrero de 2001 fue secuestrado GERZAIN HERN=C1NDEZ GIRALDO en el norte del departamento del Cauca por un grupo armado, quienes seg=FAn informaci que recibi su familia fue puesto en libertad, pero a la fecha aun no aparece. Gerzain es un trabajador de las centrales elctrica del Cauca afiliado al Sindicato de industria de la electricidad de Colombia 'SINTRAELECOL' seccional Cali.

Nuestra Central junto con el Departamento de Derechos Humanos, los trabajadores hacemos un llamado sobre esta situaci dramtica que hoy padecemos y que exige al Gobierno del Doctor ANDRES PASTRANA ARANGO, los seores Ministros del despacho, los Senadores y representantes a la Cmara, la Rama del Poder Judicial, las altas Cortes, los seores generales de las Fuerzas Militares que se asuma la responsabilidad y el compromiso poltico a este alto nivel del gobierno que no continuF la barbarie contra quienes somos poblaci civil.

Solicitamos se exija al gobierno Colombiano respeto por los Derechos Humanos y el Derecho Internacional Humanitario, en este propsito hacemos un llamado al mundo al nivel de diplomticos, ONGs de Derechos Humanos, Centrales Sindicales Internacionales, a la Organizaci Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), la Organizaci de Naciones Unidas(ONU), Organizaci de Estados Americanos (OEA), Parlamento Europeo y comunidades de refugiados polticos organizados en colectivos.

Que el Estado colombiano supere el discurso y la retrica ante la comunidad internacional y a la vez que deje de aparecer como vctima de esta crisis humanitaria porque su obligaci constitucional y convenios internacionales le obligan a garantizar la libre actividad de Defensores de Derechos Humanos y Dirigentes Sindicales aun en tiempos de guerra.

por J ANTONIO GONZALEZ L.
Director Departamento Derechos Humanos

XIIb. THE CRIMINALS OF THE EXTREME RIGHT HAVE NOT STOPPED THE WAVE OF BLOOD

Assassinated in Aguachica
On 11 April 2001 SAULO CRUZ was assassinated in the Aguachica municipality of Cesar Department. CRUZ was the president of the Healthworkers Union in Cesar, affiliated to the Confederaci General de Trabajadores Democrticos de Colombia (CGTD).

Student Assassinated
On 23 April 2001 HUMBERTO CONTRERAS SERENO was assassinated. This crime took place in Barranquilla, capital of Atlntico departament. The comrade was a student in the Law Faculty at Atlntico University, he was an outstanding student leader in this region of the country and in the university sector at national level.

Forced Disappearance of Educator
On 19 April 2001 EUMELIA ARISTIZABAL was the victim of forced disappearance. The act was carried out in Ccorna Municipality, Antioquia Department. The educator is a member of the Asociaci de Institutores de Antioquia ADIDA, a trade union organisation affiliated to the CUT. This criminal act was carried out by an unidentified armed group.

They Kidnapped the Daughter of a Union Leader
At 9.30 am on 18 April 2001, the young woman PAULA ANDREA GOMEZ MORA left her place of residence and headed for the Autonomous University of the West, where she studies the first semester of Social Communication. Paula is the daughter of EDINSON GOMEZ, a worker who is a member of the Cali Municipal Workers Union - SINTRAEMCALI, and who has been threatened on several occassions with leaflets and letters. Thanks to the urgent action and early alert by the Committee for Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Union Leaders in the Ministry of the Interior, as well as the humanitarian action by Red Cross International and the Office Managing Peace of the Valle de Cauca Governor, the young student was released on 20 April.

Kidnapping

 GERZAIN HERNADEZ GIRALDO has been kidnapped since 24 February 2001. He was taken in the north of Cauca Department by an armed group who, according to information received by his family, freed him, even to this date he has not appeared. Gerzain is a worker at Cauca's electricity headquarters and is a member of the Cali section of the electricity industry union SINTRAELECOL.

Our union federation, as well as its Human Rights Department, we the workers make a call concerning this dramatic situation that we are suffering. We demand of the Government of Andres Pastrana, the Ministers, the Senators, and the Congress representatives, the Judicial Branch, the High Courts, the generals in the Armed Forces, those who assume the responsibility and the political authority at the states highest levels that they no longer continue this barabarism against us who are members of the civilian population.

We ask that demands are made of the Colombian government pressing it to respect Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. In this respect we call out to the world through diplomats, Human Rights NGOs, International Trade Union centres, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations, the European Parliament and organised groups of political refugee communities.

The Colombian state must go further than the speeches and rhetoric that it puts out for the consumption of the international community. It must stop presenting itself as a victim of this humanitarian crisis, because its constitutional obligation and international conventions oblige it to guarantee the free activity of Human Rights Defenders and Trade Union Leaders, even in times of war.

by J Gonzalez.

XIII. SOS FROM CAUCA VALLEY UNIVERSITY
Today, 4 April 2001, at about 12 noon, the students at Cauca Valley University made a protest against the systematic violations of human rights that have been happening in the Department, and against the projected Law 012 which is being debated in Congress.

This proposed law is considered to be an attack on the right to education and health.

While in the middle of their protest at the university's commercial centre Unicentro, the students were attacked by the private security men who shot indiscriminately at the protesting students and at campus workers. Armed men in civilian clothes invaded the campus, shooting indiscriminately at the university community.

Later, at 2pm, a contingent of security forces entered the university centre and assaulted the students with tear gas and shots. They blocked the entrances and exits of the university. According to reports received by regional human rights organisations, as well as trade unions and social organisations, 15 students and one police were injured. 14 students and one worker were detained, including JUAN MANUEL VELASQUEZ from the Social Communication Faculty, who was taken to the offices of the SIJIN [special detective branch], HEBER GOMEZ LOAIZA whose faculty is not known, and a worker ALVARO CARDENA. And at the lakeside the police threatened a man who they encountered in the photocopy shop, and another man at the fruit stall.

A student called JUAN CARLOS (he is in the Economics faculty but his surname is not known), was detained by 5 men in civilian clothes who made him get into a white off-road vehicle. Up till now his whereabouts is not known.

From the time that the students started their protest, several vehicles with dark windows containing heavily armed men in civilian clothes took up position on the outskirts of the university. At around 2.45pm a big, coffee coloured Toyota, with the number plate ZIL-914 from Zipaquira, parked behind the university buildings adjoining the San Joaqun district. From there several men in civilian dress were seen shooting and controlling the exit of students who were scared by the shots and were trying to save themselves.

At around 3pm in the middle of the shooting students RUBEN VILLA VALENCIA, from the Economics Faculty, OSCAR ARTURO ESTRADA, from the Engineering Faculty, LILIAN AIDE TORO C. and MARCELA LOPEZ PINEDA from the Education Faculty took refuge in a house in San Joaqun, near to the university.

Members of SIJIN and of the Police arrived at this house and tried to gain entry without any permission to do so. The students and the householder stated that they had no problem for the police to inspect the house, but they demanded that the officers showed an authorised warrant and they asked for the presence of competent state officials.

Some trade union and social leaders received emergency calls, and they solicited the attendance of the Ombudsman and the Public Defender. On their arrival, these state officials were verbally attacked by the officers surrounding the house, a good number of whom were in civilian clothes without any form of identification. It was only at 8pm, with the arrival of the Public Attorney, that an entry warrant was brought, and the uniformed and civilian officers entered.

Approximately 300 students stayed in the university buildings until about 9pm in the evening. They were kept surrounded by the security forces and had not been able to leave the university. The whereabouts of 49 students and two children are not known.

The security forces attacked the University buildings, breaking glass, shooting at the trade union centre and the vehicles that they found parked inside this centre of education.

BACKGROUND
On 22 March 2001, thirty five thousand people from the trade unions, social sectors, peasants, students, citizens and popular areas of the city of Santiago de Cali went on a massive protest against the systematic violations of human rights, the advance of paramilitarism, and the economic policies of the current government and the International Monetary Fund. These economic policies are being implemented through:
Law 617 of Fiscal readjustment, through which they are trying to sack massive numbers of public sector workers at municipal and departmental levels;
The privatisation of Cali's municipal corporations; The approval of the proposed Law 012 which would cut the Health and Education Budgets.

On the same day members of the Cali Municipal Council Workers Union declared a permanent assembly and peacefully occupied the Municipal Council buildings.

On 26 March, Elisa Valdez, ex-president of the Valley Section of the SINDES trade union, was killed in Cali, in spite of being covered by the Ministry of Interior's protection programme. She had on numerous occasions been threatened by the paramilitary group that operates in this Department, and had asked to leave the country as the only way of protecting her life.

On 28 March the municipality's secretaries and the citizens rights workers, organised in the Valley Department Trade Union were unjustly sacked by the governor. The union and the community mothers organised in the ACMAVALLE association peacefully took over the building of the Valley Department Ministry of Works.

On Monday 2 April, members of the Municipal Complaints Office Trade Union peacefully took over the seventh floor of the municipality's central administrative building.

These protest actions take place in the middle of a sharp social crisis in the region, with an increase in human rights violations and with constant persecution of social leaders, students, peasants and the people. But until now the departmental and national authorities have not involved themselves in proposing a way out of this conflict.

by Alexander Lopez Maya
(on behalf of 14 trade union, social and human rights organisations)

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE
Sussex University Cuba Solidarity Society sends its solidarity to the students and workers in the Valley University in Colombia in their struggle against privatisation of health and education and also the exploitation of the Colombian State.

At Sussex University and in Great Britain generally we are too fighting against these attacks and also suffer repression from the University Authorities, the security they employ and the police when we organise and fight although of course the repression is relatively less here than what the Colombian state delivers to the Colombian people.

We fully support the demands of the workers and students in seeking justice against the repression.

only apologise for sending this message sooner but we hope that we will from this moment on build greater unity with you in out common struggle. The same imperialism which oppresses you also oppresses us here in Great Britain and we will find greater strength in our unity through struggle.

Sussex University Cuba Solidarity Society

News Update:
There are still two students detained on 4 April in police custody. They are being held while investigations go on.

Alexander Lopez, 3 May 2001

Urgent Action List:
As reports in this bulletin have shown, urgent actions by e-mail and other means can save lives.

It is essential to build up this humanitarian network. If you want to be added to our lists and want to help send messages to Colombia, please send your name, organisation details to our e-mail: colombia_sc@hotmail.com

XIV: DOMINGO TOVAR INTERVIEW - WORKERS, PEASANTS, STUDENTS AND INDIGENOUS FIGHT

Domingo Tovar has participated in the social movement for 20 years, first as a student leader then as a trade unionist in education. He has experienced the various phases of Colombias dirty war. After a series of threats he was forced to leave his northern home province of Sucre on the Atlantic coast. He was imprisoned for eight months with seven other trade union leaders on the charge of 'rebellion'. Then he was forced to go into exile for two years. Since his return Domingo has survived being kidnapped and escaped an attempted shooting. He is Director of Organisation for the CUT and a member of its Human Rights Committee.

Q: How was May Day in Colombia?

A: The First of May was excellent. A categoric response from the workers and other popular against the war. We went onto the streets in marches. There were workers, peasants, students, and other people as well. The state's forces kept trying to provoke us. In Bogot they surrounded us and closed us off. In Medellin and in Cali they set up checkpoints at the exits to the square. Of course what they were trying to do is say that everyone on the marches were guerrillas, subversives. There were more than 30 arrests in Medellin. In Cali 13 students arrested. Seven were arrested for writing grafitti slogans.

They add charge after charge to criminalise the protesters. The Prosecutors Office collaborated with 15th Police Station to fabricate charges. The students were treated cruelly by the police, as always. Two trade unionists, Jesus Gonzalez and Carlos Gonzalez, were also targeted by the police in Cali.

The government has changed the Penal Code to make it more repressive. All actions that they believe might mobilise the people, for example a strike, have been defined as crimes, and most recently even as terrorism.

Q: What did you see when you visited the south west of Colombia recently?

A: We went to the Departments of Cauca, Valle de Cauca and Nario. The situation is scandalous, terrible. There was a massacre by the paramilitaries in Naya, which is a mountain range on the Pacific coast. According to the reports to local human rights NGOs the paramilitaries have killed more than 100 people, but the army has prevented the NGOs from going into the mountains.

Then in Popayan in Cauca the governor Floro Alberto Tunubala is an indigenous person, who has been declared a military objective by the paramilitaries.

In Nario the paramilitaries laid seige to some towns for eight days. They didn't let local people enter or leave, not even to get food or other basics.

The situation in the south west of the country is that the paramilitaries are intent on showing their power. The military is completely linked with this development. This is the same all over the country. Sometimes they capture one or two paras to say that they are taking action against the paramilitaries. But where there are paramilitaries, there are also military forces. That is what's happening now in the south west, and has been happening in Antioquia and in the South of Bolvar.

Q: What is the state of the trade union movement now - how threatened is it?

A: Our existence is threatened as a movement. This is to say that we have been declared a military objective and this includes the government and the military forces as well as by the paramilitaries. And other people are threatened, such as the indigenous communities and social organisations. Student organisations are completely smashed in some regions, because of paramilitarism.

Q: What have been the effects of the attack by the rich on the poor?

A: The imposition of neo-liberalism really started back in the 1970s. It was when Gaviria was President in 1990 that they were ready to push through 'The Opening', that meant we had to compete directly with the big developed countries. But Colombia did not have the capacity to compete. In the last 10 years 50,000 employers have disappeared, so that now there is not a national economy. The economy that we now have in the country is for the transnationals, the big multinationals. Colombia is being converted into the producer of specific raw materials.

What with the supposed modernisation, that is restructuring of the state and the loss of these businesses, there have been some 600,000 workers thrown onto the street. Now unemployment has passed above 25%. Of these 70% or so that are working, 60% work in the informal sector, in what some economists call the rubbish economy. 30% are sub-contracting, working below the minimum legal standards. So there is a real deterioration in the quality of life of the Colombian people. There are 60% of people living in poverty, these are really excluded people who don't have enough to eat, nor do they have the minimum services that a human being should have.

Q: How is the movement resisting this situation?

A: The cutting edge of neo-liberalism is privatisation. In Colombia privatisation is presented as being synonymous with efficiency. It is argued that the public sector doesn't work, so things must be done privately. Now what they want to privatise is health and education.

They're passing law 012 by which the government will pass responsibility for these services to local authorities, while cutting the budgets. Last year the government made an agreement with the IMF which has as its axis cutting posts in the state sector. Plan Colombia will cost $7.5 billion, and the government hopes to obtain $3.5 million from donors, the rest it will have to raise. And its this part that it wants to present as social investment.

The second part of the IMF agreement is to control inflation, which necessitates less money circulating. This has led to a new labour law and a new law for pensions. These three laws are the plan for cutting social investment. The government has shown it cannot get funds to invest, so to get this money it is cutting social investment, in the name of putting the money into social investment!

Q: There are people in Europe who think that we can't support the military component of Plan Colombia, but that the social investment component should be supported.

A: As far as the CUT is concerned there is one integrated Plan Colombia, or rather one Plan America. The US government developed a similar policy for Peru, it was the USA who was responsible for the barbarity of Fujimori. In Ecuador and Panama as well...

The Euroepean Community works as a block, and the USA wants its own block. Its main project for Latin America is dollarisation, that is how the US aims to break the national economies of quite diverse countries like Brazil and Argentina. But the US doesn't want any opposition within its free trade bloque, hence Plan Colombia. It is a plan to crush all forms of social movement, and the geo-strategic position of Colombia lends itself to this.

So its absurd to speak of a military Plan Colombia and a social Plan Colombia. We say to the donor countries, we don't want your investments in war.

XV. THREE MONTHS IN CAQUETA, SOUTH COLOMBIA
Its hard to imagine how things must look from the point of view of a Colombian Campesino living in the 'red zone' of Caqueta, Southern Colombia.

Upon arriving in Caqueta three months ago the tension was obvious. No one knew what would happen after late January, when the 'truce' between the government and the FARC was due to end.

"Its like living a slow agony," they told me "whilst all the time the USA and the government builds the pressure". The pressure takes the form of increased food prices, lower prices for produce, the appearance of paramilitaries, many rumours and lots of propaganda.

For some the pressure has already got too much and they have abandoned their homes, heading for the departmental capital, Florencia, or further afield. In Florencia there are growing slums, unemployment, poverty, prostitution and crime.

People have nowhere to go and dont know what to do. The only evidence of the famous Plan Colombia are the planes that fly over on their fumigation missions. Of social programmes I saw nothing.

26th January 2001: Today we hear that the paramilitaries are setting up roadblocks near to the town of San Jose and charging 2000 pesos for all who wish to pass. They are also taxing anyone who brings food from Florencia to sell in the local shops.

28th January: A local man has been kidnapped by the paramilitaries. We try to get more information from the village but people dont want to speak, they are scared and nervous.

Earlier in the month we visited Florencia and witnessed a military roadblock at which all the campesino buses were stopped and searched whilst all the new and more expensive looking cars were waved through. My fellow passengers commented that this was ridiculous, as everyone knows that the coca buyers are well off and dont travel on buses. Its only to inconvenience the campesinos.

10th February: Tonight I visited the house of a campesino. Upon arriving I found him talking to a guerrilla from the FARC. He explained that he had joined because one year before the planes came and fumigated all his crops. He was left with nothing so he joined the FARC.

During the course of the conversation he explained that he and his comrades were visiting all the campesinos they could in order to explain to them about Plan Colombia.

Most of the people know very little even though it will directly affect them. He explained that in the guerrillas they are taught to treat the people with respect, not to use bad language and not to get drunk. There are punishments for anyone failing to observe these rules. He also told us about the discipline they give to criminals and the steps they take to try and convince them to change.

The guerrillas are very strong-minded people. It is hard, perhaps, for us to understand how it is to make a revolution against such huge odds. The results are, however, that wherever the FARC have control, there is little violence or crime. The town of Curillo was formerly controlled by the FARC but the citizens complained about the tough discipline imposed so the FARC left and allowed the military to take over. A year or more later the people are desperate for the FARC to return because the military get drunk, they assault people, they rape, they steal and they murder and they are then charged with the task of keeping order!

We asked the guerrilla why the FARC had not responded to the recent fumigation by attacking the planes. He told us that they are serious about peace and that they are trying to gain international support and recognition so that their ideas will be heard and so that they can continue the peace process.

Later we moved onto the subject of the coca; The guerrillas are not in favour of coca production but they say that unless a viable alternative is found then it will continue. The FARC, in the absence of a realistic approach to the situation by the international community, have taken on the role of policing the sale of the coca to the cartels. When the traffickers come to buy from the campesinos that cultivate the coca and make the base cocaine, the FARC make sure that a good price is given to the campesinos for their produce. They then take a tax from the buyer. They also monitor the buyers and give security to the campesinos.

The FARC have made proposals to finish coca production, introduce alternative crops and market them. This has been ignored both in Colombia and internationally because there is an agenda to present the FARC as 'Narco-Guerrillas.' The fact is that the guerrilla were there long before the coca and will continue to be there, coca or no coca whilst the campesinos face oppression.

The USA, Colombian government and military use the fact that the guerrilla, like the campesinos, are obliged to live from coca to take the high moral ground and present the FARC as drug runners. This is the whole pretext of Plan Colombia. But it is common knowledge in Colombia that the military, the police, the government and the business world in Colombia and on an international scale are up to their necks in the drug trade. Nobody on the military-government axis in Colombia or the USA is in any position to start moralising against the FARC on involvement in the drug trade.

February 16th: We awoke early and set out from Sabaleta village to look for fumigation.

As we walked in the heat of the day we passed many farms. The land is a maze of paths, patches of jungle, here and there a farm, sometimes cattle, people working, in the distance a chainsaw and frequently, fields of coca.

To pass through the 'backwoods of the plains of Caqueta is to pass into another world.

People travel by horse or mule if they can afford to keep one. Otherwise they walk. Their lives are hard and they struggle to maintain a basic subsistence. The coca is their lifeline.

Eventually we reached a big stretch of parched land where we saw dead coca, dead plantain, dead jungle, a house and no one in sight. After this, we walked for three hours further and saw the results of the fumigation wherever we went. We saw patches of jungle parched and dry like a desert. There were various houses abandoned.The man, who asked me not to name him or his whereabouts, had left because of the corruption. A corruption, he discovered, that reaches to the very top. Petty theft, violence against the public, bribery and so on were common practice. He soon discovered that it was dangerous to question this and that to co-operate was the best way to get promoted.

Amongst the many things he told me was that on one occasion a number of lorries were stopped at a Police checkpoint and found to have a large quantities of cocaine concealed in their cargo. Upon investigation the drivers were found to be policemen and the owner of the vehicles was found to be Rosso Jose Serrano Cadena, the then head of Police. The Police conducting the search were told by order of Serrano that 'if they didnt want any problems they should let the lorries pass.

This ex-policeman also told me that when he left the police force he was offered a large sum of money to join the paramilitaries. The men that approached him knew all his career details.

When I was first in Colombia I asked myself; why are there guerrilla? Why do these people take up arms against such odds? Nobody does this without good reason. Their situation must be terrible if they choose to risk their lives in this way.

Although personally I am not in favour of violence, I do not think that it is possible for us to judge these people from our privileged perspective. We do not know how it is to suffer the oppression and violation of rights suffered by the campesinos. Having lived and worked with campesinos and knowing the prices they get for legal crops it is obvious that any solution must address the economic difficulties they face.

The people of the cities and the country are divided in many ways and the situation of the campesinos and their defenders, the guerrilla are not well understood, even less so with all the propaganda against them. The only way for the Colombian people to successfully determine their future is for them to unite in their struggle. The guerrillas are now trying to instigate a political movement based upon the ideas of Simon Bolivar, a socialism that is Latin American in its style, rhetoric and ideology. This represents the best hope for Colombia and Latin America in general to rid itself of the imperialism that is exploiting it and dividing its people. Such a movement, by definition, would be based on a respect and understanding of those simple and often very wise people of the earth, the Indigenous and Campesinos who are the heart and soul of Latin America.

by Robert Lawson, English Ecologists Against Fumigation. Email: campesinoingles@latinmail.com

XVIa. COMUNIDADES AFRO-COLOMBIANOS
Una delegaci de la Asociaci Nacional de usuarios Campersinos Unida y Reconstruccion ANUC-UR, un representante del pueblo indgeno U'wa y del Proceso de las Comunidades Negras, (PCN) o sea las comunidades Afro- Colombianas, visito a Europa recientamente. Su llamada fue para solidaridad internacional. La siguente es un resumen del discurso del representante del PCN, Naka Mandiga.

La lucha de las comunidades Afro-Colombianas comienza desde el mismo momento en que los negros africanos son arrancados de su madre tierra 'la Africa' y son traidos al nuevo continente para someterlos a la esclavitud. As nos lo dijo Naka Mandiga o mejor conocido por su nombre catolico Jorge Aramburo.

Los Afro-Colombianos no solamente sufrieron la destrucci de su cultura sino tambien la traicci de los criollos Durante los procesos de independencia en Colombia. Aun despues de lograr la independencia los negros siguier siendo esclavos. Los precesos de independencia no fuer ms que un acuerdo entre la corona y los ricos de Latinoamerica. Se cantaron los himnos y se izaron las banderas pero la tierra no se devolvo, ignorando as que la patra no es una bandera la patra e= s la tierra; tierra que todava se encuentra bajo el yugo latifundista.

El proceso de comunidades negras del cual hacen parte una federaci de 140 organizaciones de todas partes de Latinoamerica, lucha por los derechos culturales, territoriales, sociales y por un mejor horizonte de trabajo, destacando la importanca de que cada grupo etnico es diferente y exige tratamientos diferentes y espacio territorial para el desarrollo de su cultura. Durante 10 aos vienen luchando por la legalizaci de su territorio y fue as como aprovechando una coyuntura poltica (Asamblea Nacional Constituyente 1991) se logra el reconocimiento del aspecto plurietnico y multicultural de Colombia ademas de otros aspectos como es el del sagrado derecho de estas culturas para propender su desarrollo. La ley 70 del 1993 ley de comunidades negras ha servido como herramienta de titulaci de territorios en la regi del pacfico (57.000 hectar= eas vecinas al ro Yurumangui) legalizando as lo que tradicional y ancestralmente les pertenece.

La injustica social, la mala distribuci de la tierra y la fatidica precensa de las multinacionales han resultado ser los mejores aliados encontra de las minoras etnicas en colombia. la lucha contra el modelo capitalista y neo-liberal es una lucha historica que empezo hace mas de cien aos. Las multinacionales no solo han arrasado con el oro de nuestros rios, sino que al mismo tiempo los ha contaminado con mercurio. El pacfico es para sus habitantes un potencial de vida y no un potencial economico. Indios y negros se convierten en estorbo para el desarrollo del neo-liberalismo y eminentemente entran en conflicto con las multinacionales y sus mega-proyectos.

De acuerdo con Naka Mandiga estos mega proyectos no representan mas que desplazamiento para los Afro-Colombianos, indigenas y campesinos, destrucci del medio ambiente y recursos naturales de Colombia, y en muchos casos la muerte para aquellos que se opongan a los intereses de las multinacionales y se niegen ha abandonar sus tierras. Uno de estos mega proyectos es el cultivo extensivo de la palma africana en la regi del pacifico afectando directamente el manglar, el cual es habitad de muchas especies acuaticas y una fuente muy importante de alimentacion para los habitantes de la zona. Este mega proyecto hace parte de lo que ha sido denominado el componente social del plan Colombia. La apertura del canal interoceanico es otro mega proyecto que tiene bajo terror a muchas comunidades en Colombia. La apertura de este canal incluira la construci de nuevos puertos maritimos y vias para el comercio y todo se hara exatamente donde la gente esta asentuada.

Con las multinacionales llega el paramilitarismo que es utilisado no solo para masacrar y asesinar a las comunidades y sus lideres sino tambien para sembrar el terror en aquellos que tuvier la fortuna de sobrevivir habiendo estado en manos de los 'paras'.

Naka Mandiga nos cuenta como los paramilitares amarran a sus victimas se les corta con sierra y se juega football con sus cabezas enfrente de toda la comunidad. El 7 de septiembre Mandiga fue victima de la casera paramilitar de la cual logro escapar, pero desafortunadamente 7 miembros de su familia no corrier con la misma suerte y fueron acribillados. Los paramilitares se mobilizar en vehiculos de la polica y el ejercito, 4 horas despues la fiscalia logra capturar a uno de estos paramilitares el cual estaba dotado de chaleco antibalas, pero la investigaci que llevo el comandante de la polica nacional de Buenaventura concluyo que no era mas que un delincuente comun.

Durante esta gira de denunca nuestros compaeros han ratificado un rechazo rotundo al plan colombia no slo por que es un plan para guerra, no fue consultado con el pueblo, favorece a muy pocos, fortaleze el paramilitarismo, su componente social es daino por sus mega cultivos y tambien por que su intenci es solo aliviar un poco la situaci de los desplazados (legalizar el desplazamiento) y no prevenirla. Sino tambien por que la verdadera intenci de EEUU es posecionarse comercial, economica y militarmente sobre Latinoamerica.

por Rafael Ayala

"Luchamos por el reconocimiento de nuestra tierra y trabajo, por el derecho a la vida, a una socieda y una cultura: la vida es una sola y a todos nos duele que nos la quiten miserablemente y s no dejan que las voces salgan, nos matan por que decimos la verdad."

Rosana Acuama (Proceso de Comunidades Negras)

XVIb. AFRO-COLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES A delegation of the National Peasants Association, of the indigenous U'wa people and the Black Communities Process (PCN), that is Afro- Colombians, visited Europe recently. They were calling for international solidarity. The following is a summary of a speech given by Naka Mandiga, the representative of the PCN.

The struggle of the African-Colombian started from the very moment when the black Africans were taken away from their mother land "Africa" and they were brought to the new continent to submit them to the slavery. Thus was said by the representative of the African-Colombian Communities Naka Mandiga, also known by his Catholic name Jorge Aramburo.

The African-Colombians have not only they suffered the destruction of their own culture but also betrayal during the independence processes in Colombia. After Independence was achieved the blacks continued being slaves.

The processes of independence were no more than an agreement between the Spanish crown and the oligarchy of Latin America. The anthems were sung, and flags were hoisted but the land was never distributed. The motherland is not a flag. The motherland is the land; land that stills is found under the latifundia yoke.

The Black Communities Process form part a federation of 140 organisations from all parts of Latin America. They struggle for their cultural, territorial and social rights, and for a better work horizon. Emphasising in importance that each ethnic group is different and demands different treatment and territorial space for the development of their culture.

During 10 years of fighting for the legal authorisation of their territory, and by taking advantage of a political conjuncture (Constituent National Assembly 1991), recognition of the multiethnic and multicultural aspect of Colombia was achieved. The communities also won other points, such as recognition of the sacred right of these cultures to define their own development.

Law 70, passed in 1993, the Law of Black Communities, has served as a tool for legalisation of territories in the Pacific region (57.000 hectares neighbouring to the river Yurumangui). This has legalised what traditional and historically belongs to the black communities in that region.

Social injustice, the unequal distribution of the land and the awful presence of the multinationals have turned out to be working in alliance against the ethnic minorities in Colombia.

The struggle against the capitalistic and neo-liberal model is a struggle that began a hundred years ago. The multinationals have not only taken the gold of our rivers, but at the same time they have contaminated the rivers with mercury. The Pacific region is for its inhabitants the means of life, it is not just economic potential. Indians and blacks have been converted into hindrances for the neo- liberal development, and therefore they enter in conflict with the multinationals and their projects.

According to Naka Mandiga these projects only represent displacement for the African- American - Colombian, indigenous and peasant, destruction of the environment and natural resources of Colombia, and in many cases death for those opposed to the interests of the multinationals and those who refuse to abandoned their lands.

One of these projects is the extensive cultivation of the African palm in the Pacific region directly affecting the mangrove swamp, which is the habitat of many kinds of aquatics species and a very important a source of food for the inhabitants of the zone. These projects are part of what has been designed as the social component of the Plan Colombia.

The opening of the inter-oceanic canal is another project that has many communities in Colombia under terror. The opening of this canal would include the construction of new maritime ports and all communication infrastructures for trade and all would be made exactly where al these communities are.

With the multinationals comes paramilitarism, that is used not only to slaughter and murder the communities and their leaders, but to sow terror in those that had the fortune of surviving having been in hands of the "paras".

Naka Mandiga told us how the paramilitaries tie up their victims and use chainsaws to kill them, and they played football with the heads in the presence of all the community.

On the 7 September Naka Mandiga was the victim of the paramilitary hunt but he managed to escape, unfortunately seven members of his family did not have the same luck and they were riddled with bullets. The paramilitaries used army and police vehicles to escape. Four hours later the police managed to capture one of these paramilitaries who was wearing a bullet proof jacket, but the investigation that was carried by the commander of the National Police concluded that he was just a common criminal.

During their tour our companions confirmed their categorical rejection of Plan Colombia, not only because it is a plan for war. The people were not consulted. Plan Colombia favours a small minority; it reinforces paramilitarism; its social component is injurious because of the extensive cultivation projects. Plan Colombias intention is to alleviate the situation of the displaced (to legalise the displacement) and not to prevent it. But the real intention of USA is to take commercial, economic and military control of Latin America.

by Rafael Ayala

"We fight for recognition of our land and work, for the right to life, to culture and to society: life is one alone and they are all making us wretched; they do not want our voices free; they kill us because we say the truth." Rosana Acuama (Black Communities Process)

XVII. BP AND PIPELINE DAMAGE IN COLOMBIA
BP's Colombian oil pipeline companies are refusing to pay compensation claims of 600,000 to three hundred peasants. The peasants, from the region of Zaragoza in northern Antioquia, claim that two oil pipelines passing through their farms have caused extensive environmental damage, forcing them off their land. Meanwhile BP sells the oil onto the US market for 7 million a day.

The following question about BP's treatment of the Zaragoza peasants was raised at the BP Amoco p.l.c. Annual General Meeting 2001, which took place in London on 19 April 2001:

"Considering that it ought to be BP's responsibility to respect the environment and local communities effected by its operations, and given the corporation's claimed policies of land stewardship and Global Environmental Management, why have not these policies been implemented in the case of the Vasconia- Coveas and Cusiana-Coveas pipelines in Colombia, and why has not BP through its subsidiary Ocensa settled the ongoing and just claim for compensation for loss of livelihood by a community of 300 peasants from the Zaragoza area due to the environmental damage of these pipelines?"

The ODC Pipeline
The first pipeline was built in 1990 by the state oil corporation Ecopetrol, which set up a special company ODC to run the project. The ODC pipeline is 480km long, starts in the central Magdalena valley, and ends at the Caribbean port of Coveas.

The pipe was laid along the higher ground of undulating terrain, with the peasant plots directly below. ODC stripped all the trees from along the pipeline corridor, leaving it without vegetation, exposed to water and wind erosion. The earth moving operations caused avalanches, blocked springs and diverted streams. Works for the pipeline destroyed 150 water sources along the Zaragoza section. ODC's restoration work was carried out badly, topsoil was not replaced, and sacks of earth had rotten away within a few months. Farm animals that ate the synthetic sacking were poisoned. The peasants lost their fruit trees and other crops.

The Ocensa pipeline - enter BP
BP's Casanare wells are today the most productive in Colombia, extracting some 400,000 barrels a day of high quality crude, nearly half the country's total output. Drilling is centred on the Cusiana and Cupiaga fields, in the remote eastern Casanare province.

Back in the early 1990s, getting its Casanare production to the Caribbean was a crucial challenge for BP. In December 1994 BP formed a new company called Oleoducto Central, S.A. (Ocensa), partnered by Ecopetrol, two investment companies, and the oil operators Total and Triton. Ocensa managed the construction of a 700 km pipeline which crosses the eastern Andes, before it meets up with the ODC line, running alongside it north to Coveas.

BP got directly involved with communities along its new pipeline. David Arce Rojas, the agent of BP Exploration Company (Colombia), signed detailed eight page contracts with the peasant proprietors. The contracts agreed compensation for a strip of land just 12.5 metres wide. The compensation rate was 400 pesos (worth about 25p at the time) per square metre of this strip, plus any additional damages. Between June 1995 and March 1996 BP made three payments to each smallholder. In one typical case the peasant family's total compensation package was for 1,576,250 pesos, about 1,000 or 4 per metre of pipeline at 1996 exchange rates.

BP's Cusiana-Coveas line came on-stream in 1996, by which time the security situation had deteriorated in the Zaragoza region. Army units enforced a civilian free corridor for 100 meters on either side of the double pipeline. The army brought in a 6pm to 6am curfew, which curtailed locals' access to their own land, and for some to their homes.

The combined effects of additional erosion from the second pipeline and the curfew meant that instead of losing use of a narrow corridor, the peasants had lost use of their entire holdings.

Ocensa now represents ODC's interests as well as its own in the dispute with the peasants. Some of the peasants have been forced to quit their homes and have fallen into acute poverty in the outskirts of Medellin. The peasants sum up their predicament with the saying, "My shirt has no value to you, but for me it has".

Five families are still seeking compensation from ODC for damages and loss of 10 years income totalling 525 million pesos, or 159,000. A second group of twenty families has claims against Ocensa for 436,000 damages caused by BP's Cusiana pipeline. There is ample evidence. A report by two officials of the Zaragoza court summarises the damage as "constant erosion, scarce re-vegetation, and fundamentally the total lack of water".

Ocensa has so far refused to make a settlement beyond the original payment. Its spokesman claims that, "No company has had such environmental responsibility. We've done things well".

BP's global policies BP's 'no damage to the environment' policy goal sets a high standard that is not being met in Colombia. The company's land stewardship policy emphasises prevention: "the best way to leave the land in a valuable condition is not to damage it while using it", guidance that has been ignored by its Colombian pipeline subsidiaries.

BP's Colombia operation constitutes about one fifth of its worldwide oil output. How has BP managed to achieve record profits of 1 million an hour? The answer, at least in part, is that BP does not properly compensate victims who, like the peasants of Zaragoza, have lost their land and livelihoods as a consequence of its highly profitable operations.

by Andy Higginbottom

The peasants lawyers published a letter in The Guardian on 5 May. They can be contacted by e-mail CSanchez71@yahoo.com

XVIII. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH MO MOWLAM?
Mo Mowlam has recently returned from her fourth visit to Colombia in the last 12 months. Her capacity in Colombia, as the minister in charge of the governments drug programme, shows that New Labours principle concern is to appease the US in their attempts to defeat the insurgency and to protect the interests of the multi-nationals. To view Colombias problems in terms of a drug war, is to ignore the fundamental problems of human rights, the impunity of the armed forces and their paramilitary allies in carrying out human rights violations, endemic poverty, the exploitation of Colombias resources by multi-national companies without investment for local people, and the questionable democratic legitimacy of the Colombian oligarchy. The =93war on drugs=94 is merely a justification for powerful countries in the north (in this case the USA, UK and Spain who just happen to be the three largest foreign investors in Colombia) to interfere in a foreign civil war on the side of powerful economic interests, and against the interests of the vast majority of the Colombian people.

Since its inception last year, the government of the United Kingdom has been one of the most vociferous supporters of Plan Colombia, eager to strengthen its already firm military links with the Colombian armed forces ( the SAS have been active for many years in Colombia, and it is former members of this unit that are alleged to have trained Convivir and paramilitary groups). During a recent discussion on Plan Colombia, Mo Mowlam herself admitted that, "It [Plan Colombia] is not perfect, but nothing ever is. Our job is to make it more like what we want it to be."

She did not expand on what they exactly do want it to be. At no time has the British government questioned their North American partners motives or actions regarding Colombia, and we can take an educated guess at our own governments motives and intentions when we consider Britains current contributions to the Colombian crisis.

General Roger Wheeler, former chief of the general staff of the British army, General Michael Rose, former UN commander in Bosnia, and John Steele the former head of security in the north of Ireland, have been guests of the Colombian police and army since last November. In another recent interview, this time with the Guardian, Mo Mowlam revealed this British military escalation for what it really is, "You are not going to get progress unless you have a military that can take on the rebels."

The British government has always been quick to point out that military assistance has also included human rights training, both for the police and the army. I do not know what qualifies the British army for this role, nor what it is that they teach, but the whole question of human rights training is a troubling one. Agents of the Colombian state are not responsible for human rights violations by accident or through ignorance; it is part of a concerted and active policy to nullify the opposition, and to terrify the general population into further submission. In such a situation, human rights training is a nonsense, lip service to the international community. Some of the continents most notorious butchers have been graduates of human rights courses, from the School of the Americas and other military institutions.

But what of New Labours ethical foreign policy? Mo Mowlam has been employed in the specific capacity of making the governments Colombian policy appear nice and fluffy, and due to her reputation gained in previous posts, she has had some success. She talks extensively about the importance of the process of consultation (Plan Colombia was drawn up in English, it was not even consulted in the Colombian parliament), of how the campesinos have all been offered the chance to take part in crop substitution programmes (patently untrue) and of how the UN is sending environmentalists and doctors to deal with the effects of fumigation (reports from Caqueta and Putumayo suggest that none of them have turned up yet). It is easy to see that British policy in Colombia is no more ethical than it has been in Indonesia and Turkey, and no amount of Mowlam spin will change the fact.

by David Rhys-Jones

XIX. THE BRUSSELS MEETING
The European Commission and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) co-hosted this meeting of the Donors Support Group, supposedly to support the Peace Process in Colombia. Tight control ensured that it was mostly a friendly audience. Trade unions were excluded. Richard Howitt, the MEP who earlier this year was one of those who had successfully pushed for the European Parliament to adopt a position critical of US military intervention, had to insist on his right to attend against opposition from Pastrana.

Despite heavy policing groups of Colombian refugees and their supporters did their best to get the Colombian peoples voice heard outside, and ocassionally also inside, the conference.

Certainly the outcome of the EU resolution and the political mobilisation meant that the EU Commissioner Chris Patten had to say that the Europeans would not extend funds for the military aspects of Plan Colombia, and that the pledged donations of some $300 million were to support the peace effort. But sadly this should not be seen as a victory by anti-imperialists. The outcome was an endorsement of the Pastrana governments misnamed "peace process", and, in effect, further finance for the social component of Plan Colombia.

There was no condition placed on the Colombian state to remove the impunity from justice that it grants the paramilitary death squads, which is the essential step towards a negotiated solution. The paramilitaries disruption of the ELN talks is but the latest example of their determination to block the peace process.

The European politicians may have done enough to salve their consciences, but nowhere near enough to help the Colombian people. April in Brussels was the third in a series of meetings instigated by Pastrana to draw in the international community: Madrid July 2000 at which $871 million was pledged, Bogota October 2000 saw another $280 million on the table, and in November 2000 the IDB announced a loan worth $300 million. Altogether these come to $1.7 billion.

Whatever their specific budget headings, this is all money made available to the murderous Colombian state and legitimising its standing.

The IDB is not a neutral force as it appears, but a highly experienced and sophisticated instrument of neo-liberalism (see What is the IDB? article in this bulletin). In 1997 the IDB lent Colombia $90 million for an alternative crop development program, and the next year three more loans totaling $134.3 million for roads, sanitation, and energy efficiency.

The IDB has a $30 million project to strengthen public security. There is no real consultation with the Colombian popular organisations about the advisability of these loans.

Through its representative Carlos Binetti, the IDB has strongly supported Plan Colombia.

From the beginning the IDB was part of the strategy to raise international finance. In the USA its called the war against drugs, in Europe its sold as the 'peace process. In reality both elements are strands of the same counter-insurgency strategy.

XX. WHAT IS THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK?
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has its headquarters in Washington DC.

The IDB is part of the family of so-called multilateral financial institutions that are in reality dominated by the interests of private banks from the US and other rich countries. The Bank has 26 borrowing members and 20 non-borrowing members. Its cumulative lending and technical co-operation programmes reached $104 billion at the start of 2000, it thus owns one seventh of all Latin America's foreign debt.

The IDB likes to disguise its activities through a smokescreen of apparently neutral technical or even reformist language. Yet alongside the IMF and World Bank, the IDB has played a key role in promoting, imposing and consolidating neo-liberalism in South America. The IDB has made the ruling elites and international banks richer while impoverishing the vast majority.

The Bank's latest annual meeting in Santiago, Chile was the seen of mass protests with placards reading "The wealth created by the IDB in our country is our misery" (1). Friends in Britain and Europe should listen to this voice of protest, and not be fooled by the IDB, a bank up to its eyeballs in Imperialist Dirty Business.

Che Guevara Warns
The IDB was created in December 1959, officially by the Organisation of American States (OAS) "to help accelerate the economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean". In fact it was set up with US $1billion by President Eisenhower to prevent the contagion of revolution spreading from Cuba.

Within a year of its existence the Cuban revolution had instigated Latin America's most thoroughgoing agricultural reform since the Mexican revolution of 1910-17. The USA had to counter Cuba's example. It introduced a different solution to the agrarian problem, which had at its root everywhere in Latin America the antiquated, repressive and hated latifundia system. And so President Kennedy launched the 'Alliance for Progress' to encourage governments throughout the region to initiate reform from above, to move quickly before the latifundias fell to the peasantry acting from below (2).

The role of the IDB was to provide the financial support for this consciously counter-revolutionary modernisation strategy. Che Guevara had been appointed head of Cuba's Central Bank, and in that capacity he famously excoriated the IDB at a meeting of the OAS in Uruguay in 1961. Cuba's revolutionary leadership denounced the USA for arriving with a bag of gold in one hand and a garotte in the other. Guevara pointed out that the IDB's offer of loans for roads and waterworks did not address the continent's fundamental problem, lack of its own productive capacity. He condemned the exploitation of underdeveloped countries by imperialist finance capital.

US Undersecretary of State promised the assembled delegates external finance from Europe, Japan and North America, on condition that "Latin America took the necessary internal measures" that would make loans possible. With great foresight Guevara questioned what might be the content of this unspecified US condition. History was soon to tell.

Allende's Reforms
A good example of the 'Alliance for Progress' approach was the land reform initiated by the Christian Democrat Frei government in Chile in the late 1960s. Frei's idea was not to distribute land from the big landowners to the peasants, but to create a small layer of capitalist farmers. On US prompting, IDB money was poured in to finance Frei's cautious changes.

Then in 1970 the Chilean electorate voted for Salvador Allende's more radical Popular Unity programme. Allende nationalised coal and steel production and introduced social welfare. These measures accelerated workers direct takeovers of foreign multinationals, such as the US companies ITT and Ford. The Chilean people were beginning to take over their destiny, and the USA was losing control.

President Richard Nixon had already sponsored one unsuccessful assassination attempt on Allende, even before his inauguration. Next the USA complemented its CIA-organised dirty tricks with a parallel campaign of economic destabilisation. Nixon ordered his underlings to "make the economy scream". Acting on these orders, the IDB and the World Bank cut their programmes in Chile and cancelled credits. They forced the Allende government to pay off old loans while refusing to open new ones, pushing it into a crisis. Following the demands of private investors, and working on direct US instructions, the IDB had starved Allende's social reforms of finance.

Shortly after Pinochet's military coup that overthrew Allende in September 1973, the IDB, IMF and the World Bank were all involved in extensive refinancing of Chile's debt.

The IDB had helped destroy Allende's democratically elected government, and was now co-operating with the dictatorship.

The Lost Decade and Brazil
The IDB regained a central role in lending and overseeing structural adjustment programmes in the mid- 1980s. The Bank was instrumental in solving the debt crisis on terms that were acceptable to creditors, by rescheduling the debt on terms advantageous to them. That is it laid the ground for ever deeper debt crises in the future.

Thanks to the IDB, Latin America's level of indebtedness exploded, doubling from $230 billion in 1980 to $442 billion in 1990. The effect of these policies was devastating. The region's average per capita income dropped by 11 per cent between 1980 and 1990 (3).

Brazils debt crisis illustrates how the conditions that Che Guevara warned against work in practice. Brazil's great economic weight in the region means that even the smallest sign of economic nationalism is perceived by the northern powers as a challenge that has to be slapped down. This is what happened in 1990. The country was governed by the right-winger Fernando Collor, how much real power he exercised was about to be tested.

Although Brazil had paid off $90 billion in interest over the 1980s, it's debt still stood at a colossal $120 billion. Pushed by the IMF, "Plan Collor" included cutting wages and slashing public expenditure with 360,000 proposed redunancies. In order to pay off the debts the Brazilian people were to be deliberately driven over the abyss. Michel Chossudovsky explains, "Poverty was not only the 'result' of the reforms, it was also an 'explicit condition'".

And still Collor's cuts were not deep enough for the big international banks who were Brazil's creditors. They ordered the multilateral institutions not to lend Brazil any new money, a position sanctioned by the G7 meeting in Washington. As a result the US Treasury instructed the World Bank and IDB to block all new loans to Brazil until there were harsher conditions. One year later the government package that was finally acceptable to the IMF in late 1991 meant a brutal 65% cut in current expenditure (4).

Neo-liberalism in the 1990s
The IDB's grip has been relentless. Latin America and the Caribbean countries owed their overseas creditors nearly twice as much at the start of 2000 as they did in 1990. At the end of the decade servicing regional debt took away 35% of all export earnings. So much for debt forgiveness.

The decade of the 1990s brought an extra dimension to the continent's attractiveness for foreign capital. The neo-liberal policies of privatisation, labour market de-regulation, tax reductions for the rich, and liberalisation of controls, all seen as 'reforms' by the IDB, have amounted to an open invitation to foreign investment with guaranteed super-profits. This welcoming economic regime is also known as globalisation.

International entrepreneurs could hardly contain their celebratory mood as they entered the gold rush. As one business executive advised the 1992 IDB Conference on Latin America's New Economic Climate, "the race for Latin America has started and the latecomers will lose out". No wonder that Clinton's Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told the IDB's next conference, held in Colombia, that "the Latin American model is a model to emulate, not a model to avoid".

According to a recent report, "the volumes of Foreign Direct Investment are of a magnitude not even imagined a decade ago" (5). Indeed, net foreign direct investment had increased sevenfold from $11 billion in 1991 to over $77 billion in 1999.

Privatisation has been the special instrument of this influx. Ever more corporations have been handed over to overseas capital. In the 1990-1992 period foreign multinationals participated in 27% of the 500 biggest companies in LA, this had increased to 43% by 1998-99. In the same period state corporations had reduced their share of the top 500 from 33% to 19%. Acquisitions by Spanish banks and multinationals have been especially significant. What this represents then is the direct takeover of Latin American corporations by foreign capital, European as well as North American multinationals.

The Human Face of neo-liberalism?
At the Montreal 'Conference on Globalization', IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias said that globalisation can be a positive thing provided that government, business and labour organisations are "prepared to be truly active in giving it a human face".

Unfortunately humans can be very cruel, especially when they are bankers. The IDB's real face became all too clear on the first anniversary of Hurricane Mitch, February 2000, when the IMF admitted that it, the World Bank and the IDB were still taking a million dollars a day from Honduras and Nicaragua. In 1999 Nicaragua spent almost as much on servicing its foreign debt ($170 million) as it did on reconstruction ($190 million).

Honduras spent even more on debt servicing than reconstruction. The Washington creditors continued to squeeze debt repayments out of victims of Hurricane Mitch because they are so-called 'preferred' creditors, and never give up their claims.

Do not be confused by this Janus two-faced creature. The IDB is driving the free market agenda ever deeper into Latin America. It exists to support private capital making the biggest possible profit. For sure the IDB is remarkably popular with the private banks lending it money. The Bank reports that "In May 2000, Euromoney magazine named the IDB Supranational Borrower of the year 2000. In January 2001, the Bank had two of its bond issues rank first and second best supranational bond issues of 2000 in Euroweek magazines annual poll." Recent purchasers of IDB bonds include Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Mitsubishi, Morgan Stanley Witters amongst many others.

The IDB and New Challenges
The IDB has been given a role in meeting two significant challenges of the new race for Latin America. The first challenge arises from the expansion of investment from monetary loans to portfolio investment, and hands-on supervision of the production process. For their investment to become generalised and systematic, the multinationals demand a modernised infrastructure of transport, communications and other services including relevant education and training of their workforce. The IDB's job is to work with local states and finance whatever infrastructure is needed by capital as a whole.

Echoing its Alliance for Progress roots, the IDB has recently sought to reposition itself as a development bank also focussing on social reform. The IDB presents itself as a financier of 'safety net' projects, providing basic services to those hardest hit by structural adjustment programmes.

This is because the second challenge is political rather than economic. Neo-liberalism has impoverished and polarised societies so much that there is bound to be conflict.

What therefore is required is a programme of projects targeted at pre- empting resistance. The intention is not to do away with poverty and its causes, this would require the complete overhaul of the neo-liberal framework. Rather, it is a calculated strategy using specific poverty reduction projects, intended to ameliorate a few, whilst spreading the illusion of hope and sowing division amongst the rest. The IDB's redisovered reformism is to head off "the explosive potential of unmet social demands".

The new SYSTEM of exploitation has to be constructed and consolidated. But it will be a system of EXPLOITATION. Neo-liberalism in Latin America has moved on from its doctrinaire free market phase to its pragmatic interventionist phase. Next stop Colombia.

by Andy Higginbottom _

_____________________________

1 "One more step to destruction" by Aldo Madruga in Granma International 21 March, 2001
2 "Latin America's Agrarian Reform: Lights and Shadows" by Cristobl Kay=

3 "Latin America and Global Capitalism" by William Robinson in Race and Class, Vol 40 No2/3
4 "The Globalisation of Poverty" by Michel Chossudovsky (pp178-179)
5 "La Inversi Extranjera en AmFrica Latina y el Caribe", 2000 by CEPAL March 2001

XXI. ZAPATISTAS, NEO-LIBERALISM, EMIGRATION AND DRUG TRAFFICKING
The world media gave Mexico its sudden and typically short attention with the colourful site of the balaclava clad Zapatista guerrilla commanders leading there showcased convoy from their hidden bases in the Lacondon jungle to the sprawling metropolis of Mexico City. The huge number in the cheering crowds, estimated as high as a hundred thousand, that listened to the commandantes give there passionate speeches in the central "Zocalo", showed the vast public sympathy for them and added to the powerful bargaining position the EZLN have created for themselves. However as in other cases of negotiations between popular paramilitaries and democratic, capitalist governments, the business of talks has been slow to start and fraught with difficulties.

While many in the Mexican right and media accuse the Zapatistas of being unclear in their demands it seems that the basics of what they are asking for is quite straight forward: the de-escalation of the military presence in Chiapas, the release of key prisoners, and the legalisation and enactment of the San Andres accords which provide a bill of rights for the indigenous people and give limited autonomy to some of the Chiapas communities. The problem is that, although the populist Vicente Fox would love to have the achievement of having resolved this conflict under his belt, he and his party follow a neo-liberal ideology and the intentions of the Zapatistas with their ideas of communal ownership and direct democracy are simply way too radical for them and go against all their economic and political principles. Furthermore, while Chiapas is an impoverished region, it is rich in resources and is of great potential interest to the government and its corporate friends.

A large share of the media attention has focussed on the photogenic image of the balaclava wearing, pipe smoking Subcomandante Marcos, supposed by the authorities to be Rafael Guill, a former professor of philosophy. Marcos is indeed an interesting character with a unique style of philosophical writing and entrancing, lyrical speeches that have made some credit him as being one of the best contemporary authors and poets in Latin America. The marketing of his image as a revolutionary hero has been deliberately fostered by the Zapatista movement, and the widespread selling of T-shirts and posters with his face has helped build support for the movement, particularly among the youth of Mexico's majority working class. Thus far Marcos has proved to be an exceptional leader in his military strategy, use of the media, and political negotiation. However, only time will tell if he will use the powerful, personality cult built around him for purely positive purposes.

The huge amount of support the Zapatistas have inspired outside of Chiapas, mainly among individuals, not states or political parties, has immeasurably strengthened their movement. They have had a huge impact on the European left providing an incredible example of revolutionary possibilities in the post cold war age and the consequential arrival of foreign volunteers and political observers has been an important factor in defending Zapatista communities from the army and paramilitaries. What is more worrying for members of the Mexican middle and upper classes is the mass sympathy for the EZLN across the republic, particularly among the poor in the capital, many of whom are in desperate situations. However, unlike the traditional revolutionary left, the Zapatistas have always maintained that they have no aspirations to take state power and when the EPR, Popular Liberation Army, began a guerrilla campaign in 1996 with this intention, the EZLN distanced themselves.

Many Mexicans put their faith in Vicente Fox as someone who could provide a fresh start after seventy two years of rule by the thoroughly corrupt PRI. However, four months into his office there are complaints that people are still facing the same problems of poverty, insecurity, and corruption.

Figures as to the scale of poverty vary, and depend much on the analyst's definition and agenda, but same say it is experienced by as many as fifty million or fifty percent of Mexicans. It is a solid fact that the minimum wage is three dollars a day in a country where food is cheap, but virtually all packaged consumer goods are imported and sold at prices often higher than the country of their brand (i.e. the United States). There is a substantial middle class of small business owners and professionals, particularly in the capital, but low wages or profits put much of them in a difficult economic position, similar to that of the unskilled working class in the first world.
Supporters of Fox invariably maintain that his policies need time to take effect and this a reasonable argument as four months is a short time after seven decades of one party rule. However, it is not certain whether his neo-liberal policies, based on a faith in the power of the deregulated free market, will ever really improve life for the majority of Mexicans. For example, the government is currently attempting to privatise parts of the electricity network, threatening the access of poorer Mexicans to one of the basic services.
There is a widely held belief that if the so called developing countries work hard enough at trying to emulate the economic systems of the first world they will arrive at their standard of living. This myth fails to take into account that all third world states are developing their economies under completely different conditions from the northern countries. When was the U.S. or Germany for example completely dominated by foreign companies? The NAFTA agreement incorporated Mexico further into the economic system of North America allowing the free movement of goods and capital without the free movement of labour. Thus general motors produce cars in Mexico, paying workers a third of what they pay them in Detroit and then sell them back to the Mexicans at a higher price than people are paying north of the border.
Of course the reality is that Mexican labour is crossing the vast frontier in mass and this is one of the key issues in the Mexican- American relationship. To his credit, Fox is trying to address this issue and in his recent visit to the states he voiced support for the migrant workers. While U.S. factories and farms are demanding the labour it can only make sense to regulate it and not force hundreds of thousands to risk their lives crossing the perilous northern desert. However, adding to the estimated twenty million of Mexican origin now in the States is difficult for America's reactionary forces to stomach and in his visit Fox was heckled by demonstrators heralding banners with statements such as "Stop the illegal invasion or lose your country".

Just as it is impossible to stop the flow of migrants there is something else heading north that cannot be controlled: cocaine. The statistics surrounding the Mexican drug trade are startling. As high as seventy percent of the cocaine consumed in the USA is thought to come through Mexico as well as a substantial amount of the marijuana, heroin and amphetamine. 22, 680 kilos of cocaine were seized by the U.S. authorities in the year 2000, a loss sustained by the Mexican Cartels that still make combined profits estimated higher than fifteen billion dollars annually. Furthermore, the number of people living off earnings related to the drug trade is considered to number as high as three hundred thousand. All this obviously has an extremely detrimental and destabilising effect on the Mexican Republic.

First there is the problem of violence directly related to the cartels which is particularly high in key drug trafficking cities such as Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Sinoloa where last year there was an average of 1.2 murders a day. Secondly there has been a massive rise in crime generally during the 1990s, particularly in the capital where the population now lives in a climate of fear of violent robbery, carjacking, and kidnapping. Though it is not possible to prove a definite link between the drug cartels and the other violent urban crime it is apparent that they have both risen at the same time. Furthermore, on the streets of Mexico there is a wide availability of cocaine and a form of it similar to crack that sells for $3.5 U.S. a rock, and a large percentage of arrested delinquents have traces of narcotics in their blood. Finally, one of the key crimes, car theft, is something that needs extensive crime organisations behind it with many of the stolen vehicles ending up in other countries in the Americas o even in Europe.

The corrupting effect of the billions of dollars of drug money on the civil society is devastating. On a grass root level police officers who generally earn little more than $300 a month are bought off in mass. And the rot continues to the highest level with the drug fighting army general Jesus GutiFrez Rebollo being arrested in 1997 for being on the pay of the Juarez mob while Raol Salinas, brother of the ex president, was imprisoned for plotting a murder and investigated for tens of millions of dollars of unaccounted for assets, supposed to be connected to narcotics. The USA's reaction to the strength of the cartels is one, as in Colombia, of confrontation.

Thus the DEA is appealing for more funds, looking for more involvement in Mexican law enforcement and seeking to extradite more drug traffickers. Sadly it seems that, with the colossal size of the market created by North American consumers, the presumption that they can destroy the trade by brute force is mistaken.

Although there are many sad cases of people being addicted or dying of crack and cocaine the vast majority of it is consumed by a huge number of people in America and Europe on a casual basis. Thus the principal victims of the drug trade are really the societies of Colombia, Central America, and Mexico. One solution to this problem would be the legalisation of cocaine, something impossible for the powerful in North America to accept in their present mindset.

by Ioan Grillo in Mexico City

XXII. COLOMBIAN REFUGEES IN THE FRONTLINE
On 1 June 1997, Amnesty International issued a report "Panama/Colombia Refugees: the right to escape from death" urging the Panama authorities not to resume forced repatriation of refugees to Colombia where they faced near certain death. Weeks earlier the New Labour government was elected in Britain, promising an asylum policy that would be faster, firmer and fairer.

Home Office Statistics
As we know statistics can be manipulated to show many things. Yet there is no doubt that the Home Office's own Asylum Statistics demonstrate a clear pattern of increasing official hostility to asylum seekers over the last four years of Labour government.

In 1999 there were 71,160 applications for asylum, with a slight increase to 76,040 of applications in 2000. The number of Home Office initial decisions tripled over these two years from 33,720 to 110,065 - thus it is certainly true that processing became faster.

At the same time, as the figures show, there was a sharp deterioration in successful applications. In 1999 37% of applicants were recognised as being refugees and granted asylum. A further 12%, although not recognised as a refugee, were nonetheless granted exceptional leave to remain. One year later only 10% of applicants were granted asylum, with a further 12% receiving exceptional leave to remain. In other words in just one year the rate of Home Office rejections leapt up from 52% to 78%.

And so the number of people effected by negative decisions was far greater due to the faster processing. In 1999 11,025 applicants were rejected, in 2000 this had shot up to 76,850 rejected applications. Nearly seven times more applicants were refused asylum in 2000 than in 1999! How could this be fair? It is incredible to suppose that suddenly there were seven times more 'bogus' applicants arriving. Rather this qualitative shift reflects a dramatic hardening in government policy.

This hardening is reflected at every stage in the process. Asylum seekers have the right to appeal the Home Office's original decision, and the case goes before an adjudicator.

It is meant to be a fair process. But the proportion of appeals dismissed by adjudicators is 82%. More than four out of five appellants have their application rejected for the second time. Less than one in five appeals are successful.

Refugees Flee Human Rights Violations Human rights violations in Colombia are the worst in the western hemisphere, and by some indicators the worst in the world. It is the human rights emergency that is generating an exodus of people fleeing imminent death. The violence has got seriously worse over the last four years of labour government, and yet it is harder than ever for Colombian refugees to gain asylum.

In the first three months of 2001, more than seven out of eight Colombian asylum seekers were refused. Of the 300 Home Office decisions made on Colombians this year, only 15 applicants (5%) were recognised as a refugee and a further 20 applicants (7%) were granted exceptional leave to remain. 265 applicants, (88% of the total of Colombians) were refused. These figures have no relation to the merits of the applicants' cases. Colombian refugees report that their evidence is not even read by immigration officers. If this is not institutionalised racism, what is?

Moreover, this policy of asylum denial is also an extension of the government's foreign policy, it is another form of British collaboration with the fundamentally undemocratic and repressive Colombian state.

The rejection rate for Colombians is worse than the average rejection rates. In the first three months of this year there were a total of 46,875 Home Office decisions. Of these 36,350 (78%) were rejections, only 3,945 applicants (8%) were granted asylum and 6,580 (14%) exceptional leave to remain.

Britain's tightening of the screw against Colombian refugees is reflected elsewhere in Europe. Spain and Italy have just introduced visa restrictions for Colombians.

Bottle Up and Go
A key component in Britain and Europe's hardening policy is that refugees should be managed in their country of origin or in their region. This 'bottle up and go' policy has two advantages for the western powers. On the one hand it is a means of concealing the human suffering, and on the other it provides a pretext for their new readiness for military intervention.

Colombia exemplifies both strands. There are two million internal refugees in Colombia.

The international league table of internal displacement, read suffering, is dominated by African countries. Colombia is the exception, lying equal second with Angola, behind Sudan which alone has four million internal refugees (see The State of the World's Refugees by UNHCR, p215). Noteably, these three countries are all targets of multinational exploitation of their oil and mineral resources, a primary driver for their 'internal' conflicts.

Colombia's internal refugees, los desplazados are the invisible victims of its civil war, and remain completely vulnerable to assassination, disappearance and other forms of human rights abuse. They are fighting to become visible, for their voice to be heard. On 10 April Reuters reported an occupation by 100 refugee squatters of the International Red Cross offices in Bogot. This is one person's story, "Sanjuan, who owned a general food store in her jungle village of Norosi, became desperate begging at car windows on Bogota's busy streets and joined a crowd that stormed the building to demand food, homes and medicine in January last year. She now lives with 15 people in an office of broken furniture and unplugged computer desktops that has one toilet, a bucket for bathing and five beds improvised from upturned archive cabinets."

Plan Colombia's fumigations have accelerated internal displacement, forcing refugees to flee to neighbouring countries. In one week of April alone 600 refugees arrived in Ecuador. Armies and paramilitaries now cordon off Colombia's southern provinces to intercept and drive back the desperate refugees.

Refugee Rights - A Class Problem
As well as a fundamental issue of human rights, the refugee problem is also a class problem.

There are two classes of Colombian =93refugee=94, the rich and the poor. The poor become driven out and hunted down desplazados. Rich Colombians are sought after customers, they are being forever enticed through adverts in glossy magazines to buy condominiums as bolt holes in the USA.

There is a steady trickle of the 'entrepreunerial class' to Miami. The emigration of prosperous Colombians is linked with the phenomenon of 'capital flight'. An estimated $2 billion has been transferred from Colombia to the USA in the last two years. While the elite to buy their way in through property ownership, the US state is clamping down on poor immigrants and refugees. Colombians now need visas to get into the USA, even to transfer from one US airport to another. On 4 April two stowaways hiding in the landing gear of a Miami-bound cargo plane were killed when the plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

You should not send people to death
The rich western states are systematically closing off escape routes for poor Colombians and all others from oppressed countries genuinely fleeing persecution. That this is in direct contradiction to the spirit and letter of the 1951 Refugee Convention. So now they want to undermine the Convention.

All we can say after four years of 'fast, firm and fair' asylum policy is to repeat Amnesty's urgent plea, but this time direct it squarely to the Labour government - YOU SHOULD NOT SEND PEOPLE TO THEIR DEATH.

by Paul Goddard

XXIII. ACTIVITIES
"Why Colombia? Opportunities Behind The Image" is the title of an investment conference organised by the Colombian Embassy in London. There will be a high profile team of Colombians, the Foreign Minister, the Finance Minister, the Mines and Energy Minister.

The Conference Chair is Conservative ex-Foreign Office minister Lord Garel Jones. Garel Jones is a former BP advisor and director of Biwater, hoping to get its hands on privatised water in Colombia. Other companies eager to do business are Unilever, Barclays Bank and Willis International Holdings.

Now they have secured finance for Plan Colombia, that is to repress working class and popular resistance, the multinationals want to take advantage, rob even more of the countrys wealth and exploit its workers even harder. We say No!

Picket
4.00pm Thursday 17 May Sheraton Park Hotel, Piccadilly, London W1 (nearest tube Green Park)
NO INVESTMENT WITHOUT HUMAN RIGHTS!
NO INVESTMENT UNTIL THERE IS PEACE AND JUSICE IN COLOMBIA!
PLAN COLOMBIA - PLAN FOR EXPLOITATION

Colombia Peace Association Party
7pm until midnight, Saturday 16 June
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1
(nearest tube Holborn)

Music featuring Vallenato band Nirk Molina y Cumbe Colombian food and beer
8 on door, 7 in advance and 5 for concessions
Funds go to ANDAS, organisation working for displaced people in Colombia