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Weekly News Update on Colombia
#508, 10/24/99 Datum: Thu, 28 Oct 1999
Peace talks resume, public demands ceasefire
Peace negotiations were set to resume between representatives of
the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) at 11am on Oct. 24 in the FARC-controlled municipality of La Uribe,
in Meta department. The talks will be presided over by the government's
High Commissioner for Peace, Victor Ricardo, and by FARC spokesperson Raul
Reyes. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 10/24/99] Also on Oct. 24, marches were planned
in cities and towns across Colombia to call for an end to violence. The
marches are part of a civic movement backed by 200 nongovernmental organizations,
including business associations and the Catholic Church, which has formed
around the slogan "No More" and is demanding a ceasefire, real negotiations
and respect for civilians. President Andres Pastrana Arango is supporting
the marches: "I invite all Colombians to go out into the streets to say
we don't want any more violence," said Pastrana on Oct. 18 before leaving
on a trip to the US. [El Nuevo Herald 10/24/99 from AP; El Colombiano (Medellin)
10/19/99; Financial Times (UK) 10/22/99] Messages of support for the "No
More" campaign and the Oct. 24 marches have also come from United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan and from 1996 Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Jose Ramos Horta of East Timor. [ENH 10/22/99 from AFP] Parallel marches
have been organized for Oct. 24 in cities in at least nine countries around
the world to support the movement's call for peace, and in some cases to
protest US military intervention in Colombia. Protests were scheduled for
San Jose, Costa Rica; Guayaquil and Quito in Ecuador; Lima, Peru; Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic; Valencia and Puerto Ordaz in Venezuela; New
York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles in the US; Frankfort,
Bonn and Stuttgart in Germany; London, England; and Paris, France. [EC
10/20/99; La Republica (Peru) 10/23/99] A car bomb and two smaller explosive
devices went off in three different sectors of Medellin in the early morning
of Oct. 24; another small explosive device went off in the north of Bogota.
There were no victims. [AP 10/24/99 posted on ENH website] Felipe Rincon,
a member of the FARC's thematic committee for the negotiations, warned
on Oct. 23 that the conditions don't exist for a ceasefire. "In Colombia
nothing has changed yet to be able to say that there's a ceasefire; there
must be agreements, and that hasn't happened yet," said Rincon. [ENH 10/23/99
from AFP] A FARC spokesperson, commander Pedro Aldana, warned on Oct. 23
that Pastrana "must choose between the reconciliation of his country and
the neoliberalism of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)." [ENH 10/24/99
from AFP] Meanwhile, the Colombian government announced on Oct. 20 that
it is initiating a $10 million program to find substitutes for coca cultivation
in four southern municipalities within the demilitarized zone controlled
by the FARC. Ines Restrepo, head of the government's office of alternative
development, said the program will be carried out jointly with the United
Nations, and will help find alternative means of livelihood for 820 families.
One of the municipalities involved is La Uribe, site of the peace talks.
However, the program "has nothing to do with the negotiations," according
to Restrepo. "The government wants to demonstrate that the state can have
a presence in this part of the country," she added. [AFP 10/20/99] A report
published by the Venezuelan daily El Nacional claims that representatives
of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the
country's second-largest leftist rebel group, have made arrangements for
a meeting in Havana. Pastrana denied the report on Oct. 18, but said: "We
are looking into the possibility of holding a meeting at the right time."
[Radio Cadena Nacional 10/19/99]
CIA seeking brazilians to fight colombian rebels?
The Brazilian magazine IstoE reported on Oct. 17 that individuals believed
to be from the Clandestine Operations Division of the US Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) have been recruiting Brazilian pilots and former soldiers
in Rio de Janeiro to fight the FARC in Colombia. According to IstoE, the
requirements are first-hand experience in risky missions and the waiver
of any compensation rights in case of accidents. Pay ranges from $10,000
to $12,000 per mission, said the magazine. IstoE interviewed one of the
recruits, a professional civilian pilot; he said he is training between
four and six hours daily, and will soon travel to a Chilean military base,
from which he will be deployed to fight rebels in Colombia. "The contract
doesn't include life insurance," explained the mercenary. "Each one flies
and fights at [his/her] own risk. The families commit themselves to not
asking for financial compensation in case of death, and they don't have
the right to claim the body." The pilot explained that many of those recruited
had participated in the civil war in Angola between 1992 and 1994, and
many had fought in Nicaragua and El Salvador during the 1980s. [El Nuevo
Herald 10/18/99 from AFP; Agencia Informativa Pulsar 10/18/99]
Colombian teachers stage national strike
Some 200,000 Colombian teachers began a national strike on Oct. 14 to demand
wage improvements and more money for education. On Oct. 20, groups of striking
teachers and students from the departments of Caldas, Antioquia, Tolima,
Huila, Cundinamarca and Santander arrived at the Education Ministry building
in Bogota to press their demands. The same day, Congress passed a budget
which includes massive cuts in funding for public education. "The great
points of discord are the low budget allocated for education and the critical
salary situation of the teachers," explained Tarcisio Mora, president of
the Colombian Teachers Federation. Education Minister Marta Lucia Villegas
warned that the strike could be declared illegal and the strikers punished
or dismissed. A group of teachers began occupying the Education Ministry
on Oct. 19; the government said it wouldn't renew negotiations until they
leave the building. Teachers set up a roadblock on the highway between
Pasto and Ipiales on Oct. 20. The Antioquia Teachers Association (ADIDA)
reported on Oct. 21 that teacher Orlando Alberto Gutierrez Zapata was shot
to death by unknown assailants on Oct. 20 as he arrived at the Lorencita
Villegas de Santos school in Medellin where he taught. The union also condemned
the police use of tear gas and water cannons to break up an Oct. 20 protest
in Medellin by some 3,000 striking teachers who came from all over Antioquia.
A number of protesters were injured in the incident and seven were arrested.
[EC 10/21/99; ENH 10/22/99 from EFE] On Oct. 21, without having won any
of their demands, the teachers resumed work after deciding to suspend the
strike in what was described as a sort of tactical withdrawal. The occupation
of the Education Ministry and the highway roadblock were also lifted. [EC
10/22/99]
Flooded colombian town on strike
Residents of Riosucio municipality in Choco department, in the Uraba region
of northern Colombia, have been on strike since Oct. 3 to demand government
attention to the desperate situation caused by the flooding of the area
19 months ago. Riosucio is located at the point where three major rivers
and a number of smaller waterways feed into the Atrato river. The residents
are demanding that canals be built to drain the town; they say the problem
started when the lumber company Maderas del Atrato--which had been dredging
the river--closed its doors. Municipal authorities estimate that more than
20,000 hectares of plantain, yuca and rice have been lost, and that some
1,200 homes are on the verge of collapse. Virtually all the local public
officials, teachers, health workers, businesspeople, and bus and truck
drivers are participating in the strike, and lumber production-- the region's
main source of income--is at a halt. "This protest...is seeking to get
the government to come with concrete solutions...principally a dredging
plan," explained Ariel Moreno Rovira, president of the Strike Committee.
"Nevertheless, we have other needs like the construction of a hospital
and the aqueduct, and the interconnection with [the town of] Chigorodo."
The Strike Committee dismissed charges that the rebels are behind the strike.
"This is a peaceful protest and there's nothing subversive about asking
for help, because we are dying of hunger and disease," said Miguel E. Mena,
described by the Medellin daily El Colombiano as "president of the Council."
"All the people of Uraba know it and that's why we've received support
from several municipalities in the region." A government commission was
supposed to arrive in Riosucio on Oct. 23 to discuss solutions to end the
strike. [EC 10/23/99]
Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network
of NY 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html * wnu@igc.apc.org
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