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Letting Colombia's Criminals Off Easy |
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by Christopher Brauchli |
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"And whatten penance will ye dree for that, Edward, Edward?" The inconstancy of friends is a troublesome thing. Consider Colombia. In July we all lamented its unwillingness to comply with the perfectly reasonable demands of George W. Bush that it exempt all United States citizens from the reach of that dreaded thing known as the International Criminal Court, and applauded when Mr. Bush let it be known that the United States would withhold all future military aid to it because of President Alvaro Uribe's stand. Mr. Uribe said United States citizens would be treated just like citizens of the rest of the world and would be subject to the rules of the ICC, the court created to try people charged with genocide and other crimes against humanity. Mr. Uribe placed the need for acting as a true humanitarian above the need to accept money from his friend and patron, Mr. Bush. The decision to withhold funds was not lightly made by Mr. Bush. Although it only amounted to withholding $5 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, it meant withholding $130 million for the following fiscal year. That money was being used to perform tasks near and dear to Mr. Bush's heart. It was being used to protect Occidental Petroleum's pipeline, which permitted that company to get oil from its facility in northeastern Colombia to the Caribbean coast and thence to the United States. It was being used to fight those profiting from the export of cocaine to, among other places, the United States. That was July. This is October. On Sept. 18 it was disclosed that Mr. Uribe had signed the agreement that exempts U.S. citizens arrested for human-rights violations in Colombia from prosecution before the ICC. That means that country will get $5 million more this year and $130 million in the next fiscal year. Some may see a connection between Mr. Uribe's change of heart and an amnesty bill submitted by him to the Colombian congress. The New York Times says the bill was written with help from American officials. The amnesty bill was designed to encourage members of the paramilitary federation known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) to disarm. The AUC, which is estimated to have 20,000 troops, appeared in the late 1980s and was supported by business interests, especially wealthy ranchers. Its goal was to remove civilian support for the guerrilla movement that had been fighting the government for many years. AUC became an adjunct of the government's military forces and was implicated in many brutal acts during its existence. Its acts were so outrageous that in 2001 the U.S. State Department put Colombia's paramilitaries on its official list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. According to Human Rights Watch, "Colombian intelligence sources estimate that 40 percent of the country's total cocaine exports are controlled by paramilitaries and their allies in the narcotics underworld." No wonder the Bush administration labeled it a terrorist organization. More wonder that it helped draft the legislation. One part of the legislation would allow paramilitary commanders to avoid prison or more severe punishment by paying damages to victims and/or, in some cases, performing social work. According to the Commissioner for Peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo, the government agreed to introduce this legislation in return for the demobilization of 13,000 paramilitary fighters. One of the signers of the agreement that led to introduction of the legislation was Carlos Castao. He will be one of its beneficiaries. According to Human Rights Watch, Mr. Castao was complicit in the murder of a presidential candidate for which he was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2001. He massacred 15 people, a crime for which he was convicted in April of this year. In June 2003 he was sentenced by a Bogot court to 40 years in prison for his role in a 1997 massacre. In 2000, 300 armed men from his group tortured, garroted, stabbed, decapitated and shot residents of the village of El Salado. A little social work coupled with a hefty fine would do him good. Mr. Uribe explains that lenient treatment for the paramilitary is the price of removing them from the conflict. According to Mr. Restrepo, "What will not happen is forgiving and forgetting. There will be investigations and there will be reparations." It is hard to know what reparations are appropriate as punishment for having tied a 6-year-old girl to a pole and suffocating her with a plastic bag, as was done by Mr. Castao's helpers, and what kind of social work should be performed by the perpetrators. Determining that will be one of the tasks of the judges. Not everyone applauds the alternative sentencing proposal for those guilty of human-rights abuses, such as Mr. Castao. Fifty-six members of Congress sent Mr. Uribe a letter expressing doubts about his willingness to prosecute members of the paramilitary. The Bush administration has been more reticent. According to the Washington Post, a senior Bush administration official refused to comment on the sentencing proposal. He said it would be wrong to interfere while the proposal was being considered by Colombia's legislature. Mr. Castao still faces 32 charges in connection with civilian massacres and assorted assassinations. Mr. Castao is reportedly a strong supporter of the new legislation. It's not hard to see why. It's harder to explain Mr. Bush's silence. Christopher Brauchli is a Boulder lawyer and and writes a weekly column for the Knight Ridder news service. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2003, The Daily Camera ### |
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