-Caveat Lector-
http://www.narconews.com/swissdiplomacy1.html
April 1, 2002
Narco News '02
Switzerland: FARC not "Terrorist Org"
Refuses U.S. Order to Freeze Colombian Rebel Bank Accounts
Narco News Commentary: Bush administration attempts to use the "war on
terrorism" as a Trojan horse to conduct other policy agendas hit a marble
wall last week in Switzerland.
As the Swiss government froze bank accounts related to the Taliban
organizations of Central Asia and the Middle East, it at the same time
refused a U.S. request to freeze funds belonging to the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Colombian rebel organization.
In the days after the attacks of September 11th, Narco News warned
("Washington's Terrorist List: The Road Through Afghanistan Leads to
Colombia," October 1, 2001) that Washington's list of so-called "terrorist"
organizations "fails to distinguish between groups that cross international
borders to do violence and those that do not."
According to today's El Tiempo of Bogotá, the Swiss government -- in a nation
with many of the most important banking institutions in the world -- has just
taken a courageous step in turning the tide against the cynical policy of
Washington to make national liberation movements targets in the so-called
"war on terrorism." The diplomatic policy of Switzerland reveals the
continued rift between the European Community and the U.S.-imposed "Plan
Colombia" military intervention.
Here is a translation of the report in today's El Tiempo (so far, no
English-language wire service or media has reported the story).
In a move that places distance between Swiss diplomacy and that of the United
States, the Swiss State Department refused to automatically block the bank
accounts of the FARC, according to Jacques de Watteville, chief of the
economic and financial affairs division of this department.
"We have ordered the freezing of 69 accounts of the Taliban or its
accomplices, identified as criminals by the Sanctions Committee of the UN
Security Council, but we don't subscribe to the recommendations of certain
countries about supposedly terrorist organizations," he explained.
The U.S. Justice Department had sent the Swiss government a list of terrorist
organizations against which it asked for the freezing of their bank accounts.
To explain the decision by his government, Jacques de Watteville gave
examples of the Lebanese Hezbollah party and the FARC, insisting that "we
don't define them as terrorist organizations."
The policy of neutrality and good works that characterizes Switzerland
illustrates a relative clemency for the FARC, since Switzerland together with
France, Cuba, Spain and Norway is part of the "Group of Friendly Countries"
that is attempting to consolidate a peace process between the Colombian
government and the ELN (National Liberation Army).
By Juan Gasparini
El Tiempo correspondent
Switzerland
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