WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #576, FEBRUARY 11, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*3. COLOMBIA: WOMEN'S GROUP UNDER ATTACK
On Jan. 27, two men who said they were members of the rightwing
paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) came to
Casa de la Mujer, a womens' community center run by the Popular
Women's Organization (OFP) in the Prado-Campestre district of the
city of Barrancabermeja, Santander department. The paramilitaries
said they had come to take over the center and demanded the keys
from the OFP members present. When the OFP members refused to
give up the keys, the paramilitaries threatened to come back
later. One of the men returned the same day, threatening an OFP
activist, stealing her mobile phone, and saying the
paramilitaries would come back to "blow the door down and trample
over whoever stands in their way." Police arrested the man, but
released him two days later. [Amnesty International Urgent Action
Appeal 1/29/01, 2/9/01]
Early on Feb. 8, two armed men who identified themselves as AUC
members returned to the OFP center in Barrancabermeja. The men
immediately approached an international observer from the non-
governmental organization Peace Brigades International (PBI) and
ordered him to hand over his official papers and mobile phone.
PBI has a team of volunteers in Colombia providing protective
accompaniment for members of the OFP and other grassroots and
human rights activists in immediate danger. When the PBI observer
refused to cooperate, the paramilitaries threatened him with a
gun. He and OFP activist Jackeline Rojas then handed over their
papers and mobile phones. As they left the center, the
paramilitaries threatened the PBI observer, telling him "from now
on you are a military target." [AI Urgent Action Appeal 2/9/01]
The OFP's Casa de la Mujer is an internationally-backed project
established by the Catholic church in 1972. It works with
displaced communities in the Magdalena Medio region and provides
economic help, food, education and women's health initiatives.
[AI Urgent Action Appeal 1/29/01]
Meanwhile, on Feb. 5 AUC members murdered five campesinos in the
rural village of Guamal, in Heliconia municipality, just west of
Medellin in Antioquia department. [Equipo Nizkor/Derechos Human
Rights Solidaridad Urgente 2/8/01; El Colombiano (Medellin)
2/8/01] Unidentified assailants murdered another four campesinos
the next day in the village of La Loma de Venado, near the border
of Santa Barbara municipality, in the south of Antioquia. [EC
2/7/01]
Messages urging the Colombian authorities to take appropriate
measures to guarantee the safety of human rights and grassroots
activists, and Colombia's civilian population in general, can be
sent to President Andres Pastrana Arango (fax #571-336-2109, 337-
1351, 286-7434, 286-6842, or 284-2186; email
[EMAIL PROTECTED]); Defense Minister Luis Fernando
Ramirez Acuna (fax #571-222-1874; email
[EMAIL PROTECTED]); messages concerning
Barrancabermeja can also be sent to Santander governor Jorge
Gomez Villamizar (fax #577-633-9889). [AI Urgent Action Appeal
2/9/01; Equipo Nizkor/Derechos Human Rights Solidaridad Urgente
2/8/01] [US residents can also contact their members of Congress,
emphasizing the urgent need to end all US military aid to
Colombia.]
*4. COLOMBIA: PEACE TALKS RESUME
After two days of talks, Colombian president Andres Pastrana
Arango and Manuel Marulanda Velez ("Tirofijo"), leader of the
leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed a
pact on Feb. 9 in which they agreed to reopen peace negotiations.
The 13-point Pact of Los Pozos, named for the village in the
FARC-controlled southern demilitarized zone where the talks took
place, opens the way for discussing a ceasefire when talks resume
on Feb. 14. It also commits the two sides to "expedite"
negotiations on an exchange of sick prisoners, about 50 from each
side, and on the unilateral release of 100 of the 500 soldiers
and police agents currently held by the FARC. The agreement
provides for the creation of three panels to advise negotiators
on issues that have repeatedly stalled the peace talks since they
began in 1998: one will address violence by rightwing
paramilitaries and "lessening the intensity of the conflict";
another will take up any side issues that threaten the main
talks; and the last will "periodically evaluate and report on"
conditions in the demilitarized zone.
"I believe that today we have resuscitated the peace process,"
Pastrana declared at a news conference as he patted Marulanda's
arm. After announcing the pact, Pastrana extended for eight more
months the authorization for the demilitarized zone. [Miami
Herald 2/10/01]
*5. COLOMBIA: NEW PROTEST AGAINST REBEL ZONE
Between 12,000 and 30,000 area residents protested on Feb. 4 in
San Pablo, Bolivar department, in northern Colombia, against the
imminent creation of another demilitarized zone where talks
between the government and the country's second-largest rebel
group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), would take place.
Government delegates have been meeting with the ELN and local
residents for months to formalize an agreement. The zone would
cover the municipalities of San Pablo and Cantagallo; the
protesters came from the municipalities of Cantagallo, Yondo,
Santa Rosa, Simiti, Gamarra and Arenales, among others.
Landowners and ranchers, many of whom support and fund the
rightwing paramilitaries, are leading the movement against the
proposed zone [see Updates #524, 525, 535, 537]. [AP 2/5/01; El
Nuevo Herald 2/5/01 from wire services]
The group "No al Despeje" (No to the Clearing [of security forces
from the zone]), which has been organizing the protests, blamed
the ELN for a Feb. 5 massacre in the municipality of Puerto
Wilches, Santander department, in which three women, one of them
pregnant, and six men were killed. The victims were members of a
single family, and reportedly had taken part in the protests
against the zone the day before. Santander police commander Gen.
Fortunato Guanarita said it wasn't clear who had carried out the
massacre. On Feb. 7, the ELN denied any responsibility and blamed
the attack on those who oppose the peace process. [ENH 2/7/01
from Reuters; Hoy (NY) 2/8/01 from EFE; El Colombiano (Medellin)
2/7/01]
Meanwhile, on Feb. 7, Colombian authorities arrested police
captain Carlos Gomez on charges of homicide, attempted homicide,
and criminal conspiracy for the Dec. 15 shooting in Bogota of
labor leader Wilson Borja. Borja, president of the National
Federation of State Workers (Fenaltrase), was wounded when hired
killers opened fire on his vehicle; a sidewalk coffee vendor and
one of the assailants were killed. [Miami Herald 2/9/01] Borja
had been targeted by rightwing paramilitaries because of his role
in seeking a peace process between the government and the ELN
[see Update #568].
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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 * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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