From: Pakito Arriaran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 02:26:08 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Weekly News Update on Colombia #595, 6/24/01
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #595, JUNE 24, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*8. COLOMBIA: REBELS FREE HOSTAGES, ATTACK
On June 18, after completing an arrangement in which the
Colombian government released 14 imprisoned rebels and the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) freed 55 hostage
police agents and soldiers, the FARC announced it would
unilaterally free 100 more hostage police and soldiers. The next
day, June 19, spokesperson Raul Reyes announced the FARC would
unilaterally free more than 250 hostage soldiers and police at a
June 28 ceremony to which President Andres Pastrana Arango and
numerous foreign diplomats have been invited. Critics have called
the move a publicity stunt; Pastrana welcomed the announcement as
further proof that the widely criticized peace negotiations he
launched with the FARC in 1998 are bearing fruit. [Miami Herald
6/20/01; CNN en Espanol 6/22/01 from Reuters]
On June 22, some 500 members of the FARC's Southern Front
attacked the strategic Coreguaje military base near Puerto
Leguizamo in the southern Colombian department of Putumayo, using
grenades and rockets fashioned of gas cylinders packed with
dyamite and ammunition. The troops based at Coreguaje are part of
the elite Southern Task Force, trained by US experts to fight the
"drug war" in Putumayo. The fighting left 30 soldiers and 26
rebels dead, according to army second commander Gen. Nestor
Ramirez. [Clarin 6/24/01 from EFE, DPA; El Espectador (Bogota)
6/24/01]
"Their peace gestures will always be accompanied by
demonstrations of force, trying to make clear that they don't do
it out of weakness, but quite the opposite, because they are
strong," said analyst Alfredo Rangel about the FARC. Accords,
such as the one that allowed for the release of the hostages and
prisoners, "will be preceeded or followed by violence on the part
of the guerrillas," Rangel explained. [CNN en Espanol 6/22/01
from Reuters]
*9. COLOMBIA: OVER 100 KILLED IN ARMY ACTION?
Over a period of three weeks ending in late May or early June,
the Colombian Armed Forces seized four towns in the southern
Colombian department of Narino in "Operation Tsunami", an anti-
drug mission involving some 4,000 soldiers with support from the
air force and navy. According to reports that emerged on May 28
and 29, Colombian army officials said 116 people were killed in
"Operation Tsunami": 18 leftist rebels from the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and 98 people linked to the drug
trade, most of them low-level workers in coca fields and cocaine
processing laboratories. [EFE 5/28/01; RCN Radio (Colombia)
5/29/01; El Nuevo Herald 6/10/01 from AP] Later reports said 16
FARC rebels were killed during the operation and 29 were
captured, and another 21 people linked to drug trafficking were
detained. [ENH 6/10/01 from AP] The operation has been kept under
a veil of secrecy as the army has refused to let anyone into the
area to talk to survivors. [Colombia Report 6/4/01]
*10. COLOMBIA: CONTROVERSIAL LAWS APPROVED
On June 20, its last day of ordinary sessions, Colombia's
Congress voted to give final approval to a law that changes the
way government funds are distributed. The law has prompted recent
strikes and mobilizations, especially by teachers, health workers
and public employees, who say it will result in reduced funding
for health and education [see Updates #593, 594]. Passage of the
"transfer law" was mandated as part of a December 1999 loan
agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). [Hoy (NY)
6/21/01 from EFE]
On June 14, Colombia's Chamber of Deputies approved a
controversial law that authorizes the nation's military forces to
make arrests, carry out searches and take on other judicial
functions in "war zones" where officials from the attorney
general's office are unable to carry out these tasks. The measure
was previously approved by the Senate. Human rights defenders say
the "war law" violates Colombia's 1991 Constitution; it must now
be reviewed by the Constitutional Court before it can be signed
by President Andres Pastrana. Congress member Gustavo Petro
called the legislation "fascist." [CNN en Espanol 6/15/01 from
Reuters; El Tiempo (Bogota) 6/15/01; El Pais (Cali) 6/15/01,
6/18/01]
=======================================================================
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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Pakito Arriaran * enege brigadak
soulcialist stiliagi
http://inquilino.net/palante/enege.html
"E' un mondo difficile, è vita intensa,
felicità a momenti e futuro incerto"
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