This cheery little article from America's favorite newspaper, led the way for similar commentaries in other papers around the nation. Here, we find that the leader of Colombia's death squads is 'savvy' and 'straight talking'! And the 'paras' he leads, are 'a lion that has broken away'. Why not nominate good ol' Carlos for Time magazine's *Man of The Year* award? It might be hard to imagine that the New York Times could stoop so low, as to try to improve the public image of the leader of thugs that specialize in using chain saws to cut their innocent civilian victims into little pieces in front of family members. But such is the case. An interesting aspect to this respectful little human interest story, is in the number of times that this thug is referred to as Mister. As in Mister Khaddafi or Mister Hussein or Mr. Gates! Try counting for yourself as you read along. It's quite a game. The 'reporter' must surely be proud of his accomplishment. Tony Abdo _______________________________ Rightist Squads in Colombia Beating the Rebels Juan Forero New York Times Tuesday, December 05, 2000 Original URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/05/world/05COLO.html BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Dec. 4 ? They began as a gang of thugs backed by the once-powerful Columbian drug cartels. But when the guerrilla war intensified, they evolved into quasi-independent right-wing paramilitary squads that killed peasants suspected of supporting Colombia's leftist rebels. Now the paramilitary forces have demonstrated with alarming clarity that they have become something else again: an army of combat-ready fighters that is directly engaging guerrillas and winning wide swaths of territory. The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, as the paramilitary groups are known formally, or A.U.C. by the Spanish initials, are also gaining an important degree of popular support from Colombia's middle class, say experts on the conflict and government officials here and in the United States. As the government tries to restart frozen peace talks this week, the right-wing militias may well have a role in the process. With 11,000 fighters, nearly double what they boasted a few years ago, and the backing of landowners, businessmen and coca growers, the paramilitary forces have beaten guerrillas on their own turf. Through intimidation, massacres and, increasingly, direct confrontations, the militias have tightened their hold on the northern provinces of Antioquia, Bolívar and Córdoba and expanded into other regions, especially the coca-growing strongholds in the south. They have also thrust themselves into the roiling world of Colombian politics, upsetting peace negotiations between President Andrés Pastrana's administration and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation's largest rebel group. Through savvy public relations efforts by its straight-talking leader, Carlos Castaño, and intimidation aimed at Colombia's establishment ? notably the kidnapping of seven congressmen in October in a successful attempt to broker a meeting with a top government official ? the paramilitary fighters have shown a determination to be heard. Military success is widely believed to be strengthening Mr. Castaño's hand in his quest for political recognition. Achieving military victory would make it more difficult for the government to prosecute him and other paramilitary leaders for war crimes if the conflict comes to an end. For the first six months of this year, the government's ombudsman has reported that 512 unarmed civilians were killed by paramilitary gunmen, compared with 120 killed by guerrillas. Despite criticism from human rights groups, the public relations drive appears to be working. A large group of congressmen and several influential Colombians are publicly suggesting that the paramilitary units should have a role in the peace talks, a possibility that others say could produce years of conflict because of rebel opposition. The debate comes as Colombia prepares to spend $1.1 billion in mostly military aid from the United States and other Western allies to curtail coca production in prime coca-growing regions like Putumayo Province in the south, an area where guerrillas and the paramilitary units have been battling for control. "They are an unquestioned reality," said Senator Miguel Pinedo, who was among those kidnapped in October. "There's going to have to be a moment when they will have to be a part of the negotiating table, either independently or together with the rebels, but they have to be a part of it." Phillip Chicola, director of Andean affairs for the United States State Department, agreed recently in a radio interview here. The paramilitary forces "are at some moment going to have to be part of a process," he said, "and I think the government and Colombian society are going to have to decide how to manage this issue." Their growth can be attributed in part to the failure by the Pastrana administration to advance the peace effort in the last two years. The government is trying to resume talks before Thursday, when Mr. Pastrana must decide whether to reclaim by force the Switzerland-sized swath of territory ceded to the FARC guerrillas two years ago to lure them to the peace table. The talks have sputtered, but the guerrillas control the land. Max Alberto Morales, who has served as an intermediary between the government and Mr. Castaño, the paramilitary leader, said that Mr. Castaño had been prepared to allow the peace talks with the FARC to proceed but that Mr. Castaño had become concerned when the talks stalled, the FARC took control of a major chunk of territory and guerrilla violence continued. "We had hope for a year that the peace process would get rolling, but what happened in that year is kidnappings became more common, roadblocks increased, they began to hijack airplanes and people were taken from churches," Mr. Morales said. "I think that all this touched the hearts of Colombians, and they said, `We won´t take this anymore.´ For that reason the people in this country love Castaño so much." Beloved or not, Mr. Castaño has been quick to take advantage of the shifting moods in Colombian society. In two highly emotional televised interviews last spring, he cast himself as a protector not of the large landowning class that has helped finance the paramilitary forces, but rather of middle-class workers fearful of kidnappings. "The ones who have no one to defend them are the middle classes," Mr. Castaño said. "The Self-Defense Forces are looking out for the interests of the middle class." After the interviews, a poll in El Tiempo, Colombia's most respected newspaper, showed that 38 percent of those questioned said their image of Mr. Castaño had improved. Seventy-two percent said the paramilitary forces should take part in the peace talks. "Castaño is the only Colombian who has the nerve to attack the guerrillas, and that makes him the good guy," said Luis Jaime Córdoba, a Bogotá teacher. Mario Fernando Hurtado, a geographer, said he had come to agree with Mr. Castaño's logic after watching him on television. "He knows the reality of the problems of the country, and though he justifies his actions with force, he's convincing in his arguments," he said. "I'm not in accordance with many of his methods, but in this country they're necessary, because having a peace dialogue with the guerrillas when they're not interested doesn't make sense." Colombia is a poor country, but its cities have large middle-class communities that feel little kinship or connection to the peasant farmers in the countryside who are most often the victims of the paramilitary units' violence. With Colombia's unsteady political situation and a harsh economic downturn worsening, the vacuum was open for Mr. Castaño to step in. "Against this backdrop of deepening chaos and the absolute lack of the rule of law, then a charismatic and articulate individual has risen to the level of leadership," said Bruce Bagley, an expert on the conflict at the University of Miami who is worried about a deepening conflict if the paramilitary forces gain political support. "Carlos Castaño, the fixture, the man, has found the right time for his leadership to emerge as powerful and important in Colombia," he said. "He has resonance among important sectors in Colombian society." Mr. Castaño has also expanded his forces' reach into sparsely populated regions where they had only occasionally operated in the past, notably Putumayo Province along the Ecuadorian border. "It's remarkable, from a military perspective, that he's been able to push into new areas without any concern about his rear flanks," said Robin Kirk, who has interviewed Mr. Castaño for her work as the Colombia researcher for Human Rights Watch. "He's able to project a force way beyond his base of strength, which is northern Colombia, and he has the E.L.N. on the ropes, and that is very new," she said, referring to the National Liberation Army, the second- largest leftist guerrilla group, by its Spanish initials. In Putumayo, the paramilitary fighters have so unnerved the FARC in a series of brutal entanglements since September that the rebels responded by closing off the province's roads. The FARC's tactics have created an embarrassing crisis for the Pastrana administration, because it is in Putumayo that much of Plan Colombia, a multibillion-dollar effort backed by the United States to root out drug trafficking, is focused. Mr. Castaño's efforts to push deep into Putumayo are aimed at controlling the region's lucrative coca production. It remains unclear if the paramilitary forces have been able to gain the upper hand in the conflict there, but a top State Department official said intelligence reports showed that "at a minimum they've held their own against men who've had a full run of the place." Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups insist that the paramilitary forces should not be allowed into peace talks until the government fully investigates their connections to the military, which the rights groups accuse of having provided munitions and tactical support to the paramilitary units. A Human Rights Watch report in February showed that half of Colombia's 18 brigade-level army units had links to paramilitary units. "They have to disappear as an armed force and submit themselves to justice," said Senator Jaime Dussan, an outspoken opponent of including the paramilitary units in the talks. "How can we give amnesty to those who have killed, those who have massacred?" Still, even among those who have aggressively pushed for the government to rein in the paramilitary fighters, there is a sense that it may be too late, that the right-wing forces have grown so large and independent that they cannot easily be disbanded. "Today, the paramilitaries have grown too much," said Germán Martínez, the legal officer in Puerto Asís who has investigated paramilitary killings in Putumayo. "It is a monster created by the state, but now it's at the point where it's free of the state. It's a lion that the state controlled, but it has freed itself, broken away." © 2000, New York Times _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
