Excerpts from WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #475, MARCH 7, 1999
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
COLOMBIA: US ACTIVISTS MURDERED
Three indigenous rights activists from the US were kidnapped on Feb. 25 in
the northeastern Colombian department of Arauca after a week-long visit to
the land reserve which is home to the 8,000- member U'wa indigenous nation.
Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Lahe'ena'e Gay were abducted by
armed men in civilian clothing as they headed to the town of Saravena to
take a flight to the Colombian capital of Bogota. A week later, on Mar. 4,
the bodies of the three were found across the Arauca river in the
Venezuelan state of Apure, 30 meters from the Colombian border. "Everything
indicates that they were killed on the Colombian side and thrown over
here," Venezuelan interior minister Luis Miquilena told Reuters.
The bodies of the three US activists were found barefoot, blindfolded (some
sources say their heads were covered with black hoods), with their hands
bound behind their backs, and, according to some sources, showing signs of
beatings and torture. Their ankles and wrists showed signs of having been
tied with rope for an extended period of time. Gay and Washinawatok had
been shot four times each in the face and chest, and Freitas had been shot
six times, all with 9mm weapons, Venezuelan police said. Freitas was hit
twice in the back from a distance, suggesting he may have tried to flee,
they said. Sources differ on whether the bodies were found by a patrol of
Venezuela's Technical Judicial Police (PTJ) or by Segundo Salamanca, a
local rancher, who reportedly "heard bursts of automatic gunfire, waited 10
minutes, and then ventured out to investigate." [Cable News Network 3/6/99,
with some info from AP, Reuters; El Espectador (Bogota) 3/6/99; El Nuevo
Herald (Miami) 3/7/99; Reuters 3/5/99; El Heraldo (Barranquilla) 3/7/99; El
Tiempo (Bogota) 3/6/99]
Gay was director of Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy
International, which sponsored the trip to Colombia. Washinawatok,
originally from a Menominee reservation in Wisconsin, was a prominent
indigenous rights activist based in New York. Freitas, who had recently
moved to New York, was head of a Los Angeles-based campaign for the defense
of U'wa lands against oil exploration by the US-based company Occidental
Petroleum. Freitas had visited the U'wa at least five times in the last
three years; he was serving as a guide for Gay and Washinawatok, who had
been invited by the U'wa to visit the region. [Reuters 3/5/99] The U'wa won
a legal battle against Occidental in 1997 that prevented the Los
Angeles-based company from exploratory drilling on traditional U'wa
territory. [CNN 3/2/99 from AP]
In a Mar. 5 statement, Colombian president Andres Pastrana Arango condemned
the killings and pledged close bilateral cooperation with Venezuelan
president Hugo Chavez to track down those responsible, who were "apparently
members" of an unnamed Colombian subversive group. [Reuters 3/5/99]
Investigations into the murder of the three US activists are under way by
the PTJ, the Colombian attorney general's office, and the US Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI). [ET 3/7/99; El Pais (Cali) 3/7/99]
Human rights groups in the Venezuelan town of San Cristobal, capital of
Apure state, staged protests on Mar. 6 to condemn the killings and show
support for Colombia's peace process. [El Heraldo 3/7/99]
COLOMBIA: WHO KILLED US ACTIVISTS?
Several days before the bodies of the US activists were found, U'wa
representative Roberto Afanador, who was with the three when they were
abducted, said he suspected the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) were responsible for the kidnapping. Afanador said the FARC
frequently enters the U'Wa reserve without permission. "The indigenous
authorities are very upset by this because our territory is not respected.
We are humiliated. We are abused." [CNN 3/2/99 from AP] According to
testimony from the U'wa, the three activists were taken away by hooded or
masked men dressed in civilian clothing, who pointed pistols at their heads
but said "soon we'll let you go." [El Espectador 3/6/99] CNN reported that
an U'wa tribal leader who was with the three activists when they were
seized claims to have recognized the two armed, plainclothes men who
carried the US activists away as being FARC members. [CNN 3/6/99, with info
from AP, Reuters]
However, the New York Times says the attackers' style more closely
resembles that of rightwing paramilitary groups, since the guerrillas
usually wear uniforms, and use bandanas when they cover their faces. The
Times also notes that the dumping of the bodies on the Venezuelan side of
the border "is not in the rebels' long-term interests," given the sympathy
of new Venezuelan president Chavez for their cause. [NYT 3/7/99]
On Mar. 5, a FARC spokesperson declined to confirm or deny his
organization's involvement in the kidnapping and murder. [Reuters 3/5/99]
Calls to FARC spokesperson in Mexico Marcos Calarca reached only an
answering machine; Calarca usually responds in person. [El Diario-La Prensa
3/7/99 from AP] On Mar. 6, a member of the FARC's ruling council speaking
on condition of anonymity told Reuters by telephone: "This was an act of
provocation by enemies of the peace process. The actions of the kidnappers
don't correspond to the way our combatants operate, and it's very difficult
to believe that the FARC has some responsibility in this." The unidentified
rebel leader said the FARC's ruling council would issue a formal statement,
probably on Mar. 7. [CNN 3/6/99, with info from AP, Reuters; El Heraldo
3/7/99]
There are currently some 800 people being held in kidnappings in Colombia.
According to Colombian government statistics, 62% of all kidnappings are
carried out by guerrilla groups. [El Pais (Spain) 3/7/99 from wire
services] The FARC and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) use
ransom payments from kidnappings to finance their operations. [Reuters
3/5/99] Venezuelan interior minister Miquilena attributed the killings to
the ELN, who he said operate in that area of Colombia and occasionally
venture into Venezuelan territory. Miquilena said the ELN's members "are
much crueler" than those of other Colombian guerrilla groups. [ENH 3/6/99
from Reuters] No one but Miquilena has accused the ELN, which sent out a
communique denying any connection to the kidnap and murder of the US
activists. [Clarin 3/7/99 from AFP]
Colombian attorney general Jaime Bernal Cuellar warned that the FARC's
possible role in the murders could only be established after a painstaking
investigation, and cautioned against "jumping to conclusions." [CNN 3/6/99,
with info from AP, Reuters] However, Colombian Army commander Gen. Jorge
Enrique Mora Rangel told reporters on the night of Mar. 5 that he had
"practically no doubt" the crime was committed by the FARC. He said the
FARC rebels operating in the area where the abduction took place are under
the command of German Briceno Suarez (known as "Grannobles"), a brother of
the FARC's number two commander and chief military strategist, Jorge
Briceno Suarez ("El Mono Jojoy"). [CNN 3/6/99 with info from AP, Reuters]
Mora said an U'wa leader confirmed that a FARC unit under Grannobles'
command operates in the area where the kidnapping took place. "There is no
doubt that this was a genocide committed by the FARC," said Mora.
On Mar. 5 the Colombian army broadcast two alleged radio communications
between FARC guerrillas intercepted by military intelligence over frequency
8,117.0. A transcript was also released of the conversations, which were
allegedly between an unidentified FARC member and German Briceno, who heads
the FARC's 45th and 10th Fronts. The voice identified as Briceno tells the
other person to "take them to the other side and burn them." [EE 3/6/99; El
Pais (Cali) 3/7/99; ET 3/7/99] "Oh son-of-a bitch, man, I thought all three
were men," the voice identified as Briceno is recorded as saying. Then, in
what the press suggested was a reference to Washinawatok, he said, "Oh
son-of-a-bitch, let the lady die, she wasn't from our family." [Transcript
of recording printed in El Espectador 3/6/99]
"We condemn the FARC in the strongest possible terms for this barbaric
terrorist act," State Department spokesperson Lee McClenny said in a
statement. [Reuters 3/5/99] "We have strong indications that they were
kidnapped and murdered by members of the...FARC," said White House press
secretary Joe Lockhart in a statement. "We demand that the FARC accept
responsibility for these crimes and that they immediately hand over those
who committed them." Lockhart said the US government "won't rest until
those who committed these crimes have been brought to justice." [El Heraldo
3/7/99, quotes retranslated from Spanish]
State Department spokesperson McClenny called on the Colombian government
to arrest the killers and extradite them to the US. [CNN 3/6/99, with info
from AP] Colombian justice minister Parmenio Cuellar said any extradition
request from the US would be analyzed with respect to the legal and
constitutional norms, but noted that the crime was committed in Colombian
territory, which puts it in the jurisdiction of the Colombian justice
system. [El Pais (Cali) 3/7/99]
[The bodies of the three US activists were found the same day that US
attorney general Janet Reno ended a two-day trip to Colombia, during which
she met with President Andres Pastrana and top military and law enforcement
officials. In a meeting with Chief Prosecutor Alfonso Gomez, Reno discussed
human rights and US aid for criminal investigators, and pressed for the
extradition of drug suspects for trial in the US, Gomez told reporters.
Four drug suspects have been captured in Colombia since last year on
requests by the US, but their extradition must be approved by the Colombian
government and Supreme Court, said Gomez. [AP 3/3/99]]
The Colombian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights also blamed the FARC for the killings. In a Mar. 6 communique, the
UN office said "that despite this office having transmitted to the FARC-EP
its concern for the life and integrity of these people and [having]
requested the immediate release of the same, [our] call was ignored." [El
Heraldo 3/7/99]
A humanitarian group operating in the region where the kidnapping took
place said the FARC had granted permission to the three activists to carry
out their work. [CNN en Espanol 3/7/99, with info from Reuters]
Apesanahkwat, the chairperson of Washinawatok's tribe, said the American
Indian Community House (AICH) in New York had been in touch with the rebels
through the Red Cross and other groups, and had received an email message
from the FARC on Mar. 5 in which it "sent its greetings and expressed
solidarity" with Native Americans. The activists had arrived in the area
around the same time as a Feb. 19 battle in Arauquita, across the river
from where their bodies were found, in which the Colombian army said it
killed 60 rebels. Apesanahkwat speculated the killings might have been
retaliation. [CNN 3/6/99, with info from AP, Reuters]
Melina Selverston, director of the Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and
their Environment, a Washington-based advocacy group, called the region
where the U'wa live "tense," noting that "both the ELN and the FARC have a
strong presence in the zone, and because of the oil companies there is a
strong paramilitary presence." She added that the U'wa have always
maintained an autonomous position. [EE 3/6/99] According to Selverston,
some activists suspect the killers were paramilitary groups allied with oil
companies, angered that the victims helped the U'wa fight oil exploration.
[NY Daily News 3/7/99] The New York Times reports that rightwing
paramilitary groups have been "extremely active" in the area in recent
years. Selverston said Freitas had received death threats on his answering
machine from rightwing paramilitaries operating in Arauca. [NYT 3/7/99] New
York's Daily News said Freitas had been "threatened at gunpoint in Colombia
last year." [DN 3/7/99]
Leslie Wirpsa, a close friend of Freitas, told Reuters: "In a trip they
made last March, Terry called me and said that he and an indigenous leader
were being followed by one or two people and that they had reasons to
believe that they were paramilitaries." On the same trip, Freitas was taken
to the police station in Cubara, the main town on the U'wa reservation, and
was interrogated about the purpose of his visit, Wirpsa said. The police
told Freitas that they could not guarantee his safety in the zone and they
made him sign a document clearing them of any responsibility if anything
happened to him. Wirpsa still has a copy of the document. [CNN en Espanol
3/7/99, with info from Reuters]
The Bogota daily El Espectador claims the area is controlled entirely by
the FARC and the ELN, and no "paramilitarism" exists there. However, the
newspaper admits that extreme rightwing groups known as "the hooded ones"
have carried out "isolated crimes" in the zone. "These men appear in the
night and murder guerrilla sympathizers, especially in Saravena, a place
considered the heart of the ELN's operations," El Espectador reports. [EE
3/6/99]
Hector Mondragon, a former adviser to the National Indigenous Organization
of Colombia (ONIC) who went into exile in November 1998 after receiving
death threats, sent out a statement over email praising Freitas for his
"tireless" work on behalf of the U'wa and against Occidental. "The enemies
of the U'wa can obtain and hire paramilitaries or guerrillas or sicarios
(professional killers) to eliminate the fighters for indigenous rights, but
the indigenous people will continue finding the road to defend their
rights..." wrote Mondragon. [Mondragon statement, undated, posted 3/6/99]
"It is not at all clear which armed group is responsible for the kidnapping
and murder," reads a statement from the Madison, Wisconsin-based Colombia
Support Network. "We call upon the Colombian authorities to act
professionally and promptly to investigate to determine who kidnapped and
killed Ingrid, Terry and Gay and to arrest and try all those responsible
for this crime." CSN urges people to demand "a prompt and full
investigation to determine the true authors of these crimes and see that
they are brought to justice," with letters to US and Colombian officials,
including Colombian ambassador to the US Luis Alberto Moreno (fax
#202-232-8643); President Pastrana (fax #571-283-7324, 286-7434, 287-7937,
281-8262 or email <pastrana@ presidencia.gov.co>; and Defense Minister
Rodrigo Lloreda (fax #571-221-5363 or email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
co>). For info contact CSN, PO Box 1505, Madison, WI 53701; 608-257-8753;
fax 608-255-6621; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; http://www.igc.apc.org/csn/. [CSN 3/5/99]
ANOTHER PARAMILITARY MASSACRE IN COLOMBIAN OIL TOWN
On Feb. 28, members of a rightwing paramilitary group murdered eight people
and abducted at least three others in working-class neighborhoods of
Barrancabermeja, Colombia's main oil refining town. Travelling in three
trucks, at least 20 heavily armed men in civilian clothing swept through
the northeastern district of the city, shooting at least four people at a
street market before continuing their killing spree in another
neighbourhood, said regional human rights prosecutor Cesar Ardila. "We've
got a figure of eight dead, two wounded and three people disappeared but
there could be more," he added. Barrancabermeja is a stronghold of the
ELN's urban militias. In a raid on the city last May, a paramilitary squad
killed seven people on sight and abducted 25 others, killing them later
after accusing them in a mock trial of being rebel supporters [see Update
#434, 436]. A government-led inquiry into last May's massacre concluded
that at least 10 soldiers either actively took part or turned a blind eye
to the killings.
Juan Carlos Sierra, government secretary for the Barrancabermeja mayor's
office, said that those responsible for the Feb. 28 massacre were briefly
stopped at an army checkpoint as they traveled on a highway leading out of
the city following the massacre. He said they were waved through after
telling the soldiers they were government investigators. "That is
absolutely false," said Gen. Jaime Uzcategui, commander of Army Division
II, which has jurisdiction over the zone. A spokesperson for the army's
Fifth Brigade said no military checkpoint had been set up on that highway.
The attack came two days after the US State Department issued its 1998
report on Colombia's human rights record, charging that "[a]t times the
security forces collaborated with paramilitary groups that committed
abuses." "Throughout the country, paramilitary groups murdered, tortured
and threatened civilians suspected of sympathizing with guerrillas...
thereby depriving guerrillas of civilian support," said the report.
[Reuters 3/1/99; ENH 3/2/99 from AP]
END
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