Impunity Watch: South America

Violence in Colombia toward Trade Union and Human Rights Leaders Escalates as Trade Deal Draws Near

By Jessalyn Mastrianni
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BOGOTA, Colombia- On 6 March 2008, over 200,000 people participated in the “March Against State Terror” in Colombia. Between 4 March 2008 and 11 March 2008, hundreds of organizers and human rights activists were threatened.  The organizer of the march and four other human rights spokesmen were killed, along with four trade union leaders for the Confederation of Colombian Workers.

One example is Luz Gonzalez, a member of Human Rights Permanent Defense Committee who was attacked for promoting a solidarity walk with victims of the extreme right-wing paramilitaries.

Although the numbers differ, it is certain that over 2,000 trade unionists have been killed since the 1980’s.  Five hundred and fifty of these deaths occurred in the last six years.  The assassinations have been carried about by the Colombian army and its paramilitary death squad allies. 

In the week following the “March Against State Terror”, trade unionists Gildardo Antonio Gomez and Carmen Cecilia Carvajal Ramirez were shot and killed, as well a leader of the bank workers’ trade union Leonidas Gomez, who was killed in his own home.  Carlos Burbano was also brutally killed the week after he led the demonstration.  His body was found at a dump, his face disfigured with acid.

Currently, according to Global Research, “30 congress-people are on trial for ‘association’ with the paramilitary death squads.”  A group of twenty-two human rights organizations from all over the globe wrote a joint letter to Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.  The letter urged Uribe to address the wave of attacks, and his right-wing administration’s role in the violence.  The promises of Uribe to demobilize paramilitary operations have been called into question by this letter regarding the recent assassinations. 
Union members have been assassinated in the fight for better wages and working conditions.  Edgar Paez, a spokesperson for his union, has been campaigning against the U.S.-Colombia free trade deal that the Bush Administration has been supporting.  The proposal, to be submitted this week, will be voted through a “fast track” congressional vote.  Paez and others are pushing for the deal to include labor, environmental, and human rights protections.

For more information, please see:

Counterpunch – Paramilitary Threats and Assassinations – 21 March 2008
icWales - Kim Howells blasts Colombia reports – 15 March 2008
Global research – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Peoples Army (FARC-EP): The Cost of Unilateral Humanitarian Initiatives – 16 March 2008
Guardian News and Media Limited – Minister ‘has put Colombian trade unionists’ lives at risk’ – 17 March 2008
Xinhua News Agency – UN demands probe into killing of Colombian guild leaders – 15 March 2008
NY Times – Killing a Trade Pact – 29 March 2008
Human Rights News – Colombia: NGOs Press Uribe to Address Wave of Violence Against Rights Defenders, Unionists – 26 March 2008
Daily Planet – Colombian union leader builds opposition to free trade deal – 29 March 2008

BRIEF: Colombia Agreeds to Release Rebels for High-Profile Hostages

BOGOTA, Colombia – Jailed guerrillas will be freed if the rebels release hostages like Ingrid Betancourt, said the Colombian government recently. 

The offer of humanitarian exchanges comes amid reports that Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen and former presidential candidate, is having health problems.

Luis Carlos Restrepo, Colombia’s high commissioner for peace, told reporters Thursday that  President Alvaro Uribe has authorized the early release of guerrillas in exchange for hostages.

“It is enough, simply, that Dr. Ingrid Betancourt be released immediately for us to consider that a humanitarian agreement has been reached and… to be able to deliver the benefits of a suspended sentence to members of the guerilla group.”

Recently freed hostages formerly held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), said that Betancourt is in poor health.  Uribe has agreed to release rebels if other high-profile hostages, like the three American defense contractors that were captured after a plane crash.

FARC still holds roughly 750 hostages in Colombia’s jungles.

As of press time, there has been no response from FARC, leading many, including her ex-husband, to believe that she may be dead.

For more information, please see:
CNN – Colombia ready to free rebels if hostages are released – 28 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – Ingrid Betancourt’s ex-husband fears she is dead – 30 March 2008

Brazilian Woman Charged with Torture

By Jessalyn Mastrianni
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – A tip led Brazilian police to a house on 17 March 2008 where they found a 12-year-old girl handcuffed to a steel staircase.  She had been tortured and malnourished.  She was held in confinement, forced to drop out of school and required to work under slave-like conditions for a period of two years.  Since police found this young girl, identified only as “Luciella,” five other young girls have come forward with allegations of torture as well; these girls age 5 to 15 years old.

The horrifying details of the torture include being strangled, being forced to eat dog feces, and having parts of her tongue cut off.  The other young girls claim that they were subjected to a similar systematic torture under Calabresi’s orders.

Silvia Calabresi, 49, was arrested and charged with holding Luciella in private confinement, abusing her, and forcing her to work.  A conviction could carry a maximum of 30 years of imprisonment. 

Calabresi made a public confession, stating that in her mind, she was “educating” the young girl.  Calabresi’s attorney told the public that Calabresi may be a mentally ill orphan, and that he will argue in court that she was not accountable for her actions.

In addition to Calabresi, Calabresi’s maid also faces torture charges.  The maid claims she was simply obeying her employer’s orders.  Calabresi’s husband, son, and foster mother are all accused of failure to report a crime. 

Finally, the young girl’s mother is charged with illegally selling her daughter to Calabresi.  The mother claims that she sent Luciella to live with Calabresi, a businesswoman, in hopes of a better life for her.  In return, it was agreed that Luciella would help with housework.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Story of Child Abuse Shocks Brazil – 20 March 2008

AP – Brazilian Woman Charged with Torture – 28 March 2008

Fort Mill Times- Brazilian woman charged with torture – 28 March 2008

AP – Brazil police charge businesswoman with torturing girl – 28 March 2008

President Uribe’s Government Accused of Fostering Violence with Intolerant Statements

By Oscar J Barbosa
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Jose Obdulio Gaviria, Presidential advisor and cousin of drug-lord Pablo Escobar, made a series of statements on national radio linking various labor leaders, and organizers of the March 06 demonstrations, to the notoriously abusive guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

On February 11, one day after Gaviria first made the statements; the supposedly demobilized United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group released a statement echoing Gaviria's allegations. The connections between the Gaviria and the paramilitary have created a wave of requests for resignations.

Shortly after Gaviria made the statements, paramilitary groups began harassing and threatening the organizations and individuals that sponsored the March against paramilitarism and State sponsored terrorism. Four Colombian trade unionists were killed, over two dozen received threats, and multiple offices were broken-into and turned apart.  

Multiple international human rights organizations sent a letter to President Uribe, with copy to Washington D.C., requesting the Colombian Government to disavow Gaviria’s statements linking labor leaders with guerrillas; reaffirm the government support for the protection of human rights defenders; ensure a prompt investigation into each one of the attacks; and break ties between the government and paramilitary.

The letter affirms that Gaviria’s baseless comments linking FARC to labor leaders damage profoundly the Colombian democracy, and placing those leaders in direct danger. The presidency did not respond to the allegations and Gaviria did not return calls from Associated Press.

 

For more information, please see:

NGO’s Communication to President Uribe – Letter -  26 March 2008

Human Rights First - NGOs Press Uribe to Address Wave of Violence Against Rights Defenders, Unionists – 26 March 2008

International Herald Tribune - Human rights groups accuse Colombian government of endangering activists – 26 March 2008

Semana - Carta de protesta a Álvaro Uribe – 26 March 2008

Cambio - Declaraciones de José Obdulio Gaviria – 27 March 2008

Colombian Soldiers Accused of Killing Civilians

By Jessalyn Mastrianni
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

GRANADA, Colombia  - According to Human Rights activists and officials, a phenomenon referred to as “false positives” within Colombia is on the rise.  This trend stems from Colombia’s long and ongoing conflict with leftist guerrilla rebels. 

Progress in the conflict has been measures by the body count.  In response during recent months, Colombian soldiers have apparently begun killing civilians.  The charge is that armed forces have killed homeless or unemployed youths and classified them as guerrilla fighters killed in battle.  Sometimes, the civilians are even dressed in camouflage to make the claim of rebellion plausible.

In the illustrative case provided by the LA Times, a street vendor went fishing in February and never returned.  His family found his body buried in a plastic bag, as he was classified as a leftist guerrilla.  Although there are no tallies of this kind of murder, activists swear these incidents are on the rise.  Families have been known to hesitate in pressing for investigation for fear of more violence.

According to the LA Times, “Colombian officials acknowledge that soldiers and their commanders have been given cash and promotions for upping their units’ body counts.” 

These allegations criticize Plan Colombia, the United States-funded program that fights the leftist groups to prevent drug trafficking and terrorism.  New research by U.S. peace organizations raises questions of human rights violations and the United States’ role in financing units that have elicited allegations of “false positives” and other serious abuse of military control.

The Meta and Antioquia states have had the highest number of alleged abuses, and therefore have recently-implemented investigative teams.  One attorney in the Meta state, who represents twenty families of “false positive” victims, claims that paid informants are paid whether or not the information they offer is accurate.  He also claims that the army is engaging in “social cleansing” to deprive guerrillas of sympathizers in the neutral areas affected.

Finally, commanding officers were told in November that the standards of success included “demobilizations and captures of guerrillas” before body counts.  “False positives” seemed to decline, but have recently peaked again as the overall killings by the military rise. 

For more information, please see:

Los Angeles Times – Extrajudicial Slayings on Rise in Colombia – 21 March 2008
The New York Sun – Rights Activists Question Colombia Deaths – 20 March 2008
United Press International – Soldiers blamed for wrongful deaths – 21 March 2008

Survivor of State Persecution Advocates for Fair Trade and Respect for Human Right in Colombia

By Oscar J Barbosa
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Edgar Paez, under very low profile and almost no media coverage is campaigning across the United States this month against the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement.

Paez, a leader of Sinaltrainal, the Colombian National Food Industry Workers Union, spoke in Minneapolis and Rochester last week sponsored by the United Steelworkers, Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition and Witness for Peace.

He considers himself lucky to be in the US, since twenty-two members of his union were assassinated for their activism. Employees of Coca-Cola, Nestle and other multinational corporations, were killed because they wanted better conditions and wages.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe agreed to certain pro-labor provisions into the trade pact, but unions and lawmakers say they're not good enough to overcome Colombia's notorious track record of more than 2,000 unionists murdered by Right Wing paramilitaries – some paid off by U.S. multinationals – over the last 15 years, and Uribe's administration lack of prosecution of perpetrators.

Since 1991, a total of 2,283 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered and many more have been subject to violence and death threats, according to the International Labor Organization. In addition to workers, students, farmers, indigenous communities and many others have been subject to violence and the administration uses the war on drugs as an excuse.

The union is leading efforts to oppose the U.S.-Colombia free trade deal in Congress. The Bush administration hopes to submit its proposal by March 31 under "fast track," meaning an approval of the package with no amendments or changes allowed.

Labor leaders emphasized their support for trade between countries – but it must include meaningful labor, environmental and human rights protections.

Colombian workers demonstrated on March 06 in opposition to the proposal and to demand an end to state-sponsored violence. A series of tribunals are schedule for late July to put Chiquita Brands, Drummond, Monsanto and other multinationals "on trial" for violations of human rights. Workers from other countries are invited to attend.

"Despite these atrocities, despite these crimes, the Colombian people continue to resist, to dream and to build other alternatives," Paez told the audience in Minneapolis. "We'd like for you to help us create a different Colombia."

For more information, please see:

Workday Minnesota - Colombian union leader builds opposition to free trade deal – 24 March 2008

Workday Minnesota - Colombian unionist to speak in Minneapolis, Rochester – 17 March 2008

Post Bulletin – Panel: World trade conditions have effect in southeastern Minn – 22 March 2008

Ecuadorean Citizen Killed in FARC’s Previous Raid

By Jessalyn Mastrianni
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BOGOTA, Colombia- On 1 March 2008, Colombian planes bombed a Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC) camp within the country of Ecuador.  During the raid, twenty-five people were killed.  Among them, four Mexican students and a Colombian soldier were killed.

It has now been confirmed that one of the other victims was an Ecuadorean citizen named Franklin Aisalia.  Originally, Aisalia’s body was misidentified as that of guerilla leader Julian Conrado and the body was taken back to Bogota.  Aisalia’s family claimed they recognized a picture of him and traveled to Bogota to identify his body.

The Colombian government has stated that Aisalia was a member of the FARC who specialized in helping rebels to hide within Ecuador.  His alias name, Lucho, was used in confirming his identity.

While awaiting the confirmation, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa warned that Ecuador would not forgive the killing and the situation could escalate to economic tension or crisis.  There has still been no response from Correa since the official confirmation of Aisalia’s death.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Ecuadorean death report confirmed – 24 March 2008
Bloomberg – Colombia Guerrillas Deny Ties With Venezuela, Ecuador (Update 1) – 20 March 2008
AHN Media Corp. – Ecuadorean’s Death Confirmed by Colombia in Raid – 24 March 2008
Insidecostarica.com – President Correa Lashes at US, Colombia – 24 March 2008
Prensa Latina – A Victim of Colombia Attack Could be Ecuadorian – 24 March 2008
Prensa Latina – Colombia Accused of Stealing Corpse – 22 March 2008
AP – Colombia Confirms it Killed Ecuadorean – 24 March 2008

FARC Weakening Due to Widespread Desertions and Deaths of Commanders

By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

After nearly 40 years of armed conflict, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) may finally be imploding.

Evidence of the cracks in the foundation of the rebel organization was on display when Pedro Pablo Montoya shot his commander – a leader in FARC and one of the most wanted men in Colombia – and deserted the organization. 

Montoya’s murder of Manuel Jesus Munoz, and the death of Raul Reyes, another top commander, has demoralized the organization.  FARC has also recently lost top members Negro Acacio, who ran drug operations; Martin Caballero, who commanded guerrillas in the Caribbean; JJ, who ran the urban wing; and Martin Sombra, a close aide of top leader Manuel Marulanda.

FARC is losing members in record numbers, reports Juan Forero of the Washington Post.  FARC lost over 1,500 fighters last year, has poor command structure, and little popular support. 

In contrast, the Colombian military, backed by $5 billion in U.S. aid, has been improved with new training, equipment, and soldiers.

Montoya said that loss of devotion to the organization is the main threat to FARC. 

“The internal situation is this:  Finances, bad; medicines, bad; supplies, bad,” he said.

“The civilian population does not want to collaborate,” he continued.  “There is a complete rejection.  Even civilians are telling guerrillas: ‘Desert.  Don’t let yourself get killed.’ ”

"War councils” that try and execute rebels for treachery, promulgated by paranoid commanders, is another reason for the desertions.

“Anything you do that generates a lack of confidence, they call a war council,” says on rebel who deserted last December.

“The FARC is in trouble,” said Stephen Donehoo, a consultant specializing in Latin America for Kissinger McLarty Associates in Washington, D.C.  “There is increasing evidence that mid-level and frontline commanders are demoralized and turning themselves in.”

Just over 4,000 rebels have deserted FARC in the last two years, with the number of rebels leaving the organization is up 80% from last year.

The insurgency against Colombia may be weakened to the degree that is has been relegated to operating outside of that country, even allowing Colombia to possibly “re-enter the world of tourism,” reports The Ledger.  Fifty major tour operators recently completed a tour of Colombia’s cities, and were asked to recognize that the major urban areas are completely safe.

For more information, please see:
Washington Post – Colombia’s Rebels Face Possibility of Implosion – 22 March 2008

The Ledger – Insurgency Weakens, Colombia Beckons - 23 March 2008

Bloomberg – Colombia Pays Rebel in Boss’s Murder as FARC weakens – 14 March 2208

BRIEF: Peruvian Indigenous Demand Better Working Conditions to Argentinian Oil Company

 LIMA, Peru - The Argentinian oil company, Pluspetrol, has been taken by an indigenous group from the northern Peruvian Amazonia. The natives occupied the installations and attached airport on Thursday demanding better working conditions and benefits, including more investment by the company in the communities of the area and increase in the wages.

It has been announced that encounters with the police force left at least one officer death and four injured.  The government also announced that no violence would be used, and that investigations on the means of entrance used by the natives is being investigated. The authorities announced that the natives occupying the Airport have been removed.

This is the third time that a local indigenous community occupies the oil company to demand better benefits for their communities. Two years ago the natives manifested their concern about the pollution in the Corrientes and Pastaza rivers and the negative effects it had with the communities. In other occasion the company was occupied in conjunction with a regional strike.

For more information, please see:

Andina - Continúan suspendidas operaciones de Pluspetrol Norte en Lote 1AB - 22 March 2008
El Comercio - Gobierno dialoga con nativos que ocupan lote petrolero - 22 March 2008
Reuters - Policía muere en enfrentamiento con nativos lote Pluspetrol Perú - 22 March 2008

BRIEF: Hostage’s Husband Requests Aid from Chilean President

SANTIAGO, Chile - Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian presidential candidate, was captured by Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) in 2002 and has been as one of the guerrilla group’s most well-known hostages.

Juan Carlos Lecompte, Betancourt’s husband, has appealed to the Chilean president for help to free his wife.  He has asked President Michelle Bachelet to aid in the humanitarian exchange of prisoners and the liberation of his wife.  He views Bachelet as more supportive and sympathetic due to her own history of having been captured during the Chilean dictatorship.  The Chilean President has promised to work with other regional leaders for the release of Betancourt.

Lecompte has criticized Colombian president for his decisions to react to FARC through war and weapons, which he says will inevitably lead to the deaths of the hostages.

For more information, please see:

Prensa Latina – Ingrid Betancourt Spouse Asks Chile for Aid – 18 March 2008

IPS- Bachelet to Help Seek Humanitarian Solution for Colombia’s Hostage Crisis – 19 March 2008

DailyIndia.com- Husband of FARC captive appeals for help- 19 March 2008