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Weekly News Update on Colombia
#509, 10/31/99 Datum: Mon, 01 Nov 1999
US pushes ahead on colombian military aid
"Plan A is peace, plan B is war," President Andres Pastrana told the British
daily Independent as he prepared to leave for Europe in the latest stage
on a fundraising tour. "I've been to the jungle, I've met with the guerrilla
leaders, there is a peace process, however fragile... now I've been to
Washington, too, and, obviously, we need to conduct war as well." [Independent
10/22/99] The US government is moving ahead with a three-year security
assistance package for Colombia and neighboring countries that would provide
new helicopters; transport and refuelling aircraft; patrol boats; state-of-the-art
radar and communications technology; and support the formation of additional
army "counter-drug" battalions. Formally introduced in the US Senate on
Oct. 20 by Senators Michael DeWine (R-OH) and Paul Coverdell (R-GA), the
$1.635 billion "Alliance with Colombia and the Andean Region Act of 1999"--known
as the "Alianza Act of 1999"--would provide the largest military aid package
ever for South America. The emergency funding for 2000, 2001 and 2002 is
in addition to current and expected levels of US support. [Jane's Defence
Weekly 10/27/99] The Colombia proposal has become a closely watched and
hotly debated foreign aid issue, and Congress is being lobbied heavily
on both sides. Those who support a hefty military aid package-- including
Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) and Barry McCaffrey, director of the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy--are pushing for quick approval.
[Boston Globe 10/17/99] The Colombia Support Network (CSN) and human rights
advocates suggest that people contact their senators and representatives
to urge them to oppose the "Alianza Act," which "will further militarize
Colombia, result in thousands of additional deaths and many more displaced
persons," according to CSN. [CSN message 10/27/99] A US Army Special Forces
captain training a commando unit for a Colombian anti-narcotics battalion
told a journalist for the Independent that the troops he is training "have
the stomach for this war." He continued: "My question is: will we in the
United States and you folks in Europe give them the wherewithal to fight
it?" "You know in the States we always have been given that 'no-lose' mentality,"
said the US captain as his trainees opened fire on a mock target in the
jungle. "That's what these soldiers have to have. We want them to be itching
to go to war--and to advance with maximum violence, that's the US warrior's
code." "We should have one battalion ready by December, two more by next
April," added the captain. "Advance with maximum violence, that's the key,"
he emphasized. [Independent 10/22/99]
Colombians march for peace
In the largest public demonstration in Colombia's history, some 8 to 12
million people marched on Oct. 24 in cities and towns across Colombia to
demand a ceasefire and an end to attacks against civilians. The demonstration
was organized by a hundred nongovernmental organizations, led by the Network
of Peace Initiatives, the Long Live the Citizens Corporation and the Free
Country Foundation. Under the slogan "No More," people marched in Colombia's
32 departmental capitals and in half of the country's 1,100 municipalities.
A million people took part in the demonstration in each of the two largest
cities, Bogota and Medellin. (Among the marchers in Medellin was Eden Pastora,
a Nicaraguan who fought with the Sandinistas against the dictator Anastasio
Somoza Debayle and later led the southern front of the contra rebels in
a guerrilla war against the Sandinista government.) Support demonstrations
were held in 30 cities in 23 countries around the world. [Clarin (Buenos
Aires) 10/25/99 from correspondent; Agence France Presse 10/24/99] The
demonstrations coincided with the start of formal peace talks between the
Colombian government and the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The talks were inaugurated on Oct. 24
in the village of La Uribe, in Meta department, within the demilitarized
zone of five rural municipalities which has been under formal FARC control
for nearly a year [see Updates #459, 464]. The talks were originally scheduled
to start on July 7, but were delayed several times over FARC objections
to government demands for a "verification committee" to monitor complaints
of abuses in the demilitarized zone [see Updates #494, 504]. The government
and the FARC were each represented by eight delegates at the ceremony marking
the start of the talks--led on the government side by High Commissioner
for Peace Victor Ricardo and on the FARC's side by spokesperson Raul Reyes.
Reyes read a short speech in which he referred to the slogan of the day's
peace demonstration with the FARC's own "No More" list: "No more oligarchy,
no more large landed estates, no more corruption, no more exploitation,
no more unjust distribution of wealth, no more extradition of Colombians,
no more US intervention. We want a better life for our children based on
peace with social justice." [Clarin 10/25/99 from correspondent] The Oct.
24 negotiations session ended after three hours without agreement on a
ceasefire, but the two sides said they had agreed to meet again on Nov.
2. On Oct. 26, Defender of the People Fernando Castro said paramilitary
leader Carlos Castano had given him assurances that his paramilitary umbrella
organization, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (ACCU), would
not interfere in the peace talks or disrupt shipments of food and fuel
to FARC-controlled territory. Castro said he met with Castano in the paramilitary
leader's mountain hideout. [AFP 10/26/99] The National Liberation Army
(ELN), Colombia's second largest leftist rebel group, had a meeting with
government representatives in Cuba on Oct. 19 and 20, and the two sides
have agreed to hold a second meeting there "very soon" in an exploratory
effort toward formal peace talks, ELN leader Pablo Beltran confirmed to
Radio Caracol on Oct. 26. [AFP 10/26/99]
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 * wnu@igc.apc.org
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