news update
May 2011
There is bad news: the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is expected to win a majority in Congress. President Obama recently stated that ratifying the agreement is a priority for his administration.
The president, who opposed free trade agreements while he was senator, has a credibility problem. Since he wants to get reelected in 2012, and since he knows that FTAs are more unpopular than ever among the US population and that more and more people are becoming aware of abusive labor in Latin America, he had the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) create a special “Labor Action Plan” for Colombia—hoops for the country to jump through before being awarded with the signing of the FTA. The country will, among other things, be required to show more care about the safety of unionists, do more about the prosecution of murders of labor leaders, and also fight against the abusive use of contract labor, which prevents workers from organizing.
All in all this sounds quite progressive. But looking closer at the details, the plan has a lot of weak points. Critics claim it does not require an actual visible reduction of the violence and it misses the numerous other human rights problems the country has. And it is also questionable because it provides no way to ensure compliance once the Colombia FTA is implemented. Labor and human rights groups continue to be united in their opposition to the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
Another hot topic in Colombia these days (again) is the right-wing paramilitaries, namely the “Aguilas Negras” (Black Eagles), which emerged from the remains of the AUC, an important paramilitary bloc that was officially demobilized in early 2006. While officials have always stated that the “para problem” had been solved with the demobilization, throughout the past 5 years the “eagles” have constantly gained power, mostly by filling up power vacuums that evolved through the defeat of other criminal groups by the state forces. At once they took over most of the drug trade that was formerly dominated by powerful drug cartels (e.g. Pablo Escobar), which were ultimately defeated through “Plan Colombia”. They also took control over many of the formerly FARC controlled regions, after the guerillas had been pushed back through the aggressive policies of the Uribe administration.
Considering this development, it’s hard to listen to the US administration praise Plan Colombia as a huge success. What can be seen is that the tremendous military efforts the US and Colombian government have employed to push back the guerillas as well as the drug cartels have just led to a shift in power to different criminal groups. It seems to be just a matter of time until the Aguilas Negras will have filled up the entire power vacuum left behind by the FARC and the cartels. It is quite obvious that this purely militaristic approach to Colombia’s problems will never be a sustainable solution to end the terror of illegal armed groups from the right or left. Without the Colombian government addressing the real social problems that lie behind the armed conflicts and the US finally caring about the drug problem at home, the “war” will never be ended.
Articles in this monthly bulletin:
1. Obama’s “Labor Action Plan” for Colombia woefully inadequate; doesn’t require reduction in violence
2. Thousands of workers and students in Colombia protest FTA, privatization
3. Rebels and paramilitaries provided security for Chiquita in Colombia
4. Águilas Negras paramilitaries, rising from the ashes of demobilization
5. San José de Apartadó peace community faces para terror —again
6. Colombia and Venezuela agree to extend trade deal
7. Retired general sentenced to 35 years for disappearance
8. Las Pavas victory: families retake their land that had been seized by The Body Shop’s palm grower
The U.S. and Colombian governments have agreed to a “Labor Action Plan” that is intended to pave the way for a vote on the long-pending Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The FTA was signed in November 2006 but has since been stalled, largely due to concerns about violence against trade unionists and accompanying impunity. While the Plan contains some important measures, it falls far short of what the Colombian and U.S. labor movements, USLEAP, and other worker rights supporters consider necessary as a precondition for a vote on the Colombia FTA. Most distressing, the Plan does not require any concrete progress to reduce violence or address impunity before implementation of the Colombia FTA.
Effective implementation of the Labor Rights Action Plan would nonetheless represent meaningful advances for worker rights in Colombia. The Plan outlines a number of important measures requested by Colombian unions, including steps to strengthen the prosecution of perpetrators of violence against trade unions and increase protection of threatened trade unionists, reigning in the use of cooperatives and contract labor that skirt the ability to form unions, and criminalizing anti-union behavior. The Plan would also reestablish the Colombian Ministry of Labor, which was eliminated under former President Álvaro Uribe.
The three most serious critiques of the Plan are that it: (1) does not require an actual reduction in violence against trade unionists or advances on impunity, (2) is limited only to labor issues and does not address a wide range of other concerns, including human rights violations, militarization, impact on agriculture, internal displacement and the rights of Afro-Colombians, and (3) provides no way to ensure compliance once the Colombia FTA is implemented. Consequently, prominent labor and human rights groups have joined leading Colombian trade union organizations in denouncing the agreement as woefully inadequate as a sufficient condition for approval of the FTA.
In other news:
USW Joins Colombian Unions in Opposition to Proposed FTA
The USW is both disappointed and outraged to learn that the Obama Administration has apparently reached an agreement with Colombia over a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The USW has opposed the FTA with Colombia ever since President Bush signed it with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe back in 2007.
USW President Leo W. Gerard decries the proposed Colombia FTA as a shameful reflection on America's values. "These most recent killings put into grave doubt whether the Colombian government and its military are truly prepared to reform as the Administration presumes. The fact is, despite the newly negotiated 'Action Plan,' the situation in Colombia has not changed, and therefore, should not be rewarded with a Free Trade Agreement."
The USW vows to continue its years-long fight to help improve conditions for workers in Colombia. Gerard emphasizes, "We do so in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Colombian labor movement who are taking to the streets today to show their continued opposition to the FTA."
Read more at: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/04/07/2971437/usw-joins-colombian-unions-in.html
2. Thousands of workers and students in Colombia protest FTA, privatization
In Colombia's largest demonstration since President Juan Manuel Santos took office last August, tens of thousands of unionists, students and teachers demonstrated throughout the country on April 7 to protest a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US and proposed changes in the education system that they say will lead to privatization. The Unitary Workers Central (CUT), Colombia's main labor federation, estimated turnout at 1.5 million. Demonstrations took place in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Bucaramanga, Santa Marta, Barranquilla and other cities.The national day of action coincided with a visit by President Santos to Washington, DC, where he met with US president Barack Obama to push for the US Congress approve a trade accord that Colombia and the US signed in 2006, during the administration of George W. Bush (2001-2009). The FTA has never been approved by Congress, in part because of opposition from US unions and activists over Colombia's record of human rights abuses and repression of unions. But Santos is looking for ratification now that the agreement has Obama's support. "We've worked for five years seeking approval for this to go to Congress," Santos said, "and today we received this green light."The CUT strongly opposes the FTA, which would threaten "labor rights, food sovereignty and the possibility for development," according to Diógenes Orjuela, a CUT leader. The unionists were also protesting labor flexibility practices, such as the use of provisional contracts.More than 100 student organizations oppose Santos' proposal to allow private investment in public universities on a national level; in Bogotá there is already a system of concessions which lets private groups operate some public schools. The Education Ministry responded to the April 7 demonstrations by agreeing to review the policies with teachers and discuss their labor and wage demands within 20 days.
Source:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x50766
Declassified internal documents from the Cincinnati-based banana company Chiquita Brands International made public on Apr. 7 indicate that the multinational’s Colombian subsidiary, Banadex, had a much closer relation with leftist rebels and rightwing paramilitaries than Chiquita has admitted in the past.
But the more than 5,500 pages of declassified documents suggest that Chiquita didn’t just pay extortion money to the groups. In 1994, when rebels still dominated the northwestern Urabá region of Antioquia department where Banadex had plantations, the general manager of Chiquita operations in Turbó told company attorneys that guerrillas were “used to supply security personnel at the various farms.” Later, when paramilitaries took over the region, they appear to have done similar work for Chiquita. A March 2000 memo based on a conversation with Banadex managers indicates that paramilitaries in Santa Marta had formed a front company, Inversiones Manglar, whose commercial activities “disguised the real purpose of providing security.” The managers said “all other banana companies are contributing in Santa Marta” and Chiquita “should continue making the payments” since they “can’t get the same level of support from the military.”
Read more at: http://inteldaily.com/2011/04/colombia-rebels-and-paras-provided-security-for-chiquita/
4. Águilas Negras paramilitaries, rising from the ashes of demobilization
The department (province) of Norte de Santander has long been recognized as a strategic corridor to transport both people and goods, legal and illegal, from Colombia’s interior to the Caribbean coast and beyond.
Conversely, this highly coveted territory has also experienced every imaginable horror produced by the decades old Colombian civil war, having first been under the control of the leftist guerrilla movement, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), for some three decades until it was subsequently forced out by the ultra-right paramilitary outfit, Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), in the late 1990s. With the massive nationwide paramilitary demobilization promoted during the first administration of Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the sizeable AUC bloque that controlled Norte de Santander agreed to disband and return to civilian life towards the end of 2004, leading many to pray that the days of terror were finally over.
Sure enough, a new armed faction, the Águilas Negras (Black Eagles), emerged from the ashes of the demobilized regional AUC cadres, and quickly became the unofficial power in the department by 2006, establishing its authority over all black market activity through a campaign of terror taken straight from the paramilitary handbook.
With extensive prior experience in irregular warfare and the exportation of cocaine shipments, the Águilas Negras freed itself from the ideological constraints that circumscribed the AUC’s code of conduct and rapidly became one of the most powerful armed criminal organizations in Colombia. The newfound freedom of association and action coincided with a marked rise in human rights abuses and violence attributable to the group.
Read more at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/2999-aguilas-negras-rising-from-the-ashes-of-demobilization
On March 22, Bernardo Rios of San José de Apartadó peace community in the Colombian region of Uraba was gunned down by a group of men known locally as paramilitaries, less than a mile from a military checkpoint. In an April 4 press release, the peace community accused the government of turning a blind eye to the ongoing violence. "They try to end us in different ways, today they want to displace us, but our stubbornness for life will not let us give it up," declared the community. The statement said local police forces did nothing as paramilitaries continued to threaten them, accusing them of supporting guerrillas and telling them that they will pay dearly if they do not leave the area. Since the peace community was founded in 1997, some 195 members have been killed, yet only a handful of low-ranking army officers and paramilitary fighters have been convicted.
Source: http://ww4report.com/node/9757
See WW4Report’s last post on paramilitary terror in Colombia.
See article at http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8721-ex-captain-sentenced-to-20-years-for-massacre.html
6. Colombia and Venezuela agree to extend trade deal
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his counterpart from Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, agreed to temporarily extend the bilateral trade pact within the framework of the Andean Community, or CAN, despite Venezuela’s pending withdrawal from that regional organization on April 21.The two leaders confirmed the agreement Saturday in the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena after their third meeting since they reestablished diplomatic and trade relations last September, just a month after Santos became president.“Today, we have a legal umbrella that is the CAN, but on April 21 Venezuela will cease to be part of the CAN. We’re studying the situation so that there’s no ... interruption, but we still have not arrived at a new accord,” Santos told reporters after his meeting with Chavez.In the face of that situation and despite the willingness of both governments to set up a new trade framework, “it was decided to extend the rules of the game that prevail today in trade between Venezuela and Colombia for three months ... so that the teams may continue the negotiation,” Santos said.Santos and Chavez also signed 16 agreements related to the development of infrastructure, agriculture, livestock raising, health, border security and the fight against drug trafficking.After signing the accords, now “the challenge” is “to put them into practice, (make them) a reality,” Chavez said, adding that “setting up binational trade again is an objective in the short term.”
Source: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=12393&ArticleId=391373
Retired General Jesus Armando Arias Cabrales has been sentenced to 35 years for the disappearance of 11 people in the Palace of Justice siege 25 years ago.
Judge Cristina Trejos Salazar found Arias guilty of the aggravated forced disappearance of Carlos Horacio Uran, an assistant judge to the Council of State, as well as cafeteria workers, two visitors and guerrilla Irma Franco Pineda on November 6 and 7, 1985.
Investigations found that the eleven victims escaped the siege alive, but were "disappeared" by the army, never to be seen again.
Arias' sentence is the highest that anyone has received so far in relation to the event, the previous being the one handed down in June 2010 to Colonel Luis Alfonso Plazas Vega of 30 years in prison for his role in the dissapearances.
Bogota's Palace of Justice, the seat of Colombia's Supreme Court, was taken over by M-19 guerrillas on November 6, 1985. Judges, staff, and members of the public were taken hostage. One hundred people, including 11 judges, died during the military's re-taking of the building.
8. Las Pavas victory: families retake their land that had been seized by The Body Shop’s palm grower
After almost two years of forced displacement by The Body Shop’s palm oil supplier, the families of Las Pavas took a bold step on April 4: they retook their land.
International solidarity in the days before the daring move proved important, if not indispensible, in protecting the peasant families. There were phone calls, letters, faxes, emails, and demonstrations at Colombian consulates and embassies. People demanded that law enforcement refrain from excessive force during their return, support the judicial process of transferring ownership to the community, and to urge investigation of recent harassment of a community leader by ten armed men, including one known paramilitary. The mayor of the local municipality—who had played a part in the illegal eviction in July 2009—felt so much international pressure that he ordered authorities not to harm or impede the families retaking their land!
Just days before the resettlement, IRTF faxed letters to officials demanding protection for the families: http://www.irtfcleveland.org/action/rrn/letters/2011_04_01_CPT_Colombia_letter.pdf
Clevelander Chris Knestrick and other Christian Peacemaker Teams members accompanied the families for the first several days.
They have begun planting crops, building shelters, and digging wells. The community was featured in a half-hour spot on a news station. Despite growing national and international attention, there is still a great risk for those who returned. A few men, claiming to be from the Prosecutor General's office, showed up and took pictures, but refused to give their identification, while claiming that their actions were to eventually bring charges against the community. And a small aircraft flew low over the land a few days after the return. Charges against community leaders continue.
CPT Colombia took part in the Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia by organizing a public action on Palm Sunday in Barrancabermeja with the national delegation and local partners. Using this year's theme of "Hand in Hand for Peace in Colombia," the team read the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, sang songs, and took the opportunity on Palm Sunday to talk about the palm industry in Colombia and throughout the world. Participants made hand prints on banners, showing their solidarity with the displaced communities of Garzal, Nueva Esperanza, and Las Pavas. The banners included this verse from Zechariah 9:10: "The battle bow will be broken and peace will be proclaimed to the nations."
BACKGROUND:
The mono-cropping of palm trees in Colombia is being pushed by corporate interests in the Global North and implemented by forced displacement and assassinations. Palm oil is used for cosmetics, food products, and as a biofuel. Touted as “clean” energy, it’s actually quite dirty. Peasant and Afro-descendant communities are being forcibly displaced from their lands in Colombia in order to cultivate more palm plantations. Furthermore, companies are clear-cutting the biodiverse Amazon basin in order to plant their mono-crop: palm trees.
In July 2009, Daabon Organic, a palm oil supplier for cosmetics giant The Body Shop, obtained an illegal eviction notice, sent in riot police who evicted 123 families, wiped out 60 hectares of food crops, demolished 14 homes, cut down a communal forest, and dried up wetlands.