Colombia: wave of violence and threats against popular leaders

Colombia: wave of violence and threats against popular leaders
Submitted by WW4 Report on Sat, 10/04/2008 - 00:09.
"Post-conflict" is a buzz-word these days in Colombia. Since the demobilization of 30,000 paramilitaries, Colombian officials celebrate the country's "transition"; many Washington policymakers are convinced Colombia is now on the right track. In this phase, there are only "emerging criminal networks." Officials say these networks are not the same paramilitaries who terrorized the civilian population for many years. But the Fellowship of Reconciliation Colombia Program points out that September brought further evidence that politically motivated threats and violence still abound.

Cauca: indigenous governor assassinated
On Sept. 28, Raul Mendoza, indigenous governor of the cabildo (indigenous municipality) Peñón, former member of the council of elders of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, and ex-president of the Association of Cabildos of Tierradentro, Nasa Uus, was assassinated as he was in his home in the city of Popayán, Cauca. The indigenous governor was a leader of the campaign for the Liberation of Mother Earth, in the Los Naranjos estate, located in the municipality of Sotará, which had been claimed by the displaced Nasa community. He had made repeated pronouncements to the authorities about threats being made against him. (CRIC, Sept. 28)

Medellín: woman anti-militarist leader massacred with family
On Sept. 24, Olga Marina Vergara, a member of the Peaceful Path of Women, was assassinated in Medellín. She was a feminist and peace leader, known for her work defending women in the violence-torn capital of Antioquia department. She was killed together with her son, daughter-in-law and grandson in her own house, in El Prado, a district in the city center.

"The Peaceful Path of Women, a political feminist collective which works to make visible the effects of war on women's lives, categorically rejects these events that show once again the degradation of war and society," said Marina Gallego Zapata, national coordinator of the Peaceful Path of Women. (Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres, Sept. 25)

Chocó: peace observers abducted, threatened
On Sept. 3, Yimi Armando Jansasoy, a member of Inter-Church Commission Justice and Peace who accompanies threatened campesino and Afro-Colombian leaders in the autonomous "humanitarian zone" of Curvaradó, Chocó, was abducted and forced into a truck. Four armed men then threatened him and his family and demanded the names of everybody who is part of the Curvaradó humanitarian zone. He was released after an hour and a quarter of intimidation and threats. On Sept. 7, members of Justice and Peace received their seventh telephoned death threat, and on Sept. 18, these human rights defenders were being followed in Bogotá and told of plans to assassinate members of their organization. These events are considered to be part of the Aguilas Negras' paramilitary strategy to control the region of Curvaradó and displace the community members from their lands, which have been illegally planted with palm oil. (Comisión Intereclesial Justica y Paz, Sept. 3)

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Colombian army chief accused of arming paramilitaries
Submitted by WW4 Report on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 03:04.

A former paramilitary fighter testified in special judicial proceedings that Colombia's armed forces chief, Gen. Mario Montoya, delivered weapons to a paramilitary death squad when he was a commander in Medellín, and the Colombian prosecutor general has opened an investigation into the charges, the Washington Post revealed on Sept. 17.

Videotaped testimony by Luis Adrián Palacio, made during two days of closed-door hearings in August, was viewed by the Post, which also quoted unnamed Colombian officials as confirming that the prosecutor general has initiated a preliminary criminal investigation of the allegations. In his testimony Aug. 11 and 12 in a Medellín courtroom, Palacio said Montoya was known as "the cousin" for his close relationship with the city's notorious paramilitaries.

The Post's Juan Forero also conducted a jailhouse interview in which Palacio recounted an April 2002 episode in which he asserted Montoya funneled weapons to a Medellín paramilitary militia commanded by Carlos Mauricio García AKA "Rodrigo 00"—including the personal delivery of a vehicle loaded with six assault rifles and a grenade launcher.

Montoya denied the allegations and called Palacio "a bandit" who is testifying against him to secure an early release from prison. "He is lying; he is lying out of all sides of his mouth," Montoya, accompanied by two aides, said in his office. "I am a fighter. I am a warrior. That is why I have enemies. I defend Colombian democracy."

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees funds to the Colombian army (Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee), expressed concern over the allegations. Leahy is holding up $72 million in funding because of reports that the army has killed hundreds of peasants in recent years and falsely presented the bodies as those of rebels killed in combat. Montoya is a leading proponent of compiling "combat kills" to measure success, a policy that human rights groups say fuels the slaying of civilians.

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