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Colombia News Weekly

This list email has been mentioned here before, but since I just got my weekly digest today I thought I would post it as a reminder for those interested.

Dear all,

This is the latest Colombia This Week.

Regards,
ABColombia group.
www.abcolombia.org.uk

Fri 04 – Bomb attack on Caño Limon pipeline; AUC insist disarmament rules out US extraditions.

· A rebel bomb attack has stopped oil pumping through Colombia's second largest pipeline, the Caño Limon-Coveñas, state oil company Ecopetrol reports. The army has sent troops to guard repair work on the pipeline, which was damaged about 270 miles (437 km) from its source, at a point near the town of Convencion in Norte de Santander, an army spokesman said. The 488-mile (780-km) pipeline, which transports about 90,000 to 95,000 barrels per day of crude from a field operated by Occidental Petroleum has been targeted by the FARC group although attacks have fallen off sharply in recent years, Reuters reports.

· The AUC militia said they would like to re-negotiate a peace treaty with the Colombian government to give them more time to demobilize their armed forces and to secure guarantees that they will not be extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges. AUC political commander Ivan Roberto Duque, known as Ernesto Baez, said that although his forces are committed to help "wind down the war," the rules and timetable need to be changed, Reuters reports.

Sat 05- Latin American summit finishes without AFTA deal; police make major drug bust.

· On 4th and 5th November, presidents from 34 American countries attended the eleventh annual Summit of the Americas, held in Mar de la Plata, Argentina. On 4th November, over 25,000 people held a protest against U.S. President Bush's agenda to revive a hemisphere-wide free trade agreement. Bush also met with President Uribe and other Andean presidents to discuss the proposed Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). He told reporters that the Andean countries are "struggling to fight narco-trafficking", and said that all the Andean countries "recognize the importance of having free trade with the United States." The Summit ended without a plan for when future talks on the hemispheric trade will resume, Washington Post reports.

· Police seize more than 2 tons of cocaine hidden on a beach on the Caribbean coast and arrest five suspected traffickers apparently preparing to load the drugs aboard a speedboat. Another 600 kilograms of cocaine were discovered aboard a fishing boat sailing near the Caribbean resort of Cartagena, authorities said. Police also confiscated nine vehicles and eight horses, Colprensa reports.

Sun 06- Authorities report ‘key capture’ from FARC; OAS to oversee de-mining operations.

· Colombian troops and police have captured a drug trafficker wanted by the United States for selling massive amounts of cocaine to buy guns for Marxist guerrillas, the army said on Sunday in announcing the latest in a string of drug-related rebel arrests. Farouk Shaikh Reyes, a clandestine member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was arrested by soldiers and police at Bogota's El Dorado airport as he arrived on a flight from his home in Mexico on Saturday night, an army spokesman said. Known by the aliases Hermes or "El Mechudo," which means "long haired" in Spanish, Shaikh Reyes was the FARC's main cocaine salesman for U.S. markets, the army said in a news release. According to the army, Shaikh Reyes also swapped cocaine for weapons for the FARC and was part of a network supplying $150 million worth of cocaine a month to the United States and Europe, Colprensa reports.

· In a statement to the press, the Organisation of American States announces the start of operations focusing on de-mining and destruction of mine stocks in Colombia. This initial phase will take place in the Mamonal area (Bolivar department) and will take two months approximately. According to the authorities there are about 30 minefields across the country under the control and supervision of the Colombian armed forces. All these need to be destroyed under the Ottawa Convention.

Mon 07- Councillor killed in Simacota; victims call for justice on anniversary of Palace of Justice.

· Authorities in the city of Simacota, a municipality near Barrancabermeja, condemn the killing of Councillor Hector Jose Ferraro. According to reports, he was travelling accompanied by relatives when they were stopped by three armed men at a roadblock, who shot the Councillor dead, Vanguardia Liberal reports.

· Twenty years after the tragedy in Bogota’s Palace of Justice, relatives of the victims congregate in central Bogota, demanding truth and justice in this case. In November 1985, Colombia's M-19 Revolutionary Movement invaded the nation's Supreme Court, holding hostage its 300 civilians, including most of the Supreme Court justices and members of the Council of State. Hours later, the Colombian army set up an all-out counter-attack, killing all the people inside. Since then, relatives have questioned the operation and the disappearance of some of the victim’s bodies, El Espectador reports.

· Colombian secret police (DAS) report the capture of Oscar Castrillon Olart, a former functionary from the municipality of Cartagena del Chaira (Caqueta). He is accused by the authorities of transferring money from the municipality to the 14th front of the FARC group and being in contact with Fabian Ramirez, a member of the secretariat of this organisation, El Tiempo reports.

· Venezuelan soldiers blow up two cocaine processing labs and uproot coca plants in the mountains of the Sierra de Perija, near the border with Colombia. Troops destroyed 520 acres of opium poppies, coca plants and marijuana, using satellite images. Soldiers also detained 45 Colombians around the planted areas and deported them. One of the detainees had been guarding the fields and hurled a grenade that wounded a Venezuelan soldier, Associated Press reports.

Tues 08- Two civilians killed in bus shooting; plot to kill 2 Congressmen discovered.

· An armed group fired indiscriminately against a bus travelling late Monday near Granada, (Eastern Antioquia), Antioquia state police say in a statement. Witnesses said the attackers probably belonged to the FARC. A mother and her 16-year-old daughter were killed, and three elderly passengers were wounded, CNN reports.

· Colombian Congressmen Wilson Borja and Gustavo Petro denounce the discovery of a plot to kill them by gunmen under the orders of Don Berna, a powerful paramilitary commander in negotiation with the Colombian government. They released the information after the Attorney General’s office confirmed that they had discovered the attempt, El Tiempo reports.

· 16 people were killed in different violent incidents in the department of Valle during the weekend. According to the authorities, three people were killed in the municipality of Cartago, two in Buenaventura, Riofrio and Tulua and the rest in the city of Cali, El Pais reports.

· Tension rises in the Caloto area region, as authorities announce the mobilisation of a feared squad of anti-riot police in the area. Some 500 police officials and 10 armoured vehicles were mobilised to evict the Guambiano Indians from the Japio farm, in the province of Cauca. The 4,000-hectare (9,900-acre) farm is one of three occupied by 10,000 protesters in the mountainous Caloto area of the region since 12th October. The Guambianos say these are ancestral lands illegally taken from them by settlers, BBC reports.

· Ombudsman from the Santander department, Jorge Gomez Lizarazu reports the killing of two civilians in the rural area of Cantagallo (Sur de Bolivar). According to the reports, Wilson Bravo and Diana Patricia Arrieta were reportedly killed by members of the FARC group. The killings coincide with the offensive that the Colombian army is carrying in the area against the 24th front, in which four combatants were killed last week, Vanguardia Liberal reports.

Weds 09- AUC commander threatens State; study says killings in Bogota on rise.

· A week after the government warned it would attack the paramilitaries if they broke a promise to disarm this year, paramilitary commander Roberto Duque has issued a warning during a TV interview: "If faced with new frustrations, these men will return to the jungle, to the mountains. And if that happens there will be a difference between the paramilitaries before the peace process and after the peace process," Duque said, "I'm afraid they could become an opposition force with dangerous points in common with the guerrillas," Reuters reports.

· According to the latest report by the local ombudsman’s office (Personeria) in the city of Bogota, homicides have increased in the Colombian capital by 7% last year. The study stresses the fact that 83% of the killings happen in the neighbourhoods south of the city, such as Kennedy, Puente Aranda, Ciudad Bolivar and San Cristobal, El Tiempo reports.

· The US State Department is investigating why several helicopters that were sold to Israel in the late seventies have appeared in the hands of the Colombian narco-traffickers and commanders of the paramilitary groups. According to the reports, the choppers were sold under strict conditions but years later arrived in Colombia via Canada. Carlos Mario Jimenez, (a. Macaco) a paramilitary commander of the Bolivar bloc with links to the Norte del Valle cartel, is believed to have a similar helicopter at his own service, El Tiempo reports.

· Units of the Colombian police in Antioquia perform an operation in the Villa Oriente neighbourhood of San Carlos, where 45 kilos of explosives, reportedly belonging to the 9th front of the FARC, were confiscated in an abandoned building. In another incident in the Municipality of Nariño, in Eastern Antioquia, Henry Gallego, for whom there was an arrest warrant from the Medellin Special Attorney’s Office for rebellion and drug trafficking, was captured. He is also accused of being a member of the support network of illegal groups, El Colombiano reports.

Thur 10- Indigenous youngster killed by police; Santos diminishes threats against Congressmen.

· 16 year old Belisario Camallo, an indigenous boy and member of the NASA community in Cauca has been killed after the Colombian police charged the indigenous march that peacefully occupied El Japio farm near Caloto, (Cauca). Indigenous leaders said the 16-year-old had been killed when police opened fire with live ammunition. The police have not commented on the incident. One of their officers was reportedly injured by a petrol bomb. 21 year old Yerson Mensa was also injured by the gunshots of the anti-riot police. The Organisation for the Indigenous people (ONIC) also denounces that the police refused to allow the evacuation of the injured.

· During a visit to the U.S., Vice-president Francisco Santos suggests that the reports about the new death threats against Wilson Borja and Gustavo Petro, two Congressmen from the opposition party Independent Democratic Pole (PDI), are ‘politically motivated’. According to the Colombian Attorney General, Mario Iguaran, the threats have been confirmed but authorities do not know who is responsible for them, El Tiempo reports.

· In a rare statement, Colombia’s Secret Police (DAS) reject the accusations made by the Venezuelan judicial authorities regarding their involvement in the killing of Venezuelan Attorney General Danilo Anderson, back in November 2004. According to the statement, they did not know the whereabouts of Jose Giovanni, a demobilised person accused of the killing, El Colombiano reports.

· Seven combatants from the paramilitary faction of the Central Bolivar Bloc have been captured by members of the Colombian police, authorities report. In the event, another combatant from the same group, known as ‘la Iguana’, was killed in combat. He previously belonged to the South East Bloc of the Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) and according to the authorities he was demobilised on 30th January this year, EFE reports.

Colombia This Week is a news summary produced and distributed by ABColombia Group. Sources include daily Colombian, US, European and Latin American newspapers, and reports from non-governmental organisations and the UN System. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the ABColombia Group.If you would like to be put on the mailing list, please send an email message to Colombia_this_week at hotmail.com, indicating why you would be interested in receiving this summary.

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Email: abcolombia at abcolombia.org.uk

By Lionheart on Nov 15, 2005, 09:16 in Politics & the war.

juancegomez says on Nov 15, 2005, 10:17:

Interesting... It's interesting enough for it to be worth reading by those who want a quick summary of the latest developments in Colombia in English, definitely.

It's pretty well written and structured in general. Still, the specific focus and description present in some of the news summaries can sometimes lead to a rather narrow view of certain events.

But even so, it's better, overall, than other English language sources and the way they handle things.

For a short news summary and the limitations that such a format implies, it's rather good, even if it's a bit lacking as far as a more detailed investigation/presentation of the facts goes.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Miguel says on Nov 15, 2005, 10:47:

Elementary My Dear Gringo De Louisiana The Arab influence in Colombia is your next homework assignment. In Barranquilla and the north coast, it's in your face.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Lionheart says on Nov 15, 2005, 12:32:

I would recommend a subscription ... ... and then post single news bits here for more information. I like their concise reports, so I can pick the stuff that interests me most, do research, and possibly post questions here.

I also read the intelligence reports from www.stratfor.com and I get their newsletters, but nothing about Colombia lately.

Gringo De Louisiana - Shakira is prime example of the Arab influence in Colombia. We had a thread once here about it ... the Arabs arrived in the Caribbean Sea as slave dealers, once the slaves were sold they stayed and had fun instead of going home.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

juancegomez says on Nov 15, 2005, 13:03:

... Other Arabs also arrived after the First World War, when the Ottoman Empire came crumbling down (but the name "Turcos" or Turks stuck, due to their having Ottoman papers...at least that's part of the story)

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Miguel says on Nov 15, 2005, 22:42:

GringoDeLo You need to cease reading too much into my posts.

0 funny, 0 helpful.