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Bush is pleased: Colombia offers amnesty to death squads By Teresa Gutierrez
The administration of President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia continues to implement a reactionary agenda in an attempt to consolidate a neo-fascist state. As unionists, human rights organizations and popular sectors are brutally targeted by the deadly paramilitaries, Uribe is carrying out measures that will bring more bloodshed and turmoil. In mid-September, Uribe proposed a law that would in effect grant amnesty to Colombian paramilitaries. It would allow members of the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) to avoid jail for crimes they have committed if they agree to lay down their arms. This recent proposal would, according to Uribe, compel the leaders of the death squads to admit their crimes, turn over some land, pay some fines and provide community services when they turn in their weapons. According to the Sept. 15 New York Times, the Bush administration is backing the proposed legislation. The prospect that the same people who decapitated, hung, raped, castrated or tortured their sons, daughters or neighbors will now be carrying out "community service" brings little solace to most Colombians. There is overwhelming evidence that the paramilitaries are responsible for 80 percent or more of the killings in Colombia. This includes some of the most horrific crimes imaginable, including the massacre of countless peasant children, women and men. Yet the Uribe administration not only has failed to round up or punish these criminals, it is now giving them a green light to continue their bloody acts. In Colombia's Semana magazine, Mauricio Vargas wrote, "The paramilitaries are running around unchecked because they know that the crimes they commit will be pardoned once they demobilize." The proposed law is another sign that the Uribe administration is working day and night to strengthen the Colombian state for the benefit of U.S. imperialism and the Colombian oligarchy. His policies are extremely dangerous for the progressive movements in Colombia and the people of the entire region. The strengthening of the right wing in Colombia, which aims to destroy the revolutionary movements there, would also affect the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. The Cuban Revolution also cannot benefit from the consolidation of such a grouping. At least 19 Colombians die violent deaths every day. Unemployment is at an all-time high. In Bogotá, the capital, 63 out of every 100 persons live in dire poverty. Trade unionists who struggle for decent contracts run the risk of losing their lives. Recently, a major food and service union in Colombia was sued by the Colombian franchise of Coca-Cola simply for defending its members from repression. And the Press Freedom Foundation declared that Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for practicing journalism. The privatization of oil, utilities and other industries --a top priority of the Uribe administration-- will mean further unemployment and the loss of sovereignty. Over 2.5 million people are now displaced in the country. These numbers have greatly escalated since Uribe came to power. Instead of alleviating this urgent situation, the government has arrested and arbitrarily detained people demanding social justice. It has carried out wiretaps and illegal searches and seizures, banned demonstrations and established civilian militias organically linked to the paramilitaries. President Uribe established "Democratic Security," a policy he explains as "security for everyone." According to a Colombian professor at Stanford, Alfredo Molano, many fear that this "formula is a modality to fortify the AUC, [since] the connections between the paramilitaries and the public forces are still intact." Uribe has established Zones of Rehabilitation and Consolidation in the oil-rich parts of Colombia such as Arauca, a region bordering Venezuela. It is here that, according to Molano, the state is intercepting telephone lines, banning public demonstrations and organizing searches of offices of human rights groups. In September, over 80 human rights organizations from Colombia issued a report on the human rights situation in the country. It concluded that Uribe's "authoritarian government has overseen a dramatic increase in extra-judicial killings, civilian massacres and other abuses." In response, President Uribe lashed out at the groups and branded them "cowards" and "terrorist sympathizers." (London Guardian Sept. 11) Such an accusation is tantamount to a death threat in Colombia. According to the Guardian, the chief of Colombia's armed forces, Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora, "joined in the intimidation" and accused the groups of "fabricating the extensively documented links" between the troops and the illegal paramilitaries "in order to justify their own existence." The Uribe administration also labeled a Sweden-based news agency, ANNCOL --which reports primarily on Colombia-- an arm of the guerrilla group FARC- EP. It demanded that the Swedish government close the web site. President Uribe has bent over backwards to make peace with the paramilitaries. Despite the fact that these death squads have carried out some of the most genocidal acts in Latin America, the Uribe administration is attempting to bring them into the fold of Colombian society. While governor, Uribe was known to be in collusion with the paramilitaries. Upon his election, many labeled him the "para-president." At the same time that Uribe has made friendly overtures to the paramilitaries, his administration has made negotiations with the armed wing of the movement, the ELN and the FARC-EP, next to impossible. This critical situation demands that the movement in the U.S. and around the world step up solidarity work. More denunciations of the atrocities, forums, rallies and demonstrations are needed. And they are decisive. Many labor leaders in Colombia report that these acts have saved lives. The finger must also be pointed at the Bush administration. Recently U.S. Black Hawk helicopters flew from Colombia into Venezuelan air space. U.S. oil corporations are being protected by the paramilitaries in Arauca. While President Uribe administers the Colombian state for the benefit of the oligarchy, it is Washington that ultimately benefits from the right-wing turn there. |
