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 Colom bia 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 Revo lution 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 "Demo cratic 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 Rehabil itation 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.
Reprinted from the Oct. 2, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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