Public statement from US groups for second visit of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe
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President Álvaro Uribe
For over a decade, international and Colombian human rights
organizations have documented and reported on the alleged links
between the paramilitary Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and
state and military officials. In 2000, the US Congress enacted
legislation requiring the Secretary of State to certify Colombia's
progress on human rights precisely because of those reports, and in
2001 the US State Department added the AUC to its list of Foreign
Terrorist Organizations. For six years the Secretary of State
certified to the US Congress and the American taxpayers that the
Colombian government had made substantial progress in improving
respect for human rights, including severing links between the
military and paramilitary AUC, and that it was suspending and promptly
investigating military officers credibly alleged to have committed
gross violations of human rights. Five billion US taxpayer dollars
later, the Secretary's certification should be under growing
scrutiny.
In recent months, the Colombian Supreme Court and the Attorney
General's office have opened investigations into "para-political"
links. According to a May 22 Washington Post article entitled
Paramilitary Ties to Elites in Colombia Are Detailed, "14 members of
Colombia's Congress, seven former lawmakers, the head of the secret
police, mayors and former governors" have been charged with
collaborating with paramilitary commanders, and "a dozen more current
congressmen are under investigation."
Testimony by demobilized paramilitary leaders has alleged that
military officers, political elites, and businessmen in Colombia
financed the growth of the paramilitary group AUC, signed a political
pact with them to "refound" Colombia, and directly planned and
implemented armed actions with paramilitary combatants. In his fifth
round of testimony on May 15, top paramilitary commander Salvatore
Mancuso stated that "paramilitarism is state policy." He testified
to meeting in 1996 and 1997 with General Rito Alejo del Rio to chart
plans for paramilitary takeover of the Urabá region. In March 2004,
Colombia's former Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio announced that
he would not file charges against Del Rio, despite considerable
evidence alleging ties to paramilitary groups. Mancuso had previously
testified that he was involved in planning the 1997 massacre of 15
people in El Aro jointly with General Alfonso Manosalva, then
commander of the Colombian Army's 4th Brigade. Paramilitary
strategist Ivan Duque, in a jailhouse interview, supported Mancuso's
statement by asking, "Do you think an irregular force of 17,000
fighters armed to the teeth could move throughout the country without
anybody knowing? Without anybody collaborating?"
The Uribe administration takes credit for the investigations into the
para-politics scandal, but the executive branch has not been the
driving force behind these important revelations. Indeed, President
Uribe is actively undermining the Supreme Court and Attorney General's
efforts to prosecute politicians for their involvement with
paramilitary groups by proposing to eliminate jail time for political
leaders who divulge their ties (El Tiempo, May 23). Already, the ex-
Director of Colombia's secret police agency called DAS, Jorge Noguera
- who has been charged with serious crimes including rigging
elections, collaborating with paramilitaries, and passing names of
social activists to paramilitaries for use in targeted violence - has
been released from prison on technicalities In addition, President
Uribe has openly accused human rights defenders, journalists and
opposition politicians who are working to document the reach of
paramilitary organizations of lying, supporting guerrilla groups and
attempting to undermine the Colombian security forces. Several of the
groups and individuals singled out by President Uribe in these public
attacks have since been threatened.
Because those who may testify about paramilitary links face inordinate
risks, inadequate protection mechanisms threaten to derail these
essential investigations. Senator Gustavo Petro, who as a member of
the Colombian Senate's Human Rights Commission has been instrumental
in advancing investigations into links between paramilitaries and
politicians, has received death threats and has had his Senate office
illegally searched on two occasions by government prosecutors. One
prominent victim, Yolanda Izquierdo, who provided testimony against
Salvatore Mancuso, was killed in broad daylight in front of her home
on January 31after begging numerous government agencies for the
protection she never received. Another leader of the National
Victims' Movement, Mr. Iván Cepeda, is currently being investigated
after being accused of libel and slander for his role in facilitating
a public hearing process in San Onofre, Sucre, where victims testified
about links between local politicians and paramilitaries. An
estimated 50,000 more victims may be willing to provide testimony, but
without security measures many are unlikely to participate fully in
the justice process. Dozens of government prosecutors and judges have
inadequate protection given the risks they are facing in investigating
these crimes. Even the top paramilitary commanders detained at the
maximum security prison in Itagui have received threats and have
expressed their concern for their own safety and that of their
families.
The Colombian Attorney General's Office and the Colombian Supreme
Court still have scant resources available to pursue all the
investigations they are charged with, and the understaffed Ombudsman's
office is now charged with providing public representation for both
the victims and perpetrators of individual paramilitary crimes -
although they have no additional budget to allow them to do so. There
are no comprehensive plans to provide adequate protection measures to
judicial authorities charged with uncovering the truth behind
paramilitary crimes. Thousands of bodies remain unidentified in mass
graves, with inadequate access to storage facilities and forensic
technology threatening this essential evidence and preventing families
of thousands of disappeared people in Colombia from recovering the
remains of their loved ones.
In the meantime, paramilitary groups are reportedly rearming in many
regions of Colombia. The Organization of American States monitoring
mission reports roughly 3,000 armed groups and other sources in
Colombia have estimated up to 6,000 rearmed. These groups continue to
exercise control over local populations, participate in illegal
economic activities such as the international narcotics trade, and -
according to recent news reports - to communicate with imprisoned
former commanders. In regions like Nariño where Colombia's guerrilla
groups (mainly FARC and ELN) are also active, rearmed paramilitaries
and guerrilla groups have engaged in combat, forcing the displacement
of thousands of civilians. According to the most recent report from
International Crisis Group, reintegration programs meant to serve
demobilized combatants have experienced only limited success: for
example, only 26% of demobilized fighters have jobs, only 28% have
received psychological counseling, and only 10% have had access to
higher education.
Apart from the scandals over links of paramilitaries to political and
military elites in Colombia, we remain extremely concerned about the
attacks on trade unionists, attacks which led to assassinations of 72
union members in 2006. Since President Uribe came to office a total
of over 400 trade unionists have been killed, and as of April 2007
there had only been convictions in 10 of these cases.
These ongoing concerns with the situation in Colombia prompt us to
urge a new US foreign policy that stresses economic aid over military
aid, that supports the victims of the internal armed conflict, and
that ensures respect for workers rights and human rights in
Colombia.
We wish to close by expressing our strong support for all those in
Colombia who are struggling to build a more democratic country through
their valiant efforts to uncover the truth and seek justice. All
those working on advancing these processes - whether in the courts,
the media, in human rights organizations, in government agencies or in
control agencies - deserve our highest regard and appreciation. We
especially want to laud those victims who have suffered irreparable
damages as a result of the internal armed conflict, and who are now
coming forward, often at great personal risk, to give testimony and to
call for justice.
Heather Hanson
Executive Director
U.S. Office on Colombia
Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli
Senior Associate for Colombia and Haiti
Washington Office on Latin America
Adam Isacson
Director of Programs
Center for International Policy
Lisa Haugaard*
Executive Director
Latin America Working Group
Stephen Coats
Executive Director
US/ Labor Education in the Americas Project
Angela Berryman
Interim General Secretary for Peace and Conflict Resolution
American Friends Service Committee
David A. Robinson
Executive Director
Pax Christi USA: National Catholic Peace Movement
Bama Athreya
Executive Director
International Labor Rights Fund
Marselha Gonçalves Margerin
Program Officer
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
John Lindsay-Poland and Susana Pimiento Chamorro
Co-Directors
Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the
Caribbean
Robin Buyers
Support Coordinator
Christian Peacemaker Teams Colombia Team
Pamela Bowman
School of the Americas Watch
Marino Cordoba
AFRODES USA
Séamus P. Finn, OMI
Director
Office of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Catherine Gordon
Associate for International Issues
Washington Office, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Anne Barstow
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Barbara Gerlach
Colombia Liaison
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
Cristina Espinel and Catalina Talero
Colombia Human Rights Committee
Parrish Jones
Mission Network for Colombia Presbyterian Church USA
Gabriel Camacho
Chapter President
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
Massachusetts Chapter
Suren Moodliar
Massachusetts Global Action
Maria Elena Letona
Executive Director
Centro Presente, Cambridge MA
Russ Davis
Executive Director
Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Burke Stansbury
Executive Director
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, National
Office
Lisa Fuller
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, Boston Office
Roland E. Roebuck
DC Latino Community Activist
Theo Sitther
Legislative Associate for International Affairs
Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office
Gerardo Cajamarca
Steelworkers Global Justice
Melinda St. Louis
Executive Director
Witness for Peace