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Colombia’s Double Realities: Threats Against
Indigenous Communities Ignored as Calls for a Second Re-election
of President Uribe Get Louder
by Mario A. Murillo
The second re-election of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is one
step closer to becoming a reality now that the National Registry
has received the petitions containing over five million signatures
in support of a constitutional amendment that would allow for yet
another term for the hard-line president. The re-election measure
must be approved by the legislature, and its future is still uncertain.
Meanwhile, President Uribe is remaining silent on the issue, resisting
the temptation to campaign openly for what would amount to 12 years
of uninterrupted rule in the Palacio Nariño. The truth is,
he doesn’t have to speak out on the issue. There are plenty
of other high profile figures in the Colombian political establishment
that are doing the work for him, both within Colombia and abroad.
Meanwhile, these backers of President Uribe, while touting the Colombian
leaders successes, ignore the human rights reality on the ground,
particularly with regard to indigenous communities.
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The Case of Liliana Obando and the Rights of Colombian
Workers
by James J. Brittain
On August 8, 2008, film-maker, academic, unionist and women’s
rights proponent Liliana Patricia Obando Villota was arrested and
detained by a special wing of the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the Colombian
National Police and the Criminal Investigation Directorate (DINJIN)
under the direction of the National Prosecutors Office. She has
been charged with “rebellion” and “managing resources
related to terrorist activities.” The primary grounds for
Obando’s incarceration is that she allegedly worked to obtain
funding earmarked for Colombia’s largest rural-based labor
organization FENSUAGRO, but instead delivered the collected finances
to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)—an armed
movement listed as a foreign terrorist organization in the United
States, Canada and the European Union. The accusations against Obando
are suspect due to the fact that no material evidence has been found
to support the charge.
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If Not Colombia, Then Where is the Cocaine Coming
From?
by Garry Leech
Colombia’s National Police Chief Oscar Naranjo recently announced
that his country’s production of cocaine has dropped by more
than half and that it is now responsible for only 54 percent of
global production. Speaking at an anti-drug summit in Cartagena,
Naranjo’s comments not only constitute the latest misinformation
being distributed by the government of President Alvaro Uribe, but
they are also ludicrous. Naranjo claims that Colombia was responsible
for 90 percent of the world’s cocaine production when President
Uribe came to office in 2002. This is a figure that analysts have
regularly referred to with regard to the distribution of cocaine
production. But if Naranjo’s claim that Colombia is now only
responsible for 54 percent of production is true, then it begs the
question: Where is the rest of the cocaine being produced?
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Examining FARC Resistance in Colombia: Not the
end of Guerrilla Warfare
by James J. Brittain
In the spring of 2008, three significant blows were dealt to the
FARC when not one but two of the insurgency’s most recognizable
leaders were killed and the group’s Commander-in-Chief, Manuel
Marulanda Vélez died of a heart attack. Echoing official
quotes, the Washington Post’s correspondent Juan
Forero declared, “Colombians are for the first time raising
the possibility that a guerrilla group once thought invincible could
be forced into peace negotiations or even defeated militarily. Weakened
by infiltrators and facing constant combat and aerial bombardment,
the insurgency is losing members in record numbers.” Also
relying on government and military sources, one of Colombia’s
most popular newsmagazines claimed that desertion and a lack of
internal support had caused a devastating decline for the FARC.
Even Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez voiced the opinion
that the era of organized class struggle through the medium of guerrilla
warfare had passed. However, while the death of three of the insurgency’s
primary leaders was of great significance, such reports of the FARC’s
decline and possible imminent demise are not new.
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Recent
Articles
Is the Colombian Government
Guilty of War Crimes?
Wall Street Journal a
"Front" for State Terrorists
A More Plausible Scenario
for Colombia Hostage Saga
Colombia Hostage Rescue
Endangers Lives of Journalists and Aid Workers
The Ramifications of
a Split in the Polo Democratico
Distorted Perceptions
of Colombia's Conflict
Colombia's Economic Growth
Fueled by Repression
Extradition of Paramilitary
Leaders Undermines Para-Politics Investigation
FARC Should Release All
Civilian Hostages
Propagandizing Human
Rights in Colombia
Bush Administration Fails
to Acknowledge Existence of New Paramilitary Groups in Colombia
The Significance of the
Deaths of the FARC Leaders
The March of the Forgotten
FARC Leader's Killing
Sabotages Prisoner Exchange
The Upside-Down World
of Bush and Uribe: Slandering Chávez and the FARC
The Death of a Colombian
Guerrilla Leader: Diplomatic Distractions and the Consolidation
of the Para-Military State
Uribe's Colombia is Destabilizing
a New Latin America: A Response to the Murder of FARC Commander
Raul Reyes in Ecuador
Colombia Assassinates
FARC Commander Raul Reyes
The Bush Administration's
Hollow Commitment to Colombian Democracy
FARC Not a Terrorist
Group
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