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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 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. The Case of Liliana Obando and the Rights of Colombian Workers 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. If Not Colombia, Then Where is the Cocaine Coming From? 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? Examining FARC Resistance in Colombia: Not the end of Guerrilla Warfare 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. 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 FARC Leader's Killing Sabotages Prisoner Exchange The Upside-Down World of Bush and Uribe: Slandering Chávez and the FARC Colombia Assassinates FARC Commander Raul Reyes The Bush Administration's Hollow Commitment to Colombian Democracy For more articles, visit the Archive
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Updated: August 19, 2008
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A photo journal of Colombia’s
civil conflict that includes 85 black and
white photos, 32 pages of accompanying text,
and an introduction by Garry Leech.