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Date Posted: 16:06:49 12/16/02 Mon
Author: Charlie
Subject: A Piece of My Investigative Reporting If Anyone Cares

This is a bit of my investigative journalism for anyone who cares to read it. It's about the current situation in Colombia.

CRISIS IN COLOMBIA
By Charles Copeland

With the recent cease-fire of Colombian paramilitary groups such as Carlos Castano's A.U.C., a new page has been added to the history of the Colombian civil war, although many question how long this development may last. Many thousands of Colombians, combatant and civilian alike, have died in long grueling conflict between the Colombian national military, independently organized paramilitaries and Marxist-Leninist guerilla forces such as the F.A.R.C.. Certain parties on all sides have been documented to have connections in the cocaine market, the primary international focus of the "War on Drugs". The web of violence in Colombia is complex and confusing, and many claim that the United States government may have had and may still have a key role in weaving it.
These peoples' main accusation involving American involvement in the Colombian conflict usually revolves around an institution based out of Fort Benning, Georgia named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (W.H.I.S.C.). The original name of the institute was the School of the Americas (the name was changed in 2001 after widespread concern over the tactics being taught at the S.O.A.), and it's function since it's founding in 1946 has been to further instruct Latin American (including many Colombian) military personnel and policemen in military methods. 60,000 students have graduated from the W.H.I.S.C./S.O.A, and many have been indicted or accused of some of the most serious human rights violations in the Western Hemisphere. A United Nations Commission in 1996 found that in the El Salvadoran civil war, three-quarters of the officers indicted in seven of the largest massacres were trained at the S.O.A.. The Pentagon claims that the purpose of the institute is to foster "mutual knowledge, transparency, confidence and cooperation" in participating nations and persons and to promote "democratic values". Critics point out that the 10 Latin American Presidents who graduated from the W.H.I.S.C./S.O.A. (including former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega) have all failed to demonstrate "democratic values" by seizing power undemocratically.
Involving human rights, critics also cite declassified manuals used at the W.H.I.S.C./S.O.A. which according to an Intelligence Oversight Board organized by former President Clinton in 1996, seemed to teach students to use "execution, extortion, physical abuse, coercion, and false imprisonment”. The manuals, in their own words, advocated using such tactics on those (in the manuals’ own wording) who support "union organizing or recruiting", distribute "propaganda in favor or the interests of workers", "sympathize with demonstrators or strikers" or make "accusations that the government has failed to meet the basic needs of the people". Many labor union activists cite these passages in accusing the government of being responsible for the current wave of anti-union violence in Colombia. According to a United Steelworkers report, three out of every four union organizers killed in the world in 2001 was Colombian. At this conjuncture, the military claims that is now placing more emphasis on human rights, requiring students to take a minimum of 8 hours of courses on the subject during programs that can last anywhere from two weeks to eleven months long. The military also claims that it carries no responsibility for the actions of Colombia’s largest group of human-rights violators, the paramilitaries.
Paramilitaries are groups often independently organized by wealthy Colombian cattle ranchers, landowners and sometimes drug cartels to defend themselves and their properties from Marxist groups such as the F.A.R.C. or the E.L.N. They have been responsible for approximately 80% of reported human rights violations in the current conflict. A Colombian government report issued in 2000 found that out of 23,000 murders linked to “illegal armed organizations” since 1988, around 19,700 have been the result of paramilitary violence. The most prominent of these groups is the A.U.C. (United Self Defense Forces of Colombia in Spanish), led by the enigmatic and brutal Carlos Castano, who admits that his operation is funded by drug money. Although the Colombian government has made Castano an outlaw on paper, actions indicate (for lack of a better word) collaboration. A report to the House Committee on International Relations from the Executive Director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch in 2000 found that “although Castano often announced plans for massacres publicly and well in advance, military commanders established a clear pattern of failing to deploy troops to protect civilians even when local authorities directly informed them about imminent threats. Authorities also received reliable and detailed information about the location of permanent paramilitary bases yet failed to act against them, contributing to an atmosphere of chaos and terror”.Many Colombians feel that the paramilitaries and the national military act as brothers-in arms and for good reason, many Colombian military officers from the lowest soldier to the top brass have been proven to have links to paramilitary groups (and exploit this advantage to the fullest). Brigadier General (and S.O.A. graduate) Jamie Ernesto Canal Alban was a key figure in the organization of a paramilitary group known as the “Calima Front” which was responsible for some 2,000 “forced disappearances” and 40 executions since 1999. Majors (and S.O.A. graduates) Alvaro Morillo and Jesus Clavijo were linked to paramilitary groups by extensive and unusual cell phone and beeper communications and regular meetings on Colombian military bases.
In another incident indicative of Colombian federal military collaboration with paramilitary groups, in February 2000, the Colombian Navy’s First Brigade (the Colombian Navy contains ground troops) blocked off the road to a village named El Salado in the Bolivar province while a paramilitary group known as the A.C.C.U. occupied the community. The roadblock kept representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross from entering the village while for two days the A.C.C.U. looted the village, shot suspected guerilla sympathizers along with random residents, gang-raped women and suffocated a six year old girl with a plastic bag. Only after the paramilitary group had left did the road open and soldiers enter. Residents of El Salado reported that a Colombian Military helicopter had evacuated a wounded A.C.C.U. fighter, but let the chaos and slaughter continue.
Stories like this definitely provoke anyone with a conscience to question if the United States government should still provide financial and military aid to the nation of Colombia. It does seem that letting such atrocities occur in the name of fighting the “war on drugs” is not only irresponsible but inhuman. Perhaps the current cease-fire will bear some fruit to bringing peace to the war-torn land that is Colombia, and to ensure that her children may grow up to know a safer brighter future. Only time will tell the fate of the nation, and just how many will survive this tug-of war between the Marxist guerillas, paramilitaries and Colombian troops is anyone’s guess. Hopefully a new dawn is starting to appear for the people of Colombia, and that the warring factions may soon put their differing ideologies aside to focus on what is best for what they all hold dear.

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