WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #459 November 15, 1998 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 3. Colombian Military to Get New Anti-Rebel Base 4. Colombian Paramilitaries Using Helicopters in Attacks 5. Rebels Admit "Mistake" in Oil Pipeline Attack 6. Colombia: Generals with Paramilitary Links Promoted 7. Colombian Military To "Professionalize"? *3. COLOMBIAN MILITARY TO GET NEW ANTI-REBEL BASE On Nov. 8 the Colombian government announced the creation of its largest ever multi-force military base to fight leftist rebels and drug traffickers in southern Colombia. More than $5 million will be invested in the Tres Esquinas (Three Corners) military base to allow the establishment there of command posts for the air force, army and police intelligence. Heading up the base will be the military's Southern Air Group. President Pastrana said the air group's leadership indicates a change in strategy; he said it will be supplied with the most advanced technology available for nighttime operations. Pastrana also announced the purchase of helicopter gunships and armored support aircraft, as well as advanced artillery systems. The base will have radar for anti- drug surveillance, and will serve as the coordinating base for all the tactical movements for the war against leftist rebels. [Informativo Bolivariano 11/8/98 from CARACOL] The move comes at the same time that the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are moving ahead toward peace talks. It is unclear when the first round of talks will actually begin; the government's withdrawal of its troops from a large southern zone was completed by Nov. 7, but the FARC could take up to three weeks to verify that all security forces have left the area. Publicly the Colombian army has given full backing to Pastrana's peace efforts but privately many top officers fear the government is making too many concessions that will allow the rebels to set up self-ruling "independent republics." [Reuter 11/1/98; El Diario-La Prensa 11/9/98] *4. COLOMBIAN PARAMILITARIES USING HELICOPTERS IN ATTACKS Rightwing paramilitaries are on a rampage in northern Colombia's Bolivar department, setting villages on fire and forcing more than 2,000 people to flee their homes, Bolivar governor Miguel Raad told Radionet radio station on Nov. 11. Raad said all 1,200 inhabitants of Pueblito Mejia were left homeless when the paramilitaries set fire to their village; another 60 homes were burned down in Carnisal, forcing 500 people to flee; and at least five civilians were killed and ten wounded in combat between paramilitary forces and rebel troops of the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) in Arenal. [Agence France-Presse 11/12/98] In the south of Bolivar, Raad said the paramilitaries are using helicopters in their assaults. Bolivar's secretary of the interior, Roberto Arrazola, confirmed that the paramilitaries are carrying out "bombings with helicopters" in southern Bolivar, according to a Nov. 11 report in the Bogota daily El Tiempo. Interior Minister Humberto Martinez responded to these reports by saying he had instructed the Air Force to shoot down any helicopter operating illegally in the area. [AFP 11/12/98; Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia (ANNCOL) 11/11/98] Paramilitary groups also killed 13 people in northwestern Antioquia and four in northeastern Santander. Relatives of two murder victims in El Copey, Antioquia department, said the paramilitaries later used chainsaws to mutilate the bodies. The increased paramilitary activity coincided with President Andres Pastrana's announcement on Nov. 9 that he was willing to begin peace talks with paramilitary groups, but separately from upcoming negotiations with leftist rebels. [AFP 11/12/98] On Nov. 8, members of the Senate Peace Commission asked the FARC to say publicly whether they are holding 30 indigenous people, members of an unarmed volunteer police auxiliary group, who were in the town of Mitu when the FARC overran it on Nov. 1 [see Update #458]. It is feared that if the missing people are not being held by the rebels, they may have been captured, disappeared or killed by the military forces that retook the town on Nov. 3. Senator Jesus Pinacue said the indigenous youth were not armed and were providing the community with drug addiction prevention services. [Informativo Bolivariano 11/8/98] On Nov. 10, paramilitaries killed five indigenous people and 12 non-indigenous settlers in a rural area of Puerto Gaitan municipality, in the southeastern department of Meta. [ED-LP 11/11/98] It was the municipality's second massacre in four months--nine people were killed there last July in a paramilitary sweep through the region. [see Update #441]. *5. REBELS ADMIT "MISTAKE" IN OIL PIPELINE ATTACK ELN top commander Nicolas Rodriguez reportedly admitted in a television interview late on Nov. 11 that a fire in the village of Machuca, Antioquia department, that left 70 people dead in the wake of the ELN's Oct. 18 attack on a nearby oil pipeline [see Update #456], was a "mistake" and that those responsible would be punished. "Our comrades failed to correctly assess the danger that their action would pose to the people living downhill," said Rodriguez. He said the rebel group was conducting an investigation to determine who was responsible. "It's a basic matter of discipline," he added. The ELN had previously accused the army of setting fire to the crude oil following the pipeline explosion. Rodriguez said some ELN rebels had relatives living in Machuca. "They [villagers] know it was a mistake, they know how hard we've taken it. That's why we're investigating not only the comrades who carried out the attack, but also those who guided and are guiding similar operations in the area," Rodriguez said. [AFP 11/12/98] *6. COLOMBIA: GENERALS WITH PARAMILITARY LINKS PROMOTED On Oct. 26 Colombia's National Army Command announced a shakeup in the brigades and divisions of the Colombian Armed Forces. Two top officers will remain in their current posts: Maj. Gen. Mario Fernando Roa Cuervo will continue as commander of the army's Second Division; and Gen. Martin Carreno Sandoval will continue as commander of the 17th Brigade, based in Carepa. Fourth Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina Ovalle [who was shot and wounded in June by suspected rebels during an army "fact- finding" mission in Murindo--see Update #437] was promoted to head the Fourth Division, based in Meta. [El Colombiano (Medellin) 10/27/98] Ospina's promotion came just two days after paramilitaries seized the municipality of San Carlos in Antioquia department and killed 14 people; Ospina had headed the unit that was based there, which residents say disappeared mysteriously just before the paramilitaries arrived [see Update #457]. The FARC's Ninth Front charges that the army's Fourth Brigade coordinated the paramilitary attack and that the paramilitaries themselves were army personnel in civilian clothing. [October 1998 communique from Noveno Frente Atanasio Girardot de las FARC-EP, Bloque Jose Maria Cordoba, posted on Internet by ANNCOL] Replacing Ospina as commander of the Fourth Brigade is Col. Eduardo Herrera Verbel. Col. Juan Trivino Herrera has been assigned to head the 14th Brigade, based in Puerto Berrio. The changes take effect on Dec. 1. Also on Oct. 26, the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces high command announced the promotion of 21 new generals. The Medellin daily El Colombiano writes that in the latest army shakeup, Gen. Rito Alejo del Rio Rojas was promoted to the post of Director of Operations for the Army Command General Headquarters; however, Human Rights Watch (HRW) describes him as already holding that post. Del Rio is under investigation by the Attorney General's Office for supporting and tolerating paramilitary activity in the Uraba region in 1996 and 1997, while he was commander of the 17th Brigade. HRW has documented dozens of cases involving joint army-paramilitary operations in Uraba while Del Rio was in command. These reports were confirmed by a former colonel who worked under Del Rio, who told authorities that Del Rio maintained direct ties with paramilitaries. [EC 10/27/98; HRW Backgrounder, posted 10/27/98] [Rumors emerged in May of this year that the US had revoked the entry visa of Del Rio, then commander of the army's 13th Brigade--see Update #433. Del Rio is a 1967 graduate of the US Army School of the Americas (SOA).] *7. COLOMBIAN MILITARY TO "PROFESSIONALIZE"? The Colombian government announced on Oct. 26 that it will invest $133 million over four years in a plan to professionalize the army. Defense Minister Rodrigo Lloreda explained that the plan will begin this year with the replacement of 14,355 "high school" draftees [drafted just after finishing high school] with 9,996 professional soldiers and 4,359 recruits who will be sent to 21 army infantry battalions. Lloreda said this will increase the army's combat capacity because high school draftees are not allowed to engage in combat. According to Lloreda, by the end of Pastrana's term, the administration hopes that half of the army will be made up of professionals, and obligatory military service can be reduced. The changes will cost about $51 million, including personnel costs and improvements in weaponry. The money will be cut from the military budget for non-urgent construction work and other programs. The intention of the changes, Lloreda explained, is to improve mobilization capacity with helicopters and planes and to strengthen intelligence efforts. The Colombian army currently has 120,000 troops, but 21,000 of these are not able to engage in offensive actions because they are protecting the country's oil, energy and communications infrastructure. [El Colombiano 10/27/98]