WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #452
September 30, 1998

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*2. TWO-DAY GENERAL STRIKE IN COLOMBIA

Nearly 800,000 state workers in Colombia began a two-day general
strike on Sept. 23 to demand a wage hike on a par with 1998
inflation levels; suspension of the privatization of state
enterprises; agrarian reform; broader social security coverage;
and a budget increase for health and education. State workers
have been promised a 14% salary increase for 1999, which they
consider insufficient. The strike was called by the National
Federation of State Workers (FENALTRASE) and is backed by the
Only Workers Federation (CUT), the General Confederation of
Democratic Workers (DGTD), the Colombian Workers Confederation
(CTC) and the Workers Trade Union (USO), which represents oil
workers of the Colombian Oil Company (Ecopetrol). [El Diario-La
Prensa 9/24/98 from EFE] 
 
The country remained partially incommunicado as workers of the
Colombian Telecommunications Company suspended part of their
services in observance of the strike. In state hospitals, only
emergency cases were treated. Schools throughout Colombia
suspended classes. The government threatened to declare the
strike illegal, and withhold pay for workdays missed. [Agencia
Informativa Pulsar 9/24/98]
 
In the oil city of Barrancabermeja, the "Capitan Parmenio"
faction of the National Liberation Army (ELN) leftist rebel group
announced it would observe the action with a 48-hour armed strike
in the city, and threatened to burn inter-city buses that
continued to operate during the strike. [ED-LP 9/24/98 from EFE]
The USO, which has a strong base in Barrancabermeja, shut down
the city's oil production with a partial strike; union sources
said the strike was observed by 80% of the workforce. 
 
The only violence reported during the first day of the strike was
in the city of Cali, where students from the state-run Valle
University staged a protest to demand the reopening of the
university, which was closed three months ago for lack of funds.
[ED-LP 9/24/98 from EFE; Pulsar 9/24/98]
 
*3. COLOMBIAN REBELS WOUND US MERCENARY

A US pilot--an apparent mercenary--was shot and wounded by
leftist rebels in August while flying a Colombian military
helicopter into a combat zone in the northwestern region of
Uraba, Colombian authorities revealed on Sept. 18. Gen. Euclides
Sanchez, the army's chief of operations, identified the US pilot
as 30-year old Nilo Bernier, and said he was shot in mid-August
when his army helicopter came under rebel fire as he was on a
mission to pick up wounded soldiers. "He's not a military man,
he's a private citizen," Sanchez told reporters, adding that
Bernier had been hired to work under contract for the army
because of a lack of trained military helicopter pilots in
Colombia. Sanchez declined to elaborate, or to comment on the
extent of the injuries suffered by Bernier, saying only that he
had been treated at the military hospital in Bogota and was now
out of danger. A spokesperson at the military hospital declined
comment, and would not confirm that Bernier had been treated
there. The US embassy said it had no official information on the
case. Local media reports quoted military sources as saying
Bernier was from Puerto Rico, but it was not immediately clear
when he entered Colombia or how long he had been on the Colombian
military's payroll.
 
The US has rotated military personnel in and out of Colombia for
years to provide counter-narcotics training and to work as
technicians at radar stations monitoring drug-smuggling routes.
Three US crop-duster pilots--working on contract for the US State
Department--have been killed since January of last year; their
planes crashed while flying anti-drug training missions over
rebel-held jungle regions in southeast Colombia. But the US has
denied repeated rebel claims that it has military "advisers" in
Colombia, and insists that it has no direct involvement in the
country's long-running internal conflict. [Reuter 9/18/98]
 
Gen. Joseph Ralston, second-in-command of the US Joint Chiefs of
Staff, arrived in Colombia on Sept. 21 to learn about the
country's anti-drug efforts. Ralston visited the Tres Esquinas
military base with Colombian armed forces commander Gen. Fernando
Tapias Stahelin and other officers. Ralston said he would present
a report to the US government about his visit, in order to
analyze the possibility of increasing US aid for Colombia's war
against illegal drugs. [Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia
(ANNCOL) 9/23/98]
 
*4. COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT SEEKS UN HELP

On Sept. 23, Colombian president Andres Pastrana Arango spoke
before the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN). According
to Colombian journalist Javier Castano of the New York Spanish-
language daily El Diario-La Prensa, Pastrana arrived 10 minutes
late and was the first to speak; he delivered his 15-minute
speech to a nearly empty hall. [ED-LP 9/24/98]
 
A day earlier, Pastrana met with UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Mary Robinson and asked her to provide observers for a
peace dialogue in Colombia. Robinson will go to Colombia in
October to attend a "Peace Conference" in the city of Cartagena.
World Bank representatives will also attend the conference. [ED-
LP 9/23/98]
 
Pastrana's plans for peace include elimination of drug crops in
zones under rebel control. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) have reportedly agreed to support the destruction
of illegal drug crops in exchange for investment in social
programs and alternative development. 
 
On Sept. 21 Pastrana met with Pino Arlacchi, director of the UN
Anti-Drug Program. Pastrana said the UN will give Colombia $1
billion for drug eradication programs over the next 10 years. The
money will be channeled through the financial resources of
multilateral banks and the private sector of the international
community, according to a communique from the office of the
presidency. [CNN en Espanol 9/23/98 from Reuter] However,
according to a column in El Nuevo Herald by Mauricio Bayona, the
UN clarified in an official communique from Geneva that it had
not agreed to give Colombia $1 billion; rather, the UN explained
that there were efforts under way to obtain the money, which
would take a great deal of time, meetings and negotiations. [ENH
9/25/98]