WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #458 November 8, 1998 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 *7. COLOMBIAN MILITARY HANDED "WORST SINGLE DEFEAT" OF CIVIL WAR Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels withdrew from Mitu, capital of the southeastern department of Vaupes, on Nov. 3 after holding the city for two days, killing about 150 soldiers and police officers and taking 290 more hostage. The rebels left when 500 soldiers entered the city after landing at a nearby Brazilian airfield and crossing the border. According to Colombian armed forces chief Gen. Fernando Tapias, the army was unable to land in Mitu because of mines. Brazil protested the incursion into its territory and immediately recalled its ambassador. In handing the Colombian military its worst single defeat of the 36-year old civil war, the FARC suffered only five deaths and 15 injuries, according to a communique distributed on the Internet. The fighting began before dawn on Nov. 1 when about 800 rebels blew up a communications tower, seized the city's airport and took the police base; no soldiers were based in the remote city of 15,000. The rebels hope to trade the hostages for 452 imprisoned guerrillas as a precondition for beginning peace talks. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 11/4/98 from EFE, 11/5/98 from AP; New York Times 11/5/98 from AP] In accordance with a different rebel demand, about 2,000 armed troops began to withdraw from five southern municipalities covering 15,000 square miles for a 90-day period [see Update #457]. The withdrawal was expected to be complete on Nov. 7. [Washington Post 11/7/98; NYT 11/7/98 from Reuters] Meanwhile, the Sao Paulo Forum, which groups Third World-- primarily Latin American--leftist parties and organizations, accepted a FARC proposal to participate in the Colombian peace process. The Forum will send a high-level commission to Colombia to observe the demobilization of guerrillas and rightwing paramilitaries, but will not act as guarantors of the process. The Forum's eighth meeting was held in Mexico City from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1; as at past forums, delegates spoke of the need to oppose neoliberalism and unrestrained free trade, but offered few tangible alternatives. [La Jornada (Mexico) 11/1/98] *8. NUMBER FOUR IN COLOMBIA'S CALI CARTEL KILLED Elmer "Pacho" Herrera Buitrago, considered fourth in command of Colombia's Cali drug cartel, was shot to death at 9:30 am on Nov. 5 while playing soccer in the maximum security Palmira prison in Valle el Cauca. Herrera Buitrago was serving a 14-year term for illicit enrichment and drug trafficking after turning himself in on Sep. 1, 1996. Once in prison, he fingered some 35 others as being involved in the drug trade. His assailant, who was beaten and captured by other prisoners, was identified as Rafael Angel Uribe Mesa; he evidently gained entry by posing as a lawyer before shooting Herrera Buitrago seven times with a 9-mm pistol. [ED-LP 11/6/98] According to daily El Pais, Uribe told authorities he had been working for the cartel leader for three years, and had killed him because Herrera Buitrago had threatened to kill his family unless he killed one of Herrera Buitrago's brothers. [EL-LP 11/7/98 from EFE]