WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #484, MAY 9, 1999
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 
LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 




*4. COLOMBIA: PROTESTS ERUPT OVER NEW ECONOMIC PLAN 

Health workers and teachers in Colombia reached an agreement with 
the government on May 6, ending strikes that shut down public 
schools and hospitals [see Update #483]. The terms of the agreement 
were not clear. The pact was announced amid violent protests against 
the government's controversial four-year "National Development 
Plan"--the same plan that prompted the strikes. In Cartagena and 
Barrancabermeja, oil workers shut down the refineries, oil pumping 
stations and administrative offices of the state oil company Ecopetrol 
on May 5 to protest the plan. Thousands demonstrated against the 
plan in the streets of Bogota. Protesters tried to force their way into 
Congress on May 4 and 5 to prevent the economic plan from reaching 
a vote. After failing to stop the vote, young student protesters 
stripped naked and marched in front of the Congress building, while 
another group of demonstrators seized a Catholic church. Legislators 
had to move their session to another room as tear gas filled the halls. 
[CNN en Espanol 5/7/99 with info from AP, Reuters; El Nuevo Herald 
7/7/99 from AP; Agencia Informativa Pulsar 5/6/99] 

On the night of May 6, Colombia's Senate and Chamber of Deputies 
simultaneously approved the development plan. The plan involves 
some $41 billion in investments with which President Andres 
Pastrana says he hopes to build peace. Luis Eduardo Garzon, 
president of the Unitary Workers Federation (CUT), blasted the plan 
as neoliberal and said it seeks to privatize education and health 
services, giving the government the excuse to lay off workers. "This 
is a plan for war," Garzon told Congress. Labor leaders have 
announced that they will call a national protest strike, which will be 
joined by private sector workers and campesinos as well as state 
workers.

The new development plan would allow the government to modify 
its oil policy with the goal of increasing oil exploration; it would also 
accelerate agrarian reform and build 500,000 homes, and create a 
special tax to rebuild the coffee-growing region shattered by a Jan. 
25 earthquake that left some 1,200 people dead and caused an 
estimated $1.8 billion in economic losses [see Update #470]. The 
opposition Liberal Party, the largest party in Congress, opposed the 
plan; its deputies withdrew from the Congress building and some 
joined the demonstrators. [The Liberal Party won 44% of the vote in 
the legislative elections held on Mar. 8, 1998--see Update #424.] 
Some Liberal Party legislators returned and participated in the 
discussion and vote. "This is an anti-social plan that will do away 
with the middle class," said former president Ernesto Samper Pizano. 
[ENH 7/7/99 from AP] 

*5. COLOMBIA: PEACE NEGOTIATIONS COMPLETE FIRST STAGE 

On May 6, the Colombian government and the leftist Revolutionary 
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels concluded a series of 
discussions aimed at coming up with a common agenda for peace 
negotiations. The agenda has 12 major themes, according to a joint 
announcement read by High Commissioner for Peace Victor Ricardo 
at a press conference in the rural village of Los Pozos in San Vicente 
del Caguan, Caqueta department. The themes include social reforms, 
economic reforms, political reforms, the military, protection of 
human rights, the fight against corruption, paramilitary groups and 
drug trafficking. Ricardo explained that the "mechanisms for citizen 
participation" during the peace neogtiations had also been 
established. [ENH 5/7/99 from AFP]

On May 7, the Colombian government extended for 30 more days the 
demilitarization of five southern municipalities. Colombia's army and 
police forces withdrew from the area on Nov. 7 of last year to pave 
the way for peace talks with the FARC; on Feb. 7 the demilitarized 
zone was extended for another 90 days. [EC 5/8/99] 

Meanwhile, the National Liberation Army (ELN), the smaller of 
Colombia's two main rebel groups, says it wants to have dialogues 
with civil society toward ending Colombia's armed conflict, but that it 
doesn't want to negotiate with governments because governments 
don't have longterm policies. The ELN's announcement was read by 
Miguel Arturo Fajardo Rojas, rector of the University of San Gil in 
Santander department. [EC 5/8/99] Fajardo was one of 32 passengers 
kidnapped in an ELN plane hijacking on Apr. 12 in the Magdalena 
Medio region. The ELN released six of the hostages on Apr. 13 for 
humanitarian reasons, and three more were handed over two days 
later. Fajardo and six others were freed on May 7; 16 others remain 
in the hands of the ELN. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 5/8/99 from EFE]

==============
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