WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #433, MAY 17, 1998
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339
LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
*3. DENIALS & BACK-STABBING IN COLOMBIA'S "POLITICAL WAR"
The US government, the Colombian police and the Colombian national
prosecutor's office are investigating the possibility that recent murders of
political and human rights activists may be linked to the Colombian army's
20th Intelligence Brigade, according to "a knowledgeable source with
access to intelligence reports" cited by the Washington Post. Colombian
Military officials deny the accusations. In an interview, armed forces chief
Gen. Manuel Jose Bonett called charges that the brigade is involved in death
squad activity "lies." Bonett said he recently modernized the brigade's
operations, removed some officers, ordered psychological training for
members and imposed directives that define acceptable behavior. "I trust
this organization," said Bonett. "No member of military intelligence...who
commits a crime would do it as a member of the institution," Bonett
explained. "He would do it on his own, as an individual." [WP 5/10/98]
In a recent report, dated Mar. 27, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner
for Human Rights reported that brigade members told the UN office in
Colombia that 85% of the people they consider subversive are engaged in the
"political war." These include leftists, trade unionists, activists in
nongovernmental organizations and even politicians from the traditional
parties. [WP 5/10/98; Peace Brigades International (PBI) Colombia Team
Informacion-Catorce dias #100, 4/20-5/3/98 from Cambio 16 #254, 4/27-
5/4/98]
On May 12 Gen. Fernando Landazabal Reyes--a controversial and very
hardline rightwing military leader who served as defense minister from
1982 to 1984 under President Belisario Betancur-- was shot to death in
front of his home in northern Bogota by at least two assassins who fled the
scene. Armed forces commander Manuel Jose Bonett charged that a campaign
is being carried out from inside and outside the country to destabilize
Colombia by murdering leftwing and rightwing leaders. "This could be a
product of the campaign that they've been doing lately against us, accusing
us of crimes and human rights violations," said Bonett, referring to the Post
article. [El Diario-La Prensa 5/13/98 from EFE] The Colombian Communist
Party (PCC) immediately condemned Landazabal's murder. The killing "has
the brand-name stamp of the ultra-right," said the statement from the PCC
press office. [PCC communique 5/12/98]
On May 13, heavily armed soldiers raided the offices of the Inter-
Congregational Commission for Peace and Justice, a Catholic Church-run
human rights organization in Bogota, saying they were looking for
Landazabal's killers. The raid was allegedly prompted by rumors that the
group was sheltering rebels from the leftist rebel National Liberation Army
(ELN). The troops ordered two nuns and other members of the center to kneel
on the ground while they pointed machine guns at their heads, according to
local press reports. "They intimidated the people in the offices, they
pointed their machine guns at us and forced us to make statements. They
filmed everyone and it worries me to think what they're going to use those
films for," said sister Silvia Vallejo, one of the Commission's staff
members. The attorney general's office immediately began an investigation
of the incident. The raid was one of at least eight in Bogota in the two days
following Landazabal's killing; police and military sources claim the murder
was carried out by an ELN squad.
"Because of Landazabal's murder we have carried out a series of urgent
procedures to clarify a crime that we are not going to leave in impunity,"
explained attorney general Jaime Cordoba Trevino. "There was information
that this office was connected with a subversive organization, more
concretely with the ELN." Carlos Rodriguez, a well-known human rights
activist who arrived at the center minutes before the raid, said that the
soldiers did not have their names or unit numbers on their uniforms.
Rodriguez said he didn't think the raid was connected to Landazabal's
murder, and suspected that the order for the raid was issued before the
murder. It wasn't clear whether the raid was carried out by the 20th
Intelligence Brigade.
The Intercongregational Commission for Peace and Justice has one of the
most extensive databases on human rights violations in Colombia and is
currently carrying out a detailed investigation into the disappearances,
tortures and massacres of the past 20 years, many of which involve the
security forces. [CNN en Espanol 5/14/98 from Reuter]
On May 15, diplomatic sources reported that the US had withdrawn the US
entry visa of army inspector and former military intelligence chief Gen.
Ivan Ramirez. Unofficially there were reports that visas had also been
revoked for Gen. Rito Alejo del Rio, commander of the army's 13th Brigade;
for Gen. Rafael Hernandez Lopez, commander of the Southern Task Force; and
for 10 colonels. President Ernesto Samper Pizano added that the attorney
general's office will investigate Ramirez' conduct. Ramirez said he was
accused of "terrorism" by the US when he headed Military Intelligence
between 1992 and 1995. "Because I fought against all the factors of
violence, against terrorism, now it turns out I'm the terrorist," Ramirez
told RCN radio. Ramirez said the decision "demoralizes the troops" and
announced he will ask the US State Department for an explanation.
State Department spokesperson James Rubin said the press reports about
the US revoking the visas of a group of Colombian military officers "are not
correct," according to Spanish news service EFE. Rubin said the State
Department "avoids commenting on specific visas for privacy reasons."
Undersecretary of State for Latin America affairs Peter Romero--whose
nomination as ambassador to El Salvador was blocked in 1993 because of
his alleged close ties to the Salvadoran military and rightwing political
forces [see Updates #166, 170, 171]--is currently visiting Colombia. [El
Universal (Caracas) 5/16/98]
*12. IN OTHER NEWS...
On May 11 Honduran national human rights commissioner Leo Valladares
Lanza testified before a panel of the US House of Representatives
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight in favor of a proposed
"Human Rights Information Act," which would speed the release of secret US
intelligence files on Latin America and the Caribbean, starting with
Honduras and Guatemala. "The cycle of impunity must be broken," said
Valladares, who is requesting information on US-linked military units in
the 1980s. Lee Strickland, an official of the US Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) also testified; "sources will be imperiled" by the legislation, he
warned, "and the mission of the CIA--to support the Congress and the
president--will be disadvantaged." [Washington Post 5/12/98]... Some
10,000 demonstrators formed a human chain outside a meeting of the "G-8"-
-the heads of state of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia
and the US--on May 16 to push demands for "Jubilee 2000," a cancellation of
Third World debt by 2000. [Washington Post 5/17/98] Protesters were also
addressing environmental and trade issues; the meeting is expected to
launch negotiations for the New Transatlantic Marketplace (NTM), otherwise
known as the TransAtlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA). [Public Citizen
posting 5/10/98]
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