Archive for 2000
Plan Colombia Lacks International Support
While President Clinton was desperately trying to get the Middle-East peace process back on track last week, his plan for war in Colombia was being undermined from all sides. The European Union (EU) recently announced it would only give Colombia $321 million for social and economic development–less than a third of the amount Washington and Bogotá were hoping for–because of reservations regarding the U.S. emphasis on a military solution to Colombia’s problems. Read more»
Death Squads Target Trade Unionists
The vast majority of trade unionists murdered in the world each year are Colombian. The Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT)–founded in 1986 and currently Colombia’s largest union federation–has lost nearly 3,000 members, including practically all of its original founders. Those responsible for the murders are paramilitary death squads who–with financing from the country’s business elite–are organized, supported and equipped by the Colombian security forces. Furthermore, the Colombian government has done nothing to bring those responsible for the killings to justice. Read more»
The Well-Oiled U.S. Presidential Campaigns
One topic that has been grossly neglected in the rhetoric of the leading U.S. presidential candidates has been the escalating U.S. military involvement in Colombia. Congress recently approved a $1.3 billion aid bill to fight the drug war in the Andean region. President Clinton signed the aid bill and then, shortly thereafter, proceeded to waive the human rights conditions that it contained. Consequently, 80 percent of the Colombian aid will go to a military that has repeatedly committed human rights abuses. Neither of the leading candidates for president–Republican George Bush and Democrat Al Gore–commented on Clinton’s waiver because violating human rights in the drug war serves the interests of the oil companies that have funded both campaigns. Read more»
It’s Colombian Politics as Usual
On October 29 Colombians throughout the country will head to the polls to vote in provincial and municipal elections where they will choose from those candidates that make it to election day alive. Over the past 20 years, a political campaign’s measure of success hasn’t been whether a candidate won or lost, but whether they avoided assassination or not. Read more»
Killing With a Vengeance
On September 22, three members of Colombia’s largest paramilitary organization, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), stopped an International Red Cross vehicle near the peace community of San Jose de Apartadó in northern Colombia. The Red Cross vehicle was taking a female guerrilla who had been wounded in a nearby battle with paramilitary forces to hospital. The three militiamen dragged the guerrilla from the vehicle and executed her. Read more»
Rebels Win Privatization Battle
It is looking as though the economic plans of Colombian President Andrés Pastrana are beginning to unravel. The privatization of government-owned industries called for in Plan Colombia, and required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for $2.7 billion loan in December 1999, has hit a roadblock. Read more»
Globalization: Free Trade and the Drug Trade
Frequently we hear from both the corporate world and academia that globalization is good and that it’s irreversible. But things are not as simple as that. We must acknowledge that today in the developing world, globalization is confronted by many political challenges. And I think globalization is confronted by challenges precisely because it has also posed many challenges in our nations. Read more»