Archive for 2004
Washington Has Lost Its Way in Colombia
Flying into Puerto Asis, in southern Colombia’s Putumayo department, the vastness and denseness of the jungle was striking. As the plane descended, here and there were scattered clearings, ranches and farms cut into the thick green landscape. Around them lay more and more jungle stretching off into the horizon. Moments before landing, the town itself came into view, a concrete and brick oasis amongst the trees, teeming with activity and crass commercialism, much of it the result of fast cash from Puerto Asis’s status as a cocaine trading center. It was February 2004 and my colleague and I were investigating the effects of the U.S.-funded aerial fumigation campaign that has crisscrossed the skies of Putumayo in recent years, spraying an untested cocktail of herbicides and chemical additives over peasant fields amongst the virgin jungle, killing legal and illegal crops alike while reportedly harming the health of animals and humans. Read more»
Washington’s Paramilitary Game in Colombia
While the United States was initially supportive of President Alvaro Uribe’s negotiations with Colombia’s right-wing paramilitary group the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), recent comments by U.S. Ambassador William Wood and the issuing of drug indictments against paramilitary leaders appear to be undermining the talks. Washington’s initial endorsement of the “peace process” was likely based on overly optimistic expectations of a strengthened Colombian military and an eagerness to provide political backing for the then-recently elected Uribe. But as the talks have progressed, Washington’s support has waned, perhaps due to the possible military repercussions of a paramilitary demobilization. It has become increasingly clear that the Colombian military will not be able to effectively control all the territory currently in the hands of the paramilitaries, meaning a demobilization of the militia group will likely lead to territorial gains for the country’s leftist guerrillas. Read more»
Coca-Cola in Colombia: Increased Profits, Downsized Workforce
Coca-Cola is the second most widely understood word in the world, after “okay.” Yet less well known than this quintessential U.S. symbol are the labor practices of the Coca-Cola Company, which claims that it “exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches.” The multinational engages in union-busting practices in Colombia and bears responsibility for some of the violence directed against workers over the last 20 years, according to the National Food Industry Workers Union (Sinaltrainal), which organizes Coca-Cola laborers in Colombia. Read more»
Resisting Water Privatization in Bogotá
When it loaned $145 million to Bogotá in 1996 to help salvage the Colombian capital’s struggling public water company, the World Bank hoped the city would eventually succumb to its demands to privatize the utility company. But Bogotá hasn’t budged. Instead, the Water and Sewerage Company of Bogotá (EAAB) has remained in public hands and become one of the most efficient, profitable and equitable water utilities in Colombia. Read more»
A Different War on Terror, But the Same Old Propaganda
A recent op-ed by Thomas W. O’Connell, assistant secretary of defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, is yet another example of the Bush administration distorting facts in order to sell its war on terror to the U.S. public and Congress. In this case, it is not an attempt to justify the forceful imposition of “democracy”—naturally, a U.S.-devised neoliberal democracy—on Iraq, but a good old self-congratulatory pat on the back for the “successes” of U.S. military intervention in Colombia at a time when Congress is debating a Bush administration request to increase the number of U.S. troops and contractors permitted in that South American country. In an ideal democracy, U.S. government officials would fully and accurately inform the public about the administration’s policies so as to allow citizens to effectively participate in the democratic process, especially crucial in an election year. O’Connell clearly fails to do this. In fact, by distorting the realities of the Bush administration’s war on terror policies in Colombia he has grossly misinformed and misled the U.S. public and Congress, and thus, undermined democracy in the United States. Read more»
Newsworthy and Non-Newsworthy Massacres
On June 15, guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) massacred 34 coca farmers in Norte de Santander. The rebels woke the victims in the middle of the night, tied their hands and feet, and then executed them with automatic weapons. Most U.S. mainstream media outlets immediately broadcast the news of this brutal act. While the FARC were rightfully condemned in the media for this slaughter of civilians, coverage of two recent large-scale paramilitary massacres was virtually non-existent. Following a long established pattern, the mainstream media continues to emphasize human rights abuses by leftist guerrillas, while often ignoring those perpetrated by right-wing paramilitaries allied with the Colombian military. Read more»
Another 40 Years?
In May, Colombia’s largest and oldest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), celebrated 40 years of existence. A group of peasants formed the FARC on May 27, 1964, following a military land and air assault on their “independent” village of Marquetalia in south-central Colombia. The FARC emerged out of a climate of repression in which state-sponsored violence targeted all opposition, particularly Liberals and communists. At the time, the U.S. framed its Colombia policy within Cold War ideology, supplying the Colombian military with weapons and training to target communists and suspected communists. Looking at Colombia today, little has changed. Many Colombian peasants, unionists, human rights workers and community leaders are labeled guerrilla sympathizers and targeted by the Colombian military and its right-wing paramilitary allies. Read more»