Chainsaws in Colombia (3rd largest US foreign aid recipient)

[Judi Lynn]

Chainsaws in Colombia
Dan Gardner, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, July 20, 2007



A handout photo shows Colombian aboriginal activist Kimy Pernia Domico, who "disappeared" in 2001. What are euphemistically described as "human-rights violations" in Colombia are, in fact, kidnappings and murders-by-torture, Dan Gardner writes, and Canada needs to be wary of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's connection to them.
Photograph by : Amnesty International

Dan Gardner, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, July 20, 2007

The victims were dragged into the town slaughterhouse. Amid chains and meat hooks, they were bound, suspended and interrogated. Where are the guerrillas? Are you a guerrilla? The men had machetes and chainsaws. Whatever the victims said, however they pleaded, they lost a hand. An arm. A leg. Finally, almost mercifully, they were decapitated.

When Stephen Harper flew to Bogota earlier this week, the news stories mentioned "human rights concerns." They didn't say much more than that, which is a pity because in Colombia "human rights concerns" are not vague abstractions. They involve men who torture and murder with chainsaws: A few have been caught and punished; some have walked away whistling; and many are still at it.

Mr. Harper acknowledged that all is not well in Colombia, but he defended his decision to launch free trade talks. "We are not going to say fix all your social, political and human rights problems and only then will we engage in trade relations with you," the prime minister said. "That's ridiculous." That sounds pretty reasonable. But things get a little murkier when you know that growing evidence suggests the president whose hand Mr. Harper shook leads a government with deep connections to men who torture and murder with chainsaws.

The timing of Mr. Harper's trip was strangely apt. Almost precisely 10 years earlier -- on July 15, 1997 -- paramilitary thugs entered a village in the southeastern jungles of Colombia. What followed was a four-day orgy of rape, torture and murder that came to be known as the Mapiripan massacre. It is believed that 49 people died, although only three, headless, bodies were found. All the others were dismembered in the slaughterhouse and the body parts dumped in the Guaviare River.

Colombian history is riddled with massacres. But two things set Mapiripan apart.
One was the use of chainsaws. After Mapiripan, it became the paramilitaries' signature.

More:
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=f746a53a-adee-4953-9199-3e8f6a65f0d2

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombian Free Trade Pact Shot Down: One Step Forward for the U.S., One Back for Canada

Thursday, July 19th, 2007

Colombian Free Trade Pact Shot Down: One Step Forward for the U.S., One Back for Canada

Recently, the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives staunchly denounced the previously initialed free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia, while postponing (at least for several months) the ratification of a comparable trade measure with Peru and Panama. This is merely the latest devastating blow to the standing of Colombia’s hard-line right-wing president, Àlvaro Uribe, whose disapproval rating hit a high of 27 percent in a Gallup Poll published on July 14. Not only is this a heavy blow against Uribe delivered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her senior colleagues, but it also is an embarrassing setback for the Bush administration, which had elevated Uribe into being Washington’s closest regional ally and made Colombia into the third largest recipient of U.S. assistance. Meanwhile, on July 16, the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Uribe in pursuit of a Canada-Colombia FTA in what could not be considered a high water mark for exemplary diplomacy.

The advocacy of ending a FTA with Colombia is not a surprise to many, especially after Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) issued an ominous statement on June 29: “We believe there must first be concrete evidence of sustained results on the ground in Colombia, and members of Congress will continue working with all interested parties to help achieve this end before consideration of any FTA. Consequently, we cannot support the Colombia (agreement) at this time.” The statement was made in reference to a series of events such as possible ties between the Uribe’s administration and the country’s notoriously brutal paramilitary groups, one of the highest counts of human rights abuses in the hemisphere, the woeful failure of Plan Colombia to derail drug-trafficking, his inability to apprehend or demobilize groups labeled as “terrorists” by the U.S. and an ending string of scandals and acts of corruption including, the misuse of U.S. funds, as well his imperious removal of Washington’s long-favored policy of being able to extradite Colombian felons upon request.

What Made the Democrats Walk Away?
In recent months, President Uribe, when he was not squandering money on U.S. public relations firms, made two unprecedented lobbying trips to Washington in hopes of swaying Congress in his favor. This is partly attributable, in short order, to the current investigations against twelve of Uribe’s congressional allies who are awaiting trial for possible connections to right-wing death squads and paramilitary groups—a claim he denies despite years of rampant rumors.

The accusations that members of Uribe’s administration have ties to paramilitary groups invited a significant first step in the cutbacks of U.S. aid for anti-drug trafficking efforts. The House approved $530.6 million in aid to Colombia, $60 million less than the Bush administration requested, with real prospects that it could be further slashed.

More:
http://www.coha.org/2007/07/19/colombian-free-trade-pact-shot-down-one-step-forward-for-the-us-one-back-for-canada-2/

[Judi Lynn]

2. PM's visit to Colombia raises spectre of slain aboriginal

PM's visit to Colombia raises spectre of slain aboriginal
Assassinated protester testified in Parliament about effects of dam

Published: Monday, July 16, 2007

~snip~
Kimy Pernia Domico, a former leader of Colombia's Embera Katio Indians, left an indelible mark in Canada in 1999 when he testified in Parliament about the impact of a hydro-electric development in the forested river valley where his people live.
(snip)

Mr. Domico returned to Canada in 2001 to make his case at the "people's summit" outside the meeting of leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. He repeated his pleas that year to Maria Minna, then-Canadian minister for international co-operation.

Less than two months later, Mr. Domico was kidnapped in the town of Tierralta, Colombia -- grabbed on the street and forced onto the back of a motorcycle by masked gunmen -- and never seen again.

His disappearance prompted public demonstrations in Canada and pleas by dozens of Canadian MPs for an investigation into his case.

In 2006, Salvatore Mancuso, the leader of one of Colombia's paramilitary groups, named Mr. Domico in a long list of people who had been killed by army-backed paramilitaries.

More:
http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=f88b799a-4441-4724-9c63-5d26dfcd21f6

On edit, adding photo of Kimy Pernia Domico: