Colombia death squad chief says US asked for help

Bogota, Colombia, Aug. 10— The leader of Colombia’s outlaw ultra-right death squads said he had received a message, via one of his collaborators, from US anti-drug agents requesting his help in wiping out the drug trade.

In an interview with RCN television, Carlos Castano, feared leader of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), denied meeting US officials in person but said he had warned drug traffickers that he would target them if they did not cease their illicit smuggling operations.

“A cattle rancher came to me with some information saying he had a friend who was a narco-trafficker and had been talking to the (US) Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and they had sent me a message and through that there was a possibility of ending narco-trafficking in Colombia,’’ Castano said.

“I received a call saying the DEA was opening the doors so that Colombian drug traffickers could surrender to US justice and ... it needed a significant force in Colombia that would induce these people to take that decision,’’ added Castano.

The right-wing warlord controls a force of some 5,000 fighters blamed for massacring thousands of civilians in the course of Colombia’s long-running conflict, which has claimed 35,000 lives in just the last 10 years.

His comments could not immediately be confirmed with US authorities.

The US Congress approved a record $1.3 billion package of mostly military aid to help Colombia fight the drug trade and Communist rebels, the bitter rivals of Castano’s AUC.

Top-level US visit

The RCN interview coincided with a visit to Colombia’s Caribbean coast resort of Cartagena by a high-level US delegation including US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering and the White House’s top anti-drug official Barry McCaffrey.

President Clinton is himself due to visit Cartagena on Aug. 30, the first visit to Colombia by a US president since George Bush in 1990.

In the two hour-interview late Wednesday, Castano rejected suggestions US officials had offered him money or weaponry in return for forcing narco-traffickers to surrender.

In the past, US authorities, including the DEA, have accused Castano’s paramilitary force of smuggling cocaine and heroin and using the proceeds to fund its fight against the guerrillas. Castano has admitted receiving contributions from drug capos but insisted he was “an enemy of drugs.’’

“I could not ask for US aid when (US officials) are always accusing us of financing ourselves with drug trafficking,’’ Castano said.

Castano said he did not know if the request for the assistance of his paramilitary force was a US policy or a personal request by a handful of agents acting without government authorization.

“I have never had (direct) contact with members of the State Department or any US intelligence agencies. ... I have no proof that this was a policy of the DEA or the US administration or just some individuals within those agencies,’’ he explained.

It was not clear whether Castano had responded to the US request for his help but he conceded he had threatened some drug traffickers whom he considered had close ties with Marxist guerrilla groups.

“(I told the traffickers) that sooner or later US support in the fight against (guerrilla) subversion and the AUC’s anti-subversive fight would eventually target them,’’ he added.

Both Colombian and US authorities have accused the country’s estimated 22,000 guerrilla fighters of funding their uprising with millions of dollars a year in profits from the drug trade.

Source: Reuters

“Demilitarization Now,” say indigenous Chiapans

By Sharon Bigger

Chiapas, Mexico, Aug. 10— Hundreds demonstrated in the town center of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, to demand the demilitarization of the rural county, Chenalho. The gathering also served to celbrate the non-violent Christian association, “Las Abejas,” to remember the martyrs of the indigenous movement, to demand indemnity, and to draw attention to the displaced.

Some indigenous communities began marching from their villages at 4:00 a.m. to participate in the demonstration. They met their urban counterparts in the center where they raised their banners, made speeches, and displayed 45 black coffins with white flowers.

One participant spoke of the 45 people massacred in the village of Acteal, county of Chenalho, on December 22, 1997. The 45 children, women, and men were members of the non-violent Chrisitian association, “Las Abejas” who share some ideas of the armed revolutionary Zapatistas. The 45 were praying when they were massacred, supposedly by paramilitaries.

Regarding the current situation, Antonio Gutierrez, leader of Las Abejas, stated that “if the government does not disarm nor detain the paramilitaries it is because they are afraid.” He added that the armed civilians “are protected by the Mexican army and police security forces; they eat together, live together, and practically sleep together.”

Many indigenous people of Chenalho have fled their villages in search of refuge. At the rally, the people demanded the demilitarization of the county due to the presence of paramilitary groups defending the established PRI government. Although the government “comes and offers things, they don’t give resolution to Las Abejas’ petition. We cannot return because the paramilitaries are free. There they are with their guns.”

Other demands included (1) punishment for those who have killed innocent people, (2) the safe return of displaced communities, and (3) compliance with the San Andres accords, signed by both the revolutionary Zapatistas and the government in February, 1996. They also mentioned their opposition to the privatization of Mexico’s electric system.

“The government is playing with its people, but we can clearly see that the government has no will to solve the problems or help the poor,” said one.

He added, “but today in this demonstration, I want to tell you that we are not alone. We are united with much strength and solidarity. We have received 13 letters of support from other nations. We are not alone.

“Over here, over there, the fight will continue!”

Argentine human rights criminal detained in Italy

By Marcela Valente (IPS)

The Chilean Supreme Court’s decision to strip former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s immunity from prosecution, officially announced Tuesday, coincides with the arrest of retired Argentinean army officer Jorge Olivera in Italy, accused of human rights abuses committed during his country’s last dictatorship (1976-1983).

“This is a major case for Argentina,” a pleased Horacio Méndez Carrera, human rights attorney, told IPS.

He is providing legal counsel in the case of 15 French citizens who disappeared in Argentina during the dictatorship. The arrest of Olivera, a retired army major now being held in Rome and charged with illegal arrests, torture and other crimes, sets an important precedent, Méndez Carrera said.

The Argentinean government has so far defended the principle of “territoriality” in protecting the 48 military leaders in the country who face arrest warrants issued by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón. But Olivera was arrested in Italy, meaning that Argentina has no role in the process if Italian authorities agree to extradite him to France.

Méndez Carrera explained that the case of Olivera, arrested at the airport in Rome under a French warrant, is similar to that of Pinochet, who was held under house arrest from October 1998 until March 2000 while he awaited the extradition to Spain requested by Judge Garzón.

Both cases indicate that overseas travel is risky for those accused of human rights violations when justice has not been served in the country where the crimes were committed, said Méndez Carrera.

But unlike Pinochet, Olivera is not accused of being the intellectual author of the human rights crimes. Another difference is that the Argentinean government, far from jumping to the defense of the arrested officer -- as occurred in Chile -- announced that it would limit itself to providing consular legal assistance, if necessary.

Also unlike Chile, Argentina may face problems arising from the reaction of its top military brass.

Presidential adviser Jorge de la Rúa said Tuesday that there is no unrest among the nation’s armed forces, but army commander general Ricardo Brinzoni has made known his displeasure with Olivera’s arrest.

Retired military officer Olivera also serves as the defense lawyer for other officials charged with human rights violations. According to commentary in Argentina’s ‘Pagina 12’ newspaper Tuesday, Brinzoni had encouraged Olivera’s efforts to obstruct legal proceedings that seek the truth about the fate of the thousands who disappeared during the dictatorship.

The officer-attorney had launched a campaign in Argentina for the victims of terrorist acts committed in the 1970s, encouraging them to demand compensation from the State.

Using the same strategy to counterbalance cases against military officers overseas, Olivera filed a claim last July in international court against Britain’s former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, for the sinking of an Argentinean ship during the 1982 Malvinas (Falklands) war. More than 300 soldiers died.

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in Rome arrested Olivera, who was in the city to do some work on the Malvinas case. French authorities had been keeping an eye on him for some time already.

“He moved about with an air of impunity, arrogance and fanaticism that eventually proved his undoing,” commented Méndez Carrera, who provided information to the French judge on the Olivera case.

Olivera’s arrest in a foreign country is similar to the case of Adolfo Scilingo, a retired marine officer who publicly confessed to his participation in “disappearing” people during the Argentinean dictatorship by throwing them, still alive, out of an airplane as it flew over the River Plate.

Scilingo was arrested in October 1999 in Madrid, where he had gone voluntarily to present statements before Judge Garzón. He is currently in the Spanish capital, where he faces criminal trial.

Though Olivera and Pinochet enjoyed impunity in their own countries due to amnesty laws, nothing impeded them from legal charges in other countries.

“Olivera’s is a unique case, it is emblematic because it shows that military officers with impunity in one country could be in the sights of international justice if they leave,” said the attorney.

Olivera is one of three army officers said to be involved in the kidnapping of Marianne Erize, a French citizen, in the Argentinean province of San Juan.

According to the testimony of soldiers, and of prisoners who survived torture, she was taken to an army installation where she was raped and tortured, and then died five days later.

Marianne’s mother, Francisca Erize, also French-born, confirmed Tuesday that five days after her daughter was kidnapped, 16 men broke into the house in the middle of the night, destroying everything and forcing her children to the ground, threatening them with machine guns.

The men told her not to worry about her daughter anymore because she was already buried.

“She was an idealistic and generous young woman. Now I want to at least know where she is. I imagine they did not throw her in the sea because it is so far from San Juan. I go to the local cemetery where they buried the unknown dead, and I think she must be waiting for me in heaven,” said Erize, a resident of Argentina.

One of the torture survivors, Margarita Camus, said Tuesday that she had known Marianne and knew Olivera had tortured her. Camus denounced Olivera from prison in 1977 before the Federal Court of Mendoza province.

That court charged the officer in 1985, once investigators had gathered enough evidence of his participation in kidnappings, torture and disappearances, but Olivera was released due to the amnesty laws enacted that year by Congress.

Eloy Camus, Margarita’s brother and a human rights activist, said that there is evidence that other military officers besides Olivera were involved in the crime. “One of them is Eduardo Cardozo, who was promoted to colonel last December by Congress.”

Human rights groups say that as many as 30,000 people were “disappeared” under the Argentinean dictatorship, which is also known as the “dirty war.”

Pinochet’s trip to London in 1998 detoured into extradition proceedings initiated by Spanish authorities who accused him of being behind the human rights crimes committed under his dictatorship (1973-1990).

The 84-year-old Pinochet returned to his country after British authorities released him citing health concerns. But now he faces trial at home as the Chilean Supreme Court upheld the removal of his legal immunity Tuesday, stripping him of the protections afforded by his position as senator-for-life.

In Argentina, the Olivera case seems to confirm that Pinochet’s arrest in London was the turning point that gave way to the international legal battle against human rights crimes.

The case is also a warning to other military officers in Argentina who have been granted amnesty or pardoned that they are condemned to remaining within the country’s borders, or they risk going to prison.

Source: Grassroots Media Network: latinonews-owner@egroups.com

Thirteen die in Colombia massacres

By Will Weissert

Bogota, Colombia¸ Aug.8— Heavily armed paramilitary groups slaughtered at least 13 villagers they claimed were rebel sympathizers in two separate attacks in northern Colombia, authorities said Tuesday.

Men wielding machine guns and wearing military fatigues stormed into the hamlet of San Diego, located about 400 miles northeast of the capital of Bogota Monday night and began pulling civilians from their homes. The attackers shot and killed three woman and four men, said a spokesman for the local police force in the northern province of Cesar where the killings occurred. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

In addition, two people were kidnapped. The mountain province of Cesar has been the scene of some of the most brutal territorial struggles of this Andean nation’s 36-year civil war. Monday night’s attack came less than a day after a group of 30 of the anti-rebel paramilitary fighters hunting for leftist-guerrilla supporters killed six men in the mountain village of Vilanueva, located about 400 miles north of the capital, said Col. Carlos Eduardo Davia, a local police spokesman. The rightist rebels herded the men into the street and hacked them with machetes while their family members begged for mercy, Davia said.

Davia said the quiet mountain town was a target for paramilitary groups wagging a bloody extermination campaign against guerrillas and leftist sympathizers. Police in Bogota said Tuesday night that they don’t believe the attacks were carried out by the same group of rightist rebels because the incidents happened in rural, mountainous area that are more than a day’s drive apart by four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Source: Associated Press

Argentine workers protest economy

By Gisela Salomon

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug. 10— Thousands of protesters rallied in the capital Wednesday, calling on the government to provide the unemployed with emergency aid as the country tries to overcome a two-year-old recession.

The peaceful demonstration through downtown to Congress coincided with the end a two-week-long march by hundreds of workers that began in Rosario, a port city located about 200 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.

The marchers stopped in more than 15 cities along the way, seeking signatures for a petition demanding a $380 monthly subsidy for unemployed heads of family.

State workers unions and other labor groups joined Wednesday’s rally, denouncing a recent cutback in their salaries by more than 12 percent. The government says the reduction was needed to trim a federal deficit by $2.5 billion this year.

Jorge Gonzalez, a 28-year-old teacher, said he was struggling to make ends meet with his $700-a-month salary. “They should raise salaries to reactivate the economy,’’ he said angrily.

Many of the demonstrators were protesting the International Monetary Fund’s policies in Argentina.

Source: Associated Press

Activists target McDonald’s

Adelaide, Australia, Aug. 13— Thirty people demonstrated outside McDonald’s in the Rundle Mall here on August 4 to protest against the multinational’s attacks on the environment, underdeveloped nations and workers’ rights. The action, organized by the Adelaide S11 Alliance, attracted 200 supportive spectators.

The S11 Alliance will be targeting different members of the World Economic Forum with protests outside their various Adelaide headquarters each week until the forum’s September summit in Melbourne. Protesters will meet at Hindmarsh Square.

In Sydney, 40 activists from the Campaign Against Corporate Tyranny in Unity and Solidarity (CACTUS) organised a similar action against the corporate giant in the Pitt Street Mall here on August 12.

One activist dressed up as Ronald McDonald, the “corporate clown,” while others handed out leaflets pointing out McDonald’s horrendous record and building support for the S11 protests.

Source: Greenleft Weekly: www.greenleft.org.au