Human rights in Colombia: how bad do things have to get?

[Judi Lynn]

Human rights in Colombia: how bad do things have to get?

The trade union leader Huber Ballesteros has been arrested on dubious grounds. Such violations are Colombia's dirty little secret

Ellie Mae O'Hagan
theguardian.com, Thursday 29 August 2013 12.06 EDT

At the end of July, I found myself in sitting in the attorney general's office in Colombia. I had spent the previous week travelling across the country with the NGO Justice for Colombia, and the idea was for me to meet the attorney general's office and talk about the things I'd observed – the political prisoners I'd heard about, the state atrocities, the unsolved executions. And so I did: I sat there in unwashed hair and flip flops, a scruffy 5ft tall British writer in a room full of old men in suits, and I talked about the human rights violations I'd seen. The more I talked, the more terrified the men looked. It was like I'd discovered Colombia's dirty secret. They tried to convince me human rights were protected in Colombia. They wanted to give me a presentation which would explain all the things I'd seen. I told them I wanted to write a piece about it for the British press. They looked ashen.

A month later, they gave me the perfect spur to write. This week, the attorney general made the decision to arrest trade union leader and opposition leader Huber Ballesteros; a man with whom I'd eaten breakfast in Colombia, and who was scheduled to be the international speaker at this year's TUC conference in September. Ballesteros, a trade union leader whose life is so endangered he travels everywhere with bodyguards, had been eating lunch on 25 August when he was arrested and detained for "rebellion" and "financing terrorism". These are notoriously trumped-up charges, which have historically been used in Colombia to imprison trade unionists, students, activists, and defenders of human rights.

Ballesteros has been accused of channelling money from human rights organisations, including Justice for Colombia, to the Farc – the leftwing peasant insurgency which the government denounces as terrorists. Justice for Colombia rejects the allegations and says the government is sending a worrying message to the international community about its willingness to tolerate dissent. Having met Ballesteros and witnessed his dedication and how rooted he is in Colombia's social movements and communities, I find the charges highly suspicious.

Although the Colombian government insists the arrest is legitimate, it seems beyond coincidental that it comes at a time when there is widespread protest in Colombia, led by Ballesteros and a committee of nine others. The week before Ballesteros was seized, the country had seen strikes over free trade agreements with the EU and the US, which the protesters say make it impossible for them to make money off their own crops because they can't compete with foreign imports. Free trade agreements don't include any effective human or labour rights clauses, which mean the ability of workers in Colombia to challenge their poor pay, working conditions and so on is virtually zero. Despite its enthusiasm for commenting on humanitarian issues in Syria, Libya and so on, the British government is so far yet to utter a single word on Colombia, even though its own free trade agreement is part of the problem.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/29/colombia-human-rights-huber-ballesteros

[Judi Lynn]

1. This is worth posting, from the remaining article:

Ballesteros has been denied bail and as of yesterday is languishing in La Picota prison in the country's capital. The conditions of Colombia's prisons are notoriously horrendous, and if the stories I heard during my visit are to be believed, he can expect to live with double the population the prison is meant to hold, a total lack of hygiene, rotten food, and no access to healthcare for even the most serious conditions. One of the nastiest stories I heard came from the director of Justice for Colombia, Mariela Kohon, She told me she had met a prisoner in November last year who had literally carved a slice off his face to cut off a tumour.

There are currently hundreds of political prisoners locked up in Colombia, most of which are human rights activists appalled at the country's social problems – such as the fact that it has the highest number of displaced people in the world (10% of the country's overall population), incredible wealth inequalities, or the fact that the army is currently being investigated for nearly 5,000 extrajudicial executions.

Beneath the Caribbean beaches, rum and coconuts, and rich endless countryside lies a damaged and broken nation, where even the most innocuous forms of dissent are punished by the blithe removal of even the most basic rights. As the international media pores over the inhumane actions of the Syrian government, I have to wonder: how bad do things in Colombia have to get before the rest of the world realises there is a problem?

Our corporate stenographers won't bother adding this kind of information to their daily spew, as it concerns the U.S. "forward operating base," and it's useful to the U.S. Anything goes here, with our blessings, apparently, and our tax dollars. Our media will gleefully look the other way until otherwise directed.

[Bacchus4.0]

2. I can't wait to visit this winter for some of that beach, sun, and rum

Not interested in visiting a prison. The rest of the story is bullshit. Colombia has a healthy democracy with various political parties including one sympathetic to the FARC. You don't get near the repression, homophobia, anti-semitism, and stupidity you see from the stinking chavista pigs in that country to the east.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Assholes do very well there. n/t

[Bacchus4.0]

4. in Venezuela I know. Look at Maduro and Chavez

You can be as dumb as a box of rocks and be president.

[lsewpershad]

6. Remember bush?

[Bacchus4.0]

8. an utter idiot. Very Maduro like or vice versa

Interesting, like Bush had difficulty with English, Maduro has with Spanish. Both are prone to gaffes. Both are idiots.

[lsewpershad]

5. Colombia

America's best friend in LA .... Of course America's friends can do no wrong.... or wrongs are overlooked.

[Bacchus4.0]

7. you can tell the story is dung by this statement in reference to the FARC

"the leftwing peasant insurgency which the government denounces as terrorists"


Its not a peasant insurgency but a paramilitary narco terrorist organization who use murder, maiming, kidnapping, and extortion as their tactics. Not to mention the use of child soldiers and women as sexual slaves.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Why has it been known for years the paramilitary death squad narcotraffickers

are the ones who have committed the "lion's share" of the atrocities? This is the same situation which has played out throughout the Americas, as we ALL know.

Nothing right-wing spinners, otherwise known as trolls, can ever say will change that simple truth.

[Bacchus4.0]

11. I never said the right wing paramilitary squads were not responsible

I just noted that the euphemism for the murderous FARC organization is entirely inappropriate and would lead anyone with the intelligence above Nicolas Maduro to question both the accuracy and the angle of the trip report you posted.

[Judi Lynn]

10. You're right. They're the ones in power, and they have the most powerful ally, clearly. n/t