Colombian Army Escalates Attack on Communities near Tolemaida Military Base

[Judi Lynn]

Colombian Army Escalates Attack on Communities near Tolemaida Military Base
Luke Finn
Red Hot Burning Peace
May 14, 2014



Colombian soldiers uproot fruit trees (Peace Presence)

The communities of Yucala, Mesa Bajo, and Naranjala are facing a slow and deliberate process of displacement by a key army base used by the U.S. military in Colombia.

Seven military bases in Colombia fell under the U.S.-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement, which while never implemented, would have formalized an already existing relationship of U.S. Military access to Colombian bases. And one of those is Tolemaida, Cundinamarca. It was originally founded in 1954 by Colombia’s only ever dictator, General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (though, of course, Colombia’s list of authoritarian rulers is much longer), and modeled on Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the School of the Americas (now WHINSEC), the infamous training ground for human rights abusers throughout the hemisphere. Like the School of the Americas, Tolemaida was to become primarily a center for training, here in anti-guerrilla (and more recently counter-insurgency) warfare, specifically through its lauded “Curso de Lanceros” course run by U.S. officers and taken by amongst others the armies of the United States, France, and Panama, as well as Colombians. Tolemaida has a permanent presence of U.S. soldiers.

The Tolemaida base is located on a plateau, overlooking the river Sumapaz, an area that amongst other things contains the largest páramo ecosystem in the world, noted even within Colombia for its bio-diversity. Prior to 1954, a community on the plateau, named their settlement “El Mirador,” or “La Mesa.” One man I met, who still remembered those days, told me proudly that they had both a butcher and a soccer field. But then came La Violencia and the new military base, and the communites moved further down the hillside to the veredas of Yucala, Naranjala, and Mesa Bajo, clearing the land and planting their crops.

The community has been in a state of near constant harassment ever since the base’s construction, and even more so as the base looks to expand. For example, back in the 1980’s the military cut electricity to the community. The 150 campesino families affected today, experience three main forms of harassment as part of the Colombian Army’s petty and vindictive campaign.

More:
https://nacla.org/blog/2014/5/14/colombian-army-escalates-attack-communities-near-tolemaida-military-base

[Louisiana1976]

1. I wonder how many US soldiers are there in Colombia.

Also, I was interested to read that Colombia has had only one dictator (but the list of authoritarian rulers is much longer.) I wonder what the difference between a dictator and an authoritarian ruler is.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You never really read any references to ANY U.S. military personel in Colombia

in our corporate "news" sources. Wonder why they're hiding it?

This article is the first time I've ever seen the word "dictator" used in regard to Colombia! I have no idea what you'd call a President who's up to his eyebrows in narcotrafficking death squads who have handled assassinations of his political enemies. It seems the lines get blurred, doesn't it?