New Chapter in Drug Trade

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

New Chapter in Drug Trade
In Wake of Colombia's U.S.-Backed Disarmament Process, Ex-Paramilitary Fighters Regroup Into Criminal Gangs

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 5, 2007; Page A10

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's cocaine trade has never been controlled by a single cast of characters.

In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar and other flamboyant cocaine cowboys, wielding billions of dollars and armies of hit men, nearly brought the state to its knees. Their deaths ushered in more-discreet groups, so-called baby cartels, that outsourced trafficking and murder to gangs. Then came a paramilitary force that relied on cocaine to fund a war against Marxist rebels, a bloody phase the government says ended with the disarmament of militias last year.

Now, in the latest evolution of Colombia's unremitting drug trade, new criminal gangs led by former mid-level paramilitary commanders have surfaced in about half of Colombia's 32 states. Authorities here estimate that the groups -- steeped in violence and outfitted like armies -- have a combined force of anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 fighters. As many as 17 percent of them are said to be former paramilitary members.
(snip)

The OAS document and other reports conclude that the new groups do not have a central command or the national reach or political objectives of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the powerful coalition of paramilitary groups that was officially demobilized. That organization, known by the Spanish initials AUC, worked closely with Colombian army units and corrupt politicians to erode support for leftist guerrillas, launching campaigns that killed thousands of civilians.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090402018.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[Judi Lynn]

1. Very important last line from this story:

"The government insists that the paramilitaries have demobilized and do not operate," said Nancy Villota, a lawyer with one of Nari?o's main human rights groups. "Our experience shows that they've not come back because they've simply never gone anywhere. They've always been here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thought some people should hear this as soon as possible to prevent continued confusion.

[ProudDad]

2. Ahhh

a) Your (USAmerican) tax dollars at work...

b) Stop the phony "war on drugs", cut out the profit and end this...

c) USAmerica's number one ally in the South...way to go!!! :sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

3. Regarding death squads, vigilantes, and paramilitary politics in Colombia

Regarding death squads, vigilantes, and paramilitary politics in Colombia
President Uribe leads the cover-up and obfuscation
by Polo Democratico Alternativo
September 04, 2007

Bogotá, August 20, 2007
~snip~
The magnitude of the horrors

From the outset of Mr. Uribe’s peace dealings with paramilitary squads—a process which will benefit them by reducing possible 60 year jail sentences to a maximum of 8 years of detention in special, comfortable facilities—the President and his supporters have refused to recognize paramilitarism as the worst form of criminality, given that it is, by definition, exercised with the direct participation of State officials or with their backing or complicity. In that sense it violates what is supposed to be the primary function of any state organization, namely, the exclusive control by the state of instruments and organizations of force and weapons under the assumption that such prerogative is subject to precise legal and constitutional rules and regulations. In this case we are dealing with a large scale abuse of the power of the State, which has played a crucial role in the emergence and support of vigilante squads that have displaced nearly three million Colombians from their homes (865,000 between 2002-2005); murdered tens of thousands including three presidential candidates, eight members of Congress, hundreds of mayors, departmental assembly members, and municipal council members; forcefully grabbed between 2.6 and 6.8 million hectares of land from peasants and farmers; developed a gigantic narco-trafficking business and as a result produced enormous fortunes for death squad chieftains. In addition unionists have been systematically persecuted: 1,113 unionists have been murdered, 70 have disappeared and 896 forced into exile or displacement for a total (including other crimes) of 3,388 victims. These numbers reduced labor rights to meaningless words on paper as Colombia descended to become the world's most dangerous country for union activities.

Responding to President Uribe’s official explanations, Kenneth Roth, President of Human Rights Watch in his letter to Mr. Uribe (2/May/2007) refutes Colombian government statements about presumed “great strides” in the control of anti-unionist violence and details other aspects of reality that official propaganda claims to have changed:

“You state that only 25 trade unionists were killed in 2006, and that so far this year only one trade unionist has been killed in Colombia. However, the only way to create these artificially low numbers is by excluding unionized teachers from the category of trade unionists. In fact, according to your own government’s official numbers, if you include unionized teachers, last year 58 trade unionists were killed, a substantial increase over the 40 killed last year (…) in fact, current rates of killings of trade unionists are similar to those that were common in 1998 and 1999 (…) The number of extrajudicial executions committed by the Army, for example, is skyrocketing—a fact that your own Minister of Defense admitted in meetings with me and other colleagues. The United Nations has a list of over 150 cases of extrajudicial executions of civilians committed by the Army throughout the country in the last two years.”

The great power of paramilitarism within the Colombian State is also illustrated by the results of investigations –which are only beginning—carried out by the Supreme Court of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General: so far fourteen senators and members of the House of Representatives are either in jail or fugitives from the law, in addition to two governors, six mayors, and fifteen former members of Congress, governors and mayors. Also in jail, facing serious charges of complicity with paramilitary outfits, is Jorge Noguera, who was chief of the DAS, a secret police organization that responds directly to the President of Colombia.

The Arco Iris Foundation concluded, after an investigation funded by the Government of Sweden, that in 2002, in regions where paramilitary squads wielded great influence, 28 Senators were elected; that in local elections in 2003 in the same regions 285 mayors, 6 departmental governors and 3,500 municipal council members were chosen; and that in 2006, a total of 83 Senators and Representatives (of a possible total of 268) were elected from those areas. It is therefore not an exaggeration when Colombians speak of para-politics and para-politicos to describe relations between these illegal armed bands and many political leaders.

More:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=9&ItemID=13706