OAS to Monitor Disarmament Of Colombian Paramilitary Units

[Judi Lynn]

OAS to Monitor Disarmament Of Colombian Paramilitary Units

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 26, 2004; Page A15


BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 25 -- The Organization of American States has agreed to monitor the disarmament of Colombia's paramilitary forces, lending significant international support to a peace process that has proved highly divisive.

OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, a former Colombian president, agreed in weekend talks with President Alvaro Uribe to send representatives here to verify a paramilitary cease-fire and help disarm the fighters following a negotiated agreement between the government and the militia. Gaviria likened the endeavor to the OAS mission in Nicaragua that oversaw the disarmament of 22,000 U.S.-backed insurgents in the 1990s.

But Gaviria's decision, made without consulting the 35 nations that make up the OAS, has angered some diplomats and human rights officials here who said it bestows international legitimacy on a process that remains a work in progress. Essential questions such as how paramilitary leaders would be punished, including those accused of massacring civilians, have yet to be resolved.

"There are many things up in the air, but we are not going to be involved in that part of it," Gaviria said in a telephone interview. "Many countries have doubts, and I have my own. But it's easy to criticize as an observer, and we want Colombia to go forward."
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47295-2004Jan25.html?nav=hptoc_w

[bobthedrummer]

1. You know, the AUC trained at School of the Americas/SOA.

http://www.populist.com/02.7.Hirsch.html

[hang a left]

2. Whoa, heartbreaking.

This just makes you sick. There is no way to stop it. Alot of times I think, that this whole planet should be blown up and start all over, carrying the lessons that we have learned. Those of us with hearts, anyway.

[bobthedrummer]

3. The view that equates union support with terrorism

that is fascist. AUC that trained at SOA still gets US Plan Colombia aid, right?:bounce: