U.S. Certifies Colombia on Human Rights, Clears Aid Transfer

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. Certifies Colombia on Human Rights, Clears Aid Transfer
By Janine Zacharia

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The State Department cleared the transfer of aid to Colombia’s military forces after certifying to Congress that the government and military are meeting criteria related to human rights and paramilitary groups.

“There is no question that improvement must be made in certain areas; however, the Colombian government has made significant efforts to increase the security of its people and to promote respect for human rights by its armed forces and has thereby met the certification criteria,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement today. The certification was made Sept. 8.

The U.S. “remains concerned” about extrajudicial killings and “will continue to push for improvements in Colombia’s human rights situation,” Kelly said.

Colombia is a key U.S. ally in battling drug trafficking. Last month the U.S. and Colombia reached an accord that facilitates U.S. access to three Colombian air force bases.

The certification allows the State Department to release about $32.1 million in withheld funds, said Sara Mangiaracina, a spokeswoman in the State Department’s Western Hemisphere bureau.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=asVKhxVIvmS4

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. What a bunch of bullshit. So many things that we could do with that money. nt

[Judi Lynn]

2. US Plans for New Bases in Colombia: Throwing Bullets at Failed Polices

US Plans for New Bases in Colombia
Throwing Bullets at Failed Polices
By BENJAMIN DANGL

It was a winter day in the Argentine city of Bariloche when 12 South American presidents gathered there on August 28. It was so cold that Hugo Chavez wore a red scarf and Evo Morales put on a sweater. The presidents arrived at the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) meeting to discuss a US plan to establish seven new military bases in Colombia. Though officials in Colombia and the US say the bases would be aimed at combating terrorism and the drug trade, US military and air force documents point to other objectives.

Earlier his year, when Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa decided to not renew the US lease on the military base in Manta, Ecuador, the US set its sights on Colombia, a long-time US ally and one of the biggest recipients of US military aid in the world. Under the agreement the US eventually developed with Colombia, the US would have access to seven military bases for 10 years, stationing up to 1,400 US personnel and private contractors.

One US military document cited by the AP explains that the Palenquero base in Colombia – which the US plans transform with a $46 million upgrade – would be a stopping off point for the US military and air force so that "nearly half the continent can be covered by a C-17 (military transport) without refueling."

Uruguayan analyst Raul Zibechi writes in an article for the Americas Program that the US is shifting away from large, immobile bases to more a more flexible model involving smaller bases. He cites the U.S. Air Force's April 2009 report entitled "Global en Route Strategy" which "refers to the ability to utilize these installations above all for air transport, making it possible to have control from a distance and act as a dissuasive force, leaving direct intervention only for exceptionally critical situations." The cooperation of local governments is a key aspect of this plan. Zibechi writes, "This ongoing cooperation is much more important than direct military presence, as current military technology allows troops to concentrate in any given area within a matter of hours."

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/dangl09112009.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. U.S. and Colombian military negotiations cause unrest

U.S. and Colombian military negotiations cause unrest
Matthew DraelosIssue date: 9/11/09 Section: World

Since July 15, 2009, the United States government has been negotiating a deal that would allow the lease of new military bases in Colombia. Now capped at 800 uniformed and 600 un-uniformed personnel, the agreement would increase this US military presence to seven new facilities.

Diplomatic discussions have not proceeded smoothly.

''This greatly worries me, and I can't accept that a U.S .document treats us like a back porch,'' said Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador, to The New York Times.

Venezuela and Ecuador have been particularly critical of the negotiation, unconvinced that new American bases in Colombia are not a prelude to invasion. On Aug. 25, the tense negotiations were awash in controversy as Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, accused America of "mobilizing for war" and warned that new U.S. bases would compromise South American independence, according to The New York Times.

The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) pledged to investigate Chavez's accusations. A UNASUR conference was called for Sept. 28 to address concerns that the bases would afford the US impunity to manipulate South American affairs, inviting President Obama to join the discussion.

More:
http://media.www.guilfordian.com/media/storage/paper281/news/2009/09/11/World/U.s-And.Colombian.Military.Negotiations.Cause.Unrest-3769234.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

4. US certifies Colombia's rights record

Sep 11, 2:06 PM EDT
US certifies Colombia's rights record
By FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department said Friday it has made a legal certification of an improvement in Colombia's human rights record that allows $32 million that Washington had withheld to be used to fight gangs and drug smugglers.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Colombia must still make progress on human rights, and he described in a statement "several disquieting challenges," including allegations of soldiers murdering civilians and illegal surveillance.

But, he said, the country has "made significant efforts to increase the security of its people" that justify the certification to Congress that Colombia is meeting legal criteria on human rights and paramilitary groups and that the funds can be made available.

"Years of reforms and training are leading to an increased respect for, and understanding of, human rights by most members of the Armed Forces," he said.

Colombian officials insist they are trying to stamp out human rights abuses, but critics say abuses remain widespread in the country, where the government has been battling a leftist insurgency for years.

The International Trade Union Confederation says Colombia is the deadliest country for labor rights activists, with 49 killed in the South American nation last year, up from 39 in 2007 but down from 78 in 2006.

A U.N. human rights investigator reported separately in June that soldiers had killed hundreds of innocent civilians, falsely identifying them as guerrillas slain in combat to boost body counts. Officials have vowed to eliminate that practice and punish those responsible.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_COLOMBIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09-11-14-06-06

[LiberalLovinLug]

5. Same reason they went into Iraq

It wasn't about WMD or even bringing democracy to Iraq. It was about setting up a base of operations in order to loot the region of oil and set up a threat deterrent to neighboring states.

In Columbia they want to establish a South American Iraq. Human rights abuses go on unhindered. Its not about the drug trade, its about setting up a launching pad for future strikes after another directed MSM exaggerated threat story about Venezuela or another country in the region. Its coming. Next Republican in office and its a green light.

[xxqqqzme]

6. Why a rethuglican?

Take a look at the DLC site, they are just as aggressive about protecting and advancing American 'interests'.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Well you're right of course

I guess I just can't bring myself to declare that the Democrats, the majority of them, would stoop to the same level as Cheney and Bush and go the pre-emptive war based on lies invasion method.

But their behavior in the last 8 years have proven that they are great as facilitators to that end unfortunately.
So I would say that I wouldn't be surprised if they simply acted as the former in a good cop / bad cop scenario. They need us, their base, to believe that they are better than that in order to get our votes. So they would wait until a Repuke gets in office, and then if war against Venezuela is declared by President Palin :eyes:, they would make a little huff about it, but vote for it anyways with the option of later saying how they were misled.

[rabs]

8. Uribe can buy more wire-tapping equipment with the aid

Guess this is Hillary's gift to Uribe after the successful "chuzada" (wiretapping) of the Colombian Supreme Court associate judge Iván Velásquez and the U.S. Embassy Legal Attache, James Faulkner. :sarcasm:

(A Bogota radio station last week broadcast a wiretapping recording of a conversation between the judge and the U.S. attache. The U.S. ambassador in Bogota Brownfield heard the recording on the radio and said that he was "worried." The story has since been dropped like a hot potato in the Colombian media. Did not see nary a word about it in the U.S. media.)

You can hear the wiretap here:

http://www.semana.com/multimedia-nacion/conversacion-entre-magistrado-auxiliar-ivan-velasquez-james-faulkner/2374.aspx


Posted on the LatAM forum last week:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x22066

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Good thing Colombia has always been above board.

Phew!

[Boku-Wa]

10. Why is Obama enabling the worst human rights offender in the Americas?

If you don't believe this describes Colombia, you need to take a look at the recent issue of NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) which describes how Colombia has become a PARAMILITARY STATE.

Coercion Incorporated: Paramilitary Colombia
NACLA
In May, the Colombian senate began deliberations on a draft law that would grant pardons to former paramilitaries, including those who had committed massacres. Moreover, it would allow them to run for public office, become public employees, or enter into government contracts. Those who have committed serious crimes could “receive full political rehabilitation and get more benefits than are normally given in laws governing amnesties and pardons,” warned Jaime Castro, a former Colombian government minister, speaking to Miami’s El Nuevo Herald. The reform was championed by Fabio Valencia Cossio, minister of the Interior and Justice, whose older brother happens to be on trial for belonging to the Bloque Élmer Cárdenas, a militia unit of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), once the country’s largest paramilitary organization.

Such a brazen attempt at not only granting paramilitaries impunity but making them over as legitimate political actors bespeaks the extent to which these violent groups have infiltrated the Colombian body politic. As the sociologist Jasmin Hristsov explains in this issue’s opening piece, the government of President Álvaro Uribe began a “peace process” with the AUC in 2002 that, although farcical, has played an important role in creating the illusion of a paramilitary “demobilization” that in fact represents “the final, definitive incorporation of paramilitarism into the Colombian state and economy”: coercion incorporated.

Since their inception, Colombian paramilitaries have served as an extension of the Colombian state coercive apparatus, and this relationship has only grown stronger since the implementation of Plan Colombia, the U.S.-sponsored military aid program, in 2000. The United States also provided an initial $3 million for the phony peace process, which has served above all to perpetuate the state-paramilitary nexus by guaranteeing near total impunity for confessed paramilitaries. Trials carried out under the Justice and Peace Law have characteristically involved mock confessions and the disappearance of evidence, while top paramilitary chiefs, many of them guilty of crimes against humanity, have been extradited to the United States, ensuring that the only thing they will be tried for is drug trafficking.

Cont. https://nacla.org/files/A04204013_1.pdf

[IndianaGreen]

12. Clinton gave the world Plan Colombia, and refused to close SOA torture school

for that alone he should have been sent to The Hague in chains.

[IndianaGreen]

11. Business as usual when it comes to Latin America

More of this "Change You Can Believe In" bullshit!