Colombia campaigner's death sparks investigation call (3rd largest US aid recipient, Colombia)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News

Page last updated at 18:20 GMT, Friday, 19 March 2010
Colombia campaigner's death sparks investigation call

The killing of a Colombian human rights activist has sparked calls for an urgent investigation into his death.

Reports say Jhonny Hurtado, 59, was shot dead on Monday at his farm near La Catalina, in Colombia's Meta region.

The farmer had recently spoken to a British delegation of union activists and labour campaigners about alleged rights abuses in the area.

The delegation said it is "deeply saddened" and has urged the government to bring those responsible to justice.

"We were deeply concerned to learn that soldiers of the Colombian Army were allegedly present in the area at the time that this killing occurred," the delegation said in a letter to Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe Velez.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8577320.stm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Human rights defender killed in central Colombian department of Meta

Human rights defender killed in central Colombian department of Meta
Thursday, 18 March 2010 14:42 Camilla Pease-Watkin

Colombia's Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CPDH) on Thursday announced the assassination of human rights defender and community leader Jhonny Hurtado in the central department of Meta, reported Colombian media.

According to reports, 56-year-old Hurtado, who was president of the Committee for Human Rights in the municipality of La Macarena, was killed by gunshot last Sunday.

Authorities state that the area in which the victim was killed remains under the control of a paramilitary group named "Omega," who formed in the region to pursue leaders of Colombian guerrilla group FARC.

However, the perpetrators of the crime are as yet unknown by police.

The CPDH informed that the assassinated leader had been working with local farmers and landowners, forming delegations to campaign against human rights violations in the area.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8762-human-rights-defender-killed-in-central-colombian-department-of-meta.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. US Bases in Colombia Rattle the Region

Published on Friday, March 19, 2010 by The Progressive
US Bases in Colombia Rattle the Region
by Benjamin Dangl

On the shores of the Magdalena River, in a lush green valley dotted with cattle ranches and farms, sits the Palanquero military base, an outpost equipped with Colombia's longest runway, housing for 2,000 troops, a theater, a supermarket, and a casino.

Palanquero is at the heart of a ten-year, renewable military agreement signed between the United States and Colombia on October 30, 2009, which gives Washington access to seven military bases in the country. Though officials from the U.S. and Colombian governments contend the agreement is aimed at fighting narcotraffickers and guerrillas within Colombian borders, a U.S. Air Force document states the deal offers a "unique opportunity" for "conducting full spectrum operations" in the region against various threats, including "anti-U.S. governments."

The Pentagon sought access to the bases in Colombia after Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa canceled the lease for the U.S. military base in Manta, Ecuador. The U.S. capability in Colombia will now be greater than at Manta, which worries human rights advocates in Colombia and left-leaning governments throughout the region.

"The main purpose of expanding these bases is to take strategic control of Latin America," opposition senator Jorge Enrique Robledo of the Polo Democrático Alternativo told me over the phone from Bogotá.

Every president in South America outside of Colombia is against the bases agreement, with Hugo Chávez of neighboring Venezuela being the most critical. Chávez said that by signing the deal the United States was blowing "winds of war" over the region, and that the bases were "a threat against us."

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/19-6

[Judi Lynn]

3. Dreadful toll of assassinations mounts in Colombia

2010-03-18 Dreadful toll of assassinations mounts in Colombia

Colombian teacher Duvian Dario Rojo Cadavid and his wife were enjoying an early evening walk together in the municipal park of their home town of Puerto Berrío when they were shot dead by unknown assailants on 13 March, the day before senatorial elections. Their deaths bring the total number of teachers killed in Colombia in 2010 to six.


According to his local union ADIDA, Rojo Cavidad was targeted generally for his union activism and specifically because last week he openly spoke to the media about the fact that at least 30 local teachers had been subjected to extortion by illegal armed groups.

The Federación Colombiana de Educadores (FECODE) has publicly denounced these latest killings to a broad range of officials in the Ministries of Education, Justice, Social Protection, the Interior, the Public Defender and the President of the Republic, demanding that Colombian authorities guarantee free exercise of trade union activities and that they undertake all necessary investigations to break the chain of impunity that typically characterises the murder of teachers and trade unionists.

Education International joins FECODE in denouncing in the strongest terms this latest atrocious killing, and expressing its deepest sympathy with the family of Duvian Dario Rojo Cadavid and his wife, colleagues and students, along with the leaders and members of ADIDA, and the education community in Puerto Berrío.

“The teachers of Colombia are not alone,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “They have the strong support and solidarity of educators around the world. Together we will continue to defend respect for the human and trade union rights of all Colombians, and especially those who have made the courageous and often dangerous decision to join the teaching profession out of their commitment to building a better future through education.”

More:
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1216&theme=rights&country=colombia

[Judi Lynn]

4. Judge orders release of 16 more 'false positives' suspects

Judge orders release of 16 more 'false positives' suspects
Friday, 19 March 2010 14:36 Camilla Pease-Watkin

Authorities from the central Colombian department of Cundinamarca on Friday announced the release of sixteen members of the national army who were being investigated for committing extrajudicial murder of a youth in the municipality of Soacha, reported Colombian media.

The sixteen soldiers, who are suspected of involvement in a national scandal surrounding extrajudicial killings known as "false positives," included one sergeant, two corporals and twelve professional soldiers.

The soldiers are suspected of involvement in the disappearance of a young man from Soacha in 2008, who was kidnapped, murdered, and then reported as members of illegal armed groups killed in combat.

Lawyer Lorraine Leal explained to Caracol radio that the men were released on the grounds that the soldiers had not been granted a trial within the 200 day timeframe mandated by Colombian law.

The released soldiers will be held in the Artillery School, south of Bogota, whilst courts continue to compile cases against them.

Blanca Monroy, the mother of the false positive victim Julian Oviedo Monroy expressed outrage but not surprise at the outcome.

"It already happened to some soldiers so we imagined that it would be repeated, that they would release those responsible for the deaths of our children," said Mrs Monroy.

Numerous other cases resembling this incident have been reported around the country, and Colombia's Prosecutor General's Office is currently investigating some 1,200 similar cases.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8781-judge-orders-release-of-16-more-false-positives-suspects.html

[Judi Lynn]

5. Supreme Court will not try ex-general in paramilitary case

Supreme Court will not try ex-general in paramilitary case
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 07:01 Kirsten Begg

Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice said Tuesday it has passed the case against former army General Rito Alejo del Rio, suspected of collaborating with paramilitary death squads, to a specialist judge, on the grounds that it falls outside the court's jurisdiction.

The court said the case is not in its jurisdiction, because Del Rio is not on trial for a crime committed in his capacity as an army general, and must be tried as a civilian.

Del Rio is on trial for his complicity in the murder of farmer Mario Lopez by paramilitary group Bloque Elmer.

The court reopened the case against Del Rio last March, after several testimonies made by demobilized paramilitaries linked the retired general to paramilitary coalition the Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Demobilized paramilitary leader Freddy "El Aleman" Rendon Herrera testified that the army brigade Del Rio commanded was involved in Lopez's murder.

Del Rio is suspected of having allowed paramilitaries to kill dozens of innocent civilians when he was commanding the army's 17th Brigade in the 1990s. He has never been convicted, but is now in jail awaiting justice.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8707-supreme-court-passes-former-colombian-generals-case-to-bogota-judge.html