"The Heirs: The History and Future of Death Squads in Colombia"

[VioletLake]

http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/09/10-0

[Peace Patriot]

1. A good article, on the whole, but several things in it cry out for more context.

The Heirs: The History and Future of Death Squads in Colombia
Right-wing paramilitaries, the heirs of the infamous death squads, have started to re-emerge in Colombia.

Published on Monday, September 13, 2010 by Al-Jazeera-English

In recent years, the image of Colombia has changed - particularly since Alvaro Uribe, the country's former president, took office in 2002. The notorious left-wing group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has been weakened, paramilitary groups have been disarmed and cocaine production has dropped.

But this new image does not reflect the reality in rural villages and towns, where people continue to live at war and the FARC are just one of many threats they face.

It is in these places - far away from the improved security seen in Colombia's main cities - where the former paramilitary group, the Self Defense Units of Colombia, also known as the AUC, have been replaced by smaller but equally dangerous groups.

These groups are referred to as the heirs of the AUC, which was tasked with fighting left-wing rebels. Their method, known as 'draining the water to kill the fish', involved carrying out massacres of innocent civilians and provoking mass displacement. Human rights groups say they may have been responsible for the deaths and disappearances of at least 120,000 people.

(SNIP)

...(Uribe) negociated a truce with the AUC, with 30,000 men handing over their weapons in a televised ceremony.

The Justice and Peace Law, which offered reduced sentences to paramilitary members in return for information on the atrocities they committed, was also passed.

But, travelling around Colombia, we met people who spoke about groups with names like the Black Eagles and the Ratsrojos.

They said the faces were the same as those they used to see and that the men who had handed their weapons in to Uribe's government had simply moved on to these smaller, but equally as dangerous, groups.

(MORE)
(my emphases)

http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/09/10-0

----------------------------

The FARC never killed civilians on the scale that the Colombian military and its death squads have done. In fact, Amnesty International attributes 92% of the murders of trade unionists to the Colombian military itself (about half) and to its closely tied rightwing paramilitary death squads (the other half). The FARC, 2%. A UN human rights report has a similar breakdown. So, to say that, "... the reality in rural villages and towns, where people continue to live at war and the FARC are just one of many threats they face," is to misstate the relative threats presented by the fascist forces (Colombian military and death squads) and the leftist guerrilla fighters, the FARC. And, indeed, most of the half a million poor Colombians who have fled into Venezuela and Ecuador have been seeking refuge from the Colombian military--and are a portion of 5 MILLION mostly poor Colombian peasants who have been driven from their lands by state terror, including official Colombian military terror and that of their rightwing paramilitary death squads.

Another important fact that is not mentioned is that the U.S./Bushwhack government larded this murderous Colombian military with $7 BILLION in military aid, plus thousands of U.S. military 'advisors' and U.S. military 'contractors' (including Blackwater--which the State Department recently "fined" for its "unauthorized" "trainings" of Colombians for use in Iraq and Afghanistan), and was likely providing Uribe with high tech spying capabilities, by which he created "lists" of trade unionists and others that were likely used for targeting by the death squads. Uribe publicly stated that all who oppose him are "terrorists."

On the so-called "truce" that Uribe negotiated with the AUC death squads--i.e., reduced sentences for information: Last year, with U.S./Bushwhack ambassador William Brownfield's help, Uribe secretly extradited all the main informants to the U.S., where they were charged with mere drug trafficking and their cases completely sealed by the U.S. court in Washington DC--putting them out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors, who were counting on their testimony for further indictments, particularly of the big bosses (probably including Uribe himself--some 70 of whose closest political cohorts are under investigation or already in jail for several crimes including close ties to the death squads). The prosecutors were given no notice. They have strongly objected but there is little or nothing they can do now. So much for this "truce" providing information.

The gist of the article is that the rightwing death squads never demobilized, but merely reorganized into smaller death squad structures that are still the terror of the countryside. This is true in so far as it goes, and the reporters may have made a decision to limit the scope of their article largely to what they could see and hear traveling in Colombia. That is certainly good journalistic practice but it can lead to error if important contextual points are left out--for instance, AI's report that about half of the murders of trade unionists have been committed by the Colombian military itself. This points to a much bigger problem than rogue death squads. It points to GOVERNMENT--both Colombian and U.S.--ENCOURAGEMENT of the murder of anybody opposed to the government. The civilians murdered have including human rights workers, teachers, community activists, political leftists, trade unionists, journalists, peasant farmers and random young people, murdered and then dressed up like FARC guerrillas to up the Colombian military's "body count" (in the infamous "false positives" scandal). It has included throwing the bodies in mass graves, for instance the one recently discovered in La Macarena, Colombia, containing 500 to 2,000 unidentified bodies, whom local people say were local community activists and members. La Macarena was also an area of special interest and activity by the U.S. military and the USAID.

There is much to worry about, including possible U.S. military complicity in the murder of civilians. The continuation of the rightwing death squads, in smaller units, is only part of it. And the FARC--though they have murdered people--are nothing like the threat to the Colombian people posed by its own military, funded by the U.S., and by the country's leadership, including current President Manuel Santos.

The article ends on the note of hope that Santos might call off the rich elite's death squads. I don't have the hope that Santos will bring anything but a temporary peace in wait for the next Bush Junta to be Diebolded into the White House. I think that the cleansing of the countryside of its local community and political leadership is likely preparation for a wider war--Oil War II--against neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador. At the least, it has been preparation for U.S. "free trade for the rich"--creation of a terrorized slave labor force (millions of poor peasants driven from their lands into urban squalor) and destruction of any will among Colombians to control and benefit from their own resources, land and labor.

[VioletLake]

2. What do you think of the video? nt

[Peace Patriot]

6. I think the video is excellent. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.

I had a technical struggle to be able to view it. I didn't realize that the video was so much more expanded, detailed and informative than the written text at the same site. The video even goes back to 1948 and the beginning of Colombia's civil war, with the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (popular leftist leader who was running for president).

The video challenges a lot of bullshit from the Uribe government, for instance the alleged AUC demobilization, which one commenter describes as "not real." The AUC's wealth and tentacles throughout the government, to its top levels, enabled it to re-form as the Black Eagles and other rightwing paramilitary killers. It also discusses the close relationship between the Colombian military and the death squads, and between the death squads and the Colombian elite. It exposes the lies about Uribe's "security" policy which resulted in the Colombian military and its death squads targeting local community organizers--teachers, human rights workers--for assassination and massacring whole villages "suspected" of sympathizing with FARC guerrillas. It mentions the mass displacement of peasant farmers, U.S. funding of the Colombian military and the struggle over land which now involves big business and multinational corporations--although I don't think that it stresses U.S. involvement enough.

It mentions an issue of particular concern to me--the use of the U.S. "war on drugs" to wage a war on COLOMBIAN CITIZENS, whether FARC guerrillas or non-violent civilians. The $7 BILLION in U.S. military aid is accompanied by thousands of U.S. military personnel and U.S. military 'contractors,' U.S. military use of many Colombian military bases, U.S. military use of all civilian infrastructure in Colombia and total diplomatic immunity for all U.S. soldiers and military 'contractors.' What is the U.S. military DOING aiding and abetting one side in the war of one Colombian class, the rich, against another class, the poor--whether the poor are armed or not? This is a civil war that has absolutely zilch to do with Islam-inspired "terrorism." What would we think, for instance, of the U.S. military occupation of Ireland, and the pouring of billions of U.S. tax dollars into British oppression of the Irish during the armed IRA period?

The video allows a leftist guerrilla commander, Alfonso Cano, to speak. (He says that Uribe's "security" policy has resulted in injecting drug traffickers and rightwing paramilitaries into the structure of the Colombian government.) And it does mention poverty as the underlying condition fueling Colombia's problems, including the violence of the government/rich elite and its adversaries. It puts the non-violent poor at the center of the story. That is objective journalism, or a good effort at it, because they no doubt comprise the vast majority of Colombians--a country with one of the worst poverty problems in Latin America and the second worst human displacement crisis in the world. The vast poor majority simply want a decent life, a fair shake, social justice, land--to grow food and feed their families and communities--and human and civil rights. The power elite has denied them these things for some 60 years--since the assassination of Gaitán.

I looked up that assassination in wiki, and found a number of interesting things--that Gaitán's daughter believes that the CIA killed her father. The assassination occurred amidst the U.S. formation of the OAS in Bogota "to fight communism." Gaitán was no communist. He merely advocated land reform, but that issue was painted as "communism" by powerful U.S. corporations such as the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita--a U.S. corporation that RECENTLY admitted hiring rightwing death squads in Colombia, which murdered thousands of trade unionists on Chiquita farms, and got a handslap from the Bush Junta, arranged by the man who is now U.S. Attorney General appointed by Obama--Eric Holder). Neither was Fidel Castro a communist at that time. He, too, was merely looking for social justice. He was also in Bogota in 1948, where he had organized the Panamerican Youth Conference. Gaitán--who likely would have won that presidential election in Colombia--was likely going to attend that Conference and oppose the U.S.-dominated OAS. Bang, bang, shoot, shoot. (Gaitán's assassination is hauntingly similar to JFK's assassination, a decade and a half later, including the setting up of a patsy and the murder of the patsy.)

The video doesn't go into all this. It just touches upon the Gaitán assassination as the beginning of the civil war. It also doesn't stress what to me is the obvious Bush Junta encouragement for murdering community leaders and massacring villages. But it is thought-provoking and much more comprehensive than the written text--and is a bold and brilliant effort to challenge the lies and disinformation of both the Colombian and U.S. governments.

Like the text, though, it concludes on a note of hope that Santos (former Defense minister to Uribe) will bring about peace, if not social justice. There might be a "pause" rather than a peace, but there are so many bad signs that that is a very thin hope, indeed--Santos oversaw several years of Colombian military/death squad murders; the discrepancy between the pre-election polls and Santos' purported big win (a stolen election?); the extradition of major rightwing paramilitary death squad witnesses to the U.S., putting them out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors; honors bestowed on Uribe by the Bush and Obama administrations: the U.S.-supported rightwing coup in Honduras (under Obama) which has brought similar rightwing death squad murders to Honduras; the increased U.S. military presence in the region; unchanged U.S. corporate/war profiteer goals in the region--including hostility to social justice governments and to the widespread movement toward Latin American independence/integration (the U.S. is holding onto its few client states with vulture talons, and is pouring millions of USAID and other dollars into rightwing groups throughout the region), and more. The Colombia/Venezuela peace accord points to at least a pause in outright U.S./Colombia aggression. But peace for the poor majority in Colombia? Maybe enough have been killed for the poor to remain terrorized for a while. How long will that last until another leftist political movement, representing the majority, starts showing some success, to be smashed again by Santos and/or those whom he represents?

[Peace Patriot]

9. One sidebar that occurred to me, and why I mentioned Castro...

The wiki history indicates that this event--the assassination of the liberal candidate in Colombia in 1948--was what convinced Castro that social justice was not possible through electoral politics. He later took up arms in Cuba to overthrow the horrible Batista regime, because neither was electoral politics possible there. Given all that we know about the CIA and U.S. policy (cover and overt) in Latin America through much of the last century, I think there is little question that the CIA did it, or arranged it. So many CIA actions of the same kind had enormously terrible repercussions--the deaths of millions of people, in Latin America, in Africa, in Southeast Asia; the defeat of aspirations to democracy and social justice that had nothing to do with the Soviet Union; the militarization of every local conflict. The equation of "liberal" with "communist" is a very, very, very, VERY dangerous and wrongful equation that served only war profiteers and horribly greedy corporations. Colombia's on-going civil war is a remnant of that era. The leftist guerrillas refuse to stand down in Colombia--and despite every slander against them, from the notorious liars of the Colombian military and government (for instance, that they are merely drug traffickers--gawd, what hypocrisy--or that they are "terrorists"--WHO are the "terrorists" in Colombia? The Colombian military certainly qualifies.)--they have a point: that electoral victories for social justice are not possible in Colombia. If you raise your head in a leftist cause in Colombia--or only merely for a human rights cause--you risk getting it shot off. I'm certainly not advocating armed resistance. I'm just saying, what is the alternative that people have, when horrors like the assassination of Gaitan deprive them of their right to vote for social change? (--followed, of course, by 60 more years of the same.)

I've noted efforts in Latin America to bring about a peaceful settlement of Colombia's long civil war--led by the new leftist leadership of the region. (Even Castro has told the FARC to disarm.) But they have so far failed. Why? Because it is in the interest of U.S. corporations and war profiteers to encourage and fund war. The Colombian military has had $7 BILLION U.S. taxpayer dollars to keep it going. It's their "gravy train." Under Uribe and Bush, we saw active sabotage of efforts to bring this civil war to a peaceful end. It all comes back to gross misuse of our tax dollars and gross U.S. policies supporting fascists and opposing social justice. Without that constant interference, dating in modern times from the end of the FDR administration, what would be happening NOW in Colombia? The long and difficult struggle of other Latin American countries, to throw off U.S. supported dictatorships and to establish democratic government that seeks social justice--hard as it has been--demonstrates what could have happened in Colombia, and could have happened earlier in the rest of Latin America, but for U.S. interference, on behalf of U.S. multinational corporations, and, now, added to that, on behalf of sheer war profiteers (our out of control military establishment).

It is pitiful and tragic and infuriating, contemplating this history--all the way back to 1948--and in recent events, such as the U.S. support of a rightwing coup in Honduras. Pitiful, tragic, infuriating and sickening. It's not that the U.S.--even if it were doing the right thing--could solve every problem in the western hemisphere, but it has actively, deliberately, and with great malice, prevented the people of Latin America from solving their own problems, and is still doing so, wherever it can. There is at least a strong counter-force now--a vast and successful leftist movement in other countries--with very smart leadership that has analyzed their problems very well, and is going for cooperation, integration and even a common market structure, among Latin American countries. This may still help turn the tide in Colombia. But it won't be for lack of U.S. effort to sabotage peace, social justice and democracy in every way that it can--an appalling policy that we, the people of the U.S., seem to have absolutely no power to reverse. We may, for a short time, see democracy cosmetics smeared on the face of this corporate/war profiteer policy, but it won't be the real thing, just as it isn't the real thing here, with Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld still running around free and ES&S (Diebold) running our elections.

[Judi Lynn]

11. So glad to see your post, and the reference to the assassinations of that beloved leftist candidate,

Jorge Gaitan. The left has attempted, when it appeared maybe the country was more peaceful, to run other candidates, and they were assassinated, as well, over 200,000 people murdered in La Violencia after his public execution. Every time the actual left has offered a candidate for high office, he has been assassinated.

"Who Killed Gaitan?" Colombia Asks, 54 Years Later

by Ibon Villelabeitia

BOGOTA, Colombia, April 26 (Reuters) - Gloria Gaitan still remembers
the smell of ashes and the glowing red sky from the riots that
erupted the day her father was gunned down 54 years ago.

"It's as if the clock stopped that afternoon. In a way, I haven't
buried my father," Gaitan, now 64, said.

On April 9, 1948, a lone gunman killed charismatic Colombian
opposition leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, unleashing a civil war known
as "La Violencia," which claimed as many as 300,000 lives over the
next decade.

The killing of Gaitan, one of Colombia's most mysterious political
assassinations, still echoes in a country awash in violence. Many
trace the roots of the current guerrilla war to the slaying of the
populist who promised to implement land reform and end Colombia's
two-party political system.

For more than 40 years, Gloria Gaitan, who is now the director of the
Jorge Eliecer Gaitan Foundation, has been searching for clues to
learn who was behind the killing, traveling to Cuba and the United
States to interview intelligence officers and seeking to declassify
documents.

Cesar Augusto Ayala, a history professor at Colombia's National
University, says Gaitan's assassination killed Colombia's
historic opportunity to overcome a political system based on
privilege and exclusion that has fractured society.

"Gaitan's murder ended a populist movement that sought to integrate
Colombia socially and politically as a nation," Ayala said. "Since
then, Colombia entered a period of chronic violence."

More:
http://www.blythe.org/nytransfer-subs/Covert_Actions/Colombia:_Anti-'Terrorism'_and_Who_Killed_Gaitan_

[VioletLake]

12. Thank you for your excellent comments, Peace Patriot.

A pleasure to read. :toast:

[Judi Lynn]

4. From the stories managing to surface now, it appears that demobilization was basically a hoax,

one paramilitary chief described it as "an agreement among friends" and the Colombian government's attorney general already introduced in court the fact they have the material on "Jorge 40's" computer information stand-ins were used, anyway!

Colombian warlord incriminated by his own laptop
13 Oct 2006 15:12:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

~snip~
DEMOBILIZATION OR SHAM?

The computer held e-mails from Jorge 40 ordering his men to recruit peasants to act as paramilitaries during demobilization ceremonies, a trick that allowed him to keep his real fighters active while appearing to comply the the peace deal.

"Prepare them for the demobilization day, so they can at least march and sing the (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) hymn," one e-mail says.

Jorge 40 demobilized in March along with 2,500 of his supposed troops. Authorities say the computer was seized from his top lieutenant.

Human rights groups criticize the demobilization as too soft on the paramilitaries, who have massacred thousands in the name of fighting left-wing guerrillas.

"This information shows how little the demobilization has impacted paramilitary power structures. Jorge 40 was apparently able to keep his extortion and corruption machine active throughout the process," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for New York-based Human Rights Watch. "The system that was set up for the demobilization was very superficial," he added. "Now we are seeing the consequences."

More:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13238445.htm

~~~~~

http://www.elpilon.com.co.nyud.net:8090/inicio/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/jorge_40__1_.png http://www.semana.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/Generales%5CImgArticulo_T2_40959_20061110_115035.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/04Cch31eIee7k/610x.jpg
The REST of what was known about the guy vanished into the vapors, publicly, when he was suddenly swept up and away to the U.S. in an extradition, safe from further questioning, and answers about his massacres, and more serious charges!

[naaman fletcher]

8. computer evidence

Just curious, why are you so certain that the computer evidence against FARC is fabricated, but that the computer evidence here should be trusted?

[Peace Patriot]

16. The evidentiary source is the answer to that.

The laptop evidence on "Jorge 40" comes from the Colombian prosecutors. We have no reason to distrust them. In fact, they and Colombia's judges have been courageous in pursuing these cases in the face of death threats and highest level operatives such as Uribe, some seventy of whose closest political cohorts are being investigated or have already been prosecuted and are in jail, for various crimes, including their ties to the rightwing death squads. Colombia's prosecutors and courts put our justice department and courts to shame on the matter of our own war criminals. And I think we can be sure that whoever Uribe and Brownfield would double-cross--as they did the Colombian prosecutors, on the "extradition" of their witnesses to the U.S.--are doing their job. Our federal court in DC just completely sealed these cases, putting these witnesses out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors. Shame, shame! More evidence that the Colombian prosecutors were and are doing their job.

The FARC laptop (later laptopS), on the other hand, were so mis-handled that even Interpol--whose chief wanted so much to accommodate--said that they could "not be used as evidence in a court of law." The source of that laptop evidence was the Colombian military--notorious liars who had a policy of rewarding commanders for upping their "body counts," that resulted in the military killing innocent, unarmed civilians--youths--then dressing up their bodies like FARC guerillas (the infamous "false positives" scandal); and Alvaro Uribe, who stated publicly that everyone who opposes him--trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, community activists, peasants, artists, intellectuals, academics--are "terrorists." The Colombian military and Alvaro Uribe are about as reliable as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

Neither the Colombian prosecutors nor courts were involved (and I'm sure they wouldn't touch psyops bullshit like the FARC laptopS). The Colombian military and Uribe furthermore claimed to have retrieved this laptop (later laptopS) from a FARC camp that they had dropped 500 lb U.S. "smart bombs" on (according to the Ecuadoran military), killing nearly all of the 25 people who were sleeping there and a creating a huge crater. They then raided over the border to shoot any survivors in the back as they ran for their lives in their pajamas (also according to the Ecuadoran military report). It took them a while to cock up this "laptop" evidence, but when they finished, Uribe started making wild accusations, such as that Presidents Chavez and Correa were helping the FARC to obtain a "dirty bomb." And they've been pulling "rabbits" like this out of their "magic hat" ever since.

I have my personal suspicion that Rumsfeld's "Office of Special Plans" was involved (long story, but I do have some reason to suspect it), but, at the least, I think it's a fair bet that the U.S. military was involved or one its 'contractors,' in Colombia as military 'advisors.' Uribe was spying on everybody, and drawing up "lists" for instance of trade unionists, likely for death squad targeting. Almost 40 trade unionists have been murdered by death squads so far this year alone. Amnesty International attributes about half of the murders of trade unionists, over the last half decade or so, to the Colombian military itself. Was Uribe getting high tech U.S. help to spy on everybody, and passing that info to the Colombian military, in order to have those opposed to him assassinated--all of them "terrorists," you understand? I'd bet money on it. And, if that is the case, messing with FARC computers could well have been a subclause of the contract.

I know that this "just curious" question of yours wasn't meant for me but I hope that my answer is helpful. Anybody, of course, can invent evidence. So, unless you can personally analyze the evidence, you have to rely on your judgement of the source. I generally trust the Colombian prosecutors and have no reason not to. I completely distrust the Colombian military and Uribe, and, as I said, even Interpol--which did not investigate the contents of the laptopS (--they deliberately did not hire Spanish translators, so as to avoid it)--said, on the provenance issue alone, that the laptopS would not usable in a court of law. Bad provenance. Bad evidence. And no one that I know of has said this about the "Jorge 40" laptop.

[naaman fletcher]

17. your answer was very helpful, thanks

you have a deep pool of knowledge on these subjects.

[naaman fletcher]

7. "In fact, Amnesty International"

Is Amnesty International a reliable observer of Latin American affairs? I used to think so, and have donated a more insignificant amount to them over the years, but a number of people on this forum seem to think that Amnesty is unreliable. What do you think?

[Judi Lynn]

3. Will check the video as soon as I get 45 minutes I can spare to give it my full attention.

Looking forward to seeing it.

Thanks.

[VioletLake]

5. The video goes into the demobilization farce. nt

[Judi Lynn]

10. Listened to the video at the link this afternoon. Excellent report.

Was interesting seeing the names of a couple of Colombian leftists I respect, seeing them speaking, not just a still photo.

They covered a lot of ground very well with this, hard to do in the time allotted.

Thank you, VioletLake, for providing this video also.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Forgot to mention something said by a former para in the video. He said the Colombian military

has given them uniforms.

Earlier in the video, a citizen said they wear the same uniforms as the military, only missing the badges, etc.

I read the other day that in some situations paras and militaries have shared the same dining halls, oddly enough.

The entire truth IS going to come out one of these days, and there are going to be a lot of people who have been hiding behinds lies who are going to be exposed, with nowhere to run.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Video: Colombian paramilitaries in 'social cleansing' allegations

(From a search after I decided to see if I could find another video on the subject)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWBnm1ic-i4

Paramilitary Abuses Continue In Colombia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzoUoH2dNTU&feature=related

Genocide Confessions of the Paramilitary in Colombia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSBaJvOtn0&feature=related

ETC.

They don't take long, provide some food for thought, for those capable of thought.

[Wilms]

14. kick n/t