Weekly Links – August 28, 2010

This week´s collection of stories, reflections, and updates about Colombia.  Enjoy!

Fernando Botero´s Abu Ghraid

• Just the Facts has a summary of recent statistics on violence in Colombia, particularly urban violence in Bogotá and Medellín.

• Semana, a weekly newmagazine, has an analysis of the recent bombing in Bogotá.  Was it far – right wing or far – left wing?

• All threats in Colombia are not from violence.  How climate change and rising sea levels will affect Colombia´s coast. (from Colombia Reports)

• Here is an Op-Ed from the Washington Post (Edward Schumacher-Matos) about the now-prevailing view that the US- Colombia Base Agreement, which was struck down by Colombian courts, is best left alone.  Call it a mulligan for two new presidential administrations…

• Colombia´s investigation and prosecution lacks funds to persue paramilitaries – that means 145,000 un-investigated, un-prosecuted, un-incarcirated persons.  (from Colombia Reports)

• A new round of paramilitary threats, mostly in the south of the country.  (from Colombia Reports) Here is a key description of the new groups:
  

“It is the same pattern the [demobilized paramilitary organization] AUC used in the 1990s to consolidate in the regions; a ‘social cleansing’ to justify their presence in the towns and capture the local economy,” an anonymous investigator told newspaper El Tiempo.

“The only difference with what you see now is that the AUC initially tried to end subversive influence in certain regions,” Mauricio Romero of left-leaning think tank Corporacion Arco Iris told the same newspaper.

Weekly Roundup

Here are some of the past weeks news highlights.  I usually try to have a mix of news and opinion – but this week we are news heavy, the opinion presented is all me…

Botero's "Cat on a Roof - 1978"

• It’s election season!  Here is an article with snippets from each of the candidates for the Colombian presidency.  The election is May 30th with lots of posturing and horsetrading before we get there… (from Colombia Reports)

• Colombian government points to permanent links between the military and paramilitaries in Urabá(from Colombia Reports)

• Banana exporter Chiquita is sued in US courts for its payments to Colombian paramilitaries and guerrillas (from Colombia Reports)

• This one was particularly galling.  US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates visited Colombia this past week on a trip that included the signing of a further defense agreement with Brazil.  He called Colombian President Uribe a “great hero”, while misspelling the name of the country he was in.  There is a reason they say diplomacy is subtle – with his words, Sec. Gates swept away any US pressure on false positives, the DAS scandal (see below), and the large number of human rights violations committed by Colombia security forces.  (from Colombia Reports)

• US suspends funding for Colombia’s scandal ridden DAS office (from Colombia Reports) Seems a belated response more than a year after the scandal was exposed and DAS (sort of a combo CIA/FBI/ICE) has been restructured.

• What is the DAS scandal?  Why is it so bad?  This week  some of the document outlining the surveillance and disruption and elimination of perceived “enemies of the state,” including academics, reporters, opposition candidates, foreign diplomats, and members of the Supreme Court.  Want to chill a democracy to the bone? – a department like this, and a government willing to use it is a good start.  (from Plan Colombia and Beyond)