Analysis In Colombia, violence is a way of life
U.S. military and economic aid to Colombia has increased more
than tenfold during the past decade -- to $300 million this year, and the
Clinton administration is proposing another huge aid package of between $1
billion and $1.5 billion over the next three years. The funds are aimed at
helping Colombia fight the drug trade and insurgents. However, critics warn
against flooding the region with more weapons and becoming deeply engaged in
another Latin American civil dispute.
Meanwhile, the violence continues. The mayor of a small
Colombian town was murdered by unidentified gunmen Sept. 19. Marco Emilio
Londono of Vistahermosa became at least the eighth mayor to die in political
violence this year. One bright note was the release the same day of Bishop
José de Jesús Quintero Díaz of Tibú. The bishop was
kidnapped twice in the past year. In a radio message the guerrillas that did
the kidnapping apologized to the pope and explained the action as "a desperate
measure to attract the nations attention."
The following is an explanation of the groups and some of the
circumstances fueling the long battle in Colombia.
By LUIS ANGEL SAAVEDRA
Special to the National Catholic Reporter Putumayo,
Colombia
On April 9, 1948, during the presidential race that pitted
Colombias traditional political and economic powers, the liberals and
conservatives, against each other, liberal candidate Jorge Eliécer
Gaitán was murdered. He had proposed transforming Colombias
semi-feudal economy in favor of workers and campesinos, to whom he had offered
access to land and significant improvements in labor rights.
Gaitáns death gave rise to what would come to be
known as the violence, which has shed Colombian blood for 50 years
and cost a million lives. One of every three Colombians has a relative who has
been killed, kidnapped, wounded or displaced.
The violence has become an entrenched conflict
extending far beyond the economic and political spheres, a way of life with no
end in sight. As journalist Jaime Garzón -- who was murdered Aug. 6 --
said, The war in Colombia is no longer a conflict, its a
business.
Days before his death, Garzón, the first popularly elected
mayor who dared to enter into dialogue with the guerrillas in search of a peace
accord, told Ecuadorian journalist Jeanette Hinostroza how he felt about the
Colombian conflict and the peace talks in which he participated.
The conflict in Colombia isnt the guerrillas. The
guerrillas are puppets. The paramilitaries are puppets. The army is a puppet.
We have to look for the puppeteers, he said. The war in Colombia is
no longer a conflict; its a business, a business of the North Americans
and all those who sell weapons.
Guerrillas, paramilitaries and the army, as well as the equally
violent drug-traffickers, are the main players in the business of war. The
guerrillas have gained control of 40 percent of Colombias territory,
while the narcotics traffickers control 80 percent of the worlds cocaine
production.
A war with many faces
To understand the Colombian conflict, however, it is necessary to
comprehend its various faces. The conflict is different at the national,
regional and local levels, depending on the influence of the actors. The root
cause, however, remains what it was in Gaitáns day -- increasing
social injustice, inequitable distribution of wealth, generalized corruption
and a high level of immunity, factors that have made possible the growth of
armed groups as well as the business of drug trafficking.
It is a curious matter of ethics, said the Rev. Jorge
Martínez Restrepo, secretary general of the National Conciliation
Commission of Colombia, that is fundamental to the peace process.
Within the insurgent groups, the problem of ethics, whether
well or poorly defined, well or poorly perceived, is a central point of the
conflict in Colombia, Martínez said.
In fact, the fundamental obstacle keeping the Simon Bolívar
Guerrilla Coordinating Committee from pulling together all guerrilla groups and
presenting a united front in peace talks with the government is rooted in an
ethical problem. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) do not want
to be associated with people who blow up oil pipelines and endanger the
environment -- a reference to the military actions of the National Liberation
Army (ELN), which refuses to negotiate with the FARC, which it considers to be
overly involved with drug traffickers.
These divergent views of ethics have led the warring parties to
deceive one another in order to consolidate their positions.
There are five guerrilla groups in Colombia: the FARC, ELN,
Popular Liberation Army (EPL), Simón Bolívar Guerrilla
Coordinating Committee and the Jaime Canón Movement.
The FARC and ELN are the oldest guerrilla groups and the ones
whose political and military structure has created the greatest problems for
the government. Analysts say these two groups cannot be defeated by the regular
Colombian army, which has a force of 50,000 soldiers, half of whom are directly
involved in anti-guerrilla action. At the same time, however, the guerrillas
lack the ability to defeat the army and set up their own government.
This ill-defined situation has led to a series of stumbling
attempts at negotiations between the government and the guerrillas, in which
pressure has been applied through kidnappings, military attacks and takeovers
of towns close to Colombias three main cities, a kind of blackmail meant
to demonstrate the guerrillas military might and Colombian societys
vulnerability to the armed groups.
The FARC now has a force of 15,000 guerrillas, a high percentage
of whom are minors, some only 13 or 14 years old. They have gained the
demilitarization, or liberation, of a 42,000-square-kilometer area consisting
of four provinces in the department of Meta and one in the department of
Caquet, in southern Colombia.
After the area was established last December, the FARC and the
Colombian government tried to begin peace talks in San Vicente del Cahun Jan.
7. The talks never got off the ground, however, and subsequent overtures have
also failed.
The zone is under complete FARC control -- so much so that on Aug.
18 the guerrillas invited the mothers of soldiers being held hostage to travel
to San Vicente del Cahun, guaranteeing them lodging and food for a day, as well
as 100,000 pesos (about $65) for bus fare.
In an official communiqué, the FARC said the meeting was
arranged to allow the mothers to see how their sons were faring and learn about
the Exchange Law that the FARC has proposed, under which these soldiers and
police officers would be swapped for hundreds of jailed rebels.
The talks, which technically are not negotiations, center on a
proposal by the administration of President Andrés Pastraña for a
national government of reconstruction and reconciliation, and a 10-point agenda
presented by the FARC. According to the guerrillas, however, the dialogue has
bogged down because the government has not taken definite steps to eliminate
paramilitary forces that have been responsible for human rights violations and
crimes against humanity.
At the bottom of the issue, however, is the governments
refusal to discuss an exchange of prisoners.
Seeking a change in status
The FARC is not interested in the exchange itself, but rather in
what such a deal would represent from the standpoint of international law:
implicit, if not explicit, recognition of the FARC as a belligerent in the
conflict -- recognition that it is, or at least could be, a state with its own
territory, army and political authority in a specific area. For that reason,
FARC leader Manuel Sure Shot Marulanda, who by now is considered
the oldest guerrilla in the world, wont back down on the prisoner
exchange.
Some analysts have even said that such a territory could be called
the Bolivariano state, and that this is what the FARC has in mind for the
demilitarized zone. As a result, analysts say, although they have not abandoned
the idea of having some influence on the Colombian government, the
guerrillas present emphasis is on establishing a government in their own
area.
During the meeting in San Vicente del Cahun, a guerrilla asked one
of the participants, When will we really become our governments
army?
The question might not be as presumptuous as it may seem. A number
of international treaties list the conditions for recognition of a groups
status as a belligerent. These include:
- a state of war, classed as internal armed conflict;
- possession of territory and established jurisdiction within
that territory (for this reason, the FARC ordered all judges and legal
authorities out of the demilitarized zone; the only recognized officials are
popularly elected mayors, not representatives of the Colombian
government);
- a military organization under the command of a competent
authority;
- hostilities conducted according to international humanitarian
law.
Tipping the scales
It appears to many here that the FARC meet these requirements,
tipping the scales toward its recognition as a belligerent. Such recognition
would increase the possibility of that territory being viewed as an independent
state. Such status would change the nature of the war, from internal armed
conflict to international armed conflict between two states.
If that is the case, members of the armed group could not be tried
by legal authorities in the other state -- in this case, by the Colombian
government -- since they would not be subject to its criminal laws.
The armed group also would be recognized as representing a new
state, able to enter into international treaties and legal commerce, and
representatives of the group could request and obtain diplomatic privileges and
immunity.
Pastraña, the Colombian president, fears recognition of the
FARC as a belligerent in the conflict. As a result, the administration takes a
dim view of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavezs offer to hold talks with
the rebels, since this could set a valuable legal precedent in the
guerrillas favor. Guillermo Fernandez de Soto, Colombias foreign
relations minister, announced that any talks between the Venezuelan president
and the guerrillas could be considered meddling in Colombias internal
affairs and refused to allow such talks in Colombian territory, to which Chavez
replied, I dont need anyones authorization to talk with
Colombian guerrillas in Venezuelan territory.
The possibility of direct talks with Venezuela came about as a
result of the hijacking of a Venezuelan airliner with 16 passengers on July 31.
The guerrillas later said the hijacking was a mistake and returned the plane
and passengers.
The killing by paramilitaries of a group of indigenous people on
the border with Panama at about the same time led Bishop Carlos María
Ariz of Colón, Panama, to propose peace talks between that
countrys government and the guerrillas, paramilitaries and Colombian army
on the common border.
The ELN, meanwhile, which has about 5,000 guerrillas in its
forces, arose under the influence of liberation theologies, with top posts held
by active and former priests and nuns, such as the recently deceased Spanish
priest Manuel Pérez, who was the ELNs top commander, and Fr.
Camilo Torres. Many active and former religious are still members of the
ELNs internal and international support groups.
The ELN recognized the role of civil society organizations,
including the church, during talks last year in Germany, at which three main
issues were defined. The ELN committed itself to peace talks with the
government and agreed to act according to international humanitarian law. The
group also agreed to a National Convention for Peace in Colombia.
Various analysts agree that future talks will hinge on the freeing
of at least 70 hostages in exchange for demilitarization of an area where the
National Convention, proposed by the guerrilla group, will be held.
The idea of a demilitarized zone for the ELN was raised in
February in Caracas, but the government rejected the proposal, triggering the
kidnapping of at least 222 people in massive actions between April and June in
Bucaramanga, Cali and Barranquilla and stalling any possibility of a peace
process with the armed group.
Official figures put the number of people kidnapped by the
guerrillas at 667, but independent observers say there are between 700 and 900
hostages, including 19 foreigners.
The government has said it will talk with the ELN only if the
hostages are freed. However, at the request of a group of politicians,
academics and union leaders, the administration on Aug. 4 named a commission to
try to unblock the process. But the first scheduled meeting between the
high-level delegation and ELN representatives in the Itag maximum-security
prison was suspended because of the assassination of journalist Jaime
Garzón, who was a member of the commission.
The ELN is hoping that the collective abductions will make
the government say yes to demilitarization of the area the ELN specifies. They
dont say this openly, but I think thats the stumbling block: They
will free the hostages in exchange for a demilitarized zone, said one
analyst who asked not to be identified.
Pastraña is entangled with the FARC. There are no
clear rules in that groups demilitarized area in the southern part of the
country. The situation there has not been normalized, and there are problems
with the creation of a verification commission. So how can this new step be
taken? the analyst asked.
Paramilitary forces, known as the United Self-Defense of Colombia
(AUC) and led by Carlos Castao, are also among the most violent players in the
conflict. While the paramilitaries claim to have a political plan, unlike the
guerrillas, they have not been officially recognized by either
Pastrañas administration or other governments.
Taking the position that if the fish cannot be caught, the river
must be drained, the 3,000 armed members of the AUC direct their military
action against civilians, not attacking the guerrillas directly unless
confrontation is inevitable.
For the AUC, anyone living in the conflict zone is a potential
guerrilla sympathizer and, therefore, a military target. The pastor of a parish
in a town frequently attacked by paramilitaries said, Often when the
guerrillas come to buy things, while people are loading their supplies onto a
truck, they go into the bar to play pool. Later the paramilitaries come and
kill the owner of the bar because he aided the guerrillas.
In a statement sent to the National Conciliation Commission,
Carlos Castao justified the paramilitaries actions, saying that a
broad sector of the para-guerrillas (abettors, disguised activists, informants,
couriers, collectors, extortionists, drivers, political bosses, etc.) is
protected in the community, alternating between apparently civilian duties and
providing military and logistical support.
According to Colombian army figures, in the first seven months of
1999, paramilitaries murdered 361 people, not counting the massacre of the
Panamanian indigenous people. They also have threatened to extend their
activity into neighboring countries that supply the guerrillas and have set up
training camps for Ecuadorian and Venezuelan citizens.
Drug traffickers
Rounding out the cast of players are the bands of drug-traffickers
who pay off guerrillas, paramilitaries or Colombian soldiers -- depending on
who controls the area where drug crops are grown and processed -- in order to
use clandestine airstrips, transport cargo, plant crops and move freely in the
area.
Drug trafficking has infiltrated every corner of Colombian
society, even international circles. Laurie Anne Hiett, wife of Col. James
Hiett, head of the U.S. anti-narcotics forces in Colombia, and six members of
the U.S. Embassy staff in Bogotá are under investigation for their
involvement in shipping cocaine to the United States.
The alarming increase in drug trafficking prompted Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, the U.S. drug czar, to make a swing through Latin
America in August to drum up support for eradication of the problem.
One point on his agenda was gaining backing for setting up U.S.
military bases and establishing a military ring around Colombia.
During McCaffreys visits to Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia,
Ecuador and Peru, the possibility of military intervention, either by the
United States or a multinational Latin American force, was raised as a way of
resolving, once and for all, the linked problems of guerrilla violence and drug
trafficking. Retired Gen. Harold Bedoya, former commander of the armed forces
of Colombia, is a strong advocate of a military solution and aid from foreign
military forces.
The United States maintains bases of operations on the Netherlands
Antilles island of Curacao and in Manta, Ecuador, as well as an elite force of
some 270 advisers in Colombia, which uses the military base in the southeastern
department of Meta. U.S. and Colombian military officials have insisted that
they engage only in anti-narcotics, not counterinsurgency, duties, but the July
crash in the FARC-controlled area of a military plane carrying five U.S.
advisers and sophisticated intelligence-gathering equipment raised doubts among
observers. Most of Colombias drug crop is grown in the southern
department of Putumayo, in the FARC-controlled zone.
Military solution
improbable
U.S. officials and the governments of Colombias Latin
American neighbors have denied any intention of intervening. During his recent
visit to Colombia, Thomas Pickering, U.S. undersecretary of state for political
affairs, called the idea totally insane, neither desirable nor
possible.
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright added, After 38
years of fighting, it should be clear that a decisive military solution is
improbable. President Pastraña was right to begin peace talks.
The National Assembly for Peace backed that position, saying it
defends the right to self-determination to overcome the present
difficulties and calling for international solidarity in support of a
negotiated settlement.
In Ecuador, meanwhile, Gen. Thelmo Sandoval, commander general of
the army, called the matter a Colombian problem [that] must be solved
through Colombian political and military decisions.
Venezuela went even further, forbidding U.S. military planes to
enter its air space.
Ecuador, however, was said to have moved 5,000 troops to its
northern border after discovering guerrilla encampments in its territory.
Peru has also placed 2,000 soldiers on its border with Colombia in
order to rebuff any attempted infiltration by the FARC or ELN, which have 2,600
and 3,400 soldiers respectively in the border area.
Given the complications of the present situation, civil society
efforts at negotiation -- such as the 1997 Citizen Mandate for Peace,
Life and Liberty, in which 10 million voters called for all parties to
the conflict to adhere to humanitarian norms -- seem to be reduced to good
intentions.
There is increasing pressure for the government, guerrillas and
paramilitaries to allow civilian organizations to participate in peace
negotiations, since these have, as their ultimate goal, the construction of a
democratic society.
Even in this, however, there is not a united front.
Martínez said of his experience during the meetings in Germany,
The moderators most difficult role was not seeking consensus
between the ELN and civil organizations, but trying to reach consensus among
the members of civil society -- business people, union leaders, the population,
[nongovernmental organizations] and others.
Luis Angel Saavedra is a freelance writer based in Quito,
Ecuador. The story was translated by Barbara J. Fraser, director of
Latin-america Press.
National Catholic Reporter, October 1,
1999
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