NGOs Press President Uribe of Colombia to Address Wave of Violence Against Rights Defenders, Unionis

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Amnesty International

March 26, 2008
2:35 PM

NGOs Press President Uribe of Colombia to Address Wave of Violence Against Rights Defenders, Unionists
Uribe Advisor's Statements Contribute to Climate of Intolerance that Fosters Violence

WASHINGTON, DC - March 26 - Recent statements by a close advisor to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe contributed to "a climate of political intolerance that fosters violence" shortly before a wave of killings, attacks, and threats against trade unionists and rights activists, a group of 22 international human rights organizations said in a joint letter to Uribe.


Four Colombian trade unionists -- some of whom were reportedly associated with a March 6 demonstration protesting state and paramilitary human rights violations -- were killed between March 4 and March 11. Members of human rights organizations have been subject to physical attacks, harassment, office break-ins and thefts of files in the past weeks. More than two dozen organizations and individuals received death threats purporting to come from paramilitary groups in the capital, Bogota.

Shortly before the attacks, presidential adviser José Obdulio Gaviria made a series of statements on national radio linking renowned victims' representative Ivan Cepeda and other organizers of the March 6 protest to the notoriously abusive guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). On February 11, one day after Gaviria first made the statements, the supposedly demobilized United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group released a statement echoing Gaviria's allegations.

"Baseless comments such as these are profoundly damaging to Colombian democracy and human rights, and place those against whom they are made in direct danger of violence," said the NGO coalition in a letter to President Uribe. "These statements stigmatize the legitimate work of thousands of human rights defenders, trade unionists, and victims, and can have a chilling effect on the exercise of rights to freedom of expression and free association."


Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0326-08.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Human rights groups accuse Colombian government of endangering activists

Human rights groups accuse Colombian government of endangering activists

The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia: Human rights groups accused the administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday of endangering the lives of activists by suggesting they are linked to leftist rebels.

Directors of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA, Refugees International, Human Rights First and 18 other groups demanded in a public letter that Uribe do more to protect human rights advocates and trade union members following a wave of killings earlier this month.

At least four people involved in a recent national march to protest paramilitary death squad violence were killed by the far-right groups, and dozens more threatened with death, the letter said.

It also accused close Uribe adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria of jeopardizing the lives of people who took part in the march by suggesting it was organized by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"Baseless comments such as these are profoundly damaging to Colombian democracy and human rights, and place those against whom they are made in direct danger of violence," the letter said. It urged Uribe to "publicly disavow statements by Gaviria and others that linked the protest organizers to guerrillas."

More:
http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=11448033

[Peace Patriot]

2. The miracle is that Bush 'war on drugs' money hasn't destroyed more countries

in South America, and that, indeed, the overwhelming trend is toward clean, leftist, democratic government, and, on the matter of drugs/weapons trafficking, sane and effective policy that combines broad social justice initiatives with good police work.

Venezuela Seized More Than Seven Tons of Narcotics in 2008
March 20th 2008, by ABN
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/newsbrief/3285

Venezuela nabs suspected Colombian cocaine kingpin
Sun Mar 9, 2:02 PM ET (2008)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080309/ts_nm/venezuela_colombia_drugs_dc

The Bolivarian countries--Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador--have specifically rejected the murderous, corrupt, failed U.S. "war on drugs"--a U.S. policy that, under Bush, is merely part of a war strategy to topple democratic governments, kill thousands of union leaders, political leftists and other innocent parties in Colombia, install U.S. military spy bases and boots on the ground in Latin American countries, and militarize the region. Even in Guatemala, interestingly--which just elected its first progressive government, ever--the winning candidates won on a platform of rejecting police state crackdowns to deal with drugs/weapons trafficking and a high murder rate. The opposition offered militaristic Bushite solutions, using a poster with a "iron fist." The voters rejected that in favor of the winners, who countered the "iron fist" poster and message, with a poster showing two open hands.

Social justice and honest police work are the answers, not only to the worldwide Bush crime wave of drugs/weapons trafficking, but also to terrorism, which cannot be solved--and indeed is greatly exacerbated--by war, especially Bush war--torture of thousands, mass slaughter of millions, displacement and orphaning of millions, and impoverishment of multi-millions, including, now, the U.S. (the biggest "banana republic" of all). And one of the ways they are impoverishing us is the $5 BILLION tab we're paying to war profiteers for military aid to Colombia, as well as the police state that the "war on drugs" has created here at home, at a cost of tens of billions of dollars.

Remarkably, democracy, good government and social justice are succeeding in South America. That is why the Bush junta (and collusive Democrats) hate Hugo Chavez, the most vocal leader of the opposition to U.S. policies, and have extended that hatred to his allies--Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Argentina), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua). The Bush/U.S. is actively seeking to destroy these countries--and has been attempting all manner of overt and covert "divide and conquer" tactics, to bust their influence in the region and break up their alliances with each other and with other leftist governments (such as Brazil, Uruguay and Chile).

And they and their corporate 'news' monopolies having also been working hard to keep us stupid and ignorant about these policies, and about what they are trying to destroy: democracy.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Images of the hatchet man Uribe chose to drop the hammer on the vicious human rights marchers,

set them up with the death squads, and get them killed. This is an old, old pattern with Uribe, unfortunately.



His Worship, the verbal executioner, José Obdulio Gaviria



Creeping around his office
Shabby, grubby people. Suck ups to Washington, beggars for billions, backstabbing the poor of their own country. They may as well get their own chainsaws and go out with the death squads: at least they'd be living more honest lives than when they can simply point out their "enemies" and the death squads show up, torture, then whack them.

MARCH 6
BY MISSING
BY THE DISPLACED
BY MASACRADOS
BY executed
In Colombia have been displaced nearly four million people, mostly by paramilitary groups. These groups, either alone or in conjunction with members of the military, have disappeared at least 15,000 compatriots and have more than 3,000 buried in mass graves or had their bodies thrown into rivers, have killed more than 1,700 indigenous people, 2,550 unionists , and nearly 5,000 members of the Patriotic Union. Regularly tortured their victims before killing them. Between 1982 and 2005, more than 3,500 paramilitaries perpetrated massacres, and r obaron more than six million hectares of land. Since 2002, after its "demobilization", have killed 600 people every year. They came to control 35% of Parliament. From 2002 until today, members of the army have committed more than 950 performances, most presented as "positive". Only in January 2008, the paramilitaries committed 2 massacres, 9 disappearances, 8 homicides, and the Army has committed extrajudicial 16. In Colombia, paramilitary and state agents violated human rights and humanitarian law. Many paramilitary groups have not been demobilized. Now call themselves Black Eagles. Many parapolíticos are in public office and diplomats. You marched on 4 February. Will accompany the March 6 to the victims of the paramilitaries, parapolíticos and agents of the State? No more mass graves. Never again forced displacement. Never again paramilitaries. Never again parapolíticos. Never again crimes of state. The National Movement of Victims of Crimes of State convenes: 6 MARCH 2008 national tribute to the victims of paramilitary activity, and parapolitics State crimes

Translated through the google translation tool:
http://jmrg.wordpress.com/