Colombia - Arauca community radio station threatened by persons claiming to be paramilitaries

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia - Arauca community radio station threatened by persons claiming to be paramilitaries

MONTREAL, June 3 /CNW Telbec/ - Reporters Without Borders is very worried
about the threats that have been made against Sarare Estéreo, a community
radio station based in Saravena, in the northeastern department of Arauca,
since early May. In the latest incident, on 28 May, the entrance of the
station was painted with the letters AUC - the initials of the paramilitary
alliance known as the United Self-Defence Groups of Colombia.

"An investigation must be carried out as quickly as possible to determine
whether these threats are coming from the paramilitaries and, in the meantime,
Sarare Estéreo and its staff must be given protection at once," the press
freedom organisation said. "The paramilitaries have not disarmed despite the
government's demobilisation programme. They continue to have connections
within the political class, in some cases at a very high level, and they
continue to pose a serious danger to the media, especially in the provinces."

"A detailed evaluation of the risks must be carried out and security
measures must be taken by the authorities, in coordination with journalists'
organisations and human rights groups," Reporters Without Borders added,
saying it was ready to contribute to such an initiative.

The staff of Sarare Estéreo found the letters AUC painted on the entrance
to the station on the morning of 28 May. Officially demobilised in June 2006,
the AUC is Colombia's biggest paramilitary group.

Sarare Estéreo manager Ella Patricia Ardila told Reporters Without
Borders that all of the station's staff have been getting threatening messages
signed "Arauca Self-Defence Groups" since 8 May. The messages warn them "not
to meddle in subjects that do not concern you."

More:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2008/03/c7730.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. I've got some hot links burning up my keyboard I've got to post here.

Just posted them in LBN, don't want to let them go before striking again.

For anyone who has wondered, in deep thought, "Just who the hell kills more innocent people in Colombia: the guerrillas, or the death squads? Answer: Probably the DEATH SQUADS, that'd be a good guess!

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Embargo Date: 1 September 2005 10:00 GMT

~snip~
In the last 20 years, Colombia’s armed conflict has cost the lives of at least 70,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians killed out of combat, while more than 3 million people have been internally-displaced since 1985. Tens of thousands of other civilians have been tortured, “disappeared” and kidnapped. The vast majority of non-combat politically-motivated killings, “disappearances”, and cases of torture have been carried out by army-backed paramilitaries.

The government began demobilization talks with the paramilitary umbrella organization, the Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC), soon after the AUC announced a ceasefire in December 2002. Under the Santa Fe de Ralito agreement, signed in July 2003, the AUC agreed to demobilize all its combatants by the end of 2005. More than 8,000 paramilitaries have so far reportedly demobilized.

However, the latest figures suggest that the paramilitaries have been responsible for at least 2,300 killings and “disappearances” since they declared their unilateral ceasefire.

More:
http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR230252005?open&of=ENG-COL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Dirtier War
Colombia’s fake “Peace Process” and US Policy
by Jake Hess
June 19, 2007

~snip~
Nor do the Democratic proposals appear to include any new mechanisms for ensuring that remaining military aid is not used to commit human rights abuses. The Democrats claim to be devoted to justice for Colombia’s struggling social movements; yet, as evidence presented in this article amply demonstrates, the military and government they’re funding continues to collaborate with deathsquads in violently suppressing those activists brave enough to speak out. Democrats claim to be especially concerned about labor rights; yet, the President they’re prepared to hand some $600 million to has presided over the assassination of some 400 trade unionists, almost all of which have been carried out with impunity. As in the past, the majority of these killings are blamed on deathsquads allied with the Colombian state and, as has become clear recently, Uribe’s political network in the government. (7)

More:
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/15149

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2/7/2005 – IPSnews

snip~
The final declaration of the G-24, as the international group of donors meeting in Cartagena is known, came a day after the collapse of negotiations between the rightist Uribe administration and lawmakers of different stripes, on legislation aimed at holding the paramilitaries accountable for abuses.

The United Nations and leading human rights organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch blame the paramilitary militias for the vast majority of atrocities committed in Colombia's armed conflict.

More:
http://www.educweb.org/webnews/ColNews-Feb05/English/Articles/DonorsSetConditionsforSup.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Percentage of Human Rights Violations
in Colombia and Group Responsibility

http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue40/Brittain40.htm#r6