Colombia asks Spain to deport fugitive lawmaker

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia asks Spain to deport fugitive lawmaker
26 Feb 2007 22:47:58 GMT
Source: Reuters

BOGOTA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Colombia asked Spain on Monday to deport a fugitive congressman who is wanted for possible links with illegal paramilitaries in a widening scandal involving allies of President Alvaro Uribe.

Eight pro-Uribe lawmakers have been jailed and other army officers, governors and congressmen are under investigation for their suspected ties to paramilitaries, who are accused of atrocities during their dirty war against a rebel insurgency.

Bogota has asked Spanish authorities to send back Rep. Jorge Luis Caballero who was among a group of lawmakers ordered detained by the Supreme Court on Feb. 15 as part of its probe into the scandal.

"The foreign ministry has information he is in Spain and Colombia has presented a request to the government that he be deported back to our country," Deputy Foreign Minister Camilo Reyes told reporters.
(snip/...)

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26327168.htm

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Previously, on Rep. Jorge Luis Caballero:

Colombian won‘t resign despite scandal
Staff and agencies
16 February, 2007

By TOBY MUSE, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia‘s foreign minister rejected calls for her resignation Friday after her brother‘s arrest on charges of kidnapping a businessman and of working with far-right paramilitary gangs, even as the Supreme Court implicated her father in the scandal.

Sen. Alvaro Araujo was one of five politicians arrested Thursday, bringing to eight the number of federal lawmakers jailed for allegedly backing and benefiting at the ballot box from brutal intimidation by the militias, which are responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia‘s five-decade civil conflict and much of its cocaine trade.
(snip)

The other lawmakers arrested Thursday were Mauricio Pimiento, Dieb Maloof, Alfonso Campo Escobar and Luis Eduardo Vives. An arrest order was issued for a sixth, Rep. Jorge Luis Caballero.

Much of the evidence against the newly arrested politicians comes from a laptop computer confiscated from the right-hand man of Rodrigo Tovar, a paramilitary warlord known as Jorge 40, and from Rafael Garcia, the jailed former information chief of the secret police.
(snip/...)

http://www.localnewsleader.com/olberlin/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=64050



Rep. Jorge Luis Caballero, on the left, with Rep. Alfanso Campo, already arrested, on the right (and right-wing, of course).

[Judi Lynn]

1. News our own corporate media doesn't seem to find important enough to share with Americans:

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Date: 20 Feb 2007
Supplementary appeal for IDPs in Colombia
Executive summary

This is UNHCR's supplementary appeal for internally displaced people in Colombia. The objective of UNHCR's programme is to promote protection and durable solutions for the three million displaced people in the country.

Colombia has one of the largest displaced populations in the world. In 2006, more than 170,000 people, particularly from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, were forced to flee from their homes, bringing the total number of internally displace people (IDPs) to some three million.

Colombia has a sophisticated legal framework and institutional structure to support the humanitarian response to internal displacement. The Government is the main provider of humanitarian assistance for displaced people and in 2005 it approved a budget of USD 2 billion to assist IDPs. In spite of this, Colombia represents the greatest humanitarian crisis in the Americas and the situation has not substantially improved.

The Colombian crisis has also affected the regional stability. More than 500,000 Colombians of concern to UNHCR have fled to surrounding countries, particularly Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama and Costa Rica.
(snip/...)

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AMMF-6YTF8P?OpenDocument

They are _Bush's THIRD LARGEST FOREIGN AID RECIPIENT! Right after Israel, and Egypt, yet we NEVER see this mentioned in our own media outlets, since the pResident is _Bush's little buddy, a scandal-ridden right-winger.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Ecuador: Colombians arrive fleeing violence

Ecuador: Colombians arrive fleeing violence
27 Feb 2007 11:53:20 GMT
Source: UNHCR

On Saturday, more than 300 people fleeing violence in southern Colombia crossed the San Juan River and arrived in the small northern Ecuadorian border town of Chical. The group, from the Colombian village of Tallambi, lived on the opposite bank of the river. A large number of Awa indigenous people are among the newcomers.

UNHCR deployed a team of humanitarian workers to Chical on Sunday and is distributing emergency items and food rations in coordination with partner organizations. So far, we have registered 315 people, more than half of them children. Many in the group are still very visibly shocked and scared. They say they fled after an irregular armed group killed the local schoolteacher and threatened other people in Tallambi. Local authorities on the Colombian side of the border report fighting in the area.

The newcomers have been staying with local families in Chical, but the housing capacity of this small community is fast reaching its limit. UNHCR and the local authorities are getting a shelter ready in case more people cross the border in the coming days. According to the new arrivals, many more could be on the way.

The Awa live in their own territory, which spans across Ecuador and Colombia. They have suffered greatly from the increase in violence in the southern Colombian region of Nariño in the past few years. In general, ethnic minorities in Colombia have been disproportionately affected by the conflict.

Last month, a group of some 40 Afro-Colombians arrived in northern Ecuador, also from Nariño. They have asked to remain in Ecuador as they feel it's unsafe to return. UNHCR is coordinating efforts with the national refugee office for a speedy answer to their asylum request.

An estimated 250,000 Colombians are in Ecuador after fleeing the internal armed conflict in Colombia, which has displaced more than 3 million people within the country's borders. There are also an estimated 200,000 Colombians in need of protection in Venezuela.
(snip/)

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/c505b00517556b8c67edcfa201cd4565.htm