Reviews BuenaventuraBuenaventura LiberationLiberation and more.. footballfootball massacremassacre ofof MotherMother EarthEarth 12 dead and still no justice Indigenous peoples and We speak to the mothers of the battle of Cauca Valley Colombia’s lost sons page 19 . page 13 FRONTLINE LATIN AMERICA September - December 2006 PUBLICATION OF THE COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN Vol 2 No 4 Price £1.00 SINALTRAINAL offensive sharpens

Edgar Paez in Colombia

series of attacks against the very existence of SINALTRAINAL have occurred in different Aregions of Colombia; ranging from a raid on the unionʼs national headquarters in Bogotá, to the assassination of one of our activists. These incidents are an example of President Álvaro Uribe Vélezʼs policy of ʻdemocratic securityʼ and take place at a diffi cult moment due to labour confl icts with the transnationals Nestlé and Coca-cola. These are some of the violent incidents against the lives and security of our members: Raid on union headquarters At approximately 12:15 a.m. on 3 August 2006, uniformed men who identifi ed themselves as members of SIJIN, the Judicial Police, entered into the headquarters of SINALTRAINAL located at No 35 – 18, 15th Avenue in Bogotá city and proceeded to search the union building stating it was a preventative operation for the upcoming 7 August, the inauguration day of president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Police or thieves? US soldiers are deployed on every continent to defend Washington’s fi nancial interests Jacob Bailey That morning SIJIN agents were seen fi lming the outside of the unionʼs headquarters. This raid was carried out without a judicial order, being classifi ed curiously as an “act of voluntary registration”. The raid took place at the very US out of Colombia moment that we were informing the world of the good results of the campaigns against Nestlé and Coca- Cola and public protests against the permanent threats and possible judicial actions against our members. and Middle East! continued on page 5 The failure of Plan Colombia and in Britain. evidence that Plan Colombia is exacerbating the The New York Times (19 August 2006), a long displacement of farmers and entire villages. He has time supporter of intervention, pointed out that there nothing to say. What could he say when he knows it Robert Green is the same land area under coca cultivation today is true but indefensible, nearly four million internal as when Plan Colombia started. A clear indication refugees forced from their homes. The programme lan Colombia, the US sponsored ʻwar on of continuity of the supply is that cocaine prices are reports that right-wing paramilitary group the AUC drugsʼ launched by then president Bill falling in the US and Europe. Only the coca fi elds (United Self-defence of Colombia) controls 70% of Clinton in 2000, was supposed to half are now smaller, dispersed and in more remote Colombiaʼs cocaine production, more than half of cocaine production within fi ve years. Yet areas. To destroy the same number of coca plants as world supplies. The AUC has agreed with President Psix years and $5 billion dollars later (the biggest before, requires three times more hectares need to Uribe to ʻdemobiliseʼ, in exchange for immunity pages 10-11 spending US military programme outside the Middle be sprayed. What is not reported is the consequent from extradition to the US, and with guarantees that East) it is very obvious that in its declared counter- and accumulating environmental degradation. they keep their fortunes to become civilian drug Campaign contacts on page 25 narcotics terms the Plan represents a fundamentally There is an awkward point in BBC Worldʼs barons. fl awed strategy. Concern that things are not going to The Cocaine Jungle, when William Wood US Plan Colombia has not failed, rather its real plan is refl ected in the mainstream media in the US Ambassador in Bogotá is presented with the objectives have become clear. 2 Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 FRONTLINE Editorial LATIN AMERICA

Contents 3-5 News War in the east, 6 Our America 7 European Plunder war in the west 8 Comment and Analysis The division of Latin America “Letʼs be honest, the foreign policy of a British government striking characteristic of this economic core is the degree to 9-11 Boycott Coca-Cola! does not change a great deal within a party, or even between which their profitably relies on continuing super exploita- parties...because our national interests are continuous and tion of the peoples of the ʻThird Worldʼ, that is the majority 12 Environment permanent” of citizens of the world. BP finally pay-out to campesinos In this context the only way to exercise democracy and Lord Powell, former adviser to Mrs Thatcher, John Major to express our human solidarity is to mobilise against the 13 Racism and Murder and Tony Blair new colonial occupations being carried out in our name, by Buenaventura football massacre whatever governing party, and against the multinationals whose rapacious interests fundamentally drive British war 14-15 Aguablanca special “Solidarity is the tenderness of the peoples” policy. Then weʼll see how ʻcontinuous and permanentʼ their domination really is. 16 Barrancabermeja Ernesto ʻCheʼ Guevara The Colombia Solidarity Campaign was founded five years ago to protest against US military intervention in 17 Arauca f changing Prime Minister does not change our coun- Colombia. As an anti-imperialist campaign we join in the tryʼs policy, as Powell admits with complete frankness, rightful condemnation of the occupation of Afghanistan, 18 Kankuamo what then is the point of elections? It would seem that Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon and the threatened invasion of people in Britain have no say over what ʻourʼ govern- Bushʼs current bete noir, Iran. 19 Liberation of Mother Earth Iment does round the world. As part of the international movement to stop the war Indigenous peoples of If not the peopleʼs will, what then is the guiding prin- on the peoples of the Middle East we draw attention to the Cauca Valley ciple of UK foreign policy? From just about every angle, ʻAmericaʼs other warʼ, the USAʼs prolonged, sometimes the alliance with the US is the touchstone of establishment open but more often covert dirty war against the peoples 20 Election Analysis consensus. And this ʻAtlanticistʼ orientation is itself under- of Colombia and Latin America. They need our support as pinned by the interests of British multinational corpora- well. Join us in solidarity with them, and in hope for the 21 Deep trouble tions: the most profitable being the oil corporations (BP and future that shines out from the real American continent. Monterico Metals in Peru Shell), the banks and insurance conglomerates, the mining sector (BHP-Billiton, Anglo-American and Rio Tinto), US Out of Colombia and the Middle East! 22 Brazilʼs debt telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and agro-industry. A No More War for Oil!

24 Reviews and culture a lever to squeeze down the revenue share of other state oil 25 Get involved corporations. As measured by income, the South Americaʼs Stupid for oil two biggest corporations are Brazilʼs Petrobas, nominally a Spanish Section: state oil corporation, followed by PDVSA, Venezuelaʼs state Andy Higginbottom oil corporation. Petrobras is in fact largely privately owned, E1 Evo Morales y TLC leaving PDVSA as probably the single biggest source for nalysing how the invasion of Iraq serves broader state revenues in the region. Venezuelaʼs sovereign right to E2 Desplazados US policy, the oil industry monitoring group dispense with the benefits of its oil production thus stands Platform makes a vital point: right in the way of the oil multinationalsʼ expansionist drive. E3 Eventos “Iraq is seen by many as the frontline battle in Colombiaʼs oil policy stands in stark contrast to Venezuela Aa global push for multinational companies to retake control and Bolivia, dovetailing neatly with Bush. President Uribeʼs of oil production, much of which they lost to nation states in development model depends entirely on foreign investment, the 1970s.”* and on removing obstacles to it. No wonder the Financial This historical insight, the multi- Times congratulates him, “Uribe FRONTLINE nationals are on the offensive to is to foreign investors what Chávez LATIN AMERICA regain from producer states the lionʼs is not”. Indeed so. Through a new share of oilʼs super-profits, aptly corporation created in 2003 called Colombia Solidarity Campaign frames contemporary developments ANH (National Hydrocarbons Editorial Board in Colombia and South America. Agency), the Colombian govern- Bear in mind some of the factors ment offers potential oil investors Editor: Andy Higginbottom that dominate the supply and similar contracts to those being News editor: Robert Green demand equation. Firstly, the US imposed on Iraq. Spanish Section: Arturo García consumes about one quarter of world Colombiaʼs US embassy prom- Culture editor: Manuela Torres oil production but it only has 2% of ises that at 50%, the ʻstate takeʼ of Designer: Andy Dockett reserves, hence the US imports about oil revenues will be “well below the Illustratror: Garpeo/DesignBloc 60% of its petroleum products from world average of 67%”. Colombiaʼs Translations: Dave Younger, Tahirih Alia abroad. Secondly, just five countries two principal oil fields are already Proof readers: Geoffrey Vivian, Macarena Campbell (Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, operated by Occidental and BP, Printing: www.upstream.coop Nigeria and Venezuela) provide 65% and ANHʼs role is to put all future E-mail: [email protected] of these supplies. Thirdly, although production into private hands. In oil production in Iraq has plum- August 2006 ANH sold off the meted, the countryʼs reserves are Cartagena refinery to the Swiss- Subscriptions massive, third to Saudi Arabia and US-Israeli corporation Glencore; www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/FLA Russia. Fourthly, even allowing for it is currently seeking bidders for UK Subscription rates £6 per annum transport costs, the cost of crude oil offshore fields in the Caribbean Members subscription includes membership of the Campaign. production is several times higher in the US than in Iraq. and it is planning that higher international prices will allow Individuals: unwaged £7.50; waged £15 per annum All of these factors add up to compelling reasons why the it to open heavy oil fields in the Llanos region that borders Organisations: local (2 copies) £30; regional (5 copies) £60; US not only wants to control Iraqi oil as the worldʼs ʻswing Venezuela. national (10 copies) £120. producerʼ, but why Western oil corporations want to take Thus Uribeʼs privatization policies to let in the oil multi- Overseas subscriptions by arrangement. direct possession of the oil fields, and limit the stateʼs reve- nationals are not only sacking and repressing Colombiaʼs nues from oil production. oil workers, throwing indigenous peoples off the land and Donations In a groundbreaking publication, Platform earlier revealed imposing a reign of terror on communities in the production As well as taking out a subscription, please make an additional donation. the character of the long term ʻproduction sharing agree- zones, by encouraging a race to the bottom they are a stra- Frontline LA needs funds to survive! mentsʼ being secretly set up in Iraq: they will effectively tegic threat to state ownership and control of oil production in Send all payments made out to privatize oil revenues. PSAs neighbouring countries as well. ʻColombia Solidarity Campaignʼ to “have existed in the oil industry since the late 1960s. Oil Defending human rights in Colombia, keeping imperi- Colombia Solidarity Campaign, experts agree that their purpose is largely political: techni- alist hands off Venezuela and campaigning for an end to the PO Box 8446, cally they keep legal ownership of oil reserves in state hands, occupation of Iraq are all inextricably linked as expressions London N17 6NZ while practically delivering oil companies the same results of the right of nations to self-determination. as the concession agreements they replaced.”** * Georgeʼs Oil Dubya-speak These apparently technical points are profoundly impor- ** Crude Designs: The rip-off of Iraqʼs oil wealth tant for the geopolitics of Latin America. The US and UK both available at: http://www.platformlondon.org/ hope that the outcome of their occupation of Iraq will act as carbonweb/ Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America News 3 New army chief appointed

Occidental front n 15 August 2006 newly re- takeover of major towns in the 7th US military penetration of the Americas inaugurated President Uribe Brigadeʼs area of operations continued appointed General Nelson during Padillaʼs tenure in 1998. OFreddy Padilla as new chief of the From 1998 to 2000, Padilla headed that his orders are to execute Plan gency, fused with corporate looting armed forces. the 2nd Brigade, with responsibility Max Fuller & Robert Green with thanks to Alexis Ponce Colombia in the Andean region there of natural resources - could easily be From 1993 to 1995, Padilla headed over the cities of Barranquilla and was an outcry. played out again in the Triple Frontier, the Colombian Armyʼs feared 20th Santa Marta, and surrounding areas For Ecuador is the scene of deadly where the forward positioning of US Brigade, which consolidated mili- along Colombiaʼs Caribbean coast. he physical hub of US military confrontations between indigenous forces brings them close to the worldʼs tary intelligence activities until 1998, During this period, paramilitary penetration into Latin America peoples and US oil corporations such biggest hydroelectric project, and the when it was abolished, in part due to leaders Rodrigo Tovar (“Jorge 40”) was strategically located in as Texaco and Occidental, French pipelines that export Boliviaʼs gas. strong human rights concerns. The and Hernán Giraldo strengthened their Tthe Panama Canal zone, for over five company Perenco; BP and Shell have US State Departmentʼs 1997 human dominance over territory and drug decades the launch pad for destructive been involved too, and most recently Popular solidarity rights report noted, “Government and trafficking in the brigadeʼs area of operations against progressive govern- Petrobras from Brasil. There were If US militarization is most acute in military officials give credence to operations, with little or no opposition ments. When the US had to give up mass urban mobilizations earlier this Colombia, it is becoming a huge issue reports of isolated killings during the from the armed forces. its Panama bases in 1999, it devel- year. These social movements are to hanging over all progressive move- year conducted by members of at least In letters to President Uribe written oped a new infrastructure, relocating the forefront in defending national ments in the Americas. But this does one army unit, the 20th Intelligence in 2004 and 2005, the Catholic Diocese its Southern Command operations sovereignty against the depredations not mean that they are silent or cowed Brigade.” A 1998 Human Rights Watch of Quibdó, the capital of Chocó depart- according to their function. Training, of the multinationals, but all are threat- against this threat. Students led street report added, “The 20th Brigade is ment near Panama, denounced a the infamous School of the Americas, ened by the US military presence. demonstrations in Paraguay against also implicated in the killing of human consistent pattern of “obvious tolerance, was relocated to Fort Benning in rights defenders, among them Jesús connivance and complicity” between the Georgia, and in 2001 renamed the María Valle, president of the “Héctor armed forces and paramilitary groups. Western Hemisphere Institute for Abad Gómez” Permanent Human The armed forces responded late last Security Co-operation. Rights Committee of Antioquia, and year by sending a special commission US aerial surveillance and rapid Eduardo Umaña, a noted human rights to Chocó to investigate the allegations deployment capacities became lawyer.” of collaboration with paramilitaries. wrapped up in the ʻwar against drugsʼ, In 1998, Padilla replaced Gen. The commission was headed by Gen. with direct intervention in the Andean Jaime Uscátegui as chief of the armyʼs Padilla. It found nothing - which is sort region being a key factor. Under ʻPlan 7th Brigade, based in Villavicencio, of like going to Las Vegas and finding Colombiaʼ, in 2000 the US supplied Meta. Uscátegui is still being tried for no evidence of gambling. 80 helicopters and three new battal- his role in allowing a massive para- This record speaks volumes about ions to the Colombian armed forces. military massacre in Mapiripán, Meta Colombiaʼs supposedly “reformed” The Pentagon set up a string of bases in 1997. Mapiripán was the AUCʼs military institution that a career path – Forward Operating Locations - in (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia) like Gen. Padillaʼs can still guarantee a Manta, Ecuador; in Aruba near to first real foray into the guerrilla-domi- quick promotion to the very top. Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles; nated coca-growing areas of southern From CIP Colombia Program, 26 and a third Central American FOL in Colombia, and the paramilitariesʼ August 2006 (abridged) Comalapa, El Salvador with the line that US and allied aircraft could more readily interdict flights smuggling Iraq: The US-Salvador connection cocaine. Whatever the problem, the US Max Fuller extensive US assistance; that torturers pushes towards a military response, received theoretical instruction from whether that be its repeated failed he recent deaths of two Salvador US trainers; and that executioners attempts to overthrow Fidel Castro soldiers in Iraq have increased shared desk space and information in Cuba, or the $6.7 billion spent on domestic pressure on the govern- with US intelligence officers. ʻborder securityʼ along its frontier Tment of El Salvador to withdraw its In Iraq there is little indication that with Mexico. The extra impulse of forces. El Salvador is the only Central Salvadoran troops are engaged in Bushʼs ʻwar on terrorʼ post 9/11, plus American country still commit- frontline combat roles. Instead, it has the social explosions in Argentina ting troops to Iraq, with Nicaragua, been reported that Salvadoran soldiers and Bolivia and the consolidation of Honduras and the Dominican Republic are primarily engaged in support func- Hugo Chávezʼs radical government in all having rapidly withdrawn their tions, including the supervision of Venezuela, have all led the US military limited contingents in early 2004. But supposed humanitarian reconstruction to seek deeper penetration into South instead of heeding public opinion, the projects. However, with unemployment America. Salvadoran government has committed in Iraq at socially catastrophic levels, The shift towards the neoconserva- a further 380 troops to Baghdad. mass homelessness, vast internal tive ʻforward leaningʼ policy inclined Whilst the government claims that displacement, children reduced to to intervention was made clear in early An Arizona National Guard Soldier stands watch on the U.S. border with Mexico it is discharging a debt to the interna- working on the streets, continuing lack 2002 when Washington assigned $98 tional community for its support in El of electricity, sanitation and medicines, million and US marine units to assist the US bases, and in many other cities Salvadorʼs terrible internal conflict of it must be assumed that such projects the Colombiaʼs 6,500 man 18th Brigade US Intervention in the Triple against US backed Israelʼs aggression. the 1980s, in reality it is simply playing are token at best. guarding Occidental Petroleum corpo- Frontier An advanced example of Latin the loyal servant to Washington. The The real Salvador connection lies in rationʼs oil pipeline in Arauca, near Under heavy US pressure, the govern- American social movementsʼ capacity most important reason for El Salvadorʼs the intellectual authorship of two geno- the border with Venezuela. As Senator ments of Argentina, Brazil and to think and act independently of their subservience is entrenched in its neo- cidal counterinsurgency campaigns. Leahy observed, Bush had crossed Paraguay have agreed to the establish- more servile governments comes colonial relationship with US imperi- While the military doctrine for coun- “the line separating counterinsurgency ment of a joint intelligence apparatus from the Mothers of the Disappeared alism. Not only is the US El Salvadorʼs terinsurgency is well established, from counter-drug assistance”, sending to oversee the so called Triple Frontera in Argentina, Las Madres de la Plaza foremost trading partner (El Salvador the symbolic link between the two troops to impose corporate interest region, where the three countriesʼ de Mayo. Their Radio AM 530 sent was the first country in Central America wars could not have been made more against the wishes of the indigenous borders meet. The US has since 2001 correspondent Tamara Lalli to cover to enter into a free-trade agreement clearly than with the appointment of Uʼwa people and social movements - alleged that the region serves as a hub occupied Palestine and the Lebanon. with the US), Salvadoran migrants in former US Army Col James Steele as who mounted a 30,000 strong demon- for Islamic terrorist activities, including She was detained at the border on 22 the US contribute $2.5 billion per year, Counsellor to the US Ambassador for stration against the decision. The US drug and arms smuggling, and insisted August and interrogated by the Israeli equal to around 17% of the countryʼs Iraqi Security Forces. Steele had lead global war for oil had arrived in the on forming a special commission for intelligence service Mosad before being GDP. The lack of parity in their rela- the US military mission in El Salvador Americas. the region known as the ʻ3+1ʼ. deported to Jordan. Although thwarted tionship is to be best understood in El from 1984-1986 when he oversaw The headquarters of the new on this occasion, the Mothersʼ initia- Salvadorʼs adoption of the dollar as its the implementation of killer squads Ecuadorʼs Forward Base Regional Centre for Intelligence will be tive signifies how the common cause national currency in 2001, cementing within the Salvadoran Army, specifi- Colombiaʼs Uribe government is a vital by the police in Foz de Iguazú, Brazilʼs of the oppressed is growing across its total subordination. cally selecting the ʻbaddest assesʼ at Bush ally on the occidental front. Uribe most important city in the region. continents. The second reason for El Salvadorʼs battalion level and giving them special promised Ecuador in January 2006 to Brazil has a large Muslim community continued involvement in Iraq is to dispensation to take the war to the suspend fumigations in the two coun- and the country has seen large demon- be found in the debt that important FMLN. In Iraq it was Steele that was triesʼ frontier region. He did, but only strations over the US-backed Israeli sectors of society, and especially the most heavily involved in the establish- after saturating border department assault on Lebanon. Washington (the Panama Salvadoran Armed Forces, owe to the ment of the so-called special police, Putumayo with 60% of all fumiga- ʻ+1ʼ) demands a significant role within Venez. US for its support in the in the civil paramilitary units designed to provide tions in 2005, causing untold damage, the Regional Centre and is likely to Colombia war. Whilst the far-right ARENA the Ministry of Interior with its own including to neighbouring Ecuadorʼs use that presence to build relationships party (currently in office) was officially counterinsurgency capability and flora and fauna. with senior police and intelligence Ecuador Brazil blamed by a UN Truth Commission for which have subsequently been linked US regional drugs strategy is seri- officers from the three countries. 96% of all atrocities, the extent of US consistently with the waves of extraju- ously dented given that Evo Morales On 22 August the US unveiled a new involvement has gradually become dicial killings sweeping Iraq. government in Bolivia denies entry to ʻanti-narcoticsʼ base in Paraguay, near increasingly clear. According to US The continuing presence of the US military, and the Ecuadorean the city of Ponta Porá on the border Peru military historians, a handful of strate- Salvadoran troops in Iraq is just one government of Alfredo Palacio is with Brazil. The base has two helicop- gically placed US personnel essentially more indication that counterinsur- against fumigations. So when the ters and facilities for 50 US personnel. Bolivia ran the war on behalf of the Salvadoran gency wars can be won if you are new US commander of the Forward The trajectory of US intervention in Paraguay state. We now know that units like the prepared to apply sufficient violence Operating Location base at Manta in Colombia - that has morphed from the notorious Atlacatl Brigade responsible and the world is prepared to look north-west Ecuador let slip this August pretext of anti drugs to counter insur- US Forward Operating Locations for the massacre at El Mozote received away. 4 News Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Drummond strike continues Emilitoh Habana The free trade deal

2 May saw the beginning Dan Kovalic, the lawyer leading of a strike involving 3500 the case against Drummond in the workers at Drummondʼs USA, recently visited Rafael Garcia Gearoid O’Loingsigh coal mining operations in La former head of the DAS (Colombian 2Loma in Cesar Department and in Security Police) who is currently he King is dead! Long live the La Mina and Cienega in Magdalena in prison awaiting trial on charges King! That was the US slogan Department. The workers are of embezzlement and complicity after its free trade agreement demanding increased safety regula- with the Valle drugs cartel. Garcia for all of the Americas (FTAA tions and social investment in their previously went public to denounce Tor ALCA by Spanish acronym) floun- communities, particularly educa- the links between then chief of the dered. Still smarting from the failure tion, health care and housing for DAS, Jorge Noguera and paramili- it set about negotiating bilateral and their families. Workers are also tary groups who he claimed were multilateral agreements with individual demanding an increase in pension in overall control of the government countries or groups of countries. Each provision and compensation for long organisation. Uribe later rewarded free trade agreement (TLC) would set working hours which often reach 12 Noguera for his work within DAS by the starting point for the next. In this or even 18 hours a day. naming him consul in Italy. way the US hoped to achieve the same The response from the company, aims as under ALCA. The Colombian and from the Colombian govern- afael Garcia gave testi- elite were only too eager to please. ment, has been entirely predict- mony under oath, that When negotiations became bogged able; aggression, violence, death he had been present at a down President Uribe himself flew up to threats and attempts on the lives of meeting when Augusto Washington to take charge, conceding SINTRAMINERGETICA union RJimenez, President of Drummond even more than the US technocrats spokesmen and negotiators. The in Colombia, handed over a suitcase were asking for. The agreement is, company has been trying to sabo- containing US$200,000 to known naturally, one sided. This should tage the strike and impose even paramilitary leaders in Valledupar not surprise us. Henry Kissinger is The cookie crumbles for Colombian food producers in new US trade deal more miserable conditions on its for the assassination of two union not a man that the left like to quote, workers. On 13 June, hired killers activists, Lacomo and Orcasita, however, he has been known to speak tariff preferences. However, this has Colombia. The Inter-American Bank attempted to murder union repre- President and Vice President of the clearly. According to Kissinger “What had very little impact on the economy calculates that up to US $5,600 sentative Alvaro Mercado in his own mine workers union at Drummondʼs is termed globalisation is in reality just and the companies concerned saved million could be lost in inter-regional home in Valledupar. On the same operation outside Valledupar. On 12 another word for the dominant role of US $24 million in tariff payments per trade. Bolivia alone will lose US $180 day, well known paramilitaries in March, five days after this meeting, the US”. Quite. year. Under the TLC, US companies million in soya exports to Colombia, the same town, arrived at the home 15 armed men, some dressed in The TLC signed by Colombia in will save anywhere between US $500 which will now be sourced from the of union leader Estivenson Avila. camouflage, stopped the company February 2006 reaffirms this domi- and 900 million per year! US. According to Senator Robledo of Fortunately Estivenson was not there bus taking workers to the mine, nant role. According to the Trade The new agreement is not just about the Polo Democratico, Colombia is the Department “US farm exports to agriculture; it also affects industry, main loser as it accounts for over half Colombia... will receive immediate pharmaceuticals and services. The of inter- regional trade. Further, over duty-free treatment include high legislation on patents will affect the 80% of its inter regional exports are quality beef, cotton, wheat, soybeans, supply of cheaper generic medicines, processed products whereas the same soybean meal; key fruits and vegeta- adding a further US $777 million percentage of its trade with the US is bles including apples, pears, peaches per year to the pharmaceutical bill of made up of primary products. and cherries; and many processed food Colombians. Although Uribe rushed to sign the products including frozen french fries According to the US, “Colombia TLC deal, he received two slaps in the and cookies.” They go on to say, “US will accord substantial market access face. The first was a sleight of hand farm products that will benefit from across its entire services regimes, by the US technocrats who drew up improved market access include pork subject to very few exceptions”, to a version in English where the trans- beef, corn, poultry and rice, fruits, that end “Colombia agreed to exceed lation of the agricultural chapter did vegetables, processed products, and commitments made in the WTO, not quite coincide with the Spanish dairy products.” What did they leave and to dismantle significant services version. Uribe had to go begging out? Colombian agricultural is looking investments barriers”. for that to be sorted out. He is now into the abyss. Colombian governments have been faced with further embarrassment; In the department of Boyacá alone, preparing for the TLC for a long time, the US government has not presented 35,000 families who depend on potato with new mining legislation passed in the document to Congress for its cultivation risk losing their livelihood 2001, a new Water Act, Forestry Act, approval. That process will take at due to the effects of the TLC! The etc. - all of which make it far easier least two months from the moment US is to be allowed to dump the hind for foreign corporations to seize hold it is presented, and with elections in quarters of chickens on the Colombian of natural resources without state November it is now unlikely that it will market (US consumer demand for this regulation. be presented before January 2007. The part is limited). Colombia will be prohibited from US Congress may even reject it, not SINTRAMINERGETICA members on strike And what will Colombia get in enacting legislation that ʻdiscriminatesʼ because it doesnʼt serve US interests return? Very little. Improved market against US companies. US corpora- but because Colombia hasnʼt surren- and the killers left a short while later. forced Lacomo and Orcasita to get access for certain tropical crops that tions may sue for future loss of earnings dered enough. When you prostrate Officials form Drummond called off, beat them and then shot Lacomo already enjoy reduced or zero tariffs. resulting from changes in legislation yourself before the empire the next workers at home, pressuring them to in the head, in full view of all the Under the Andean Trade Pact 5,600 that affect their investments. step is to lick its shoes, as Uribe may return to work and to de-recognise other workers. Orcasita was dragged Colombian products already enjoy The agreement doesnʼt just affect yet find out. the union negotiating commission. to a nearby wood where he was later After 88 days of negotiations and found tortured and killed. Garcia 32 days on strike, despite the violence also stated that he had not testi- black balaclavas, ammunition belts Ironically, the day marked the 55th that had been unleashed against the fied in the Colombian courts as the Ecopetrol and high-powered weaponry, made for anniversary of the nationalisation of workers the strike was called off. authorities had refused to guarantee an incongruous sight as they scram- Colombiaʼs oil industry. Following a Drummond Coal Company agreed protection for him and his family. Brendan Davidson bled and slipped on the high concrete massive strike by oil workers in 1948, an 8% pay rise for this year and 1.5% He also accused former DAS chief curbs in their efforts to stop the calmly on 25 August 1951 the Colombian for next. According to the company, Jorge Noguera of working very iot police beat and pushed marching crowd of about 500. Government bought out the US-owned the rise is worth 12% and also closely with paramilitary boss Jorge demonstrators and fired The protesters, who included Tropical Oil Company with the aim of includes provision for basic social 40 on various projects including the tear gas during a peaceful elderly people, people in wheelchairs, securing the vast profits of their oil investment and other essential serv- assassination of trade union leaders, community protest against many children and teenagers, a live concession for the nation. ices for the workers. a plan to destabilise the government Rthe privatisation of Colombiaʼs band in the back of a 4WD, Ecopetrol Now, 55 years later, the govern- of Venezuela, and electoral fraud in national oil company, Ecopetrol, on workers, trade unionists from several ment appears bent on handing back rummond Coal is a US favour of Alvaro Uribe during the 25 August near Barrancabermeja, different unions, and social organi- the national wealth to foreign corpo- company, which along with 2002 election. witnesses said. sations including the Organización rations. its owner Gary Drummond These declarations by Mr Garcia The heavily armed and body- Femenina Popular, were eventually Another demonstration marched and Colombian represent- are yet another example, along armoured ESMAD (Mobile Anti- halted by a line of police with clubs, from the main gate of the Ecopetrol Dative (current Presidential Adviser) with those of Coca-Cola, Chiquita disturbance Squadron) officers, firearms and riot shields, just short of refinery in Barrancabermeja later the Fabio Echeverry have been on trial Brands, Anglo-Gold and BP, of the accompanied by police and military, Ecopetrolʼs head office. same day, attracting about the same in Alabama since 2003, accused complicity of the multinationals fired tear-gas and, alleged protesters, Inside, probably within earshot number of protesters. Many banners of “assisting paramilitary groups with paramilitary groups and the pushed a woman to the ground and of the demonstration, high-level denounced the sale of other formerly which assassinated 3 union leaders Colombian state itself in their rush beat people, including an elderly man. talks were taking place. The talks publicly owned assets in the area, who were working in the mine”. to finish off all resistance to their A child was allegedly also burnt on the were about the sale of 20 per cent such as the cityʼs last surviving public Gary Drummond and Echeverry are neoliberal globalising policies. The leg by a tear-gas grenade during the of Ecopetrol, which had already hospital and the cityʼs water supply. also defending a corruption trial in case against Drummond is likely to ESMAD reaction to what remained been put in train by the government, A protester, who asked not to be Florida, USA, along with President start in earnest towards the end of a peaceful, calm and broad-based and of 51 per cent of the corpora- named, said: “The government is Uribe Velez and current and former the year. community protest. tionʼs Cartagena refinery, which was determined to sell this country and we bosses of Ecopetrol Isaac Yanovich For more information: The ESMAD officers, with their announced that day. Both stakes are are here to defend what belongs to all and Alberto Calderon Zuleta. www.drummondwatch.org black Robo-cop style body-armour, to go to foreign investors. Colombians. People have had enough.” Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America News 5

EMCALI management: SINALTRAINAL continued from cover DEATH THREAT AGAINST on it by corporations like Coca-cola, Accused of corruption - again! UNION LEADER that have been implementing a criminal In the morning hours of 18th August policy agsinst the union, by revoking 2006 a condolence card was left at the the unionʼs statutes, impeding the workers resistance and the continued capable of delivering on a contract of home of comrade Héctor Jairo Paz, a membership of executive committee Mario Novelli revelations of corruption also led to that scale it now turns out that several worker at Nestlé De Colombia S.A., members, lifting trade union conven- fi erce state and parastate repression months after signing the contract and a leader in the Bugalagrande tional rights and activating a judicial arlos Alfonso Potes, the which led to the assassination of 18 in 2005, 6 of the 12 components of Branch of SINALTRAINAL. The plan to block our right of association state appointed Director of Sintraemcali leaders and activists and the contract were subcontracted to condolence card was signed: “Death under the so-called “abuse of the law EMCALI, the Cali based countless more were forced to leave Swedtel, the Swedish multinational. to Trade Unionists/ Muerte a sindi- thesis”. public services company the city under threat of death. While the capacity of Swedtel to deliver calistas.” We ask that social organizations Cthat supplies water, electricity and Despite the agreements signed is not under question, the multi-million Just ten days previously another and defenders of human rights demand telecommunications services to in 2002 there has been a slow creep dollar subcontracting raises questions member of the Executive Comitee of these threats and assassinations against Colombiaʼs second biggest city, is once towards privatization through a range about the ʻrealʼ capacity of Parquesoft the same Branco was threatened, at our people stop. again accused of corrupt practices and of public-private partnerships. The to manage the contract. the time when we were carryoing out We demand that the competent dirty dealings. current corruption case dates back The third irregularity refers to one peaceful protests in front of the Nestlé authorities punish those responsible Readers of FLA will recall the role to 2005 when Potes sought to sign more piece of subcontracting this time plants in Bugalagrande and Bogotá and the immediate cessation of so- of Sintraemcali, the companyʼs trade a multi-million dollar contract with to Open Systems. Here, the corrupt against the unjustifi ed sacking of ninety called “voluntary registrations”, given union, in fi ghting against the compa- El Parque Tecnológico del Software practices appear far less opaque. It provisionals [temporary workers] and that these are actually a cover-up for nyʼs privatization from the mid 1990s (Parquesoft) to implement a new has now emerged that the President of four workers with indefi nite contracts raids that put at grave risk the lives of onwards. During these mass struggles ʻtechnological platformʼ without Parquesoft was also the founder and who are SINALTRAINAL members. our men and women and the existence workers occupied the CAM tower, the putting the contract out to competitive major shareholder of Open Systems of our organizations. headquarters of EMCALI, on several tender. The practice was challenged and is also currently the vice-President TRADE UNION ACTIVIST occasions. The most famous episode and in response Potes set up a consor- of its affi liate company in Panama. All ASSASSINATED Edgar Páez M. took place in December 2001 when tium of lawyers to investigate whether these irregularities point to a common Comrade CARLOS ARTURO National Leadership they spent 36 days inside the CAM the contract practices were legal or practice amongst the business elite in MONTES BONILLA was assassinated SINALTRAINAL Tower until the then government of not. EMCALI was allowed to proceed Colombia – as the contracts get passed at approximately 11:00 p.m. on 17th Andres Pastrana eventually backed after the consortium agreed that down, each interested party takes its August 2006. He leaves his partner Javier Correa, SINALTRAINAL down and vowed to keep EMCALI in Parquesoft were the only company slice. Potes, it appears, is continuing in Maria Elvia Álvarez Delgado and 7 President adds: public hands. that had the capacity to deliver on a that long tradition. orphaned children. His killing took Sub-contracted workers have Central to Sintraemcaliʼs defence project of that scale. It has now been Alexander Lopez, the ex-President place near to their home, located to the decided to join SINALTRAINAL of public services has been the argu- revealed that Felipe Piquero Villegas, of Sintraemcali, and now a leading north of the city of Barrancabermeja. and the union is presenting demands ment that it is not public services that one of the leading lawyers for the opposition Senator denounced all these CARLOS ARTURO had worked on their behalf. They are subject to are ineffi cient, but that the publicly consortium now works for Parquesoft irregularities in a public debate in the for nearly 30 years in the Infants Club work 12 hour days, having to reach appointed management of EMCALI – and began his new employment just Senate and stated that: “ We cannot for the workers of ECOPETROL [state between 80 and 100 customers.., they over the years have been responsible one month after completing his work continue to allow the local commu- oil corporation] and he used to partici- are obligad to organise the customersʼ for looting the company through a for the consortium! nity to suffer from the poor delivery of pate in protests against the Coca-cola yards, fi ll the freezers which prejudices myriad of corrupt practices. These The second irregularity relates to public services...and from dispropor- multinational and other trade union their health, stick up adverts, elaborate corrupt practices took the company to the fact that despite Potes claiming tionate price increases that arise as a activities in this oil port. exclusivity and fridge contracts. They the edge of bankruptcy in 2001. The that Parquesoft were the only company result of dirty contracts”. Our comrade was a member have to charge the customer and if they of SINTRAHOCAR and of cannot pay risk their own Money to pay SINALTRAINAL; a double member- Coca-Cola, so as to avoid being sacked. ship that he had as a legal mecha- They are obligad to work Sundays and Anti trade union violence in Colombia nism to protect the existence of holidays without rest .. there is a long SINALTRAINAL, due to the attacks list of abuses that they are subject to. Domingo Tovar Arrieta CUT- Director of Department of Human Rights and Solidarity Detentions in Casanare Robert Green iolence against the trade union movement in Colombia is the product of ffi cials from the holding them, eventually release them. a model of capitalist devel- Administrative Security Cunamá in Aguazul, Casanare is Vopment and economic strategy that Department (DAS) have made up of fi ve villages. Since 1996 favours multinational companies and been detaining community when BPʼs production started they existing national big business which Oactivists in Yopal, Casanare, the centre have been stigmatised and subject to all have traditionally viewed the organisa- of BPʼs oil fi eld. types of abuse and cruel treatment: 26 tional activities of workers as a source Luís Alejandro Moreno Barahona, people disappeared, 18 assassinated, of enmity. This has led to the system- president of the Community Action torture, death threats, forced displace- atic violation of the constitutional right Junta of Retiros Milagro, was arrested ment and massive detentions that have to association, and the fi nancing of war during a lunch event sponsored by affected all the inhabitants of the zone. and its application to labour disputes. BP. Juán de Jesús Rodríguez, Maria At 5am on 7 September 2006 units of The use of violence against the Death threat against SINALTRAINAL that reads Fernanda Hurtado Burgos and Edgar the 16th Army Brigade arrived at the Colombian trade union movement is Vitalina Fula were arrested at their house of Zaul Ferrucho, detaining him one of the most distinct features in A REGION FREE OF BIG MOUTHS homes in Triunfo village, as was José and Omar Alvarez , another farmer the history of trade unionisms in this THE REVOLUTION SHOULD ONLY BE IN HISTORY BOOKS NOT ON THE STREETS OF THE Epaminondas Rodríguez Martínez from the area. This brings to 40 the country. The prolonged existence and COUNTRY. FROM 1 TO 15 JUNE CLEANING OF REVOLUTIONARY TOADS (MOVEMENTS, from his home in Cunamá village. Jefry number of detentions of Cunamá insidious manifestation of violence ASSOCIATIONS, CORPORATIONS, TRADE UNIONS, ORGANISATIONS) THERE ARE TWO Martínez was arrested at the hospital inhabitants in the last three years, the has bought trade unionism to the brink BOXES ONE FOR YOUR TONGUE AND ONE FOR YOU. emergency room where his wife was majority without judicial order. of a dramatic and alarming humani- DEATH TO THE SON-OF-WHORE TOADS OF BARRANCA, MISCARRIED GUERRILLAS.... giving birth. This is the sixth time that tarian crisis; it is know secret, thanks a group of civilians has been similarly Write to Álvaro Uribe Vélez, to the myriad reports on the situa- ORGANISED SOCIAL CLEANING GROUPS arrested by DAS offi cials; in the past, Presidente de la Republica, tion by human rights organisation, FOR A BARRANCA FREE OF GUERILLAS residents have been arrested, taken to E-mail: auribe@presidencia. that Colombia is the most dangerous Yopal for questioning, and handed over gov.co and Francisco Santos, country in the world in which to exer- the guerrilla. During the fi st term of criminate violence or as accidental to the Fiscalía investigators who, real- Vicepresidente de Colombia, E-mail: cise the right to trade union associa- government of current President Alvaro victims of violence that was directed izing there are no grounds to continue [email protected] tion. This desolate panorama continues Uribe Velez, 356 trade union activists, towards the trade union movement. to victimise trade unionists, continues leaders and members were murdered. However, this increase in human rights its terror and guarantees the system- The monthly average of killings or violations against women, the greatest Army abuses in mining zone atic implementation of impunity and disappearances of trade unionists has of which is forced displacement, must silence. Since 1991, 2201 trade union- also increased from 3 to 5 monthly. be seen within the framework of delib- Robert Green ists have been assassinated, 3172 have It is worth mentioning the extrajudi- erate violence against entire families received death threats and 187 workers cial execution of 3 leaders of the CUT and not just of violence against people he peasant mining communi- Tribunal on the mining sector taking have been disappeared. trade union section in Arauca, which who are not directly members of a ties of South Bolivar held a place in Medellin 11-13 November. In cases of murders of trade union- took place on 5 August 2004 at the trade union. PublicT Hearing on transnationals and In operations starting on 17 August ists, outside the armed confl ict, that hands of army soldiers, a situation that paramilitarism on 15 and 16 August Army Batallion Antiaéreo Nueva is when the worker is killed while at was completely opposed to the various extract from report: DERECHOS in Santa Rosa. It became clear that Granada has been carrying out mass home, at work or in the street, 83.54% discredited versions and set-ups of the HUMANOS, SOLUCION POLITICA, mining corporation Kedhada has been detentions and inhuman treatment of (of cases where the author is known) government which attempted to cast ACUERDOS HUMANITARIOS VS seeking contracts to buy up the whole civilians in the mining zone of Mino are attributable to agents of the state; the victims as members of an insur- SEGURIDAD DEMOCRATICA mining zone. (Kedhada is a subsidiary Gallo in South Bolivar. Women have 1.74% through direct involvement and gent group. – IMPUNIDAD (Human Rights, of the UK/South African conglomerate been abused, selected inhabitants led 81.88% through omission or the toler- Women and children have also paid a Political Solutions and Humanitarian Anglo Ashanti – see ʻGunning for into the woods and shot, their corpses ance of or assistance to paramilitary high price. Traditionally these victims Agreements V Democratic Security Goldʼ in FLA 3). These preliminary are paraded as trophies suspended groups. 16.37% are attributable to have been seen as the victims of indis- and Impunity) fi ndings will be fed into the national from poles or on muleback. 6 News Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Our America Crimes of the Multinationals In brief In brief García Regains Presidency Bolivia: in Peru Reform and nationalisation

ALAN GARCÍA Pérez, candidate of the social democratic APRA party, was elected President for five years on 4 June, in the second round run off against radical nationalist Ollanta Humala of the UPP. Garcíaʼs previous presidency from 1985-1990 was marked by flagrant human rights violations and economic collapse, and ended with charges of corruption. His re-election was made possible with the backing of the right, whose candidate Lourdes Flores Nano went out in the first round of voting. García had promised in his campaign EVO MORALES government has to tax foreign mining companies for announced a programme of land their windfall profits (only two of the 27 reform, in a country where just 300 biggest mining companies operating in families own 71% of the land there is Peru currently pay royalties). But once mass pressure for radical change. elected the new president discovered The 255 representatives of Boliviaʼs that existing contracts prevent this, and new Constituent Assembly met together in his very first announcement on taking for the first time in Sucre on 5-7 office, García declared on 28 July that August, to start the process of drafting there will be a voluntary fund adminis- a new constitution. The need for polit- tered by the companies themselves. ical reform was soon illustrated on 23 The second consequence of Garcíaʼs August when the right wing opposition victory is that Peru is going ahead with parties in the Senate voted together to ratifying the Free Trade Agreement censure Andrés Solís Rada, minister negotiated with the US by outgoing for Hydrocarbon and leader of the oil president Alejandro Toledo, formerly A ‘penguin” making a peaceful protest for educational reform in Chile and gas nationalisation process. a technocrat employed by the World Bank. See http://www.boliviasc.org.uk/ Morales is the first indigenous leader Bolivia has ha Mapuche resistance Oaxaca’s dangerousexpulsion. teachers THE BINATIONAL Front of Penguin revolution Indigenous Organizations (the Frente) is organizing in Mexicoʼs southern state Oaxaca and across the border in the US... A youth movement in Chile in the recent presidential campaign, the Frente supported the PRD candidate, Pilar Parra in Santiago former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. he revolution of the penguins so many students. Violence has escalated again in has been called the student The strongest demand of the last few Oaxaca. In early May, the stateʼs teachers movement with the biggest years has been for free inscription in struck for higher salaries and an end to impact for the last decade, the university selection test (PSU) that human rights violations. Thousands of Tandsince May it has kept the whole is now paid by the families. But what teachers occupied the main square in of Chilean society, from the highest happens for the socially marginal who the state capital. Over 120,000 Oaxaca authorities to the common people, cannot afford to pay? The youth say residents joined them in the largest rally attentive to its demands. “Free PSU tests”. LONKO MAPUCHE Jose Domingo, in the stateʼs history. On June 11, Ruiz 71 years old, was assassinated in the promised business owners he would use Who are the penguins? nd what has happened with early hours of 28 August in the Bollilco a heavy hand to put down the protest. As They are secondary students between public school transport? Grande community in Chile. Waikilaf parents woke their children, billowing fourteen and sixteen years old that have How many families can Cadin Calfunao of the Juan Paillalef clouds of tear gas filled the cobblestone provoked a great impact by putting all pay for other educational Mapuche community was detained on streets. Hundreds of police charged in. the issues that directly affect them Acosts on top of the PSU when the 17 August after the community had Within minutes, scores were beaten, but have not been resolved onto the minimum wage is 120 thousand pesos opposed tree felling to make way for and one pregnant woman miscarried. public agenda: public education is the (£119) a month? The government has electricty pylons. When Waiklaf was But Ruiz underestimated the teachers. emphasis in this unparalleled youthful not listened properly to the youth, the detained in 2005 he suffered torture by They retook the square at the end of the effervescence. The students have educational establishments. In Chile it tension of conflicts and repression of boiling water being poured on his back, day, and the following morning 300,000 made themselves heard through slass used to be until a few years ago that the students has been evident, with the it is feared that he is now being tortured people marched through Oaxaca stoppages, college occupations, street schooling lasted half a day, but in 2000 police using water cannon and physical in Temuco prison. demanding Ruizʼs resignation... demonstrations and a national strike. this was changed and a new system aggression against youth demonstra- On July 2, Mexicans went to the called JEC was implemented in which tions. Seewww http://www.mapuche-nation.org/ polls. The results gave a microscopic What do the youth ask for? a pupil has to be at school for 8 hours The lack of commitment by the 200,000-vote majority to PAN candi- They demand the withdrawal of the making severe problems such as the authorities is evident. There are Fidel date Felipe Calderon. Demands for a constitutional law on teaching instruc- lack of adequate places to eat lunch, many examples such as the minister recount and accusations of fraud were tion (LOCE by its Spanish acronym) which is taken in the classrooms, as who promised to come to meetings immediate. A million people rallied in that is inherited from the dictator there are not the facilities to cope with but never did, or as happened when Mexico Cityʼs main square on July 16, General Pinochet, who passed it two the government set up an advisory and two million on July 30, to demand days before departing office, leaving council to the president made up of 74 a recount. behind many of his party supporters members, only 12 of whom are young Despite the demands of thousands of in important education posts, some of people. Young people have been people encamped for weeks in down- which they still occupy. denied their right to be heard, yet they town Mexico City, and continued rallies Another aspect that troubles the are arguing for what is stated in Article in the zocalo, Mexican election authori- students is the freedom of teaching 19 of the Chilean constitution, the free ties refused to make a complete recount, that has permitted the multiplica- expression of an egalitarian education and certified Calderon as Mexicoʼs next tion of private colleges and universi- where the poor as well as the rich are REPORTS THAT Fidel Castro is recov- president. Nevertheless, millions of ties removing State responsibility for respected. And as is happening when ering from the illness that prompted the Mexicans see a clear difference in polit- education, and facilitated a small the President (Michelle Bachelet transferring of executive powers to his ical direction between the party and group of entrepreneurs profiting from – see report in FLA No. 3) promised younger brother Raúl were confirmed the social forces that support it, and the education as a business. to make millions of dollars available when his conversation with Hugo current political establishment. The students demand forms of educa- for education, but solutions have still Chávez was broadcast on Cuban televi- More importantly, they are challenging tion that are egalitarian, delivered with not arrived. sion on 2 September. the lack of human rights that keeps that quality and equity, and that the State The students will not give up the Colombian author Gabriel Garcia establishment in power. assumes responsibility of investing in initiative, they feel responsible for Marquez has published an article giving For full report see http://www.truthout. the most dispossessed social sectors. future generations, so this movement incite into Fidelʼs remarkably energetic org/docs_2006/090206F.shtml They also demand that the school day has been continuous and permanent. personality in Granma International is constructed with new programmes Cesar Valezuela, one of the main voices of This September the youth demonstra- Review. See http://www.granma.cu/ David Bacon of study and that youth stay inside the the student movement tions are already starting again. ingles/2006/agosto/lun7/33gabo.html Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Europe’s Treasure Map 7 Crimes of the Multinationals

PIRATES of the EUROPEAN Union

People’s Tribunal Map of European Plunder

A Peopleʼs Tribunal on European Transnationals and the power of corporations in Latin America and the Caribbean took place in Vienna 10-13 May 2006 as part of ʻLinking Alternatives 2ʼ, a breakthrough event in strengthening solidarity links that was held in MEXICO parallel with the offi cial heads of government summit. The fi nal Linking Alternatives session was a tumultuous rally with Presidents Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales and Vice President Carlos Lage from Cuba.

The Tribunal heard from social movements and NGOs concerning thirty two cases. The jury concluded that their evidence amounts to a serious accusation that EU corporations threaten the integral human rights of Latin GUATEMALA NICARAGUA American peoples including: their access to basic essential services, their KEY right to land, their right to sovereignty and food security, their labour R rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, and civil and political rights. ADO ALV For more information on continuing social struggles against EELL SALVADORS TOURISM exploitation by European multinationals in Latin America Riu ResorResorts,ts, IberIberoo Star, Melia, Oasis, Gala (Spain) contact the Colombia Solidarity Campaign or see Viva (Italy) • Hotel serservicesvices and associaassociatedted activities in http://www.alternativas.at/English/ La Riviera MaMaya,ya, Mexico. indexenglish.htm. FISHING INDUSTRY COLOMBIA CALCALVOVO (Spain) ECUADOR • Disputed labour rrightsights in El Salvador PERU TELECOMUNICATIONS Telefonica (Spain) • Disputed labour rrightsights in PerPeruu ELECTRICITY BRAZIL Union Fenosa (Spain) • Pr Privatisationivatisation in Colombia, GuaGuatemala,temala, El Salvador, NicaraNicaraguagua BOLIVIA HYDROCARBONS Repsol (Spain) • Opera Operationstions in ArArgentina,gentina, Bolivia, Ecuador CHILE WATER Suez (France) • Distr Distributionibution of drdrinkinginking wawaterter and sanitasanitationtion iinn Rosar Rosario,io, ArArgentinagentina • Water co-operation in El Alto, Bolivia • Distribution of drinking water and sanitation Uruguay. • Privatization of public services and distribution of water ARGENTINA and sanitation Brazil URUGUAY • Privatization of water in Hermosillo, Mexico Aguas de Barcelona (Spain) • Privatization of water in Hermosillo, Mexico. • Water co-operation in El Alto, Bolivia GTZ- coop aagencygency (Ger(Germany)many) FOOD AND CLEANING PRODUCTS • Wa Waterter co-operaco-operationtion in El Alto, Bolivia Unilever (England – Holland) • Disputed labour rrightsights in Brazil MINERALS MonterMonterriorio Metals (England) FORESTRY, PULP AND PAPER • Open cast mining in PerPeruu ENCE (Spain) BBVA (Spain) SALMON INDUSRTY AracrAracruzuz Celulosa (Norwa(Norway)y) ine (Norway) HarHarvestvest MarMarine (Norway) BOTINIA (Finland) ights in Chile • Disputed labour rrights in Chile Andritz AG (Austria) LAND ING (HoLland) Bennetton(Italy) • Cases of forest and pulp plantations in • Pur Purchasingchasing of land of the Mapuche people in Espirito Santo, Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay La Patagonia, Argentina FOOD AND AGRICULTURE BaBayer-Bayeryer-Bayer CropCrop Sciences (Germany)(Germany) • CommercializationCommercialization of agriculturalagricultural toxins, comsumerablecomsumerable productsproducts and GM seeds in Taccamarca,Taccamarca, PeruPeru Cargill and Bunge (Holland) • Commercialization of Soya products in Brazil Hendrix-Nutreco (Holland) • Soya feed production in Brazil Vion Food Group (Holland) • Processing of meat products in Brazil Rabobank (Holland) • Soya industry chain production in Brazil British Tobacco (England) • Chain production of Tobacco in Brazil 8 Comment & Analysis Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Latin America Tribunal The big split Latin America divides into two camps

words Diana Raby

enezuelaʼs entry into countries the political, juridical and lutionary power which exists, however Mercosur and Cubaʼs economic power structure remains imperfectly, in these two countries and approach to the South intact, with none of the ruptures which in Cuba, it is essential also to defend American economic bloc have shaken the edifice of bourgeois (although from a more critical stance) Vconfirm the alliance between revolu- authority in Venezuela and Bolivia. the reformist regimes of Brazil, tionary and reformist regimes in the It is the threat of such ruptures and of Argentina and Uruguay (and possibly region, while right-wing victories in political breakthroughs by the popular others) which provide a cushion and a Peru, Mexico and Colombia consoli- forces in other countries (Ecuador, tactical alliance to buttress the revo- date a pro-imperialist chain along the Peru, Mexico) which has led the local lutionary trio against the aggressive Pacific coast. oligarchies (with the active support plans of Washington and the neoliberal The geopolitical map of Latin and indeed barely disguised interven- “transition” projects of Brussels. America, in flux during the 2005-6 tion of Washington) to resort to elec- In this respect a very significant period of quasi-simultaneous elec- toral fraud and questionable legal and and encouraging development was the Hugo Chávez has fierce loyalty in 23 de enero Jess Hurd/Reportdigital.co.uk tions in many countries, appears constitutional manoeuvres in order to recent Mercosur summit in Córdoba, to be settling down into two quite prevent popular victory. Open dicta- Argentina, with the participation of distinct blocs: a progressive alliance Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. Not of the Mercosur countries (Brazil, only was Venezuelaʼs full membership Health revolution Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) ratified, but Cuba for the first time with Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, and signed agreements to begin formal a pro-imperialist neoliberal bloc of relations with the southern economic Mexico, Colombia, Peru and the small grouping. In addition the existing in 23 de Enero Central American republics, with members and Venezuela, under the Chile wavering uneasily between the evident leadership of Chávez, signed words Andy Higginbottom two camps. By neat geographical coin- a pact for economic equalisation and cidence, the progressive bloc has an integrated social justice measures. l 23 de enero is a barrio on and started giving medical and dental Atlantic orientation while the conserv- This pact has the potential to trans- the west of Caracas that took services, working and living in the ative bloc runs along the mountainous form Mercosur from a mere customs its name from the day in 1958 community. This was the first time cordilleras of the Pacific coast from union into an integrated politico- when its people joined the in their lives that residents had been Mexico to Chile. economic bloc with a clear alternative Erising to overthrow dictator Marcos able to visit a doctor without travel- Of course on closer examination the project to neoliberal globalisation, Pérez Jimenéz. This barrio is consid- ling, because middle class Venezuelan picture is more complex. The progres- along the lines of the Venezuelan ered a bastion of chavismo, in fact this doctors had never even entered el sive bloc consists of two quite distinct ALBA proposal (the Bolivarian reputation is based on the areaʼs inde- veinte-tres. groupings, a trio of popular revolu- Alternative for the Americas). pendent tradition of resistance, it has These two initiatives are being tionary regimes in Cuba, Venezuela Although not explicitly anti-capitalist, lost dozens of activists to the repres- brought together in the Mission and Bolivia as opposed to reformist torship remains a solution of last resort this represents the biggest direct chal- sion of earlier regimes, and in 1993 called ʻBarrio Adentroʼ / Into the governments in the original Mercosur which imperialism is reluctant to adopt lenge to imperialist hegemony in the local people set up the Coordinadora Neighbourhood in which local activists states. The neoliberal Pacific chain after the experience of the seventies region since the Sandinista revolu- Cultural Simón Bolívar to build a are working part-time as assistants to has weak links in Nicaragua (where a and eighties (although they did attempt tion in Nicaragua. In Chávezʼ words, network of grass roots initiatives. the Cuban doctors, meanwhile they are Sandinista victory in the forthcoming it in Venezuela in 2002), just as for the “ALCA [the FTAA] is dead, and a new Despite the modern, French designed, studying to become doctors, preparing elections seems probable) and Ecuador popular forces armed struggle remains Mercosur has been born!” apartment blocks at its centre, that the to takeover the service in 6 years (where the political situation remains off limits since it would destroy the However the obstacles to the materi- people occupied in 1958, ʻel veinte- time. Their education is through the very unstable and even the current legitimacy gained in two decades of alisation of this new Mercosur project tresʼ suffered decades of government highly decentralised and participative Palacios government is making over- peaceful constitutional participation. are considerable. The two smallest neglect. Things have changed dramati- Bolivarian University. Three trainees tures to Venezuela), and above all in In this context it is significant that members, Uruguay and Paraguay, are cally since the election in 1998 of told us that since middle class doctors Mexico where the apparently fraudu- Colombia, the one country in which weak links in other respects than size: Hugo Chávez, whose initiatives have would never come to the barrio, the lent imposition of the right-wing PAN armed insurgency continues, remains Uruguay is still considering a bilat- earned fierce loyalty from the people. only solution is for the barrio to create candidate Francisco Calderón and its the lynchpin of US hegemony in eral Free Trade Agreement with the The local police station where youth its own doctors. This is evidence of contestation by López Obrador and his the region and the country in which US and has signed agreements with used to be tortured was recovered and a real cultural revolution taking place supporters may produce a situation of popular forces have had most difficulty several multinationals of the pulp and now serves as a social centre and the within Venezuelaʼs working class. chronic instability. in making constitutional and electoral paper industry, and Paraguay is the home of a community radio station, an Under the slogan, “We will never progress. Uribeʼs repressive policies, site of a major US base for espionage emblem of fundamental changes in the return to the past”, the community has Class conflict continuing the anti-popular practices in the entire region. The dilemma of relation between state and society. a vibrant website in Spanish at http:// In reality the geopolitical division is a of the Colombian oligarchy, have the Uruguayan government is under- It was el veinte-tres that welcomed www.el23.net/. product of intense political and social gained electoral ratification through standable: a small country with few one of Chávezʼs first literacy Community activists are keen to confrontations in each country, caused the rhetoric of “democratic security” natural resources and little industry, programmes, Mission Robinson, open up an English language section, by twenty years of neoliberal policies and counter-terrorism. In these condi- it has few economic alternatives. But staffed by Cuban volunteers. Then in if you can help with translations and the popular response to them. In tions the relative advance of the legal over a year ago Venezuela provided May 2003 doctors arrived from Cuba contact them through the website. some countries (Venezuela, Bolivia) popular forces with Carlos Gaviria the Uruguayans with the beginnings this has led to revolutionary or near- and the Polo Democrático Alternativo of an alternative in the spirit of ALBA revolutionary ruptures in which is encouraging but inadequate, in by agreeing to supply cheap oil and radical regimes based on the organised dramatic contrast to the victories or to purchase Uruguayan products, in strength of the social movements have near-victories in neighbouring coun- particular cement (one of the few indus- come to power. Ecuador has also been tries. trial products in which the country has on the brink of such a breakthrough an advantage) in return. This surely more than once in the past six years. ALBA: the Bolivarian Alternative in is the path which the Broad Front In other countries (Brazil, Uruguay) practice government ought to pursue rather left-wing parties and candidates have Those who identify with popular than submission to US hegemony. come to power through elections within anti-globalisation and anti-capitalist With US-Venezuelan tensions the confines of liberal parliamentarism, struggle may well question the meagre increasing and with the threat of or in the case of Argentina a President results of electoral participation in destabilisation in Bolivia, the dangers identified with one of the traditional many countries, and the disappointing for the alternative project are enor- governing parties has adopted nation- achievements of leftist governments in mous. But the possibility of further alist and progressive positions which Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. But the advances for progressive forces go some way towards meeting popular real (if still incomplete) breakthroughs in Nicaragua and Ecuador cannot demands. The reformist governments in Venezuela and Bolivia show that a be discounted, and Latin America of Lula, Kirchner and the Uruguayan genuine political alternative exists in continues to offer greater hope than Frente Amplio have been unable which popular power can become a any other world region in the struggle and/or unwilling to take more radical reality at state level. to build an anti-capitalist and anti- Local volunteers training to be doctors through the Bolivarian University Jess Hurd measures, above all because in these In order to defend the popular revo- imperialist alternative.

Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Coke Boycott 9 Latin America Tribunal Accused of crimes against humanity: Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Chiquita

Marianne Aeberhard and Lara Coleman in Bogotá

n 1 and 2 April in Bogotá, the CONAPROLE from Uruguay to mix with fresh multinational companies Coca- powdered milk and re-label it with another expiry Cola, Nestlé and Chiquita Brands date, ready for re-export a part to Venezuela and were put on trial in the first of six distribute the rest in Colombia. The Department hearings of the Colombia Chapter of State Security (DAS) confiscated this milk of the Permanent Peoplesʼ Tribunal. The testi- before it could be re-exported. Onofre Esquivel, Omony presented led the jury to the conclusion that the union leader who denounced the re-labelling the companies are responsible for serious human of powdered milk and other cases of contami- rights violations, the casualisation of work, and nated food and water was afterwards declared by for policies that contribute to the low standard of Nestlé to be an enemy of the corporation. In the living and hunger that face much of the Colombian Colombian context, declarations of this type put population. trade unionists in danger for their life. The campaigns that have been working against Coca-Cola and Nestle for the last few years in Evidence and ruling England and Switzerland respectively, took part In addition to the oral evidence, lawyers presented in the Tribunal. mountains of written proof to the judges. In The Permanent Tribunal of the People was summing up the cases, the judges mentioned established in 1979 as a successor to the Russell by Domingo Tovar, head of the CUT department Nestlé the quality of the evidence and underlined the Tribunals on Vietnam (1966-7) and the dictator- of human rights, focussed on the criminalisation The Nestlé cases were introduced by Carlos role that paramilitarism has played as a mecha- ships in Latin America (1974-6). It is a mecha- of social protest. We heard testimony from various Olaya, who confronted the economic strategy of nism for carrying out the illegal actions of the nism of alternative justice which seeks to reveal trade unionists that have been harassed by Coca- profit maximisation, and above all the policy of State and transnational companies in reducing the true causes of the crimes, to establish the Cola and branded as guerrillas. One such leader importing and exporting prime materials from workerʼs rights. Responsibility for 10 murders corresponding legal responsibilities and to had been imprisoned with no evidence against other countries while at the same time the corpo- of Nestlé workers and 9 Coca-Cola workers was propose a policy of integral reparation for the him, and others had been tortured or suffered ration carries out an anti-trade union policy that placed firmly at the door of the multinationals. damages caused in areas where the mass viola- attempts against their lives because of this stig- leaves the workers in a precarious situation. The jury condemned Coca-Cola, Nestlé and tion of fundamental rights finds no institutional matisation. The first presentation was moving, as witnesses Chiquita Brands for “serious and massive viola- recourse. This is the second time that Colombia The hearing also revealed very clearly the testified to several assassinations, arrests, raids, tions of workersʼ rights and specifically the has been under the Tribunalʼs gaze, following effects of casualisation of work within Coca- investigations without just cause and threats to freedom to organise in trade unions; for under- the 1989-91 session that investigated impunity Cola, which was the third case. While this current and former Nestlé workers since the mining the dignity and lives of workers and their for crimes against humanity in twelve Latin violence against their workers and criminali- foundation of SINALTRAINAL in 1982. In the communities; for defrauding their consumers” American countries. sation of protest have been in fill swing, the 1990s the union and the Nestlé workers realised and finally the jury affirmed “that any individual Fifteen years later, the Tribunal is once again company has been carrying out a process of many of their demands through hard struggles, linked with these corporations shares legal examining the violation of the fundamental rights restructuring, enabling them to accumulate strikes and factory occupations. Héctor Daniel responsibility as an author or accomplice to the of the majority of the Colombian population, capital “more efficiently.” The company has a Useche Berón, a Nestlé worker and one of the crimes against humanity in which the companies this time fixing their gaze on the multinational share valuation equivalent to US$ 628 million, most important SINALTRAINAL leaders, was were involved.” companies which operate in the country and have despite never having invested a single dollar of assassinated. Today the campaign against Nestlé The ruling of the judges also underlined the been involved, in the words of the judges, in a their own capital in the country. has a mural of the city wall of Bugalagrande to fact that these crimes remain in complete impu- “network of violence rooted in a State strategy Coca-Cola has reported production cost record the cruel assassination by unknown men nity, and that those who have denounced them and incentivised and controlled by hemispheric savings of US$ 118 million during the 1990s. of Héctor Useche whilst walking home with his have themselves been prosecuted. The jury policies that seek to legitimise security impera- These savings have come at a high human cost small daughter. In very moving words the widow condemned the Colombian State for “failing to tives for large investors and big business.” The through lay-offs, cuts to rights and benefits such of Nestlé worker Luciano Romero tried to relate comply with their obligations to prosecute crimes current session will be made up of a series of as access to health care, and through a policy what happened when he was assassinated by against humanity, and in particular the violation hearings between 2006 and 2008 which will of sub-contracting labour to agencies which paramilitaries on 11 September 2005. All of of the right to an effective legal recourse and examine the themes of mining, biodiversity, pay workers the minimum wage, provide no the cases that were presented are in impunity i.e internationally recognised rights of the victims oil, public services and indigenous peoples as health care and charge employees for their work with no charges or convictions against the perpe- of such crimes, due to the absence of any genu- well agri-food which was the theme of the first uniforms and equipment. Workers also have to trators. inely independent judiciary.” hearing. work up to 16 hour days without overtime. The judges emphasised the links between the Multinationals operating in the Colombian We also heard evidence from three disabled he case of the Cicolac Ltda. factory activities of transnational corporations in the agro-food sector have over the last few years former workers with serious infirmities, for in Valledupar best reflects Nestlé agro-alimentary sector and hunger, underlining been the subject of campaigns by European whom Coca-Cola have refused to accept any corporationʼs anti-union policy. that “the effects of the Colombian stateʼs agro- organisations and movements. The Coca-Cola responsibility. An example is the case of Manuel Between February 2002 and alimentary policies, coupled with the strategic boycott has been growing among student and Torres, 68 years old, who lost his sight in an September 2003 negotiations on the control by the transnationals of this sector, have grass-roots social organisations, particularly in industrial accident in the Bucaramanga plant workers demands culminated in the liquidation resulted in high levels of malnutrition and hunger Italy, the UK and Ireland, since its launch in July when he was 22. Coca-Cola continued to pay his Tof the collective agreement and union organisa- in the majority of the Colombian population.” 2003 and despite strong opposition from sectors salary until 1990, until a verbal assurance from tion, with just one unionised worker left in the of the trade union movement that enjoy close the company that they would continue with this factory. This trade unionist, Alfonso Barón, Resisting the global system links with transnational capital. financial assistance and would possibly assist explained how nine other workers, including On 3 April, the day after the Tribunal, a him to buy a house. However, the house never seven union committee members, were sacked conference named “Peoplesʼ Voices on the Cases against Coca-Cola materialised and the company stopped paying after an imaginary strike - that only ever existed Transnationals” took place, the aim of which We heard testimony from friends and family of any money 8 years ago, forcing Manuel to beg in the head of the bosses and an official from the was to analyse the problems of the agri-food some of the 9 murdered workers and other victims outside the factory and to sell lottery tickets in Ministry of Social Protection - had been declared sector in Colombia, as well as the violation of of crimes against humanity. One of the witnesses order to cover his basic requirements. illegal by the employer. On 17 September 2003, human and trade union rights in the sector and was Martin Gil, brother of Isidro Gil who was the leaders of the SINALTRAINAL branch in the serious problem of malnutrition of a large assassinated on 5 December 1996 inside the Coke Chiquita Brands Valledpuar were called to a meeting with Nestlé proportion of Colombians living within a global plant in Carepa, Antioquia on the orders of the The links between Chiquita Brands and para- in Bogotá. Meanwhile the workers were called system where food is a business controlled by plant manager during negotiations between the militarism were even more shocking. Recent together in hotels in Valledupar, where they had the multinationals in every stage from the seed trade union and employer. Martin told us how on evidence was presented of the companyʼs finan- to renounce “voluntarily” their work contract. to food distribution. the day his brother was murdered, he too had to cial support to paramilitary groups, including If the workers did not accept they were pursued The second part of the conference provided a flee the town after his name appeared on a para- the companyʼs 2001 trafficking of 3,000 AK- to their homes and violently pressured with platform for indigenous and campesino (peasant military death list, thus leaving the entire family 47 rifles and 5 million bullets to paramili- death threats. In the end more than 180 workers farmer) groups to speak of their experiences destitute. Gil could barely contain his tears as he tary groups in Cordoba and Urabá who are “accepted” their own resignation. Today the of resistance and construction of alternative recounted how his mother had died from the pain responsible for thousands of crimes against employer continues production with workers production and consumption processes- proc- of the murder, and how his sister-in-law had been humanity in these regions of the country. We contracted under very precarious conditions esses that seek not only to overcome problems of murdered 4 years after the killing of her husband heard very powerful testimony from a number and with minimum salaries through another malnutrition, but also to reassert peoplesʼ sover- following her constant denunciations of his death. of individuals and groups including the Peace Nestlé company called Dairy Partners Americas eignty over their food culture, so that this culture Ten years later, Isidroʼs murder remains in impu- Community of San José de Apartado who have Manufacturing Colombia Ltda. is not destroyed in the same way as workers nity, and the company has provided no social become victims of a continuous persecution The case of Nestléʼs repackaging of powdered and their families, by a homogenising tendency security for his orphaned children. due to their refusal to collaborate with any milk was presented. The corporation had in the current food chain which seeks a world The second case against Coca-Cola, presented armed groups. imported this milk under the brand name where we all eat Kit Kats and drink Coke. 10 Coke Boycott Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 UKSAC Coca-Cola One narrow defeat ...a few wins and a whole new country

Claire Hall UK Students Against Coke

he campaign to boycott Coca-Cola products suffered to marketing to children, and overseas worker rights and envi- a narrow defeat at the National Union of Students ronmental issues. (NUS) conference in Blackpool 28-30 March. Before (see http://www.killercoke.org/) the conference started, eleven student unions had policy for the boycott. The organisations working Sussex University Students ban all Coke products against UKSAC were: Coca-Cola, trade unions AMICUS, ussex University has become the first campus in TGMB, T&G, Justice for Colombia (JFC) and the three best the country to ban all Coca-Cola products from its organised factions in NUS - Labour Students and the Organised studentsʼ union in protest at the companyʼs unethical Independents, as well as the Fletcherites (proteges of NUS practices. Dan Glass, the president of Sussex President Kat Fletcher). Universityʼs studentsʼ union explains: Coca-Cola had hired Douglas Trainer, a former Labour “We had objections to Coca-Cola on the grounds of health but Students president of NUS, now a publicist with Luther Sthe really big things were the anti-union practices in Colombia Pendragon, to work against us. He had been to speak to all the and the environmental damage they have done in India ... Our big unions, and to JFC (who refused their support), and to the ultimate goal is to make Coca-Cola accountable for the crimes it NUS bureaucrats as well. has committed, but by banning all its products from the campus, The motions came up on the last day of conference - which is we can hit them where it hurts them most - in the wallet.” spread over three days. Since the bureaucrats shortened confer- Students at other universities, including Edinburgh, Middlesex, ence, there has been less time to discuss things: this meant an Leeds, Portsmouth and the University of East Anglia, have voted additional emergency motion of ours, arguing for a shortened to either students against these purchases or to remove products contract for Coke, didnʼt get discussed at all. from their campuses. The general Colombia motion was spoken for, in a speech that included an attack on our amendment. It then came to the anti- Latvia Bans Coca-Cola, Pepsi in Schools boycott amendment. We had a speech against - but only one he Latvian government banned schools from selling minute, not enough time. That amendment passed, with scarcely food and beverages it considers unhealthy, including further debate. soft drinks made by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. The Our amendment (pro-boycott) came up. Had it passed, it would ban covers all products that contain artificial food have deleted the anti-boycott text already passed – everyone colourings, flavourings, sweeteners and caffeine. knew this, so the fact that the previous amendment had passed In July, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sent didnʼt mean so much. Unfortunately, it got hit right away with a Ta letter to Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga asking that procedural motion, to remove all the stuff worth having in it (i.e. sales of Coca-Cola should not be banned in Latviaʼs schools. for the boycott), and which made it such that no one (including Albright is a director of the Albright Group LLC, whose activi- us) would really have wanted to vote for it. Unfortunately, ties include brokering agreements with governments and busi- someone not involved with the campaign got the speech against nesses and building strategic relationships with opinion leaders, the procedural motion, and the arguments we wanted to be heard according to the groupʼs website. Coca-Cola is one of its clients. were not. The speech in favour was taken by Fletcher, a very World cup anti-Coke poster by German group Kolombien Kampagne The ban will come into force on 1 November. good speaker who commands a lot of respect. The procedural motion passed, 300 to 259. new space can be created within our student unions. This will It was popularly believed that we were going to get absolutely bring the campaign very much back to the grassroots level and One New Country hammered on conference floor, and when the hands were raised many more students will be challenged by the campaign to think olombien Kampagne is a German group which on each side of the debate, it was obvious that weʼd achieved about what Coca-Cola actually is, and their own complicity in is part of the European Network of Colombian much more than our opponents had given us credit for. the crimes of the company. Solidarity Groups, as is CSC. Coca-Colaʼs spon- Itʼs worth giving a summary of which arguments were used. sorship of the 2006 World Cup gave them a focus They said (amongst other things): and the campaign started to move. A combination - UK trade unions, JFC and CUT donʼt support the boycott A few of the Winʼs of fantastic art work, public meetings and direct action has meant - SINALTRAINAL is just one among 13 Coke unions in Kthat people in Germany have started to learn about the dark side Coke banned from Indian State of Kerala Colombia of Coke. The image of the bullet sponsored by Coca-Cola makes - the boycott will cost us money he State of Kerala has order Coke and Pepsi to cease the link between paramilitaries and Coca-Cola all to clear and - Hernando Hernandez asks you to vote against the boycott production after yet another study showed that the people are responding, level of pesticides in their products make them very During the World Cup, protests took place during the At the opening of conference Hernando Hernandez a member harmful. The study by the Centre for Science and Colombia-Germany game, huge advertising by Coke was ripped of FENSUAGRO, the Colombian farmers union had spoken, Environment (CSE), found a “cocktail of between down in Berlin and hundreds of people collectively poured Coke orchestrated by Fletcher. He gave a generally good speech, and three to five different pesticides in all samples” of Coca-Cola down the drains. then called for support for the general motion on Colombia, Tand Pepsi products they tested in India. On average the pesti- A Kola Konferenz was held before a packed audience, with and the anti-boycott amendment (although in subsequent corre- cide residues were 24 times higher than European Union (EU) Cokeʼs reps daring to turn up. In the UK they no longer attend spondence FENSUAGRO assure us that their representative had standards. public meetings as they cannot defend the facts. Instead they no intention of influencing the vote). Coca-Cola and Pepsi have now been banned in government choose to send a standard letter. Well-informed participants We believe that Fletcher had sought and achieved NUSʼs and educational institutions by many states in India, including successfully challenged the Coke reps and they left early when affiliation to JFC shortly after our campaign came on the radar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Andhra they realised that their usual selective and empty facts werenʼt so as to make it look like she cared about Colombia. During Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. sticking. Coke are getting wiser with the tactics and it is her speech she used sickening rhetoric to present herself as the The Supreme Court of India has ordered Coca-Cola and unlikely that they will be showing their face in an open public active solidarity activist who really cared for Colombia and that Pepsico to reveal the ingredients in their products, or face a space in Germany again, a shame because it feels like a win for us ʻboycottersʼ were passive and not helping anyone. potential national ban. In the seventies the same demand was SINALTRAINAL and the Campaign every time they get walked State of the Union The voices of SINALTRAINAL and Indian women were not made, which contributed to Coke being banned nationally. They all over in a debate. present in that conference room, only the ambitions of politi- were allowed back in towards the late 1990s but will Coke be Six days after this conference the University of Arts voted Coke’s Crimes IN COLOMBIA cians. kicked out of India soon? Maybe 2006/07 is going to see the 10 to 1 to ban the sale and marketing of Cokeʼs products from However, they were present outside the conference. We held communities win their campaign. their campuses. A few weeks later the Student Parliament of a great fringe meeting. The preparing for the speeches, the leaf- (see India Resource Centre http://www.indiaresource.org/) the University of Cologne decided to boycott all beverages of leting, the talking to students was where the magic energy was. the Coca-Cola Company in the collegeʼs common areas and There was trust, interesting and respectful debate that was full Coke dropped from a Social Choice Account cafeterias. The Students Unions at Wuppertal University has of real emotion and truth, in contrary to the empty fake speeches oca-Cola was ejected from the $8 billion (£4.38 also decided to support the Campaign and more new groups are we heard by the bureaucrats. billion) TIAA-CREF Social Choice Account, a fund forming around the country, vowing to wage campaigns. The national contracts between NUSSL, the commercial arm which invests according to social criteria, in July Branches of the public services “Verdi” are starting to get of NUS, and Coke have been signed for another 3.5 years, but 2006. The fund has more than 430,000 investors Coca-Cola out of their cafeterias after an article about the individual universities can now get full dispensation. This means and is billed as the worldʼs largest social fund for Campaign was published in the union magazine which has read- that with a democratic mandate we can remove Coke from our individual investors. As of 31 March, the Social Choice Account ership of more than 2 million workers. campuses. Chad 1.2 million shares of Coca-Cola. The fundʼs consultants said All these tremendous efforts put the scandalous manouvering We feel that while we marginally lost in their space, a whole the soft-drink maker did not meet requirements in areas relating at the NUS conference into better perspective. Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Coke Boycott 11 Coca-Cola Coke’s agenda The corporate whitewash of paramilitaries words Andy Higginbottom

ow much money does tion to all the worker victims and their la Espriella Otero, Colombiaʼs best paid a corporation need to families to ʻmitigate the impactʼ of its lawyer, and founder of this reportʼs co- spend to get away with own aggressive policies? publishers FIPAZ two years ago. De murder? Despite the corporate social respon- la Espriella has been pressurising for Corporate whitewash sibility gloss, the report cannot but a referendum so that all armed actors Tracey Moberly and Raquel Chávez (right) in Mexico. has taken a massive leap into outright betray that the core mindset remains be accorded political status, and for Hbrazenness with the publication of a ʻhow best to carry on exploiting,ʼ as the Constitution to prohibit extradition report entitled Development, Peace represented in what the authors call “two points that are exactly the same as and Human Rights in Colombia: A the ʻspheres of infl uenceʼ model: the the paramilitaries have been seeking”, Coke repeating Business Agenda* by the The Prince confl ict is presented as a situation pre- as Semana says. And FIPAZʼs fi rst of Wales International Business existing the corporationʼs presence, forum took place at Santafé Ralito, Tracey Moberly thus become an integral part of the Leaders Forum (IBLF), in associa- in which the responsible corpora- the gathering point for ʻdemobilisedʼ practice of Chamulan Catholicism tion with the Fundación Ideas para la tion must do good by all the actors it paramilitaries, and consisted of 600 exico is home to 104 It is drunk nearly every time they Paz / Foundation of Ideas for Peace comes into contact with. The problem students who received free transport million people and consume posh. “Coca-Cola is the most (FIPAZ) and UN Global Compact. with this model is that the realities and lodgings. Appearing as special growing by 2 million dynamic merchandise in the highlands The product of this aristocratic alli- guests alongside de la Espriella each year. The demand of Chiapas - more than beans, or corn, ance - a blue blood British NGO, a were paramilitary leaders Salvatore Mfor water has outstripped supply in or coffee.” front for Colombian business, and the Mancuso and ʻErnesto Báezʼ, an alias many states. In the agricultural state One day a year, El Dia de San Juan UNʼs notoriously toothless corporate for Iván Roberto Duque. ofWhat Guanajuato, for example,is the water (St. Johnʼs Saintʼs Day), the town responsibility scheme respectively - De la Espriella is well connected table is falling by 1.8-3.3 meters a consumes over 100,000 Coca Colas shows just how far business establish- with the business world and politicians year.XXXXXXXXX? More Coca-Cola products are -- almost three per person. ment attempts have reached to co-opt as well as top paramilitaries. He is consumed per person in Mexico than The Coca Cola Nazi Advert the language of human rights whilst 60% shareholder of the fi rm Lawyers any other country, and the company Exhibitionʼ curated by Mark Thomas denying their substance. Enterprise Ltda. which will charge has 70% of the nationʼs soft drinks and Tracey Moberly has amassed A big clue to how seriously to treat US $800,000 for advice concerning market. over 400 artists on itʼs national this apparent conversion to human Bogotáʼs international airport, called In the Chiapas region of Mexico, and international tour. The French rights lies in the following: “Funding El Dorado, aptly enough for him. El the import of Catholicism by Spanish author William Reymond has recently for this publication and the associated Dorado is being planned for priva- missionaries has been twisted and written about the exhibition in his leadership dialogues in Colombia, tization. Semana reports that other braided with the shamanism, herbal No.1 French non fi ction best seller Europe and the United States is members of FIPAZʼs board have lore and mythology passed on in tradi- ʻThe Forbidden Investigationʼ by kindly provided by The Coca-Cola similar links with paramilitaries and tional Mayan culture. The Chamulan Editions Flammorion (see http:// Company”. the uribista far right. Looks like the Catholics depend on the consumption www.williamreymond.com/) The report notes that “Colombia $ Coke money is being well spent on of a ceremonial alcohol brewed from See also: is ...the most dangerous place in the FIPAZ. corn called posh, an essential compo- (http://www.sanderswood.com/ world to be a trade unionist. As well as With FIPAZ involved, only the nent in the practice of their faith. The for Traceyʼs reports on the WSF the devastating impact in lives lost and of neo-liberalism have been made gullible can take the IBLF report at incorporation of posh into the spir- in Venezuela, the Zapatistas and families affected, employer/employee invisible, yet corporate profi t-making face value. Nonetheless its publication itual life of Chamula began in the Finding Raquel Chávez in Mexico. relations suffer added barriers to is itself a fundamental driver of the underlines the need for civil society to 1940s. People drink posh to kill the Tracey takes the Nazi Coke Adverts efforts to build mutually benefi cial social confl ict, providing the incen- create monitoring of corporate opera- evil spirits inside, and then they burp Exhibition to Moscow on 10 October, relationships”. Quite, so why doesnʼt tive to force people off their land, tions that is independent of commercial the spirits out. Coca-Cola, recognized from where it will tour throughout Coca-Cola have a ʻleadership dialogueʼ submit independent communities and interests, with research that is rooted as the most effi cient way to burp, has Russia. See next FLA for report) with SINALTRAINAL, the very trade exterminate militant trade union- in the experiences of the workers and union that has had eight of its members ists. Indeed, the very term ʻspheres of communities, and that stays account- assassinated? infl uenceʼ has deep imperial connota- able to them. This is the signifi cance The report urges “Colombian compa- tions, harking back to the time of the of the programme of Public Opinion nies and international corporations colonial Great Powers dividing up the Tribunals that the social movement in with operations in Colombia ...to take a world into territorial zones under their Colombia is holding over a two year proactive role in helping to mitigate the control. period. It is important that we support impact of the confl ict, support humani- In Colombia corporations employ them, not only as one-off events but as tarian efforts and human rights, and dirty methods systematically, but the part of a permanent, organic and cred- contribute to more equitable social and connections usually stay well buried. ible alternative to the well funded lies economic development”. If so, instead The nasty reality behind this latest of multinational corporations. of forking out for the international jet- whitewash endeavour has however been setting needed to produce this report, revealed in a Semana magazine article *http://www.iblf.org/docs/ why doesnʼt Coca-Cola pay compensa- (20.8.06) concerning one Abelardo de ColombiaEng.pdf Killer Coke at Global Village John Smith with widespread opposition to US/ Indian farmers call for a boycott and UK/Israeli policy clashing with publicising a workshop on Coca- our thousand fi ve hundred the wishes of the leaders of some Cola in Colombia. (This is contained young people, one third of European social democratic youth within the movie that can be down- State of the Union whom had travelled from groups not to ʻtake sidesʼ. loaded from http://www.globalvil- more than 40 countries The international committee lage2006.org/en/festival/gv_tv/gv_ Coke’s Crimes IN COLOMBIA Faround the world, recently joined organising the camp decided before tv_monday_7_august.) A stall set up in a 10-day camp hosted by the the event to support Sinaltrainalʼs one afternoon sold 50 copies of the New DVD now available. Woodcraft Folk, an internationalist call for a world-wide boycott of Killer Coke magazine and sold out of £2.50 and ecology-minded organisation for Coca-Cola and ban its products from t-shirts; 1,500 campaign leafl ets were young people in Britain. The main sale at Global Village. By the end of distributed. Two workshops were theme of Global Village 2006 was the camp, everyone had heard about held on Coca-Cola, each attended To order your copy to struggle against global poverty by the reasons for this decision. Amy by several dozen youth of different email: [email protected] mobilising young people to achieve N., 15 years old and from a township nationalities, resulting in a deci- the UNʼs millennium develop- in South Africaʼs Cape province, sion to continue campaigning within or send a cheque to: ment goals, which aim to halve the appeared on the popular nightly Woodcraft by setting up an e-mail Colombia Solidarity Campaign number of people living in extreme GVTV news programme pouring list to coordinate anti-Coke activi- PO Box 8446 London poverty by 2015. Israelʼs war against what appeared to be blood from a ties by Woodcraft members (who can the Palestinian and Lebanese people bottle of Coca-Cola as she explained join by visiting http://lists.riseup.net/ aroused a lot of debate and activity, why Colombian trade unionists and www/info/wcf_cocacola_action). 12 Environment Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Environment Colombia La Guajira Uribe and Chavez’s business Buenaventura football massacre: 12 dead but still no justice words Emilitoh Habana

elations between Presidents demand from the North American that also include the building of a road Uribe and Chavez, since market has been strengthened with the to link central Colombia with Tribuga the arrival to power of the construction of the pipeline. Through on the Pacific coast, and the construc- Colombian president, have this infrastructure, Venezuela will tion of a deep water port to enable Rapparently been tense. Remember the supply gas to the entire NAFTA region commercial links with China. “Granda Case” where agents from (Mexico, USA and Canada) and to the For many years the Indigeous Wayu Colombiaʼs Security Police, the DAS, Central American countries recently and Uwa people of the Colombian entered Venezuelan territory where incorporated in the free trade agree- Guajira have been and continue to be, they then kidnapped a member of ment with the US. Commercial rela- the victims of torture, forced displace- the FARC in Caracas, took him back ment and massacres through the para- to Colombia and then extradited military strategy of the Colombian him to the USA. Previous to this, State. Coincidentally, the gas pipeline 50 Colombian paramilitaries were will pass through Wayu and Uwa terri- arrested on a farm outside Caracas tory. Afro-Colombian and Embera Campesinos speak out about the destruction caused to their land Jorge Mata/Surimages where they were planning a coup Wounan indigenous populations in dʼetat against Chavezʼs government. the Atrato have suffered the same However, in matters of commercial repression since the start of Operation relations and infrastructure projects, Genesis, led by the notorious General BP pipeline pain relations between the two Presidents Rito Alejo del Rio in 1997. Until have been entirely harmonious. this day, these offensives against the During his most recent visits to people have ensured a steady depopu- P has finally paid out money to suffering in order to receive compen- Venezuela, Uribe has acted as the lation of territories rich in bio-diver- over 50 farms that used to support sation from a company that parades its spokesman of international energy sity, paving the way for big agro- severalB hundred campesino families commit to the environment and human capital, and of the Bush government business to implement the cultivation in Antioquia, some ten years after the rights? itself, pushing their joint philosophy of African palm, cocoa and rubber, OCENSA pipeline was built under Can we really believe BPʼs spin of Free Trade and regional projects deforestation, road building and of the control of the London based oil about its commitment to Corporate such as the South American Regional course- the gas pipeline. It is public company. Social Responsibility? BPʼs executive Infrastructure Integration (IIRSA by knowledge, although President Chavez The terms of the settlement are board ignored years of campaigning its Spanish acronym) and the Plan seems to have forgotten, that the areas Hugo Chávez: President of Venezuela covered by a confidential agreement by the Colombia Solidarity Campaign; Puebla Panama (PPP). where state sponsored violence is most insisted on by BP, but are believed to our interventions at the BP AGMs and In August 2002, during a visit to tions with the Asian markets will also acute in Colombia coincide with areas be worth a total of £1.6 million for the even a meeting with its chairman, Peter Venezuela, Uribe pushed the proposal be opened. proposed for mega-projects such as the farmers and an equal amount for their Sutherland in December 2003 and a for the construction of an international One of the principle slogans of the gas pipeline. Colombian state violence lawyers from Leigh Day and Co. What meeting with BPXC and OCENSA bridge spanning the La Grita river, to Venezuelan Government has been is “assisting” Venezuelan commercial is known is that BP would not accept in Bogotá. BP also received written be called “the Union Bridge”, at a cost “People Power”, a system of participa- and economic expansion. liability in order to make payment complaints from Marta Hinestroza, the of US$ 3.6 million, essentially to facil- tory democracy where the people hold under a cleverly disguised “Social campesinosʼ lawyer, who was forced to itate exports of coal from the Norte de power through the Assemblies (Article ccording to Chavez, “the Fund”. flee the country. The Santander (Colombia) to the USA, via 70 of the Bolivarian Constitution). This priority of Latin America is BP was respon- only reason BP has the Gulf of Maracaibo (Venezuela). is not a “dictatorship of the proletariat” integration.” The Bolivarian sible for the paid money out to During a visit in 2004, he agreed but an attempt to build a new political dream of an American construction of the these long suffering the construction of “Port America” in system “from below”. However, who ANation as a catalyst for the IIRSA. OCENSA pipe- people is because the Gulf of Venezuela; a gas pipeline is listening to the Indigenous popula- Twelve countries with a single destiny- line, which caused the threat of legal running from Maracaibo to Puerto integration. The question that we must widespread damage action in Londonʼs Ballenas in the Colombian Guajira ask is “how does President Chavez to land and water High Court was capable of transporting between 150 propose to realise Bolivarʼs dream sources in the imminent. The and 200 million cubic feet of gas (at a without listening to the voices of Afro- farms in Zaragoza evidence provided cost of US$ 235 to 270 million); a multi- Colombian communities in Tribuga, and Segovia, by the Leigh Day purpose pipeline between Maracaibo Tumaco, Buenaventura, Truando, Antioquia. Prior lawyers showed and the Colombian Pacific to open up Cacarica, Curvarado, nor to the Wayu, to its construction, o v e r w h e l m i n g energy markets in Asia and the western Wiwa, Wounan, Embera, Katios, BP commissioned e n v i r o n m e n t a l USA; as well as integrating Venezuela Chami, Tule indigenous peoples, nor an Environmental damage caused into the PPP. “I have invited President to the thousands of forcibly displaced Impact Assessment by the OCENSA Chavez to visit us in the town of people on Colombiaʼs Pacific and which predicted the pipeline. Had the Monteria in October or November, and Atlantic coasts.” same problems that case proceeded, BP we will also invite President Torrijos We are seeing once again how on occurred during and after construc- would have been proved to be liable [of Panama] to formalise our countriesʼ both sides of the border, the wishes tion, including widespread erosion and for the damage caused to the farms and entry into the Plan Puebla Panama.” of the people are being ignored in the damage to water sources. It was also the company had to act in order to save Negotiations began in Maracaibo, name of progress built on the impunity BP that sent its representatives to the the ethical image it has built up over Venezuela on 8 July. Presidents of crimes against humanity, environ- farms to get each of the landowners, many years and with many millions of Uribe, Chavez and Torrijos welded mental destruction and the denial of largely illiterate peasant farmers who pounds which dwarves the figures paid the first symbolic join of the newly the very rights to exist and to survive. at the time were not legally repre- out in this case. inaugurated gas pipeline. These deals Alvaro Uribe: President of Colombia sented, to sign lengthy agreements to With the money received, we hope fit perfectly with public pronounce- References: give Right of Way for the pipeline to that the campesinos can start to rebuild ments by Bush and Uribe, about global tions of Perijá and La Guajira, to the Pérez Pito. “Ahora el Plan Puebla run over their land, on the basis that their lives although they will never energy markets, as set out in IIRSA campesinos and fishing communi- Panamá es Revolucionario!!! 16 de they would be compensated. regain the peace or freedom they once and the Electricity Interconnection ties of Lake Maracaibo, the Gulf of Julio 2004 en http://colombia.indy- The majority of the peasant famers had. Those that left the country can System (SIEPAC) in which Colombian Venezuela and Cariaco, whose houses, media.org/news/2004/07/14788.php. were displaced from their land by the finally afford to move out of the shanty company “Interconexión Eléctrica, farms, cemeteries, forests and rivers CEPAL. “Estudio de suministro de gas pipelineʼs construction. The environ- towns and invest in a form of micro S.A.” is already heavily involved. lie on the route of the pipeline? natural desde Venezuela y Colombia mental problems were compounded by empresa. Those still in Zaragoza hope In Colombia, on the other hand, a Costa Rica y Panamá” Víctor a deterioration in the security situation to repair water sources and find alter- ut why is President Chavez Uribe could never boast to have Rodríguez Padilla N.40 Junio 2002. brought about by the presence of the native crops to replace the main source aligning himself with this listened to the people with regards VENPRES. “Venezuela colocará pipeline. Many went to live in nearby of income they lost from mining. axis of evil? There are to human, economic, social or envi- primera molécula de gas en el mercado Zaragoza whereas others reached However, in an area of Colombia obvious commercial and ronmental rights. The gas pipeline, en 2008. Medellín, where they built rickety where the security situation is acute Beconomic benefits for the Bolivarian the Panamerican Highway and the Comisión Justicia y Paz. “DeVer 282 Al shacks on top of the rubbish tips of and armed groups are undoubtedly Republic of Venezuela, which contains Electricity Interconnection are part of Pueblo de Colombia quien lo escucha” Morabia. aware of their success, one canʼt help the largest reserves of natural gas in the three mega- projects that Uribe has Julio 2006-08-12 So, why have these farmers had but worry about the next hurdle these the continent. The strategic role that pushed along with big agro-business For more information (in Spanish) to endure 10 years of hardship and people might face. Venezuela plays in meeting future (particularly African palm plantations) visit: [email protected] Mar-May 2006 Frontline Latin America Communities in resistance 13 Colombia Racism & murder Buenaventura football massacre: 12 dead but still no justice words Andy Higginbottom

n paper at least the resi- inhabitants is harsh, brutish and, for champions in fact. Unsurprisingly 24 from Buenaventura airport, which is dential location could some, very short. youths aged between 15 and 22 volun- Cartagena patrolled by the Marine Corps. seem highly desirable, At 2.00 p.m. on 19 April 2005 a teered. The Process of Black Communities homes built over the man on a motorbike went to Punta Two days later the bodies of 12 of (PCN) points out that four of the oceanʼs edge with truly del Este and invited the young men of those youth were found. They had nephews of Jorge Isaac Aramburo calm Pacific waters lapping under- the neighbourhood to play a football been atrociously slaughtered. The García, leader of the Community Oneath, but Punta del Este is a densely game, where the winners would have corpses showed signs of torture, they Medellin Council of the nearby Yurumanguí populated barrio on the outskirts of won 200.000 pesos (about £50). The had been gagged, doused with acid, river, whose family has been system- Buenaventura, cut off from the town only work the chicos (young guys) had their eyes had been pulled out and they Bogotá atically murdered and harassed, to the centre by a busy dual carriage way was occasional labouring, they played were given the coup de grace – a bullet Cali point that it was necessary to resort road. Life for the African-descendant football every day and were good, local in the head. to the Inter-American Commission Fifteen months later, and we are Buenaventura of Human Rights for protection. visiting the mothers of ten of those Five family members were killed young men with human rights defender in Las Palmas neighbourhood of Father Javier Giraldo. It is a very, very COLOMBIA Buenaventura in 2000. In all nine painful experience. The Father ques- family members have been murdered, tions gently, but the bereaved mothers one disappeared and another jailed. can barely speak, their chests heave A recent NGO statement reports with the loss, they weep for their sons. rights defenders later confirmed, fits that there were 2,644 assassinations An auntie joins in, she remembers her the classic modus operandi of para- in Buenaventura between 2000 and nephewʼs cheeky ways fondly and her militarism. A popular sector organises 2005, plus on average of 80 to 90 recollection triggers more memories collectively and mobilises to demand disappearances annually. Up to 18 for a while, but the mood soon descends basic rights. The response is twofold, July there were 281 assassinations so again. Its tough for them to talk at all. official stigmatisation and confronta- far this year. The massacre of Africaʼs The women are desolate, aban- tion backed up by unofficial paramili- descendants in Colombia continues in doned. In one year and three months tary style intervention. Select groups silence. the mothers have had no support from are targeted, but with the intention of Back in Punta del Este, as we the Colombian authorities, no infor- terrorising and demobilising the entire say our good byes to the bereaved mation of a police investigation, no community. mothers we spot more youth having a counselling, no financial support, no Without a proper enquiry there is kickabout on an ocean-side scrap of legal aid. They are the marginalised insufficient proof to be sure, but the land. Ironically, the World Cup has unpeople whose loss does not matter. indications conform to pattern. The just started and football fever is high, It is unclear if the mothers have a footballersʼ bodies were found in but while people round the globe tune lawyer, Father Giraldo promises to Triunfo neighbourhood, a paramilitary in for the latest game, these women check with Senator Alexander Lopez, controlled zone about five kilometres cannot bear to watch. to find a lawyer who will help them. We ask what could be the motive for this crime. One of the mothers says Afro-colombians assassinated 19 April 2005 there could be no explanation for such a horrendous act, but others point out Rubén Darío Valencia Aramburo, 18 years old that two weeks previously, on 5 April Pedro Luis Aramburo Cangà, 18 years old 2005, a march was held by the people Pedro Paulo Valencia Aramburo, 17 years old of the neighbourhood, in order to Alberto Valencia, 18 years old demand the construction of a pedes- Concepción Rentería Valencia, 16 years old trian bridge across the dual carriage- Mario Valencia, 19 years old way. But Buenventuraʼs mayor had Iver Valencia, 21 years old declared Punta del Este a ʻred zoneʼ. Carlos Arbey Valencia, 17 years old The demonstrators where beaten up by Vìctor Alfonso Angulo, 20 years old the anti-riot police, who took pictures Javier Borja, 15 years old and filmed the community. Several of Jhon Jairo Rodallegas the young guys killed had participated Leonardo Salcedo García, 20 years old in the protest. This succession of events, human 14 Special Report Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Colombia Violent eviction in Aguablanca Colombia’s poorest are driven from their homes by city leaders

words Caleb Harris pictures Johan Carlstedt

s we stood on a dusty street corner, two teenage boys on our way to meet some of the people behind that deceptively – nothing. Then we felt the tears coming from the gas and the sprinted by, one clutching a pistol. It was a shock to neutral term: “displaced”. baby began to asphyxiate. We thought that if we fled we might see it gleam in the hot sun. We were in one of the After building improvised homes on disused public land in be beaten by the riot squad. So we put a wet cloth on his face poorest neighbourhoods in Colombia, the Aguablanca Aguablanca, over 1,200 families, mostly displaced, had lived in and waited. At 11.30am he died here in the street.” Over 50 men, district of the southwestern city of Cali. their new settlement, called Brisas Del Bosque (Forest Breezes), women and children queued for several hours in the blazing after- Many of Aguablancaʼs neighbourhoods were originally invasiones for four months. Then Caliʼs city leaders decided they needed the noon sun to tell us their stories. A- squatter settlements. These fringe most Latin American cities. land for development. So they instructed the Mobile Anti-distur- They are populated by millions who can only dream of affording bance Squadron (the riot police, ESMAD in its Spanish initials) aneth Arollo Martinez has a three-year-old and twins even the lowest rent. Buying a house is even less possible for to descend on the community at 2am on 16 June and to drive the aged one, and was pregnant with her fourth child before the poor, unemployed, voiceless and often invisible majority in people out into the street with tear-gas and clubs. The police then she miscarried during the raid. She said: “They caught Colombia. So they choose some vacant, idle land and build simple burned the houses to the ground, with everything in them, and me and hit me. They threw me on the ground. This is homes for their families. Sometimes these squatter towns evolve bulldozed what remained. Ylike a war on the people. I went to hospital, but I lost my baby.” Jaer over years into normal, officially recognised communities. But During the raid, a six-month-old baby died from exposure to Antonio Urbano and his wife Diana Calbo Quintero have a seven- often they donʼt, as we were about to find out in disturbing detail. the tear-gas fumes, a young mother miscarried, and many men, month-old son. Jaer said: “They hit my wife in the face. She fell in Thereʼs occasional gang conflict in Aguablanca, as there usually women and children were injured. Johan and I arrived twelve days the canal with the baby in her arms, and the baby drank the bad is in poor areas where many young people have nothing to aim later. Some 300 families were still living under plastic and card- water and got very sick. He nearly died.” He said he had a message for except the fleeting power gained through drugs and guns. But board in the street nearby. I spoke to the leader of the community for the government: “Please donʼt attack the people. We are poor, thereʼs another kind of violence, too, a more insidious and terri- council, Gerson Alfredo Sanchez. He explained: “Everyone was but we are still human beings. We need homes and work.” fying kind, because it wears a suit and tie instead of Nikes and a sleeping. The riot squad threw tear gas. We fled, and they beat us It was a very moving and intense experience, to listen to story baseball cap (or camouflage gear). with clubs. They arrested community leaders, to silence resist- after story of all that can still be taken from you when you already I was visiting Aguablanca with Johan, a Swedish photographer, ance, and released them without charge hours later. Many people have nothing. to find out about a recent example of this other, more official were injured, and we lost everything we had.” Gerson added: “The violence. Among all the grim effects of Colombiaʼs stagnant but reality is that we had nowhere else to live, no money to pay rent Caleb Harris ([email protected]) is a freelance journalist still bloody civil war is that the country has the worldʼs second- – thatʼs why we had to live here. And now we are in the street.” based in Colombia. For more photos and testimonies from the highest population of internal refuges, after Sudan. Theyʼre The baby who died during the raid was named Luis Angel Riasco Brisas Del Bosque eviction, see the on-line exhibition at http:// known as IDPs, Internally Displaced Persons. Johan and I were Cuero. His father, Harold Riasco, told me: “There was no warning www.accessallareas.org/aguablanca

Colombiaʼs second largest city of Cali (2.4 million inhabitants) Human Rights Watch reports that “In 2004, Colombiaʼs lies in the Cauca valley. Aguablanca is defined by the authorities as Constitutional Court held that the governmentʼs system for the “Marginal Zone” and is home to around 600,000 people, mostly assisting displaced persons was unconstitutional. In September Aguablanca afro-colombians, who live in extreme poverty and substandard 2005, the Court found that the steps taken by the government to conditions. These are people who have been forcibly evicted comply with its ruling were insufficient in terms of both resources from their rural land or who have fled natural disasters, misery and institutional will.”* The ‘Marginal Zone’ of Cali and armed conflict. Left without alternatives they have illegally occupied government or privately owned land in the outskirts of guablanca provides concrete examples of the words Johan Carlstedt Cali where they have created neighbourhoods by building shacks Colombian governmentʼs human rights violations as and basic houses without land titles. As more people arrive there reported by the United Nations High Commissioner n Colombia under the government of president Alvaro is an ongoing battle between the people who are forced to create for Human Rights**. Although the areas are illegally Uribe the process to dislodge the people from the land new neighbourhoods and the government who seek to dislodge the occupied there are no alternatives made available for in favour of large scale national and multinational agri- dwellers. a majority of the inhabitants and when the police are sent in by the culture and commercial ventures continues. According to Agovernment in violent raids to evict people from recently occupied an authoritative report by the NGO CODHES some 3.5 ver time many of the neighbourhoods have become land, the men, women, children, the sick and the elderly are simply million of the countryʼs 45.6 million strong population have now permanent and some basic services have been left homeless on the street without possessions or documents over- Ibeen evicted from their land and internally displaced. One million provided but as a consequence of the illegal occupa- looking a field of burnt down and bulldozed shacks. of these people have been displaced since the government of Uribe tion there is often a lack of facilities, especially in the * “Human Rights Overview - Colombia”, December 2005, took office in 2002. more recently created areas, such as schools, primary Human Rights Watch In the green and fertile Cauca valley, which stretches for 600 health care, water, sewage, electricity, roads and waste collections. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/colomb12206.htm kilometers along the river Cauca between the western and central OConditions are made further difficult by floodings, diseases and **. “Chairpersonʼs statement - Situation of human rights in ranges of the Andes, the indigenous peoples, the campesinos and armed gangs. In the first six months of 2004 there were 1,225 Colombia”, May 2005 the large afro-colombian population are forcefully pushed away assassinations recorded in Cali with an additional 8,500 wounded United Nations Commission on Human Rights towards the hot and humid Pacific coast in the west and the poor - a number that does not include those killed in the countryʼs armed http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/docs/61chr/chair- neighbourhoods of the city of Cali to the east. conflict. statement/colombia.doc Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Aguablanca 15 16 Communities in resistance Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Colombia SOCIAL STRUGGLE Arauca Barrancabermeja Social Movement Under Seige Andy Higginbottom

he Space for Human Rights USO. But in 2001 the paramilitaries threatening William. Defenders meets in ʻBarrancaʼ took over Barranca, installing death In early June a leaflet was distrib- every Thursday at 5pm. squads in the city. Today USO leaders uted around the city by a “social There are delegates from work from an armed compound, and it cleaning” group stigmatizing trade Tthe Popular Womens Organisation - is only at great risk can they enter the unionists and other social move- Organización Fémina Popular (OFP), oil installations. Despite this, the left ments as “big-mouths”, heightening various trade unions and grass roots tradition lives on, in Mayʼs presiden- the threat against them (see pg5 Anti NGOs. As usual, the meeting on 29 tial elections Barranca returned more Trade Union Violence). June had situation reports as the first votes for the candidate of the left-wing Such threats are for real. Orlando item on the agenda. As we heard from Polo Democratico Alternativa than Navarro, the brother of a community round the table, it became clear that as any other party. Neo-liberal policies leader in nearby Cienaga del Opón of 3pm that day there had been at least have bit deep into the ranks of organ- was assassinated on 28 June. Pride four violent assassinations and three ized labour. USO has a little over a Colombia, an NGO of lesbians, gays disappearances in the previous week. thousand members amongst the seven and transexuals denounced the assas- Barranca is in the midst of a human thousand workforce in the state oil sination of three homosexuals in rights crisis, far worse than is presented corporation Ecopetrol, whose refinery Barranca in June alone. in the official media, and it is the social sits right on the edge of the city. The There is a house of ʻreinsertedʼ paras movement that is bearing the brunt of majority of refinery workers are indi- in Provivienda barrio. On 24 June the attack.. rectly employed through sub-contrac- as some young women passed by it, When I had arrived in the tropical tors, and earn just a third (£3 a day) they were spoken to vulgarly by some oil port on the banks of the Magdalena of their unionised colleagues. USO men there. The women responded by Medio river the previous day, the OFP have resisted the creeping privatiza- calling the men “paracos” (paras), and were in a state of high alert due to death tion programme, they went on strike the men threatened them so badly that threats against local organizer Gloria in 2004, but this year privatization they have had to flee the city. Amparo Suarez and her family, and the is pressing ahead. Once again the One incident involved witnesses day before new threats arrived directed rumours say that supposedly disbanded from the US NGO Christian at Jackeline Rojas, regional coordinator paramilitary groups are raking a huge Peacemaker Teams, whose volunteers and presenter of the OFPʼs daily radio cut from the sub-contracted service had shown concern about the activities and weekly television programme providers. of a demobilized paramilitary leader. ʻMohanaʼ, a popular term for the riverʼs Many USO members live in the The man boldly came to visit them at spirit. zone called El Centro, and they are their home, he was wearing what at first A boy confronts police during a protest in Barrancabermeja earlier this year Jackeline toured Britain last year, part of a community fight to keep their appeared to be a plain t-shirt. Except and Gloria spoke at the Vienna counter- homes. Attracted by the rising price that the t-shirt was inside out, and on summit in May 2006. The persecution of oil, Ecopetrol is seeking to re-acti- the other side could be made out the of Gloria and Jackeline, and against vate the long closed La Cira-Infantes letters “AUC BCB” - which stands for Human rights statistics for the OFP as an organisation, is directed oil field and has signed a new explo- Bloque Central Bolivar (Central Bolivar at silencing the voice of women in ration contract with US corporation Block), the local paramilitary front. society. We ate at an OFP dining hall Occidental (Oxy-Andina).The only There has been a widespread Magdalena Medio region in the north-east, one of five in the problem is that thousands of fami- increase or armed attacks across the city. I saw how this initiative encour- lies have settled in the meantime. It city. On 1 May there was a massive he government of Uribe cases of kidnapping attributed to ages working class women and the is exactly this type of situation where fire-fight, a plomasera. Many of these Velez continually asserts guerrilla groups in the second half community in general. The OFP had unofficial violence is used to lever out attacks are attributed to a group known that according to the of 2005. just started a new campaign against the communities that stand in the way as The Black Hand. At 1.30am on 24 figures the human rights The broadest effect of the violent culture of militarization, discouraging of profitable investment projects, so June armed men set up a road block in Tsituation is improving in Colombia. conflict on the population at large is young people from wearing army style concerns are growing. Chico barrio, they called themselves This use of statistics to manipulate forced displacement. Between 1995 clothes, and had set up a collection the “The Black Eagles”. In fact Black public opinion is too often repeated and October 2005 88,265 people point in the dining hall for discarded arrancaʼs municipal water Eagle Inc is a legally constituted secu- by the media and the UK govern- representing 10.2% of the entire combat fatigues. The OFP provides company EDASABA was rity company that employs reinserted ment without any critical scrutiny population of MM were displaced. holistic services for women, the first liquidated by mayoral paras in Barranca. of the claim. Detailed figures on In 2004, 4,929 people were expelled point of contact again is at the local decree in September So although the Justice and Peace human violations in the Magdalena from their homes, increasing to dining halls with referrals to special- B2005, and a new corporation Agua law was meant to demobilise the Medio (MM) region, a flagship area 6,354 people forcibly displaced in ists working out of the OFPʼs main Barrancabermeja set up in its place parmilitary forces, what is happening where there are supposed to be 2005. centre, such as welfare lawyer or nutri- using the same plant, but with sub- is a restructuring in the form of para- ʻpeace laboratoriesʼ championed by Although the homicide figures tionist. That afternoon we attended contracted workers supplied through militarism: new networks are being the World Bank and funded by the do not reach the genocidal levels the inauguration of a project of 50 ʻcooperativesʼ. Out of the workforce built in urban areas, linking legal EU, reveal a very different and more of 2000-2003, when human NGOs dwellings that displaced women had of 178 workers, 109 trade unionists in facades with illegal activities, sources complex picture.* report that paramilitaries pene- built for their families in the Alto de SINTRAEMDES lost their jobs. of funding with operatives. This Comparison of human rights trating Barrancabermeja eliminated Paraíso neighbourhood. Despite their Another ʻRed Alertʼ concerns San emulates the neo-liberal sub-contract violations between 2004 and 2005 one thousand people, and while all evident pride, celebrated in dance and Rafael, the cityʼs only public hospital. model of doing business, cut costs and has particular interest, because the figures need careful interpretation, music with just one or two speeches, Blanca Valderrama, local president deny responsibility. paramilitary groups of the AUC it is evident that: the backdrop to the street party was of health-workers union ANTHOC, The official view is that while there were supposed to be demobilised in a) violence against the civilian fear. explained the consequences of sacking are some individual violations with the second half of 2005. population has changed in form Everybody was worried because of 80 workers, and the subcontracting AUC reinsertados, there is no systemic Homicides attributed to political rather than decreased, and the recent increase in robberies and of cleaning services: blood deposits problem, as I learnt from visiting the motives declined across the MM b) overwhelmingly, the perpe- armed attacks. The families knew and rubbish left in filthy corridors. regionʼs police colonel, the national region from 346 to 303 between trators of human rights violations that the men responsible came from “Dengue fever is increasing, the city (Defensoria) and local ombudsman 2004 and 2005, there were however are still the paramilitary forma- the nearby barrio called los Corrales, risks an epidemic”, she added. (Personeria) offices to ask why there increases of such killings in the urban tions. where they could be seen operating out Juan Carlos Galvis is the national is not more rigorous investigation centres of Aguachica (from 49 to These are points that should be of a house selling drugs. They were Vice-President of Nestlé and Coca- and control of the paramilitaries. 64) and the city of Barrancabermeja put to the Uribe government and its rumoured to be rightwing paramili- Cola workers union SINALTRAINAL, The personero local ombudsman - a (from 108 to 124). international backers. taries - organized under the umbrella and regional president of the CUT mayoral appointment - suggested that The paramilitary AUC-BCB of the AUC (literally translates as union federation, all of whose affili- the reason for increased violence was (Bloque Central Bolívar) is the prin- United Self-Defence of Colombia) ates operate under permanent threat. common delinquency. He added that cipal author. In the second half of * all figures are from the report –and supposedly disarmed by the SINALTRAINAL militant William many people were not worried by a 2005 it was attributed with respon- Informe semestral de la situación de government last year and ʻreinsertedʼ Mendoza is a strikingly tall man. On 11 paramilitary presence, as it prevents a sibility for 67% of political homi- violación de los DDHH, violencia into society ... a pattern was beginning May 2006 two men accosted Williamʼs return of the left wing guerrillas. Such cides, the guerrilla groups for 3%, política, infracciones de DIH, to emerge. brother in the market, confusing partiality amounts to a justification for with 30% unknown. acciones bélicas y acciones colec- Barranca was built around exploita- the two, and later that day someone the regime impunity for covert para- There was a slight decrease in tivas por la paz en el Magdalena tion of oil, from the 1920s onwards. called the union branch office calling militarism, through which the very death threats, but torture increased Medio Colombiano: Segundo Historically it has been a bastion of William a “son of a whore”. Five days existence of the social movement is and there were marked increases in Semestre 2005 by Obervatorio de the left, the ʻRed Clydeʼ of Colombia, later there was a stranger spying the threatened, and which is so conven- failed assassination attempts and Paz Integral, Barrancabermeja, centred on the militant oil workers union union office, and again phone calls iently beneficial to business interests. political detentions. There were 7 April 2006. Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Communities in Resistance 17 Arauca Colombia’s two main oilfields are located on the eastern Andes in the departments of Arauca and Casanare and are operated by Occidental and BP. Both departments are zones of appalling repression of the social movement, Letters from Arauca as eye-witness accounts show. Free Samuel and Raquel!

words Scott Nicholson pictures Jorge Mata/Surimages, Amnesty International

Protestors in Arauca have their banners destroyed by the military Samuel Morales pictured here as a guest of Amnesty International UK is now in prison in Bogota

23 July 2006 May 18, June 18, and July 18 of 2005, continuing to function very well. Medina was the brigade commander. the wisdom of the indigenous people, Dear friends, threatening materials were slipped In love and solidarity, I met Medina in July 2004 and he told the experience of the peasants, the under the front door of his house. me he had just returned from a year of tenderness of the women, the tenacity ne of the most deadly Jaime told me that he is one of the Scott training at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. of the workers, and the energy of the professions in Colombia is five remaining members of the board Two other social leaders were students and youth.” education. I visited Arauca of directors of the CUT, the Unified 7 August 2006 eyewitnesses to the killings in Caño “Alirio, Jorge, and Leonel City (100 miles east of Workers Federation in Arauca. Samuel Seco. Samuel Morales is a teacher and - Presente! Presente! Presente!” OSaravena in the state of Arauca) from Morales (pictured), a teacher and the Dear friends, the president of the Arauca section of (Theyʼre here with us!) July 17 to 19, and I met with leaders federation president, is in prison in the Unified Workers Federation, and In love and solidarity, of the Arauca Teachers Union. Jaime Bogotá on charges of “rebellion.” n the morning of August Raquel Castro is a teacher and leader Carrillo, human rights coordinator Alfonso Campino was released from 5, Fray told me “Weʼve got of the teachers union. Samuel and Scott for the union, gave me a list of the prison last month for medical reasons company.” When I stepped Raquel were detained by the military 28 teachers who have been killed in – he was also held on charges of “rebel- outside of the social organ- and flown to the Saravena military AI: Send a message of hope Arauca since 1980 - nineteen of those lion.” The federation auditor went Oizationsʼ building here in Saravena, a base. When Colonel Medina saw Amnesty International UK has murders took place in the last five into hiding to avoid arrest on charges tank and an armored personnel carrier Samuel he said, “Youʼre lucky that you adopted the release of Samuel years. “I knew most of those people,” of “rebellion.” Leonel Goyeneche, a were parked across the street. The saved yourself because the plan was Morales (pictured) and Raquel Castro said Jaime. Another 125 teachers have teacher and the federation treasurer, cannon of the personnel carrier was not to bring you here.” Samuel and as a priority take action campaign been threatened with death – 5% of the was murdered by the Colombian mili- pointed towards the building and the Raquel were imprisoned in Bogotá for individuals at risk. For a Case 2,456 teachers employed by the state tary on August 4, 2004. machine gun was pointed towards on the charge of “rebellion.” Theyʼve Sheet and Urgent Action form and see of Arauca. The Arauca Teachers Union office the corner of the building. It was an now spent two years in prison even http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_ Jaime has been receiving death has an armored door, bulletproof intimidating display of our tax dollars though they havenʼt been convicted of details.asp?ActionID=16 threats from the right-wing paramili- windows, and video camera surveil- at work – $3.8 billion in military aid to any crime. taries (which have close relations with lance; and Jaime moves around Colombia since 2000. There was a national and inter- Local leaders assassinated the Colombian military) since 1991. Arauca City with two armed body- August 5 was the second anniver- national outcry in response to the Gregorio Izquierdo Meléndez presi- In January 2004, anti-union graffiti guards. He said, “I sense that I could sary of the massacre by the Colombian killings. The three soldiers and the dent of the public sector union was painted on a high school and the be the victim of a bombing and I worry military of three social leaders here in informant, along with the lieutenant SINTRAEMSERPA and a principal house of the union president, flyers about my wife.” Carmen has also been the state of Arauca – Alirio Martinez, in charge of the operation, have been activist for the human rights committee with death threats against the union mentioned in the threats against Jaime. Jorge Prieto, and Leonel Goyeneche. charged with murder. The Procuratorʼs was assassinated at approximately leaders were thrown in the streets, In spite of all this, Jaime says “Iʼve Alirio was the president of the office is also investigating Col. Medina 6.30pm on 13 September 2006 on and a letter expressing condolence for lived all of my life here in Arauca and Departmental Peasant Association, who is suspected of having ordered the 17th street in the capital of Arauca. Jaimeʼs death was slipped under the Iʼm going to continue forward with Jorge was the president of the Arauca massacre. A few days before teacher German front door of his house. Jaime fled to this work.” section of the health care workers Hundreds of people traveled to Eduardo Solano Andrade had been Bogotá for a while and then flew back One of several inspiring educational union, and Leonel was a teacher and Caño Seco to commemorate the assassinated on the same spot. to Arauca City on March 8. As soon projects in Arauca is the Parmenio the treasurer of the Arauca section of second anniversary of the murder of as he arrived home from the airport, Bonilla High School in Puerto Nidia. the United Workers Federation. Alirio, Jorge, and Leonel. Aide, one Hearing on oil and human rights two paramilitaries came to the house Parmenio was the director of the Puerto On August 4, 2004, leaders of the of Alirioʼs daughters, gave the most The Colombia Chapter of the asking for him. That same month, he Nidia high school and he was killed on Arauca social movement met in the moving remarks of the ceremony. She Permanent Peoples Tribunal (TPP) received a message that stated, “Watch his way to the school in 1993. community of Caño Seco. Alirio and told us, with tears in her eyes and a is convening a series on the multi- out for your children or youʼll never The high school was created by the Leonel spent that night in Jorgeʼs house. tremble in her voice, “If my father was national corporations and the human see them again.” peasant families in the region and it The military came into the commu- a criminal for working to benefit the rights of the Colombian people. It wasnʼt safe for Jaime to stay in his provides a quality education for the nity early the following morning. A community, then weʼre all criminals!” The TPP will hold a prelimi- home, so he spent the next six months children that come from “satellite” civilian informant led three soldiers to The last time she saw Alirio was in nary hearing in Saravena, Arauca living in the union office. My first trip elementary schools in their communi- Jorgeʼs house. The soldiers dragged March 2003 when she left for medical 11-13 December 2006. There will to Arauca was with an international ties. My friend Raquel Castro, who the three men out of their beds, made school in Cuba. “My father had asked be sessions on: Latin American delegation in June 2004. We flew is in prison in Bogotá on charges of them kneel down, and executed them. me before what I wanted to do, and I Resistance in the Energy System; from Bogotá to Arauca City and had a “rebellion,” was the director of the Later that day, vice president Santos had told him that I wanted to serve our Effects of Oil Exploitation in Arauca; brief meeting that evening in the union school. When I visited her on July 1, and defense minister Uribe said that community as a doctor.” Commemoration of the Eighth office – where Jaime was staying. One she showed me an album of photos of the three men were guerrillas who had Samuel wrote a letter that was read Anniversary of the Bombing of Santo day, some of his friends invited him the school and explained the improve- fired on the soldiers, and the soldiers during the commemoration. “We Domingo – Tame. to leave the office to have lunch with ments they had made while she was then fired back killing them. feel proud of your legacy. With even The results of this hearing will be them. As soon as Jaime sat down at the director. Eudoro, another friend, is the The soldiers were members of greater commitment, we pledge to forwarded to the full tribunal whch is table, his cell phone rang and the caller current director and I saw him again the Revéiz Pizarro military brigade continue implementing our alternative due to take place 3-4 August 2007 in told him, “Weʼre watching you.” On this afternoon – he said the school is based in Saravena. Colonel Francisco plan for development – created with Bogotá. 18 Indigenous issues Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Kankuamo Cauca Sierra Nevada Second mission of accompaniment and solidarity with the Kankuamo people

words and pictures Maggie von Heydebrand

he Second Mission of Accompaniment and Solidarity Kankuamo women. There are army posts at schools, and there with the Kankuamo People took place this year have been cases of soldiers having sexual relationships with the between the 13 - 18 August in the Sierra Nevada de students as well as other women in the communities. This is Santa Marta, in the north eastern tip of Colombia. against International Humanitarian Law and is a serious abuse Over 50 people representing national and interna- of power as it involves the civilian population in the conflict to tional organisations, including from the Italian Green Party, and a different degree and puts them at greater risk as they become Tjournalists. We traveled with displaced Kankuamos who now live indirect informants. There are already a significant number of in Bogotá, some of whom are wanted by the police for crimes orphans, and now there are increasing numbers of fatherless chil- they are not guilty of. One reason for the mission was to allow dren (as the father was a soldier). these Kankuamos to visit their land and families which was only 27 indigenous Kankuamos have been arbitrarily detained in possible with accompaniment, a key stategy in Colombia for the Valledupar Judicial Prison on charges of collaboration with the protection of human rights. guerrilla. Part of the intention of the mission was to enter the There are four indigenous groups who inhabit the Sierra prison and bare witness to the conditions inside. However despite Nevada; Arhuaco (Iku), Wiwa, Kogi and Kankuamo. They are a verbal commitment from the Secretary of the Governor, we all protectors of this sacred centre of the universe, yet since were refused entry. Kankuamo territory has been a traditional colonialisation their land and culture has been under constant passing point for the guerrilla and they were the main institu- threat from outside influences. Once again the situation is at a tion of law and order as there was no state presence, and now critical phase as the human rights of these indigenous groups are the people are facing the repercussions. The Kankuamo leaders consistently and systematically being violated. The Kankuamos are trying to educate the population to keep it ́s distance from have been subjected to 342 homicides and forced disappearances all armed actors in order to protect themselves from this kind since the mid 1980ʼs. These assassinations / massacres have inten- of accusation, however this is increasingly difficult due to the sified dramatically under the presidency of Alvaro Uribe and the proximity of the army posts. increase in paramilitary action of the area. Approximately 400 The government initiated a plan to build a dam in the river “The soldiers even pissed in the cooking pots.” families have been displaced, the majority in 2002 -04. The Guatepuri on indigenous territory at Los Besotes. This is all whole population of Kankuamos, 10 – 15,000 people, has been sacred land and considering that the indigenous population in closely affected by the armed conflict of the country. this area sees itself as protector of nature and thereby guarding The Kankuamos have had a particularly difficult time, the survival of the whole of the human race, plans like these a perfect case study in assimilation. Since the arrival of the threaten their ability to fulfill this role. This state proposed mega- Spanish, followed by slave communities, marijuana and cocoa project is directly linked to paramilitary control over the area, growers, and Colombian farmers, as well as the subsequent as the water generated by this dam, though under the pretext of arrival of the armed groups, their traditional culture and identity serving the population of Valledupar (the capital of Cesar), is has all but disappeared. Now they are facing a long struggle to also to provide water for the many new African Palm plantations regain the traditional knowledge and practices. Their language which are springing up in the area and need insatiable amounts is all but forgotten, their cultural and spiritual knowledge has of water. These plantations are generally owned by paramilitary been kept by Kogi mamos (shamans/spiritual leaders) who are Kankuamo gaita (flute) players leaders. This mega-project is causing great alarm as the process now re-teaching the Kankuamos their role in the Sierra. The has begun despite the protest of the indigenous population in Kankuamos are now at the complicated stage of rebuilding their The Mission visited communities in Atanquez, the Sierra, and despite the Colombian Constitution which stipu- roles and rituals, and reclaiming their ancestral knowledge. Chemesquemena, Gatapuri and La Mina, four of the twelve lates the right of indigenous people to make decisions about their However due to the high level of assimilation it is an extremely Kankuamo communities, as well as attending meetings with territory. difficult process of looking back at their traditions and redefining indigenous leaders and local institutions, and the local govern- themselves as an indigenous group in a modern context. ment representatives. We were all witness to the continued viola- hroughout the five days we were made to feel very tion of human rights. I was incredibly touched by the power and welcome and it was apparent that these people are he Kankuamos were originally considered extinct but perseverance of the many mothers I spoke to who had lost sons involved in a genuine struggle to create an identity in 1993 they reformed as a indigenous group and held and husbands to the conflict. Some of the displaced Kankuamos which is very far removed from the reality of their their first council meeting; in 1995 the political body from Bogotá had not been able to return to their territory in situation. We walked the two hours between Atanquez was formed, the Organización Indígena Kankuma years, and it was emotional to witness the reunion of these sons and Chemeskemena, an uphill climb through outrageously beau- (OIK). The principal point was to reclaim their iden- and brothers with their families and mothers. Ttiful scenery. It makes it so easy to understand the peopleʼs attach- tity as the fourth indigenous group of the Sierra. In 2003 they An increasing concern, intrinsically linked to a country at ment to the land looking out over the near and distant triangular Twere legally recognised as an indigenous people and were given war, is the way in which the lives of the female population are mountains.... Slowly it begins to rain and we drink sips of chur- the rights to their traditional land. During the 80ʼs and the 90ʼs affected. Kankuamo leaders are concerned by the presence of inchi the local alcohol made from panela (sugar cane) to warm the territory found itself in the middle of the conflict between the so many young men in their communities, first it was the guer- ourselves and get energy rushes. There is a jovial almost party left-wing FARC and ELN guerrillas and the right-wing paramili- rilla, and now the army, who are having sexual relationships with atmosphere... we pass a spring which takes fresh water down to the taries, and the whole region was more or less abandoned by the village, and then reach the highest point of our walk at the ridge state. In 2002 – 2003 the situation was critical, as the army was between two peaks, with views in all directions, we stop to take a in the area with the specific mission to terminate the guerrilla. photo and spot the military base on the sacred platform. This meant that there were periods when the population had to We were in Guatapuri at the time of the festival of the Gaita lock themselves in their houses after dark as anyone seen on the (traditional flute) and were able to see the integration of the mili- streets was shot by the army on charges of collaboration. These tary in the area. In uniforms and with rifles the military danced were the years were there was the most displacement as people and even made music with us, at the cock fights soldiers betted fled from the terror. By 2003 the humanitarian crisis had reached with us and even owned cocks. We arrived in La Mina, which such levels that it was recommended by the Inter-American Court was one of the worst affected places, at the time of the change of of Human Rights that the state start to apply itself in the protec- the troops which happens every three months, and the place was tion of human rights in this area and various measures began to be overrun by soldiers. implemented, these measures were then intensified in 2004. The In line with the Kankuamo spiritual identity we took part army has moved into the area and regained military control. in three rituals in kankurumas (spiritual houses made of tradi- The stateʼs ʻdirty warʼ policy, executed through unofficial tional materials) involving visualisations of the Mother Earth. connection to the paramilitaries, has been responsible for many The Kankuamos need help and support in their struggle to regain of the murders. The tactic of assassinating leaders is one of their ancient knowledge. This is the only path left open to them the most damning, and the role of the state representatives is for the survival of any kind of a life separate from the conflict one of the most alarming realities of the situation. There have which engulfs them and is always at every corner. The return to been incidents of state functionaries accompanying ex-AUC ancient practices is a wholly positive step, the challenge lies in (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombiana) to Kankuamo communi- keeping the youth interested and uniting a people that have been ties in shiny new jeeps with guns threatening the people, this divided for so long. The Kankuamos are fighting against the is nothing short of state endorsement to the terror of the para- injustice and terror that has surrounded and permeated itself into militaries which is unacceptable and calls out for international its people and are now looking to bring a stop to the situation and national condemnation, especially considering that these are by asking for the conclusions of investigations into the serveral Riot police at an indigenous protest in Cauca now demobilised paramilitaries. massacres, and for a sentence against the perpetrators. Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Indigenous issues 19 Cauca Liberation of Mother Earth Indigenous peoples of the Cauca Valley

Andy Higginbottom

a María - Piendamó is a special hours of rough track driving away place, designated a Territory from local markets. of Coexistence, Dialogue and Cartagena What this means is explained LNegotiation by the indigenous people by CRICʼs main councillor José of the Cauca Valley. La María is a Buenaventura Diaz, “Our people do high meeting ground perched atop not own the land individually, the a steep hill overlooking the Pan- Medellin cabildo will distribute plots to fami- American Highway as it runs from lies for their use. But the average south to north between Popayán and Bogotá holding is only two hectares, we need Cali. There is an open air audito- much more than that to survive”, as rium flanked by a cluster of build- Cali verified indirectly by official figures ings to facilitate a large assembly Cauca Valley that estimate the minimum survival - a makeshift radio station, stores, level at around eight hectares per communal kitchen, computer room family. and so on. Itʼs poignant because you can tell that these facilities have COLOMBIA he fight for land is the fight for been constructed with little money survival. Tired of government but with much thought and love, they deception to prevent the return are collective property and part of a Tof lands kidnapped and held by a few, collective project, but now they lie on 12 October 2005 the CRIC launched ransacked and burnt out, only the into further studies rather than actual a new chapter in the Liberation of kitchen is back in working order. land purchases. A report by state Mother Earth; hundreds of families It is here that the Cauca Regional agrarian reform institute INCORA from the Huellas Calota reserve had Indigenous Council (CRIC) convened in 2004 found that the indigenous already occupied La Empeatriz farm, a gathering of over 15,000 people from communities required 218,000 hectares then two thousand people in Caldono 15 to 20 May 2006. They blocked the to meet their minimum needs. In sum, occupied a farm called El Japio, and “The soldiers even pissed in the cooking pots.” Johan Carlstedt highway, were confronted in battle after years of promises the indigenous seventeen other properties of absentee by the army and riot police who tear peoples of Cauca had received less landlords. 500 armed police attacked gassed them from helicopters, killing than one tenth of the land needed to the El Japio group, injuring 46 people 25 year old Pedro Pascue and injuring Awá massacre 70 more. La María, designed for dialogue, had become a battle ground. On 9 August most Native Peoples celebrate World Indigenous Day, but It was to this scene that we came to early that morning a terrible tragedy was unfolding in Colombia. In Altaquer learn from the leaders and activists of village, Nariño Department, nine heavily armed hooded men in camouflage CRIC the causes of the conflict and conducted house-to-house searches, they dragged three men and two women where they hope to go in the future. from their homes, and shot them. The victims were part of a group of 1,700 Where to begin? With the land, Awá who had fled a month previously from heavy combat between the military Mother Earth, or with the people, the and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. original inhabitants of this wonderful place? The point is they are insepa- The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) reports 32 rable. At least they are spiritually indigenous people murdered and 28 others forcibly disappeared in the first inseparable, but centuries of dispos- seven months of 2006. session accelerated in modern times by neo-liberal capitalism have physically driven them apart, and this is the core of the problem to be addressed. There are 260,000 indigenous Motilon Barí protest people settled on 84 resguardos, reserves in Cauca. However there are On 27 April members of the Motilón Barí indigenous people from the 115 cabildos, that is council of leaders Catatumbo rainforest region of northeast Colombia gathered in front of the of a distinct identity group, meaning Ministry of Environment in Bogotá to protest ECOPETROLʼs exploitation of that 31 cabildos do not have a terri- the Alamo I oil well in their traditional territory. tory for their people. The cabildos are grouped in nine zones, and come The Bari are organising a Public Hearing on 12 October 2006 in Tibu, together through their consejero, coun- North Santander, to highlight the concerns of their communities in Colombia cillor, on the regional council, CRIC, May 2006, La Maria became a battle ground and Venezuela. which in turn a member of the national indigenous organisation ONIC. fulfil their constitutional rights. (four blindings, and fingers cut off Colombiaʼs 1991 Constitution Colombiaʼs ʻstate of social rightʼ with scissors) and killing 16 year old established the right of indigenous has failed the indigenous people as Belisario Camayo. peoples to their ancestral lands, but citizens in so many other ways, only Although they lost these battles, it the amount and quality of the terrain 49% of the population are covered by was clear that the indigenous people assigned in practice is another matter. the health programme, and more than were justified and they kept the moral On 23 December that same year twenty 28,000 children and young people are high ground, as the establishment Paez people from the Nasa de Huellas outside the education system. press recognised. Back in La Maria, reserve occupied the El Nilo farmstead José Buenaventura Diaz tells how and were massacred. Recognising the ehind this state failure to the government had finally agreed to injustice, the government signed a honour its own constitution send five ministers to negotiate with compensation agreement that would there is an alliance commer- CRIC at their symbolic site on 16 grant 15,663 hectares within three Bcial interests reined against the indig- May. The ministers were due but they years, but less half of this land was enous people. The Cauca Valley is never arrived, instead the govern- ever handed over. fertile, though large tracts of plain ment ordered a military assault on By 1999 the social crisis of the have been exhausted by generations this sacred place. “The soldiers even indigenous communities in Cauca had of sugar cane the soils are still good pissed in the cooking pots” as Alice reached emergency levels, the govern- enough to attract new investments by who had been feeding the gathering ment passed a decree to consolidate landlords and multinational corpora- told us. the many unfulfilled agreements such tions. The neo-liberal export model Their patience exhausted, it was as El Nilo. Just 17,635 hectares had prioritises large scale agriculture clear to us that the indigenous people been transferred over 8 years. The over the needs of indigenous peasant of Cauca have decided that the only land shortage was desperate, but newly farmers, who have been driven up way to recover Mother Earth, to Riot police at an indigenous protest in Cauca earmarked government money went into the remoter parts, poorer soil and preserve their lives and dignity, is 20 Feature Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Colombia Presidential election analysis Deep trouble How did Colombia’s neoliberal right hang-on to power? Arturo García

lvaro Uribe Vélez was re- bureaucratic banquet. of the Polo Democrático Alternativo Independiente and the Democratic elected as the president of Another decisive factor in Uribeʼs (PDA), a communist disguised as a Alternative came together to form Colombia for 2006-2010 landslide victory was without a democrat, who would deliver the the Polo Democrático Alternativo on 28 May 2006 with 63% doubt made possible by the excessive country to the guerrilla. thanks to among other things, the Áof the votes, a million more than he generosity to paramilitary groups It was in this way, through warped insistence of Gaviria on the urgent obtained when elected the first time that he demonstrated throughout Machiavellianism and the art of necessity of a united left that could in 2002. his public life and particularly in lying, the fabrication of rigged break the mould of the two party Nevertheless, and despite the his first four years as president. The statistics and despicable actions, system, and in so doing avoid the triumphalism with which the right has ʻJustice and Peace Lawʼ is a menda- that Uribe was re-elected for another indefinite prolongation of the author- received the results, the real winner cious law designed to legalize para- four years of repression against itarian neoliberal power of Uribe. of the elections was abstentionism. militarism and happily guarantee the political opposition, violations In spite of all the obstacles and 60% of Colombians did not vote. It impunity at the cost of the pain, of human rights and international principally for lack of guarantees for was only a minority that elected both suffering and total exploitation of humanitarian law, crimes against the candidates in opposition, not only the executive (President) and the the victims of massacres, torture, humanity and increased polarization for lack of security in being exiled legislative (Senate of the Republic disappearances, forced displace- of Colombian society. Four years from the country and appearances in and Chamber of Representatives), ment and other grotesque violations more to finish his project of privati- public places where all of the time which plainly denies the exercise of of the National Constitution and zation of the national economy, and they feel the hidden threats and other a real participative democracy and International Humanitarian Law. to finish his nefarious work of deliv- times openly shameless ones, but de-legitimises a government without This has been carried out through ering national sovereignty to the Wilson Borja, one of Polo Democratico also for the insufficient media time the support of the majority. systematic threatening and gener- USA and the multinational corpora- Alternativo’s leaders in conversation for opposition candidates, Gaviria alized terror tactics targeted at the tions with the definitive signing of with Colombia Solidarity Campaign managed to demonstrate the merit of Reasons for Neoliberal Right Win civilian population, and the singling the Free Trade Agreement, approved delegates in June 2006 this surprising ascent; not only with The unexpected increase of votes in out of popular leaders, trade union- in a Congress passing all the laws the 2,609,412 of Colombians who favour of Uribe could be explained ists, journalists, and human rights that the government needs to effect voted for a ʻNew Colombiaʼ, but also by a surreptitious campaign from defenders as collaborators or sympa- its macabre delivery of the country in that the Uribist conspiracy came the beginning of his first mandate. thizers of the guerrilla. and change the Constitution so as to under pressure to deploy all of its Political spoils and favours abounded allow the emperor to continue on his paraphernalia of corrupt practices, for members of Congress, minis- f members of the popular move- throne for evermore. including fraud and violent intimida- ters, high state officials, diplomatic ment are presented in the official tion in many regions of the country. bodies and other figures in national media as delinquents and enemies Left Gets Stronger and regional politics - they were of the people and they treat the The democratic left PDA rallied he different groups that made bought just like in any town market Igenocidal likes of the Mancuso, Jorge unexpectedly in the elections, which up the uribista coalition, far with public posts and pieces of the 40 and other ʻchainsaw expertsʼ as enabled the recently founded party from having a party structure national pie. heroes who can enjoy prestige within to establish itself as the second with a coherent ideology, are Three cases illustrate the power official national politics and ride freely major political force in the country, Tfrom a variety of opposing groups and of corruption. Horacio Serpa, twice in their own helicopters and presiden- displacing both the official Liberal clientelist regional factions, united for previously candidate for the Liberal tial vehicles on the Atlantic Coast, Party and the Conservative Party. an electoral juncture in which the most Party, accepted from Uribe the then we are talking about a terrorism The PDAʼs presidential candidate important aim is the repartition of the ambassadorship of the Organization of the state that endorses its dirty work was Dr. Carlos Gaviria, who had bureaucratic loot, which Uribe has sold of American States (OAS), and with through paramilitarism so that it can against all forecasts had beaten off and distributed generously amongst the that buried any real possibilities of run its armed political campaign in Polo Democrático Independiente beneficiaries, but which will fall apart becoming President, as he lost all favour of its benefactor, obliging the Senator. Antonio Navarro Wolf, on the day when the advantages, posi- political and moral credibility. Serpa population in areas under paramili- (the ex-leader of the former guer- tions and million-dollar contracts run came in third place in the election, tary influence to vote in his favour and rilla movement M-19 demobilised in out. That is to say, there is a manifest far lower than expectations. impeding support for any opposition. 1989) to become candidate. political crisis in the Colombian right, Exactly the same thing happened This was already denounced in which obliges Uribe to co-govern with with the Conservative ex-presi- the 2002 elections, when a fraudu- arlos Gaviria appeared on the old and discredited political castes, dent Andrés Pastrana, who from lent scandal had allowed Uribe the Colombian political and prop up the neoliberal project with being fiercely critical of the poli- to win the presidency in the first scene four years ago when the new narco-paramilitary ultra-right, cies of the policies of ʻNational round and a good number of posi- he was elected to the Senate that has succeeded without major Securityʼ and the nefarious ʻJustice tions in the Senate and the Chamber Cwith the highest number of votes for setbacks to seize political, economic and Peace Lawʼ which armored the of recognized representatives of the Democratic Alternative, an alli- and military control throughout the paramilitaries against the force of narco-paramilitarism. A petition ance of groups from the left. His life country. justice, was seduced overnight by before the District Attorney and the had been dedicated to the academic Notwithstanding the best electoral the ambassadorship to the United Public Prosecutor demands that they world, then he became a magistrate result in the history of the Colombian States. Having sold his moral prin- annul the 2006 legislative elections, and president of the Constitutional left which calls for optimism and ciples and his authority as leader of alleging a fraud of shameful propor- Court. He became a controversial some of the leaders from Congress the Conservative Party for next to tions, resulting from the corrupt public figure for speaking in favour who have been doing great work, like nothing in Washington, Pastranaʼs power of narc-otrafficking and the of drug legalization as the only way Navarro Wolf, Gustavo Petro, Jorge constituency practically disappeared election of paramilitary groups to deal with the issue of narco-traf- Robledo, Wilson Borja and Alexander from the political map as a party, Finally, the great national press, ficking, in favour of legalising abor- López among others, and Bogotáʼs and his principle national and local which is dedicated to unconditional tion, and in defence of the rights of mayor Lucho Garzón, there is an leaders slid without any shame or service of the Uribe campaign with a gays, women, indigenous peoples important fact that cannot be inadvert- qualms, characteristic of occupa- servility that borders on mediocrity. and black communities. As Senator, ently overlooked if the left wants to tional opportunists, into becoming In practice almost all the communi- Gaviria became a stone in the shoe convert itself into a real possibility for Uribe followers. cation media have been put into order of President Uribe, and has been political power: the majority absten- And so not to doubt his grand so that they speak, write and teach one of the most serious critics of the tionism within the electorate. Neither capacity of political bribery, once the messianic image of the leader, so-called ʻdemocratic securityʼ, of uribismo with all of its capacity for more re-elected Uribe Vélez wanted and denied equal participation to all antiterrorist legislation, of the Free corruption and intimidation and its to remove any last obstacles that of the other candidates. The infal- Trade Agreement with the United neoliberal politics; nor the democratic remained in the listless Liberal Party lible myth was built, the virtual States and of the ʻJustice and Peace left with its fresh positioning and around ex-president Ernesto Samper. perception that Uribe was entrusted Lawʼ that provides the guarantee of projects for change that struggle for a Uribe offered Samper the posi- with the panacea. Uribe provided impunity to the genocidal paramili- more just and democratic society and tion of ambassadorship in France, the media with crude remarks to tary groups and condemns the victim a peace characterised by social justice who eagerly accepted. It was only disqualify his political adversaries, groups to be forgotten and subjected for all, could dent the scepticism of quarrels between the two ex-presi- but he did not have the courage, to perpetual forced displacements. the majority of abstentionistas. In this dents Samper and Pastrana, a kind bravery or capacity to confront them After many setbacks the left lies the great challenge for the left: of mafia-like rivalry of the State, in televised debates. Uribe labelled managed to agree on basic princi- to break the political scepticism of that made them both renounce the Carlos Gaviria Díaz, the candidate ples of unity. The Polo Democrático Colombians. Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Peru 21 Deep trouble British mining company set to destroy Peruvian communities in the race for profit

Richard Solly

ver the past two years, thousands of small farmers in the department of Piura in northern Peru have been protesting against the activi- ties of a British-owned mining company. OEight mineral concessions in Rio Blanco, covering 6,472 hectares, are being explored for copper and molyb- denum. The Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines has granted the right to exploit the deposits to Minera Majaz SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based Monterrico Metals. The concessions contain enough copper to support Peruʼs second largest copper mine after a planned 2008 start date. On 22 April 2004, three thousand small farmers marched on the Minera Majaz mining camp to demand that the company withdraw. Police threw tear gas grenades and several protesters were injured. Reemberto Herrera Racho, president of one of the local farmersʼ committees (Rondas Campesinas), died. According to protesters, he was killed when a tear gas grenade hit him on the head. After the failure of attempts to discuss the objectorsʼ concerns, another protest march was planned. At the end of July, 2005, a group of 1800 people gathered around seven kilometres from the mining camp. According to participants, at 6.30am on 1 August the police raised a white peace flag around a kilometre from the mine and called for dialogue. Farmers who approached the camp were attacked with tear gas grenades and bullets, leaving several people injured. Four hundred police officers then set fire to the huts which protesters had constructed, injuring around 40 more people. Protest leader Melanio García Gonzales died. According to a press dossier published in May 2006 A Peruvian farmer lies wounded following clashes with the police by Belgian corporate responsibility NGO Netwerk Vlaanderen, based on information from Peruvian organ- Sources: activity of the inhabitants and a source of exports of, for day off when community representatives tried to talk isation Vicaria del Medio Ambiente (Vicariate for the Mines and Communities website, instance, high quality organic coffee. to them on 11 July. On 14 July they met with the Vice Environment, VIMA), Monterrico Metals has fuelled www.minesandcommunities.org There is no ambiguity in the position of local commu- Minister of Mines and the Director General of Mining the conflict in a number of ways: Monterrico Metals plc website, nities towards the mine. but an agreement to continue dialogue was vetoed by a • Monterrico Metals has spread false allegations www.monterrico.co.uk On 8 August 2005, the federation of local rondas phone call from the Minister. The Federation reaffirmed against protesters: Monterrico and the Sociedad Nacional Financial Times 15 August 2006 campesinas declared that it would continue working its desire for dialogue with the State. But it refuses now de Mineria, Petroleo y Energia (SNMPE) have tried to Email correspondence from against Monterrico Metals until the Rio Blanco project to include the company in that dialogue on the grounds depict the protesters as communists and drug traffickers, Cooperaccion, July and August was cancelled. that its presence in Piura is illegal – while the State spreading false allegations and demanding repressive 2006 On 15 August 2005, the mayors of many of the local insists that the company be involved. Cooperaccion measures against the peasant movements. Statement by Federación municipalities declared their opposition to the Rio reported on 16 August that the company is now trying to • The company is implicated in police repression: Provincial de Comunidades Blanco project and their support for agriculture as the set up ʻparallelʼ community organisations with the aim witnesses reported that police were stationed on the Campesinas de Ayabaca, Piura, best form of economic development for the area. of presenting the appearance of consent to the mine. company property and received material help from 20 July 2006 Two local Catholic bishops and the Church-inspired Monterrico employees when police officers were Presentacion Majaz Principales VIMA, based in Jaen, Cajamarca, have also made their uring his time as British Ambassador to committing human rights violations during the repres- Acusaciones, FPDSFNP, prepared opposition plain. Peru, Richard Ralph (who retired in April sion of the second demonstration in August 2005. for Vienna hearing of Permanent According to the FPDSFNP, the companyʼs pres- 2006) talked up the importance of the project • Monterrico Metals employees provoke conflicts in Peoples’ Tribunal, May 2006 ence at Rio Blanco is illegal. It says that article 89 of for Peruʼs economic development. The 11 local communities: On 12 March 2006, when a forum enti- Report on Majaz prepared in the Peruvian Constitution gives Indigenous and small November 2005 edition of Piura newspaper La Hora April 2006 by FPDSFNP for D tled ʻMining, Agriculture and Sustainable Developmentʼ farming communities the right to decide how their land reported on a visit to Rio Blanco by the Ambassador. was held in the city of Huancabamba, a group led by Vienna hearing of the Permanent is used. If an outside entity such as a mining company ʻObviously Piura is not one of the poorest regions in the – extraordinarily – the Social Responsibility Manager Peoples’ Tribunal, May 2006 wishes to operate on their land, it has to obtain a favour- country, but this is an opportunity to overcome social for Monterrico Metals, Raúl Urbina, and journalist Press Dossier Monterrico Metals, able vote in the General Assembly of the community. deficiencies,ʼ said Ralph. ʻThere are various possibilities Duber Mauriola, violently entered the event, provoking Mathias Bienstman, Netwerk In the Minera Majaz case, says FPDSFNP, the company for development: there is tourism, agriculture, agricul- a confrontation with the participants, and attacked the Vlaanderen/CATAPA, 3 May 2006 only has a document signed by the Directorsʼ Board ture and livestock exportation, but the fact is that Peru speakers. The confrontation left many injured, among (Junta Directiva) of one community, but not from the is a mining country. Piura has the wealth of minerals them Vincente Zapata of the Development Front of General Assembly. The document signed by some that the globalised world needs.ʼ According to La Hora, Tambogrande. members of the Directorsʼ Board was in any case later Ralph explained that part of his job was to resolve prob- specifically ʻdeauthorizedʼ by the community General lems generated by the mistrust of affected communities Why the objection? Assembly. towards mining projects. He said that the members of According to the Sustainable Development Front of the Local communities are being supported in their communities who work in the mining projects should act Northern Peruvian Frontier (Frente por el Desarrollo campaign by national NGO Cooperaccion and as ambassadors. ʻThey can clarify the misunderstand- Sostenible de la Frontera Norte (Perú), FPDSFNP), by CONACAMI, (the National Confederacion ings, the lies and all that is said about the implications of mining at Rio Blanco would destroy or irreversibly of Communities Affected by Mining in Peru). the project,ʼ he said. damage: Representatives of VIMA and CONACAMI visited Ralph retired as British Ambassador in April 2006. • the biodiversity of the ʻpáramosʼ, fragile cold Andean Europe in the Spring to raise awareness of the conflict On 14 August, Monterrico Metals announced that it had highland ecosystems, and the cloud forests growing on being caused by the companyʼs presence. Wilson Ibanez appointed a new Executive Chair – Richard Ralph. The the mountain slopes, including unique and highly endan- represented FPDSFNP at a hearing of the Permanent company told the Financial Times (15 August 2006), ʻIn gered species such as the Andean tapir; Peoplesʼ Tribunal in Vienna in May. the next year, Monterrico has to secure vital government • the river valleys and the river basins in the páramos, The Government and the company have portrayed permits for the [Rio Blanco] project to go ahead, and Mr which are the main providers of water in the northern those who object to the mine as being intransigent. But Ralphʼs diplomatic experience in Peru should be useful region of Peru, through pollution of the Canchas, members of the FPDSFNP have repeatedly called for in this process.ʼ Chinchipe and Huancabamba rivers, upon which thou- dialogue. Community leaders were in Lima from 10 to Doubtless it will be. But let us hope that victory will go sands of people rely for drinking water and watering of 14 July this year in the hope of talking with representa- not to the British corporate-diplomatic old boy network crops; the use of large amounts of water by the mine will tives of the Government and the company. According to but to the small farmers of Piura and their allies, who cause desertification; a 20 July statement issued by one FPDSFNP member have made their opposition to the Rio Blanco mine so • the current agricultural production system and group, the Ayabaca Community Provincial Federation, unmistakably clear. further agricultural development, the main economic the company closed its offices and gave its workers the 22 Brazilian elections Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006

Finance Conclusions sovereign debt soared to $409bn, equivalent to 50% of GDP, up from $247bn two years earlier According to the IMF economists cited above, – a 30% increase, after adjusting for the appre- “the view that external debt is completely sepa- ciation of the Real. Total sovereign debt, the rable from domestically issued debt is dead sum of the governmentʼs internal and external wrong... foreigners hold increasingly large debt, totaled $500bn at the end of 2005, virtu- amounts of the domestically issued debt of ally all of it owed to private investors. governments of emerging markets, and their Brazilʼs domestic debt is exceeded among residents increasingly hold instruments issued by ʻemerging nationsʼ only by S Korea and China. S governments in advanced economies” Koreaʼs domestic debt exceeds 90% of GDP but Brazilʼs wealthy residents expatriate profits most is owed by the private sector. Thailand and from their investments in government debt, just Malaysia have a similar profile, while Indonesia as foreign investors. They keep their hoards is like Brazil: 87% of its $50bn domestic debt is beyond Brazilian sovereignty, and if they are owed by the government. to be defined by their wealth, they are no more The Bank of Brazil reported in April 2006 Brazilian than their northern friends. Much of that gross public debt equaled 72.3% of GDP; the literature on globalisation argues or presumes while net debt, obtained by subtracting official that inter-imperialist rivalry has been superseded reserves and other financial assets, was 51.3%. by the emergence of a ʻtransnational capitalist Gross debt is important because each $ and Real classʼ, a view belied by the increasingly sharp of it causes public money to stream into private political and economic conflicts between the US purses, and because the rate of return on the and Europe. However, a very different process governmentʼs assets is much lower than on the of ʻtransnationalisation of the capitalist classʼ is Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and two. Through debt markets and stock markets, debts theyʼre offset against. Furthermore, some well underway in the ʻemerging nationsʼ – the Capgemini produce annual reports on the fast- productive capitals are bound hand and foot of these ʻfinancial assetsʼ amount to little more transnationalisation of ʻnativeʼ finance capital- growing wealth of the worldʼs so-called ʻhigh to finance capital. Petrobras, Brazilʼs ʻstate oil net-worth individualsʼ (HNWIs). BCG data monopolyʼ is an eloquent example. Just 32.5% indicates that half a million households (1.2% of its shares are owned by the government, of the 45 million households in Brazil) possess while 40% have been sold on Wall Street to net investible assets of $250,000 or more, over foreign or expatriate investors. Petrobras also $1tr in all. According to Cap Gemini, 109,000 owes $20bn in corporate bonds, reducing still Brazilian households own over $1m in financial further the real size of the governmentʼs stake. assets. In 2005, the Brazilian private sector owed As with other rich Latin Americans, the $130bn to domestic creditors, up from $50bn Brazilian elite keeps the great bulk of its wealth in 2001, while its external debt reached $106bn. offshore, from where it is allocated to invest- Foreign and offshore private investors also ments of various types around the world. Cap dominate Brazilʼs stock market and have made Gemini reported that “Latin America is the only vast fortunes from the quadrupling of share region... in which HNWIs prefer to send their prices during Da Silvaʼs presidency. investments elsewhere rather than place them As well as servicing their own debts, the cost in domestic markets: wealthy Latin Americans of servicing public debt contributes to crip- allocate only 28% of their assets to domestic pling rates of taxation on domestic producers. holdings and send 42% of their assets to North A recent World Bank survey of 13 Brazilian America.” According to Capgemini, Brazilians states calculated the average tax burden upon with more than $1m to invest saw their combined companies to be 147% of their gross profit. The wealth grow by $378bn from 2001-2006. During result is endemic tax-avoidance and the pushing this period, Brazilʼs GDP rose by just $77bn.. of many domestic businesses into the informal Brazil’s debt crisis The rapid increase in the wealth of the super- economy, estimated to provide 42% of Brazilʼs rich, a world-wide phenomenon, is more the GDP and more than half of all jobs. John Smith argues that to join ALBA, Brazil’s government must repudiate its debts result of bubble-growth of asset values than it is than accounting tricks, e.g. $50bn in the Labour ists, or more precisely their absorption into the of increased profits. Assistance Fund is counted, while unfunded imperialist finance capitals of US, Europe and pension liabilities are left off-balance sheet. Japan. Domestic debt ʻearnsʼ a much higher interest Brazilʼs debt now generates around $1bn in razil is Latin Americaʼs largest tion down from 12.5% in 2002 to 4.5% in March rate than external debt. This is because domestic weekly profits. But this is only one source of country and accounts for around 2006. debt is issued in national currency; interest rates superprofits. As we have seen, foreign inves- 40% of the continentʼs economic Da Silva stated in July 2006 that “it is many, therefore contain a ʻcurrency riskʼ premium tors in Brazilian equities reaped $13bn in profits product. It suffers from all the many years since Brazil has enjoyed the kind of to compensate for erosion in the debtʼs value from the increase in share prices in just one year, notorious social diseases of Latin tranquillity over the economy that it is enjoying through domestic inflation and/or currency 2004. Dividend payments added billions more. American capitalism, including extreme and now”. Speaking after decades of crises and devaluation. But instead of devaluing, the Real The transnational corporationsʼ $200bn in direct Brising inequality, staggering levels of public shocks, this is not such a bold claim. Brazilʼs has appreciated by 67% against the dollar since investments generates at least another $20bn in debt, ecological destruction, and endemic state ʻtranquilityʼ is tenuous, and da Silvaʼs servility to 2003. FTMandate reported in March 2006: annual profits. And this takes no account of violence and corruption. Widespread discon- capital has produced meagre results: “In spite of “Brazilʼs interest rates are still phenomenally losses suffered by Brazil and other ʻemerging tent with these ills propelled Workers Party (PT) enjoying what is probably the best combination high... monthly inflation to 10 February at nationsʼ through unequal exchange in trade with leader Luiz Inácio da Silva (ʻLulaʼ) to victory in of external conditions for at least half a century, 0.17%... hardly justifies 17.25% interest rates.” the imperialist economies. the October 2002 presidential elections. Brazilʼs economy ... has expanded by an average The Brazilian government has laid on a feast In 2002, da Silva was faced with a choice Da Silvaʼs government is an important test of Brazil: GDP Growth (source IMF) of 2 per cent a year.... Bureaucracy, high interest for finance capitalists, and has even waived the between submission to finance capitalists or whether a reformist, social-democratic project is rates and the overvalued Real are all casting a entry fee. A February 2006 decree abolished a showdown with them. There was no middle possible in Latin America. Is there a capitalist shadow over prospects... The only surprising a 15% income tax on foreign investments in road, no ʻPlan Bʼ, as hoped for by da Silvaʼs solution to the continentʼs problems? Can da thing is that none of this seems to have any effect domestic debt, rubber-stamped by the Brazilian more radical supporters. Unlike in Venezuela, Silva serve the interests of wealthy private inves- down was only averted by an emergency IMF Immediately upon winning the election da on voters.” (Financial Times 3/9/06) senate four months later. the gigantic size of Brazilʼs public debt far tors and also of those who elected him? Brazilʼs loan of $30.4bn, announced in August, the largest Silva delighted finance capitalists and dismayed Brazil has been favoured by two changes in Latin American HNWIs have invested 28% of The domestic debt explosion Capital flight remains a permanent danger. outweighed the capacity of any resources wind- political and economic direction has great signif- single loan ever extended by the IMF. The FT his supporters by raising the primary surplus to external conditions: surging demand for Brazilʼs their $4.2tr, i.e. $1.2tr., in their own countries, Domestic debt, public and private, in the 15 Increased government reserves are modest fall to finance it. The alternative to submission icance for the efforts of Cuba, Venezuela and explained who was actually being rescued by this 4.25% of GDP. His administration has exceeded commodity exports such as iron ore, soya, meat mainly in public debt. At the same time, Latin ʻemerging economiesʼ that are home to more compared to the growth in short-term ʻhot was to suspend interest payments and demand Bolivia to construct a continent-wide challenge ʻrescue packageʼ: “US and European banks with this target: during 2003-2006 the primary and sugar; and foreign investorsʼ hunger for high- America is the destination for 7% of the $33.3tr than 70% of the population of all such nations, moneyʼ inflows. As one commentator (ʻBrazil debt ʻrestructuringʼ, i.e. a write-off. The certain to imperialist domination, namely the Bolivarian Brazilian exposure have effectively won a get out surplus has averaged 4.5%. After interest and yielding investments, a central concern of this under the command of the worldʼs HNWIs, or has this year reached $3.16tr, gaining 50% in Back in the Clutches of Capital Flightʼ, by JP result: capital would have stampeded offshore, Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA. Does of jail free card” (Financial Times 02/8/02). principal payments the government was left with article. $2.3tr. Non-Latin Americans, principally US, two years. $2.1tr of it is sovereign debt. This is Gundzik, 16 June 2006) explains: “Brazilʼs detonating a financial crisis of global reach. da Silvaʼs social-democrat project converge with The package also contained a straitjacket for a deficit averaging 3.5% of GDP – total public European and Japanese investors make up the almost exactly equal to the external debt owed official balance of payments statistics are not A day of reckoning on the debt, and with the ALBA, or does it clash? What are the prospects da Silva to wear under his presidential sash. The debt-servicing, the sum of these two, swallows an Who owns Brazil? difference, with some $1.1tr in Latin American by all ʻemerging nationsʼ which reached £3.2tr capturing the enormous amounts of foreign coalition of native and imperialist investors who of Brazil joining ALBA? IMF loan was “structured to induce the... presi- awesome 8% of GDP, over ten times government The Financial Times reported (17/08/05) that equities and government bonds. in 2006. portfolio inflows that are essentially being rule Brazil, is both inevitable and necessary. Da To answer these questions, we must under- dential front-runners... to continue the conserva- investment on infrastructure, which receives just as a result of low interest rates in the US, “fund Assuming that Brazilian HNWIs behave like Three senior IMF economists (Reinhart, conducted “off balance sheet”. He reports that Silva has succeeded in postponing this, but at the stand the nature and the current stage of Brazilʼs tive economic policies of the outgoing president” 0.7% of GDP. This in a country where two-thirds managers are desperate to obtain additional others in the region, $300bn of their $1070bn Rogoff & Savastano in Debt Intolerance, 2003) the stock of foreign portfolio investment in cost of demoralising and dispersing the powerful chronic debt crisis, unquestionably the biggest (Wall Street Journal 9/8/02). Its centrepiece was of human waste flows untreated into rivers and returns where they can. ... Brazilʼs overnight is invested in domestic assets, most of this in were the first to blow the whistle about “the Brazil increased from $30bn in 2004 to $83bn social movement which brought him to office and constraint upon its national sovereignty and on a promise to maintain a ʻprimary surplusʼ – a coastal waters, and where tens of millions live in rates, currently at 19.75% and about 14% in real government debt, indicating that around $200bn rapid expansion in domestic, market-based by April 2006. “About 25% ... can be attributed which could, under different political leadership, its governmentʼs freedom of action. budget surplus before debt-servicing – of 3.75% favelas (shanty-towns)! terms [i.e. after inflation]...are the highest in the of Brazilʼs domestic government debt, around debt” which in “a number of emerging market to rising equity values. The remaining $40bn of have provided Brazilʼs workers and farmers with Months before Brazilʼs voters gave da Silva of GDP, or 10% of government revenues. Investorsʼ doubts about da Silvaʼs unswerving world.” Brazil has become, in one punditʼs words, half of it, is held by wealthy Brazilians. The economies” has become “a trigger for general- inflows represent new foreign portfolio invest- the means to take possession of their country. a decisive victory in October 2002, investors Da Silva went along with this assault on obedience were finally dispelled in 2003, when “the worldʼs reining beauty queen... everyone remainder is held by foreign investors and by ized debt and financial crises”. They warned ment into Brazilʼs equity market.” Brazilʼs debt bondage negates its national sover- in Brazilian financial assets voted – with their Brazilian sovereignty, describing the IMF agree- the Central Bank raised the benchmark overnight wants to own its debt”; another dubbed it “the pension funds and other domestic institutions. that growing domestic debt “arguably over- As foreign investors arrive by the plane-load, eignty. Repudiating this debt is the prerequisite feet. Alarmed at the prospect of a Workers Party ment as ”inevitable... [It] allows the markets interest rate to 26.5%, crunching the economy poster child of hot money”. The vast influx of Our focus on the most parasitic and wealthy shadows progress... in containing their external Brazilʼs internal asset markets are increasingly for Brazilʼs considerable weight to be put behind government, capital fled and Brazilʼs currency, to calm, and with that, gives a chance for the to counter rising inflation. High interest rates finance capital, attracted by the superprofits to be section of Brazilʼs ruling class, and the political debt burden”, and concluded that “a wave of subject to their fickle moods. This is ironic, ALBAʼs challenge to imperialist domination of the Real, fell 40% to an all-time eve-of-election country to return to growth if the right measures discourage borrowing and divert spending from made from trading in Brazilian debt, has caused power which ownership of debt and alliance restructuring or outright default on domestic since the government has reduced external debt Latin America and the Caribbean. low of 3.95 to the US dollar. Brazilʼs risk premium are taken.” His meek consent meant that the debt consumption to debt-servicing, reducing demand the Real to almost double its value since 2002, with imperialist financiers confers upon them, government debts looms large on the horizon in order to decrease its dependence on these – the difference between the interest charged on crisis – the most important issue facing Brazilʼs and dampening inflation. The outcome: spec- producing huge capital gains for foreign inves- shouldnʼt lead to a simplistic distinction between for many emerging market economies”. same foreign creditors. loans to the Brazilian and US governments – rose people – did not even make it as an election tacular profits for finance capitalists, a sharp tors and for wealthy Brazilians, 11,000 more of parasites and productive capitalists. ʻFinance In 2005, the Brazilian governmentʼs external from an already sky-high 7.85% to 24%. A melt- issue. recession among domestic producers, and infla- whom became dollar millionaires in 2005 alone. capitalʼ is best understood as a fusion of the debts drifted lower to $88bn, while domestic Table 4. FDI in Latin America by Country of Origin Comparison of 1996-2001 with 1990-1995

Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Brazilian elections 23

sovereign debt soared to $409bn, equivalent to Conclusions 50% of GDP, up from $247bn two years earlier According to the IMF economists cited above, – a 30% increase, after adjusting for the appre- “the view that external debt is completely sepa- ciation of the Real. Total sovereign debt, the rable from domestically issued debt is dead sum of the governmentʼs internal and external wrong... foreigners hold increasingly large debt, totaled $500bn at the end of 2005, virtu- amounts of the domestically issued debt of ally all of it owed to private investors. governments of emerging markets, and their Brazilʼs domestic debt is exceeded among residents increasingly hold instruments issued by ʻemerging nationsʼ only by S Korea and China. S governments in advanced economies” Koreaʼs domestic debt exceeds 90% of GDP but Brazilʼs wealthy residents expatriate profits most is owed by the private sector. Thailand and from their investments in government debt, just Malaysia have a similar profile, while Indonesia as foreign investors. They keep their hoards is like Brazil: 87% of its $50bn domestic debt is beyond Brazilian sovereignty, and if they are owed by the government. to be defined by their wealth, they are no more The Bank of Brazil reported in April 2006 Brazilian than their northern friends. Much of that gross public debt equaled 72.3% of GDP; the literature on globalisation argues or presumes while net debt, obtained by subtracting official that inter-imperialist rivalry has been superseded 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 reserves and other financial assets, was 51.3%. by the emergence of a ʻtransnational capitalist Gross debt is important because each $ and Real classʼ, a view belied by the increasingly sharp $ v. Brazilian Real (source IMF) of it causes public money to stream into private political and economic conflicts between the US purses, and because the rate of return on the and Europe. However, a very different process governmentʼs assets is much lower than on the of ʻtransnationalisation of the capitalist classʼ is Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and two. Through debt markets and stock markets, debts theyʼre offset against. Furthermore, some well underway in the ʻemerging nationsʼ – the Capgemini produce annual reports on the fast- productive capitals are bound hand and foot of these ʻfinancial assetsʼ amount to little more transnationalisation of ʻnativeʼ finance capital- growing wealth of the worldʼs so-called ʻhigh to finance capital. Petrobras, Brazilʼs ʻstate oil net-worth individualsʼ (HNWIs). BCG data monopolyʼ is an eloquent example. Just 32.5% indicates that half a million households (1.2% of its shares are owned by the government, of the 45 million households in Brazil) possess while 40% have been sold on Wall Street to net investible assets of $250,000 or more, over foreign or expatriate investors. Petrobras also $1tr in all. According to Cap Gemini, 109,000 owes $20bn in corporate bonds, reducing still Brazilian households own over $1m in financial further the real size of the governmentʼs stake. assets. In 2005, the Brazilian private sector owed As with other rich Latin Americans, the $130bn to domestic creditors, up from $50bn Brazilian elite keeps the great bulk of its wealth in 2001, while its external debt reached $106bn. offshore, from where it is allocated to invest- Foreign and offshore private investors also ments of various types around the world. Cap dominate Brazilʼs stock market and have made Gemini reported that “Latin America is the only vast fortunes from the quadrupling of share region... in which HNWIs prefer to send their prices during Da Silvaʼs presidency. investments elsewhere rather than place them As well as servicing their own debts, the cost in domestic markets: wealthy Latin Americans of servicing public debt contributes to crip- allocate only 28% of their assets to domestic pling rates of taxation on domestic producers. holdings and send 42% of their assets to North A recent World Bank survey of 13 Brazilian America.” According to Capgemini, Brazilians states calculated the average tax burden upon with more than $1m to invest saw their combined companies to be 147% of their gross profit. The wealth grow by $378bn from 2001-2006. During result is endemic tax-avoidance and the pushing Ibovespa Stock Index this period, Brazilʼs GDP rose by just $77bn.. of many domestic businesses into the informal The rapid increase in the wealth of the super- economy, estimated to provide 42% of Brazilʼs rich, a world-wide phenomenon, is more the GDP and more than half of all jobs. result of bubble-growth of asset values than it is than accounting tricks, e.g. $50bn in the Labour ists, or more precisely their absorption into the of increased profits. Assistance Fund is counted, while unfunded imperialist finance capitals of US, Europe and pension liabilities are left off-balance sheet. Japan. Domestic debt ʻearnsʼ a much higher interest Brazilʼs debt now generates around $1bn in razil is Latin Americaʼs largest tion down from 12.5% in 2002 to 4.5% in March rate than external debt. This is because domestic weekly profits. But this is only one source of country and accounts for around 2006. debt is issued in national currency; interest rates superprofits. As we have seen, foreign inves- 40% of the continentʼs economic Da Silva stated in July 2006 that “it is many, therefore contain a ʻcurrency riskʼ premium tors in Brazilian equities reaped $13bn in profits product. It suffers from all the many years since Brazil has enjoyed the kind of to compensate for erosion in the debtʼs value from the increase in share prices in just one year, notorious social diseases of Latin tranquillity over the economy that it is enjoying through domestic inflation and/or currency 2004. Dividend payments added billions more. American capitalism, including extreme and now”. Speaking after decades of crises and devaluation. But instead of devaluing, the Real The transnational corporationsʼ $200bn in direct Brising inequality, staggering levels of public shocks, this is not such a bold claim. Brazilʼs has appreciated by 67% against the dollar since investments generates at least another $20bn in debt, ecological destruction, and endemic state ʻtranquilityʼ is tenuous, and da Silvaʼs servility to 2003. FTMandate reported in March 2006: annual profits. And this takes no account of violence and corruption. Widespread discon- capital has produced meagre results: “In spite of “Brazilʼs interest rates are still phenomenally losses suffered by Brazil and other ʻemerging tent with these ills propelled Workers Party (PT) enjoying what is probably the best combination high... monthly inflation to 10 February at nationsʼ through unequal exchange in trade with leader Luiz Inácio da Silva (ʻLulaʼ) to victory in of external conditions for at least half a century, 0.17%... hardly justifies 17.25% interest rates.” the imperialist economies. the October 2002 presidential elections. Brazilʼs economy ... has expanded by an average The Brazilian government has laid on a feast In 2002, da Silva was faced with a choice Da Silvaʼs government is an important test of of 2 per cent a year.... Bureaucracy, high interest for finance capitalists, and has even waived the between submission to finance capitalists or whether a reformist, social-democratic project is rates and the overvalued Real are all casting a entry fee. A February 2006 decree abolished a showdown with them. There was no middle possible in Latin America. Is there a capitalist shadow over prospects... The only surprising Brazil: Unemployment Rate (Banco do Brasil) a 15% income tax on foreign investments in road, no ʻPlan Bʼ, as hoped for by da Silvaʼs solution to the continentʼs problems? Can da thing is that none of this seems to have any effect domestic debt, rubber-stamped by the Brazilian more radical supporters. Unlike in Venezuela, Silva serve the interests of wealthy private inves- down was only averted by an emergency IMF Immediately upon winning the election da on voters.” (Financial Times 3/9/06) senate four months later. the gigantic size of Brazilʼs public debt far tors and also of those who elected him? Brazilʼs loan of $30.4bn, announced in August, the largest Silva delighted finance capitalists and dismayed Brazil has been favoured by two changes in Latin American HNWIs have invested 28% of The domestic debt explosion Capital flight remains a permanent danger. outweighed the capacity of any resources wind- political and economic direction has great signif- single loan ever extended by the IMF. The FT his supporters by raising the primary surplus to external conditions: surging demand for Brazilʼs their $4.2tr, i.e. $1.2tr., in their own countries, Domestic debt, public and private, in the 15 Increased government reserves are modest fall to finance it. The alternative to submission icance for the efforts of Cuba, Venezuela and explained who was actually being rescued by this 4.25% of GDP. His administration has exceeded commodity exports such as iron ore, soya, meat mainly in public debt. At the same time, Latin ʻemerging economiesʼ that are home to more compared to the growth in short-term ʻhot was to suspend interest payments and demand Bolivia to construct a continent-wide challenge ʻrescue packageʼ: “US and European banks with this target: during 2003-2006 the primary and sugar; and foreign investorsʼ hunger for high- America is the destination for 7% of the $33.3tr than 70% of the population of all such nations, moneyʼ inflows. As one commentator (ʻBrazil debt ʻrestructuringʼ, i.e. a write-off. The certain to imperialist domination, namely the Bolivarian Brazilian exposure have effectively won a get out surplus has averaged 4.5%. After interest and yielding investments, a central concern of this under the command of the worldʼs HNWIs, or has this year reached $3.16tr, gaining 50% in Back in the Clutches of Capital Flightʼ, by JP result: capital would have stampeded offshore, Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA. Does of jail free card” (Financial Times 02/8/02). principal payments the government was left with article. $2.3tr. Non-Latin Americans, principally US, two years. $2.1tr of it is sovereign debt. This is Gundzik, 16 June 2006) explains: “Brazilʼs detonating a financial crisis of global reach. da Silvaʼs social-democrat project converge with The package also contained a straitjacket for a deficit averaging 3.5% of GDP – total public European and Japanese investors make up the almost exactly equal to the external debt owed official balance of payments statistics are not A day of reckoning on the debt, and with the ALBA, or does it clash? What are the prospects da Silva to wear under his presidential sash. The debt-servicing, the sum of these two, swallows an Who owns Brazil? difference, with some $1.1tr in Latin American by all ʻemerging nationsʼ which reached £3.2tr capturing the enormous amounts of foreign coalition of native and imperialist investors who of Brazil joining ALBA? IMF loan was “structured to induce the... presi- awesome 8% of GDP, over ten times government The Financial Times reported (17/08/05) that equities and government bonds. in 2006. portfolio inflows that are essentially being rule Brazil, is both inevitable and necessary. Da To answer these questions, we must under- dential front-runners... to continue the conserva- investment on infrastructure, which receives just as a result of low interest rates in the US, “fund Assuming that Brazilian HNWIs behave like Three senior IMF economists (Reinhart, conducted “off balance sheet”. He reports that Silva has succeeded in postponing this, but at the stand the nature and the current stage of Brazilʼs tive economic policies of the outgoing president” 0.7% of GDP. This in a country where two-thirds managers are desperate to obtain additional others in the region, $300bn of their $1070bn Rogoff & Savastano in Debt Intolerance, 2003) the stock of foreign portfolio investment in cost of demoralising and dispersing the powerful chronic debt crisis, unquestionably the biggest (Wall Street Journal 9/8/02). Its centrepiece was of human waste flows untreated into rivers and returns where they can. ... Brazilʼs overnight is invested in domestic assets, most of this in were the first to blow the whistle about “the Brazil increased from $30bn in 2004 to $83bn social movement which brought him to office and constraint upon its national sovereignty and on a promise to maintain a ʻprimary surplusʼ – a coastal waters, and where tens of millions live in rates, currently at 19.75% and about 14% in real government debt, indicating that around $200bn rapid expansion in domestic, market-based by April 2006. “About 25% ... can be attributed which could, under different political leadership, its governmentʼs freedom of action. budget surplus before debt-servicing – of 3.75% favelas (shanty-towns)! terms [i.e. after inflation]...are the highest in the of Brazilʼs domestic government debt, around debt” which in “a number of emerging market to rising equity values. The remaining $40bn of have provided Brazilʼs workers and farmers with Months before Brazilʼs voters gave da Silva of GDP, or 10% of government revenues. Investorsʼ doubts about da Silvaʼs unswerving world.” Brazil has become, in one punditʼs words, half of it, is held by wealthy Brazilians. The economies” has become “a trigger for general- inflows represent new foreign portfolio invest- the means to take possession of their country. a decisive victory in October 2002, investors Da Silva went along with this assault on obedience were finally dispelled in 2003, when “the worldʼs reining beauty queen... everyone remainder is held by foreign investors and by ized debt and financial crises”. They warned ment into Brazilʼs equity market.” Brazilʼs debt bondage negates its national sover- in Brazilian financial assets voted – with their Brazilian sovereignty, describing the IMF agree- the Central Bank raised the benchmark overnight wants to own its debt”; another dubbed it “the pension funds and other domestic institutions. that growing domestic debt “arguably over- As foreign investors arrive by the plane-load, eignty. Repudiating this debt is the prerequisite feet. Alarmed at the prospect of a Workers Party ment as ”inevitable... [It] allows the markets interest rate to 26.5%, crunching the economy poster child of hot money”. The vast influx of Our focus on the most parasitic and wealthy shadows progress... in containing their external Brazilʼs internal asset markets are increasingly for Brazilʼs considerable weight to be put behind government, capital fled and Brazilʼs currency, to calm, and with that, gives a chance for the to counter rising inflation. High interest rates finance capital, attracted by the superprofits to be section of Brazilʼs ruling class, and the political debt burden”, and concluded that “a wave of subject to their fickle moods. This is ironic, ALBAʼs challenge to imperialist domination of the Real, fell 40% to an all-time eve-of-election country to return to growth if the right measures discourage borrowing and divert spending from made from trading in Brazilian debt, has caused power which ownership of debt and alliance restructuring or outright default on domestic since the government has reduced external debt Latin America and the Caribbean. low of 3.95 to the US dollar. Brazilʼs risk premium are taken.” His meek consent meant that the debt consumption to debt-servicing, reducing demand the Real to almost double its value since 2002, with imperialist financiers confers upon them, government debts looms large on the horizon in order to decrease its dependence on these – the difference between the interest charged on crisis – the most important issue facing Brazilʼs and dampening inflation. The outcome: spec- producing huge capital gains for foreign inves- shouldnʼt lead to a simplistic distinction between for many emerging market economies”. same foreign creditors. loans to the Brazilian and US governments – rose people – did not even make it as an election tacular profits for finance capitalists, a sharp tors and for wealthy Brazilians, 11,000 more of parasites and productive capitalists. ʻFinance In 2005, the Brazilian governmentʼs external from an already sky-high 7.85% to 24%. A melt- issue. recession among domestic producers, and infla- whom became dollar millionaires in 2005 alone. capitalʼ is best understood as a fusion of the debts drifted lower to $88bn, while domestic 21 24 Culture Frontline Latin America Sep-Dec 2006 Reviews Activities Colombia she was an active member of the University Lecturersʼ Union at the University of Córdoba, and at Liverpool University she taught Spanish courses and was working on Books a doctorate in modern languages until style of doing politics, and a democratic incapacitated by illness. reading of Marx. The book considers Among those whose visits to aborted revolutions in Chile (realistic Liverpool were facilitated by Luz were assessment), Nicaragua (excellent) and Francisco Ramírez of the Colombian Portugal (contentious) to confi rm: Mineworkersʼ Union Sintraminercol, “the importance of broad popular unity, Luz Estela Villarreal Muñoz Carlos González of the University the need to overcome partisan divisions Workersʼ Union Sintraunicol and and sectarianism, the essential role Luz Estela Villarreal, who died Ermelina Mosquera Jaramillo of the of national popular culture and tradi- recently after a long battle with cancer, Food and Beverage Union Sinaltrainal. tion, the need for ideological breadth will be greatly missed by members of Luz was very active in organising of vision within the limits dictated by the Colombia Solidarity Campaign, support for their campaigns against popular interests, and the crucial role of particularly the Merseyside branch privatisation and against the activities leadership.” (p197) of which she was a leading member of multinationals such as Coca-Cola, In terms of political method, Raby is from its foundation in 2002, serving BP, Anglo-Gold and Nestlé. critical of both social democracy and as its secretary for as long as health Luz also participated in other the sectarianism of offi cial Communist permitted. She was the heart and campaigns such as Palestine Solidarity Parties, Trotskyists and Maoists as soul of Latin community activities on and the Stop the War Movement, well, in fact all groups who lay claim Merseyside and contributed tirelessly attending rallies in London and to the Marxist-Leninist tradition. She to the organisation of CSC events here, Liverpool and motivating students to Democracy and Revolution: Latin attributes their failures to the ortho- especially visits by Colombian trade participate. She also did invaluable America and Socialism Today doxies of Marxism-Leninism. Nor As Used On The Famous Nelson unionists and social leaders. work at Refugee Action. She will be D.L. Raby does Raby agree with Hollowayʼs view Mandela Luz was a talented linguist who was remembered above all for her warmth, Pluto Press £18.99 that it is suffi cient to claim autonomy Mark Thomas fl uent in English as well as having a generosity and humour, and her loss without taking political power. Raby is Ebury Press £10.99 good command of other languages will be deeply felt by many people in his book stresses the origi- for a vanguard leadership of the revo- including Romanian, having studied this country and Colombia. nality of the Cuban and lutionary process, but not a vanguard he fi rst book by well know in that country in the 1980s. In Diana Raby Venezuelan revolutions. party. The key is for the leader to comedian/ activist Mark Raby conceptualises Cuba embrace and articulate popular culture Thomas is an amazing, funny Tand Venezuela as examples of “revo- in dialogue with the mass movement and seriously concerning lutionary states of popular power” through mechanisms of participa- Tpersonal account investigating the Solidarity (p65), her study combines empathy tory democracy. Without participative arms and torture trade both under- with deep historical knowledge, and democracy the revolution will fail. cover and un-covered provides one for that alone it is worth careful study. Rabyʼs innovation is to detect a dark humoured book. Shop But Rabyʼs purpose goes beyond this, specifi cally revolutionary-democratic Surprisingly becoming an arms her ambition is nothing less than to variant of populism, a direct relation- dealer seems an effortless feat with Killer Cola T-shirt displace the Russian revolution as the ship bypassing institutions and parties, getting your new business cards being £10 S/M/L/XL universal foundational experience of and to champion it. I would summarise the hardest task before youʼre in the Black or Red left wing politics, she seeks to fi nd in her position as: neither Labour nor game, brokering your way around the the leadership, practice and ideology of Lenin, but revolutionary populism. law and conducting dodgy dealings Killer-Cola in Colombia the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutions While arguing for a different inter- with despotic regimes. Information about coke’s crimes in Colombia a new paradigm for the 21st century. pretation, I have learnt much from BAE Systems makes regular appear- plus special delegation report. The supporting argument is wide reading this erudite and impassioned ances throughout the book, including £1.50 ranging, drawing theoretical support book, a serious and highly welcome the sale of an outdated and overpriced from four main sources: radical contribution that hopefully helps to military air-traffi c control system to Anti-Coke Manifesto critiques of liberal democracy; the raise the debate to a new level. Tanzania, a deal so over the top that Everything you could possibly wish to know ʻreformistʼ wing of the dependency even the IMF and the World Bank about reasons to boycott coca-cola school; discussion of populism as a Andy Higginbottom oppose the deal? Everything here is £1 plus 30p postage coupled together with arming Mugabe, To order any merchandise drop us a line at: funding Saddam and retooling the [email protected] Moroccan army to continue their occupation in Western Sahara. Cheques payable to: The section on torture touches on Colombia Solidarity Campaign the personal accounts of some British PO Box 8446, citizens arrested on false charges and London, N17 6NZ later tortured: during this painful ordeal the victim remembers the hand DVD cially strong with contributions from cuffs that held up him upright and Andy Higginbottom of the Colombia induce sleep deprivation, more distinc- Another World Is Possible, Solidarity Campaign, Edgar Paez of tively the ʻMade in Englandʼ branded Venezuela Today... SINALTRAINAL (Colombian Food into the steel. Ironically, the British The World Tomorrow? and Drink Workers Union), and from taxpayer subsidies this industry by by Gateshead UNISON the comedian Mark Thomas and artist around £13,106.30 per year per arms Tracy Moberly. exports worker. ulie Nicholson and Simon Hall “Venezuela Today.. The World With all this unethical business New of Gateshead UNISON have Tomorrow?” really helps to bring Labour introduces the new regulations produced two DVDʼs that offer to life the extraordinary changes on arms exports, followed by restric- short but fascinating glimpses happening in Venezuela by focusing tions on brokering. For a moment this Jof the World Social Forum held in on two events. Several workers at thought does take a while to accept, Caracas earlier this year and of the the INVEPAL paper company explain especially fi nding out the EU has recent political changes in Venezuela. how a Government expropriation saved adopted these groundbreaking policies Many fi lms of this nature are often their jobs and about how INVEPAL is too. Itʼs at this point Thomas mentions just a series of talking heads, but these now co-managed between worker and the loopholes embedded in the regula- DVDʼs inter-cut the spoken interven- state representatives. The other focus tions, and the no-punishment-just-a- tions with footage of demonstrations is the Juan Bautista Alberdi community slap-on-the-wrist that a company may or of still photographs. school, taken over by parents, students get for breaking them, neatly added in “Another World Is Possible” was and teachers when it was closed by, Yes you guessed it, New Labour. fi lmed during the WSF and focuses down by its anti-Chavez Director as This book opens up the whole trade mainly on the anti-war movement, part of the bosses lock-out in 2002. far beyond barrels and bullets, Hawk climate change and multi-nationals, in Important contributions from Orlando jets and Scorpion tanks. Itʼs beyond particular the activities of the Coca- Chirino, one of the main leaders of humans rights, morality or ethics. Itʼs Cola Corporation in Colombia. There the UNT (pro-Chavez union confed- also the cuffs used to hold in place is much of interest here including eration), Rob Sewell from Hands Off torture victims and the lorries sold spoken interventions from Cindy Venezuela, and Jane Loftus from the that later transport troops to and from Sheehan, peace activist and mother of Communications Workers Union and a massacre, all with the pride of ʻMade a US soldier killed in Iraq, and Phil footage of the man himself, President in Englandʼ stamped on the side. Last Thornhill of the Campaign Against Hugo Chavez, speaking at the WSF. and most important itʼs the economics Climate Change. that dictates the trade. The section on Coca-Cola is espe- Matthew Stiles Sep-Dec 2006 Frontline Latin America Get involved 25 www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk Activities Events

First Thursday of the month Movimientos presents... “A politically inspired night of Latin Rhythms, Tropical Funk & documen- Colombia Solidarity Campaign is tary films on Latin America” Colombiaaffiliated toSolidarity the European Campaign Network is @ the Salmon & Compass, 58 Penton affiliatedof Friendship to the European and Solidarity Network Street (Corner of Chapel Market), ofwith Friendship Colombia and, Solidaritywhich has witheleven Angel, Islington, London N1 affiliatesColombia, in which Spain hasand eleven ten from affili other- Music downstairs from 7pm: atescountries. in Spain For and more ten frominformation other : The finest in Afro-Latin, Cuban, countries.http://www.redcolombia.org/ For more information Brazilian, Salsa, Hip Hop, Reggaeton, look up http://www.redcolombia. Cumbia, Mambo, Ska, Carioca & future Latin beats Upstairs from 7pm: Films, photos, discussion and music focussing on a different aspect of Latin America each time. FREE ENTRY! For more info contact London Branch [email protected] or 07723 381303 Public Meetings: Fourth Thursday of the month Powerplay Launch Monthly Video All at Union Tavern, 52, Lloyd Baker Newsreel St, WC1 (nearest tubes Kings Cross, Powerplay, the London based video Russel Square, Farringdon, Angel) activist group, are launching a new From 7pm to 8pm DVDs – monthly video newsreel in October. 8pm Speaker and discussion topic: As the neoliberal system causes ever greater atrocities around the world in Thursday 28 September Naka Mandinga and Maria Encina in London earlier this year Andy Dockett its push to secure the worldʼs resources What now in Colombia? for the rich, this newsreel aims to link Emilio Rodriguez and Arturo García struggles around the world, providing information for activists that wonʼt be Thursday 27 October seen on the telly - from the war in the British Mining Corporations middle east, to the inspirational move- African descendants Paul Dowling and Richard Solly ments in Latin America, to the growing struggle against privatisation and casu- Judith Amanthis and Mia Eisenstadt Thursday 23 November tbc alisation here and in Europe. The newsreel is envisaged as some- “In 1956 I was baptised with the name Campaign branches in Sheffield and example, health care, education, thing that people in all the different of Jorge Isa, but I came to realise that North London. African descendant economic welfare, the development of Bristol Branch movements can use and contribute my antecedents had been kidnapped Colombians are 11 million, 25% of the art. 4 million African Colombians are to, so please contact us with footage from the west of Africa, from a terri- population. After Brazil and the USA, in fighting organisations. The PCNʼs Public Meetings: of actions, campaigns, strikes etc., or tory that is now principally occu- Colombia has the highest proportion immediate aim is to create an autono- Wednesday evenings, ideas that you want us to cover. pied by the state of Mali, but which of Africans in the Americas. Most mous region for Africans in Colombia alternating admin meetings with For more information, contact Shaun had been part of the old kingdom of have lived in the northwest and to govern themselves. This means reading groups and discussion on at [email protected], or ring Mandinga. For this reason I changed Pacific coast region between the sea also defending their region from Colombia and related issues. 07779 109 628. my name to Naka Mandinga. I am a and the mountains since 1851, when multinational invasion and fighting descendant of Africa, who lives now chattel slavery was abolished. Naka for basic necessities like health care. Upcoming Bristol events: Online in the territorial occupied by the state and Maria emphasised that their They insist that each people has Please contact the Bristol branch for of Colombia, but I feel myself to be an foreparents were free Africans who different basic necessities, specific to future events and meetings. They can www.fernandoarias.org African descendant independently of were forced into slavery by the impe- their needs. be contacted on the following email Re-erection Day which country I am in.“ rialists. They lay great emphasis on address: See what happened when a ʻflash Naka Mandinga The slave owners kept people who educating their young people about bristolcolombiasolidarity@gmail. mobʼ arrived outside the Colombian spoke the same language apart, and their history, culture and their com Consulate in London on 28 May. A aka and Maria came to in this way Africans lost their mother struggle. They use different art special art performance took place Europe in June to spread tongues – Mandinga, Yoruba, Swahili forms, especially music and dance, then... “Iʼm a police officer, I tell you awareness of the vibrancy and others. But African Colombians, and encourage young people to join Oxford Branch what to do... Stop the camera now! Do and richness of their with the help of their indigenous and organisations. It doesnʼt matter if you wanna get nicked?” Nculture whilst at the same time seek mixtos friends, have created a distinct PCN activists are seen as mad. Their Tuesday 3 Ocxtober solidarity and understanding of the way of life and are fighting for the aim is to combat the psychological British Mining Corporations in oppression that they face and fight in right to maintain that culture in their oppression which has destroyed their Colombia Colombia. The UK leg of the tour was ancestral region. African identity. Literacy is vital. The (The Town Hall, St Aldates, 7:30) organized by Colombia Solidarity Maria and Naka are members of slave owners kept slaves illiterate Richard Solly will have just returned with the cooperation of Professor the Process of Black Communities to stop them fighting slavery. The from a human rights observation trip Peter Wade of Manchester University, (PCN), which is one section of the government is doing the same today. to Colombia and campaigns on Latin African Liberation Support broad social movement in Colombia. Full report from ALISC-Network, American mining issues and indig- Campaign (ALISC) Network, Global The PCN is a network of 83 groups, PO Box 21266, London W9 3YR. enous rights. Womenʼs Strike and Cuba Solidarity each with its own objectives, for Email [email protected] The Oxford branch meets on the first Tuesday of every month in the East Oxford Community Centre. Contact FLA Office Appeal Join the Colombia Solidarity Campaign! Peter Bearder for confirmation on ox_colombiasolidarity@hotmail. The co-operative office our editorial Includes free subscription to Frontline Latin America co.uk team shared for the first three issues of Frontline has closed. This fourth Talks issue has been produced in emergency Other Branches Membership rates as follows: circumstances, which are not sustain- Individuals: waged £15.00, unwaged £7.50, organisations £30/60/120. 10 October able. We appeal to all our readers to South Wales: Max Fuller Massacres, Extrajudicial Killings, help us fund a basic office of our own, Mark category of required subscription and return with payment to [email protected] Violent Displacement of Afro- which can be done for £5,000. ʻColombia Solidarity Campaignʼ with the slip below Colombian Communities and If you want to make a contribution, Liverpool Paul Grunnill Destruction of one of the Richest Bio- why not help financially? As well as [email protected] Diverse areas of the world individual contributions we encourage Name St. Ethelbergaʼs Centre for Peace and supporters to hold fundraising events, Scotland: Barbara Scott Reconciliation cultural or anything that works. Address [email protected] 7pm – 9:30pm 10 October 2006 at Please send make cheque payable to 78, Bishopsgate, London EC2 “Colombia Solidarity Campaign”, Tel. email Nottingham : Speakers include: Liliana Uribe Tirado write “Office Appeal” on the reverse Colombia Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6NZ [email protected] - Prominent Human Rights Lawyer side, and send to:Colombia Solidarity www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk Henry Ramirez Soler - Comisión Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 Plymooth Intereclesial Justicia y Paz 6NZ [email protected] Septiembre- Diciembre 2006 Frontline Latin America e3

Violencia Antisindical

Violento desalojo en Aguabalca Domingo Tovar Arrieta Director departamento DHH y solidaridad Caleb Harris

La violencia contra el movimiento ientras nos sindical en Colombia es producto del modelo de desarrollo capitalista hallábamos parados con la aplicación de una estrate- en la esquina de una gia económica que favorece a las calle polvorienta, empresas transnacionales y a los dos jóvenes corrían apresurados, grandes empresarios colombianos, M que consideran como un enemigo uno de ellos llevando una pistola. a los procesos organizativos de Era sorprendente ver como brillaba los trabajadores y las trabajadoras, con el sol ardiente. Estábamos violando un derecho constitucional, en uno de los vecindarios más el de asociación y fi nanciando la guerra para aplicarla a los confl ic- pobres de Colombia, el Distrito tos laborales. de Aguablanca en el suroeste de El uso de la violencia contra el la ciudad de Cali. Muchos de los movimiento sindical en Colombia vecindarios de Aguablanca en es uno de los rasgos más caracterís- ticos de la historia del sindicalismo un comienzo fueron invasiones. en el país. Su prolongada presen- Estas rodean la mayoría de las para conocer sobre el más reciente ejemplo de una más tarde. Muchos resultaron heridos y nosotros cia e insidiosa manifestación ha ciudades latinoamericanas. Los violencia ofi cial. Entre los efectos más severos de perdimos todo lo que teníamos.ʼ Gerson añadió: ʻLa llevado al sindicalismo hacia una dramática y alarmante crisis hu- vecindarios estan poblados por la vieja pero todavía sangrienta guerra civil, el país realidad es que nosotros no tenemos ningún otro manitaria; para nadie es descono- millones de personas quienes tiene la segunda más alta población de refugiados sitio donde vivir ni dinero para pagar la renta, por cido que Colombia, ha terminado solo pueden soñar con tener una internos después de Sudán. Ellos son conocidos eso es que tenemos que vivir aquí. Y ahora estamos por consolidarse como el lugar mas casa, así sea con la renta más baja. como PID, Personas Internamente Desplazadas. en la calle.ʼ El bebé que murió durante el ataque se peligroso del mundo para realizar el ejercicio de asociación sindical, Comprar una casa es imposible Johan y yo estábamos en camino para reunirnos con llamaba Luis Angel Riasco Cuero. Su padre, Harold pese a los múltiples informes de para los pobres, los desempleados, alguna gente llamada con el neutral pero despectivo Riasco me dijo: ʻNo hubo advertencia, nada. Luego derechos humanos denunciando la para quienes no tienen voz, término: desplazados. Después de construir casas sentimos las lágrimas que salían por la acción de los situación, a las observaciones de quienes son con frecuencia una improvisadas en terrenos públicos baldíos en gases y el bebé empezó a asfi xiarse. Pensamos que organizaciones internacionales de DDHH. Este desolador panorama mayoría invisible en Colombia. En Aguablanca, más de 1.200 familias, la mayoría si corríamos seríamos golpeados por el escuadrón. sigue cobrando sus victimas, ins- tales condiciones, ellos escogen desplazadas, habían vivido en su nuevo asentamiento, Así que le pusimos un trapo mojado en su cara y taurando su terror y prolongando una tierra baldía e inactiva y llamado Brisas del Bosque, por cuatro meses. esperamos. A las 11:30am el bebé murió aquí en la una sistemática ley de impunidad construyen casas ordinarias para Entonces los líderes de la ciudad de Cali decidieron calle.ʼ Más de 50 hombres, mujeres y niños hicieron y silencio. Desde 1991 hasta la fecha han sido asesinados 2.201 sus familias. Algunas veces estas que ellos necesitaban el terreno para el desarrollo. cola por varias horas bajo el ardiente sol de la tarde trabajadores y trabajadoras sindi- invasiones evolucionan y con los De tal manera instruyeron el Escuadrón Móvil para contarnos sus historias. Yaneth Arroyo Martínez calizados, se han registrado 3.172 años se convierten en comunidades Antidisturbios o policía de choque, ESMAD, para tiene un niño de tres años y dos mellizos de un año amenazas de muerte y 187 traba- normales, ofi cialmente que llegaran a la comunidad a las 2am de junio 16 y estaba embarazada con el cuarto, antes de perderlo jadores han sido desaparecidos. Las violaciones al derecho a la reconocidas, pero a menudo y sacar la gente a la calle con gases lacrimógenos y durante el ataque. Ella dijo: ʻEllos me cogieron y vida contra miembros de organiza- estas no son reconocidas como bolillos. Luego la policía procedió a quemar las casas me golpearon. Me tiraron al piso. Esto es como una ciones sindicales en hechos no re- lo veremos con desconcertante con todas las pertenencias adentro y como si fuera guerra hacia la gente. Yo fui al hospital pero perdí mi lacionados con el confl icto armado, es decir en su casa, en la calle o detalle. En Aguablanca, poco, aplanaron con buldózeres lo que quedó. bebé.ʼ en su lugar de trabajo, en los casos ocasionalmente se presentan urante el ataque, un niño de seis en los cuales se pudo identifi car el confl ictos entre las pandillas, como meses murió al quedar expuesto a los air Antonio Urbano y su señora Diana Calvo presunto autor genérico, el 83.54% suele ocurrir en las áreas pobres, gases lacrimógenos, una jóven madre Quintero tienen un hijo de siete meses. Jair dijo: de los hechos fueron realizados por agentes estatales: por perpetración donde muchos jóvenes no tienen embarazada perdió su bebé y muchos ʻEllos le pegaron a mi mujer en la cara. Ella directa el 1.74%, por omisión y/o ninguna aspiración, salvo el poder Dhombres, mujeres y niños resultaron heridos. Johan cayó al canal de aguas sucias con el bebé en sus tolerancia o apoyo a los grupos efímero ganado a través de la y yo llegamos doce días después. Unas 300 familias brazos, el niño bebió esa agua mala y se enfermó. Casi paramilitares el 81.88%; a las guer- J rillas se le atribuye la autoría del droga y las armas. Pero también aún estaban viviendo bajo plásticos y cartones en se muere.ʼ El hombre dijo que tenia un mensaje para 16.37%. En el primer gobierno de existe otro tipo de violencia, una una calle cercana. Hablé con el líder de la Junta de el gobierno: ʻPor favor no ataque la gente. Nosostros ÁlvaroÁlvaro UribeUribe VVélezélez ffueronueron asesina-asesina- más insidiosa y terrible, ésta viste Acción Comunal, Gerson Alfredo Sánchez, él dijo: somos pobres, pero somos seres humanos. Necesitamos dos 356 sindicalistas en Colombia, de traje y corbata en vez de los ʻTodo el mundo estaba durmiendo. El escuadrón de la vivienda y trabajo.ʼ Fue esta una experiencia intensa y cifra que incluye afi liados, diri- Nikes y la cachucha de béisbol policía arrojó gases lacrimógenos. Nosotros corrimos extremecedora, escuchar historia tras historia, de todo gentes y activistas. El promedio mensual de víctimas de sindicalis- (o un camufl aje disimulado). y ellos nos golpearon con bolillos. Arrestaron a los lo que se le puede quitar a usted, cuando ya usted no tas muertos o desaparecidos ha Yo estaba visitando Aguablanca líderes comunitarios para silenciar la resistencia, tiene nada. aumentado a lo largo del período, con Johan, un fotógrafo suizo, pero los dejaron en libertad, sin cargos, horas a causa de la violencia antisindi- cal, antes era de 3 mensuales hoy *Caleb Harris ([email protected]) Para más informacion ver la exhibición on-line www.accessallareas.org/aguablanca son 5 mensuales. Vale resaltar la ejecución extrajudicial de 3 diri- gentes sindicales de la subdirectiva Luz Estela Villarreal, murió recientemente después una lucha intensa contra el CUT Arauca el 5 de agosto de 2004 a manos de miembros de la fuerza Tributo a Luz Estela Villareal cáncer, ella será muy extrañada por los miembros de la campaña de solidari- pública (ejército), contraviniendo dad por Colombia, particularmente por el branch de Merseyside en el cual ella las diferentes versiones y montajes efectuados por el gobierno pretend- fue activista y líder desde sus inicios. En el 2002, trabajó como secretaria iendo involucrarlos como miembros hasta que su salud se lo permitió, Luz fue el corazón y espíritu de la comunidad de una organización insurgente. Las mujeres y los niños así como la latinoamericana en Merseyside. población adulta son de los temas Luz era una lingüística muy talentosa, ella era fl uente en inglés y de otros idi- que más llaman la atención; las víctimas de esta violencia, han sido omas incluyendo Rumano, en Colombia ella fue miembro activa del sindicato observadas como victimas de un de profesores de la Universidad de Córdoba, y también, fue miembro activa del confl icto armado indiscriminado o como victimas accidentales de sindicato de la Universidad de Liverpool donde ella trabajó como profesora de la violencia ejercida y dirigida Español. contra el movimiento sindical. En último término, en el aumento de la Luz participó en otras campañas de solidaridad como la de Palestina, la cam- violencia contra las mujeres, es el paña en contra de la guerra (Stop the War Movement) atendió marchas en desplazamiento de las violaciones hacia todo el núcleo familiar que Londres y Liverpool, estimulaba a sus estudiantes a participar en ellas, Luz compromete además la integridad también hizo trabajo invaluable en Refuge Action. de las personas que no pertenecen al movimiento sindical. Luz Estela será siempre recordada por todo lo mencionado y por su fraterni- (Extracto del informe derechos hu- dad, generosidad y humor. Su perdida ha sido sentida por muchas personas en manos, solucion politica, acuerdos humanitarios vs seguridad demo- este país y Colombia. cratica – impunidad) Diana Raby Bogotá, d. C., 22 de Agosto de 06 Presidenta, CSC Merseyside e2 Frontline Latin America Septiembre-Diciembre 2006 Editorial Guerra en el oriente, Guerran en occidente

“Seamos honestos, la política orientación ʻAtlanticistaʼ es sostenida para protestar contra la intervención internacional del gobierno británico por los intereses de las corporaciones militar de USA en Colombia. Como no cambia gran parte dentro de un multinacionales británicas: siendo una campaña anti-imperialista, nos partido, e inclusive entre los partidos... las de mayores utilidades las sumamos a la acertada condena de porque nuestros intereses nacionales corporaciones petroleras (BP y la ocupación de Afganistán, Irak, son continuos y permanentes”. Lord Shell), los bancos y conglomerados Palestina y Líbano y, a la amenaza de Powelll, antiguo consejero de la señora de seguros, el sector minero (BHP- invasión de Irán, por parte del actual Thatcher, John Major y Tony Blair. Billiton, Anglo-American y RioTinto, bete noir de Bush. ¡ telecomunicaciones, fármacos y agro- Una de las características industria. Como parte del movimiento esenciales de este modelo “La solidaridad es la ternura de los Una de las características esenciales de internacional para cesar la guerra en los pueblos” Ernesto ʻCheʼ Guevara. este modelo económico es la continua pueblos del Medio Oriente, nosotros económico es la continua súper explotación de los pueblos del llamamos la atención sobre las ʻotras súper explotación de Si cambiando el Primer Ministro no “Tercer Mundo”, que aglutina a la guerras de Américaʼ, la prolongada, loslos ppueblosueblos deldel “Tercer“Tercer cambia la política de nuestro país, mayoría de los ciudadanos del mundo. algunas veces abierta, pero más a Mundo”,Mundo”, queque aglutinaaglutina a lala como Powell admite con completa En este contexto, la única forma de menudo, sucia, encubierta guerra de mayoríamayoría dede loslos ciudadanosciudadanos franqueza, ¿cuál es entonces la razón de ejercer la democracia y expresar nuestra USA contra los pueblos de Colombia y deldel mundo.mundo. las elecciones? Parecería que el pueblo solidaridad humana, es la movilización Latinoamérica. Ellos también necesitan en Gran Bretaña no dice nada sobre lo contra la ocupación neo-colonial que nuestro apoyo. Únase a nosotros en que “nuestro” gobierno hace alrededor se adelanta en nuestro nombre, por solidaridad con ellos, con la esperanza del mundo. cualquier partido de gobierno, y contra de que el futuro brille para el real las multinacionales cuyos rapaces continente americano. Si no es la voluntad del pueblo, ¿cuál intereses, fundamentalmente conducen es entonces el principio guía de la la política de guerra británica. Entonces ¡Fuera Estados Unidos de Colombia política internacional del Reino Unido? veremos cuan ʻcontinuo y permanenteʼ y el Medio Oriente! Desde casi todo ángulo, la alianza es realmente su dominio. ¡No más guerra por Petróleo! con USA es la piedra de toque para el La Campaña de Solidaridad por consenso del establecimiento. Y esta Colombia fue fundada hace cinco años Ganó la derecha neoliberal en Colombia Arturo Garcia

al más alto nivel del gobierno de alguien encarnaba la ideología ultra trata como héroes, paseando orondos puso al servicio incondicional de la Uribe Vélez. Horacio Serpa, tres reaccionaria del anquilosado y caduco en sus propios helicópteros y en la campaña de Uribe con un servilismo veces candidato a la presidencia por Partido Conservador, ese era, ni más ni camioneta presidencial en la Costa que raya en la mediocridad, pues en el ofi cialismo Liberal y uno de sus menos, que Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Atlántica, entonces estamos hablando la práctica, casi todos los medios principales opositores en las dos últimas Por otra parte, uno de los factores de un terrorismo de estado, que endosa se pusieron a la orden de una campañas presidenciales, sucumbió a decisivos en la aplastante victoria su trabajo sucio al paramilitarismo para información mediática que hablara, la tentación de la repartija burocrática, electoral del Presidente Uribe, es la que haga campaña política armada a escribiera y mostrara la imagen aceptando el cargo de embajador generosidad excesiva que ha mostrado favor de su benefactor, obligando a la mesiánica del jefe, al tiempo que Colombiano en la Organización de a lo largo de su vida pública y, población, a votar por este y a impedir el negaban la igualdad de participación los Estados Americanos (OEA), particularmente, en sus primeros cuatro apoyo a los movimientos de oposición. en los medios a que tenían derecho los con lo que sepultó sus posibilidades años como presidente de Colombia con Esto es lo que se denunció en las demás candidatos. Así pues, se edifi có de llegar al poder, pues perdió toda los grupos paramilitares. elecciones de 2002. Un escandaloso el mito infalible, la percepción virtual, credibilidad política y moral ante el Es de todos sabido que la “ley de fraude electoral a escala nacional que de que Uribe encarnaba la panacea electorado. Esto quedó refl ejado en Justicia y Paz” es un esperpento permitió a Uribe ganar la presidencia de la falsa democracia colombiana. una estrepitosa derrota en las pasadas jurídico diseñado para legalizar el en la primera vuelta y a un buen número Carlos Gaviria Díaz, el candidato elecciones. paramilitarismo y garantizar una Wilson Borja de curules en el Senado y la Cámara por el Polo Democrático Alternativo Lo mismo sucedió con el expresidente impunidad feliz a costa del dolor, el de reconocidos representantes del (PDA), fue catalogado por Uribe conservador Andrés Pastrana, quien sufrimiento y despojo a las víctimas narco-paramilitarismo en Colombia. como un comunista disfrazado de de ser un ácido contradictor de las de masacres, torturas y desapariciones. Ya existe una demanda ante la Fiscalía demócrata que entregaría el país a la políticas de “seguridad democrática” y Además desplazamiento forzado de la y la Procuraduría nacionales para que Guerrilla. Uribe acudió a los medios la nefasta “Ley de Justicia y Paz” que población y otras violaciones grotescas anule las elecciones de 2006 de los más burdos para descalifi car a sus blindó a los paramilitares contra la a la Constitución Nacional y al Derecho órganos del poder legislativo, pues adversarios políticos, pero no tuvo el acción de la justicia, fue seducido con Internacional Humanitario. Todo esto se alega un fraude de proporciones valor, la gallardía y la capacidad para el cargo de embajador Colombiano se ha conseguido mediante una labor vergonzosas, como resultado del enfrentarse a sus opositores en los en los Estados Unidos. Vendidos sus sistemática de amedrantamiento y terror poder corruptor del dinero del debates televisados. principios morales y su autoridad de generalizado de la población civil, el narcotráfi co y las amenazas a los Fue pues, con todas estas urdim- jefe natural del Partido Conservador por señalamiento de líderes populares, electores de los grupos paramilitares, bres maquiavélicas, con el arte de la un plato de lentejas en Washington, su sindicalistas, periodistas y defensores de que aunque supuestamente en su mentira, la fabricación de estadísticas colectividad prácticamente despareció derechos humanos como colaboradores mayoría se han desmovilizado, su amañadas y acciones rastreras, como del mapa político como partido y sus o simpatizantes de la guerrilla. estructura militar sigue intacta y el señor Uribe Vélez se hizo reelegir principales dirigentes - nacionales y Si los luchadores del movimiento han continuado su tarea criminal de para otros cuatro años. Cuatro años de locales - se deslizaron sin ningún pudor popular son mostrados en los medios acallar la oposición. Han cambiado represión contra la oposición política, (característica propia de los oportunistas mediáticos ofi ciales como delincuentes sus nombres pero usan las mismas violación de los derechos humanos, de ofi cio) hacia las huestes uribistas. y enemigos del pueblo, y a los genocidas modalidades bárbaras que los ha crímenes de lesa humanidad y mayor Al fi n de cuentas, estaban cambiando de la talla de los Mancuso, los Jorges 40 caracterizado. polarización de la sociedad colom- de forma, pero no de fondo, pues si y otros expertos de la motosierra se les Por último, la gran prensa nacional se biana. Sección en Español

FRONTLINE LATIN AMERICA Septiembre-Diciembre 2006 PUBLICACIÓN DE LA CAMPAÑA DE SOLIDARIDAD POR COLOMBIA Vol 2 No 4 Price £1.00 Ganó la derecha USA fuera de Colombia y neoliberal en Colombia

Medio Oriente! Arturo Garcia Con una abrumadora mayoría fue reel- egido Álvaro Uribe como presidente de Colombia para el periodo 2006-2010. Con 7,363.297 sufragios (63% de los votos). más de un millón de los obte- nidos cuando fue elegido por primera vez en 2002. A pesar del triunfalismo con que la derecha colombiana recibió los resultados, el verdadero ganador de los comicios fue el abstencionismo ya histórico de los colombianos, un 60% en esta ocasión. El inesperado aumento de la votación a favor de Uribe podría explicarse en una campaña que de manera subrepticia adelantaron Uribe y sus acólitos desde los inicios de su primer mandato. En esta campaña abundaron todo tipo de prebendas y favores políticos para los miembros del Congreso de la República: ministros, altos funcionarios de Estado, cuerpos diplomáticos, dirigentes regionales además de otras fi guras de la El aparente fracaso del Plan Colombia política nacional y regional que fueron Robert Green comprados, como en cualquier feria de pueblo, con puestos públicos y pedazos El Plan Colombia, la ʻguerra contra las drogasʼ más remotas. Para destruir el mismo número de contra la extradición a los Estados Unidos y con la de la gran torta nacional. Tomemos patrocinada por USA, lanzado por el presidente plantas de coca de antes, se requiere la fumigación de garantía de que conserven sus fortunas y se conviertan solo tres casos que son sufi cientemente Bill Clinton en 2000, supuestamente reduciría a tres veces el número de hectáreas sembradas. Lo que en barones civiles de la droga. ilustrativos del poder de corrupción la mitad la producción de cocaína en cinco años. no se ha reportado es la consecuente y acumulativa continucion en pagina 2e Sin embargo, después de seis años y $5 billones de degradación ambiental. De hecho, como lo demostramos en esta publicación dólares (que es el programa mas grande de gasto las ʻdesmobilizadasʼ AUC todavía tienen acceso a militar de USA a parte del Medio Oriente) es muy Hay un punto incómodo en The Cocaine Jungle fondos y armas y han creado un sistema estructural obvio que en sus declarados términos anti-narcóticos de BBC World, cuando William Wood, embajador de asesinatos en las ciudades (ver artículo sobre ha sido una estrategia fundamentalmente errónea. La de Estados Unidos en Bogotá, se le presenta la Barrancabermeja). Quizás se ha aplicado el criterio preocupación de que las cosas no estén dándose de evidencia de que el Plan Colombia está exacerbando equivocado al Plan Colombia y los Estados Unidos acuerdo a los planes, se refl eja en la prensa ofi cial de el desplazamiento de campesinos de poblados enteros. no tienen intención de terminar la producción de los Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido. Él no tiene nada que decir. ¿Qué podría decir él cocaína: en cambio, en complicidad con el gobierno El New York Times ((1919 dede agostoagosto dede 22006),006), qqueue cuando sabe que es una verdad innegable que hay casi colombiano, los fondos del Plan Colombia se están por largo tiempo ha apoyado la intervención, ha cuatro millones de refugiados internos, desalojados de desviando a los principales benefi ciarios en que se ha informado que allí existe la misma área cultivada sus casas? El programa reporta que los paramilitares convertido la contrainsurgencia urbana. En verdad, el con coca hoy, que cuando el Plan Colombia empezó. derechistas de las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia 29 de agosto el embajador Wood ratifi có el apoyo de Un claro indicativo de la continuación del ingreso AUC, controlan el 70% de la producción colombiana los Estados Unidos a la ʻdesmobilizaciónʼ, entregando ha sido la caída en los precios de la cocaína en los de cocaína, más de la mitad del suministro mundial. otros $2 millones para facilitar el proceso. El Plan Estados Unidos y Europa. Solo que los cultivos de Las AUC han acordado, con el presidente Uribe, Colombia no ha fracasado, al contrario sus objetivos coca son ahora más pequeños, dispersos y en áreas ʻdesmobilizarseʼ, en intercambio por la inmunidad se han revelado