LATIN AMERICA September - December 2006 PUBLICATION of the COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN Vol 2 No 4 Price £1.00 SINALTRAINAL Offensive Sharpens
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Reviews BuenaventuraBuenaventura LiberationLiberation more.. and 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.