WeeklyNewsUpdate

Paramilitaries Use Aircraft

Rightwing paramilitaries from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) have been using a helicopter and a small airplane in recent assaults on and around the northeastern municipality of El Tarra, in Norte de Santander Province, according to a January 9 report from the Association for Alternative Social Advancement, MINGA. Local residents of the area, known as Catatumbo, told MINGA that the aircraft had overflown the area numerous times since December 22, in support of some 300 paramilitary troops in the area. According to MINGA, AUC members massacred 14 people on December 22 in the hamlet of Marquetalia, in the village of Angalia, in Tibú Municipality. (In a communiqué dated January 5 and sent via e-mail from the “mountains of Colombia,” the Central Command of the National Liberation Army (ELN) said soldiers from the army’s Fifth Brigade had helped the paramilitaries massacre 17 villagers on December 22 in Remolinos, Tibú, and seven more the next day in La Angalia.)

Rebels Kill Peace Activists

The “Pastoral Social” of Apartadó, in the area of Urabá located in Antioquia Province, Colombia, and the Center of Popular Research (Centro de Investigación Popular, CINEP) have reported the December 28 murder of Petrona Sánchez and Edwin Ortega, leaders of the San Francisco de Asís community of peace in the Urabá region in Chocó Province. Sánchez was president of the women’s committee in Costa de Oro, on the Curbaradó River. Ortega coordinated a youth project involving sports, arts and culture, financed by Caritas Francia; and a youth assembly project financed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Pastoral Social and CINEP say members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) murdered Sánchez and Ortega; they interpret the killings as a sign that the FARC opposes the peace communities.

Paramilitary Leader Killed?

Rightwing paramilitary leader Eduardo Orozco Garzón, known as “Jony,” reportedly died on December 25 in Barrancabermeja, Santander Province, after being wounded and captured in a confrontation with the Colombian army.

Cali Union Halts Privatization

On Jan. 29, after a six-hour negotiating session in Bogota, representatives of Colombia's Ministry of Labor and Superintendency of Public Services, together with the mayor of Cali, signed a 10-point agreement with the union that represents workers at Empresas Municipales de Cali (Municipal Companies of Cali, Emcali), guaranteeing that the company will not be privatized. In exchange, the Emcali Workers Union (Sintraemcali) agreed to end an occupation of the 16-story Municipal Administration Center (CAM) in Cali, Colombia's second-largest city.

Campesinos Block Roads

As of Feb. 1, some 5,000 campesinos were continuing to block a main highway through northern Colombia to demand that the government take action against rightwing paramilitary groups operating in the areas of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Troncal del Caribe. Residents of 70 local communities stranded some 15,000 vehicles on Jan. 23 when they blockaded the highway between the Caribbean port cities of Santa Marta, capital of Magdalena department, and Riohacha, capital of La Guajira department.

US Helicopter Destroyed

Colombian and US officials revealed on Jan. 24 that the Colombian military had destroyed a US government UH-1N "Huey" helicopter after it was shot down by the FARC on Jan. 18, in order to keep it from falling into the rebels' hands [see Update #625]. The military destroyed the plane after evacuating the crew, which included Colombian police officers and a Peruvian pilot working for DynCorp, a Reston, Virginia-based US State Department contractor. Five Colombian police officers died trying to protect the downed aircraft, and three army soldiers were wounded. Hovering over the downed chopper was a second Huey with a search- and-rescue team that included US nationals and Colombians also working for DynCorp, said Col. Carlos Rivera, deputy director of Colombia's anti-narcotics police force. That team was not called into action, he said. [Washington Post 1/25/02 from AP]

Army Witness Arrested

On Feb. 14, Colombian police arrested professional soldier Oswaldo de Jesus Giraldo Yepes in Yarumal, Antioquia department. Giraldo was sought by authorities as a primary witness in the case against retired general Rito Alejo del Rio. Del Rio is charged with having formed paramilitary groups in the region of Uraba from 1995 to 1997, while he was the commander of the 17th Brigade there. In statements to authorities following his arrest, Giraldo said that while serving as Del Rio's bodyguard he witnessed numerous incidents in which paramilitaries entered the 17th Brigade's headquarters and met with military commanders. Giraldo was ordered arrested last July 23, the same day Del Rio was arrested in Bogota. Del Rio was freed on Aug. 5, but the investigation against him was reopened on Dec. 5. Del Rio is a graduate of the US Army School of the Americas (SOA). [El Tiempo (Bogota) 2/15/02; SOA Watch Update 2/15/02]

Paramilitaries Keep Killing

On Feb. 6, rightwing paramilitaries from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) murdered five people - three of them indigenous - in the community of San Jose, in Montelibano municipality, Cordoba department; and four people at a bar in Popayan, capital of Cauca department. Another five people were murdered by unidentified assailants in the El Estero neighborhood of Villavicencio, capital of Meta department. [El Tiempo (Bogota) 2/7/02]

Civic Strike In Oil Region

At least 3,000 campesinos and other residents of Arauca department in northeastern Colombia began a civic strike on Feb. 12 to protest violence in the region. Announcing the measure in a communique, an alliance of campesino organizations declared themselves to be against "the paramilitary terrorism imposed by members of the public forces..." and "the presence of North Americans who finance war, militarization and paramilitarism with dollars from the criminal Plan Colombia for their economic interests...."

Civilians Killed

On Feb. 21, the first day of the Colombian military's counter- insurgency offensive, air force bombs killed three civilians, including two children, in the village of La Y, about a four-hour drive north of San Vicente del Caguan, according to family members and official complaints filed with Colombia's human rights prosecutor. Local residents who witnessed the bombings said those killed were Saul Quesada, his 2-year-old son Yesid, and 15-year-old Keni Losada. Four other people were reported injured. Journalists saw the victims' bodies brought in to the San Vicente morgue. Residents said there were no rebel camps near La Y, but there were bulldozers doing work along the road, which could have been mistaken for FARC machinery.

Peace Talks Halted

Early on Feb. 20, alleged rebels from the "Teofilo Forero Front" of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) hijacked a commercial plane flying from Neiva, in Huila department, to Bogota with 35 passengers on board. The rebels forced the plane to land in El Hobo municipality, Huila, where they kidnapped three passengers--including Senator Jorge Eduardo Gechen Turbay, president of the Senate Peace Commission, and his son - and released the rest. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 2/21/02 from correspondent]

Bombing Starts

While the army mobilized 13,000 soldiers to the southern zone, the air force started bombing the area before dawn on Feb. 21. [CNN en Espanol 2/21/02 with info from AP] Using bombs of up to 500 pounds, military aircraft reportedly hit 24 out of 81 established targets in rural areas where rebel training camps, warehouses and runways had been detected. [El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 2/24/02]

Rebels Fight Back

Armed Forces chief Tapias said three soldiers were injured in the airstrikes and three US-made Black Hawk helicopters came under fire from rebels using ground-to-air artillery. [MH 2/23/02] Air Force Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco said rebel anti-aircraft fire hit an Israeli-made K-Fir plane. [LJ 2/22/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters]

US Has Philippine Strategy?

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Feb. 22 that the US government would "share intelligence" with the Colombian government. [MH 2/24/02] US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher confirmed on Feb. 22 that the US was planning to support the Colombian government by providing satellite intelligence information. He also hinted that ways would be sought to get Congress to lift restrictions that currently bar US military anti-drug aid from being used for Colombia's counterinsurgency war. [LJ 2/23/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters; ALAI-Amlatina 2/22/02]

Oil Strike Over Missing Leader

On Feb. 25, rightwing paramilitary forces abducted Colombian union leader Gilberto Torres Martinez in Monterrey municipality, Casanare department, as he was on his way home from work. Torres is the general secretary of the pipeline section of the United Union of Workers (USO), which represents workers at the state-run oil company Ecopetrol. Some 5,000 Ecopetrol workers responded to Torres' disappearance by launching an open-ended general strike on Feb. 26; about 500 of the strikers marched on Feb. 27 through the oil port city of Barrancabermeja to protest his abduction. The oil company instituted an emergency plan which allowed production to be resumed at nearly normal levels as of Feb. 28, but USO leaders said the workers would remain on strike until Torres is released. [USO Communique 2/27/02 via Vientos del Sur (VISUR) 2/28/02; International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) Update 2/28/02; El Pais (Cali) 2/27/02; El Tiempo (Bogota) 2/28/02; Hoy (NY) 2/28/02 from AP]

Prez Candidate Kidnapped

Congressperson and independent presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her campaign director, Clara Rojas, were kidnapped on Feb. 23 in Caqueta department by rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Three other people initially seized with Betancourt--including a French photographer from the magazine Marie Claire--were quickly released. The kidnapping took place at a roadblock in the zone which had previously been demilitarized for peace talks with the FARC; the zone was officially "retaken" by government forces on Feb. 21 [see Update #630]. [Clarin website (last-minute news) 2/24/02]

Oil Strike Ends

Nearly 3,000 workers at Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol are to return to work on Mar. 11, according to an agreement reached Mar. 8 between the government and the United Union of Workers (USO), which represents the workers. The workers went on strike Feb. 26 to protest the Feb. 25 abduction of Gilberto Torres Martinez, general secretary of the union's pipeline section [see Update #631]. Torres remains missing; on Mar. 3 the rightwing paramilitary group Campesino Self-Defense Forces of Casanare (ACC) issued a communique claiming responsibility for his abduction, saying he is a guerrilla collaborator and they will subject him to a "political trial." USO president Hernando Hernandez said the government has promised to seek Torres' release through efforts involving the Church, the Defender of the People and the International Red Cross. Hernandez said USO members will return to work but will continue to hold peaceful marches and rallies until Torres is freed. [Vanguardia (Bucaramanga) 3/5/02, 3/9/02 via Colombia Indymedia; El Tiempo (Bogota) 3/4/02; Xinhua 3/9/02]

Indigenous Leader Killed

On Mar. 4 alleged paramilitaries abducted Colombian indigenous leader Samuel Fernandez Diza from a taxi parking lot across from a police station in the urban area of Santander de Quilichao, Cauca department; his body was found the next day on the road leading to Caloto municipality. Fernandez was the former governor of the Las Delicias indigenous reservation in Buenos Aires municipality. He was abducted while going to the police station to try to recover his motorcycle, which police had confiscated. [Communique from Asociacion de Cabildos Indigenas del Norte del Cauca (ACIN) and Consejo Regional Indigena del Cauca (CRIC) 3/9/02 via Colombia Indymedia]

US House Pushes Flexible Aid

On Mar. 6, the US House of Representatives passed a non-binding bipartisan resolution inviting President George W. Bush to send a bill to Congress that would change existing laws to allow more flexible use of US military aid, currently restricted to anti- drug operations. The resolution was sponsored by Reps. Henry Hyde (R-IL) and Tom Lantos (D-CA). The same day, US Secretary of State Colin Powell confirmed that the Bush administration might ask Congress to lift restrictions on the aid to help the Colombian government fight leftist rebels and rightwing paramilitary forces. The Colombian government has admitted that some military officers are backing the rightwing paramilitaries, but insists these links are individual and not institutional. [BBC News 3/7/02; Reuters 3/7/02; La Jornada (Mexico) 3/7/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters]

Congress Vote, Murders Probed

Colombians were to vote in national legislative elections on Mar. 10 as 100,000 police agents and 80,000 soldiers were deployed to provide security. Colombia has 23.8 million registered voters; there are 2,279 candidates competing for 102 Senate seats and 9,400 candidates for 161 seats in the Chamber of Representatives. The presidential election is scheduled for May 26. In Arauca department the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is carrying out an armed strike; it urged people to abstain from voting and warned that those who vote could be considered military targets. On Mar. 9 in the southern department of Meta, FARC rebels robbed boxes of unmarked ballots and burned them. Observers have warned that many candidates for Congress represent areas controlled by rightwing paramilitary groups, and their names were authorized or chosen by paramilitary leaders. [El Nuevo Herald 3/10/02; Miami Herald 3/10/02 from AP; La Jornada (Mexico) 3/9/02 from Prensa Latina, AFP, Reuters, DPA; La Republica (Lima) 3/9/02 from AFP]

US Coal Company Sued

On Mar. 14, the Union of Workers of the Mining and Energy Industry of Colombia (Sintramienergetica) filed a civil lawsuit in US federal court in Birmingham, Alabama, against the Alabama- based Drummond mining company and its owner, Garry Drummond. The suit, which union leaders announced in Bogota on Mar. 13, was filed with the support of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Foundation. Sintramienergetica charges the mining company with having hired rightwing paramilitaries to abduct, torture and kill three of the union's leaders in 2001 as part of a plan to stop other Drummond employees from joining the union. Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya - the union's president and vice president, respectively - were murdered on Mar. 12, 2001; Gustavo Soler Mora, who succeeded Locarno as president of the union, was murdered on Oct. 6 [see Updates #581, 611]. The union says the activists had received death threats and had asked Drummond to provide them with extra security, but received no help. The lawsuit was filed under a law that allows foreign nationals to use US courts to address alleged wrongdoing abroad by US citizens. [Associated Press 3/15/02; Voice of America (VOA) News 3/15/02, some from AP, Reuters; La Republica (Lima) 3/14/02 from EFE]

Archbishop Murdered

On Mar. 16 two hired killers on motorcycles shot to death Isaias Duarte Cancino, Catholic archbishop of the Colombian city of Cali, as he left the Buen Pastor church in Cali's Aguablanca neighborhood after presiding over a marriage ceremony for 70 couples. Duarte was named archbishop of Cali in 1995 after serving for seven years as bishop of Apartado, in the banana- growing region of Uraba [see Update #291]. He was an outspoken opponent of violence and a strong supporter of the peace process. He had received threats recently but chose not to have bodyguards. [CNN en Espanol 3/16/02; Clarin (Buenos Aires) website 3/17/02, some from EFE, AP; La Jornada (Mexico) 3/17/02 from DPA, AFP, Prensa Latina, Reuters]

Paramilitaries Win Elections?

Abstention was a high 62% in Colombia's Mar. 10 legislative elections as voters chose 102 senators and 166 representatives [not 161 representatives as reported in Update #632]. The traditional parties lost big in the voting: the ruling Conservative Party will have just 13 senators and 21 representatives in the new Congress; the Liberal Party will have 29 senators and 53 representatives. Among independent candidates, hardline rightwingers made substantial gains, although a number of leftist or left-leaning candidates were also successful.

Oil Union Leader Killed

On Mar. 20 in the Galan neighborhood of the Colombian oil port city of Barrancabermeja, Santander department, two assailants on a motorcycle shot to death oil union leader Rafael Jaimes Torra. Jaimes was the treasurer of the Barrancabermeja refinery section of the United Union of Workers (USO), which represents workers at the state-run oil company Ecopetrol. Jaimes' 16-year old nephew, German Augusto Corzo Garcia, was seriously wounded in the attack and died a few hours later. The same night, two gunmen on a motorcycle also fired shots at the USO offices in Barrancabermeja

More Indigenous Massacred

On Mar. 24 in Corinto municipality, Cauca department, presumed members of the rightwing paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) murdered four residents of the Paez indigenous reservation of Corinto and abducted one other. In a Mar. 27 communique, the Regional Indigenous Council of the Cauca (CRIC) reported the massacre but did not speculate on its authors. Last November rightwing paramilitaries massacred 13 people in Corinto, most of them local Paez residents [see Update 617]. The governor of the Corinto reservation was murdered last June [see Update #596]. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 3/28/02 from AFP; Vientos del Sur (VISUR) 3/28/02 from Caracol Noticias TV & El Pais 3/27/02]

More Oil Workers Abducted

On Mar. 25, unidentified assailants forced two nonunion employees of Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol out of their truck and abducted them in Araguaney municipality, Casanare department, according to a Mar. 27 statement from the company. The two were working under a "contingency plan" to maintain oil production during a nationwide strike by members of the United Union of Workers (USO), which represents some 4,000 of Ecopetrol's 7,800 employees. USO called the strike on Mar. 20 to protest the murder that same day of Rafael Jaimes Torra, treasurer of the USO refinery section in Barrancabermeja [see Update #634]. The paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) are believed responsible for the murder, and company and union officials said they suspect paramilitary groups are also behind the Mar. 25 abduction. In its statement, Ecopetrol called for the safe release of the abducted employees as well as of Gilberto Torres Martinez, general secretary of the USO's pipeline section, who was seized by paramilitaries on Feb. 25 in Monterrey, Casanare [see Updates #631-633]. [Dow Jones Newswires 3/26/02; El Colombiano (Medellin) 3/26/02]

Argentine Pilot Killed

Argentine civilian pilot Martin Roberto Allen was killed on Mar. 18 when the crop fumigation plane he was flying crashed over a rural area of Montanitas municipality in the southern Colombian department of Caqueta. Allen was employed by the US-based company Dyncorp, which works under contract for the US State Department spraying herbicides over the Colombian jungle with the stated aim of killing such drug crops as coca and opium poppies. The crash is believed to have been an accident; witnesses said the plane collided with a tree, and nothing they saw indicated any kind of attack by leftist rebels present in the area. Allen had been recruited by Dyncorp while living for several years in Fort Patricks, Florida. His death came at a moment when the US government was reportedly pressuring Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde to provide more assistance - such as helicopters and pilot training - for the US war in Colombia [see Update #634]. [Notipaco (news from the Colombian Communist Party) 3/19/02 via colombia.indymedia.org; Clarin (Buenos Aires) 3/20/02] [Allen is the fourth Dyncorp pilot killed in plane crashes in Colombia since January 1997--see Updates #363, 444, 447, 578.]

Another Unionist Murdered

On Apr. 3, rightwing paramilitaries from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) abducted Alfredo Zapata Herrera, a leader of the Santa Barbara section of the Unitary Union of Construction Materials Industry Workers (SUTIMAC), affiliated with the Unitary Workers Federation (CUT). The paramilitaries pulled Zapata off a bus that was transporting workers home to Santa Barbara, Antioquia department, from their jobs at the nearby El Cairo cement company factory. Zapata's bullet-ridden body was found the next day, near where he was abducted. [Communique from CUT Human Rights Department Director Jesus Antonio Gonzalez Luna 4/4/02; El Tiempo (Bogota) 4/4/02]

Peace Community Member Killed

On Mar. 30, paramilitaries abducted and later murdered Gilma Rosa Graciano, a childcare worker and resident of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado. Graciano was on a bus when it was stopped by two armed men in civilian clothes, just three minutes after passing through a Colombian army checkpoint. The paramilitaries seized Graciano and a co-worker of hers who later managed to escape. Two army soldiers had been killed by leftist rebels two days earlier; the commander of the local Bejarano- Munoz battalion, Colonel Javier Vicente Hernandez-Acosta, claimed the rebels who killed the soldiers had spent the previous night in San Jose. Members of the Peace Community deny the charge. [Colombia Support Network Urgent Action 4/2/02]

Unionist Freed, More Killed

On Apr. 7 the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Casanare finally released union leader Gilberto Torres Martinez in Monterrey municipality, in the eastern Colombian department of Casanare. Torres was released to a special commission made up of representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR) and the offices of the High Commissioner for Peace and the Defender of the People. Torres is general secretary of the pipeline section of the United Union of Workers (USO), which represents workers at the state-run oil company Ecopetrol. The local paramilitary group, part of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), abducted Torres in Monterrey on Feb. 25 [see Updates #631-636]; the paramilitaries reportedly kept him shackled in a hole in the ground covered with barbed wire until his release. [Hoy (NY) 4/8/02 from AP; El Pais (Cali) 4/8/02 from Colprensa; ANNCOL 4/12/02]

FARC Claims Bombing, Kidnap

In a statement issued Apr. 11, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) accepted responsibility for an Apr. 7 car bomb explosion that killed 12 people and wounded nearly 70 in Villavicencio, capital of Meta department. The FARC said one of its urban cells carried out the bombing targeting the town's "oligarchy," but caused unintended "collateral damage" in what the rebels described as a "regrettable accident." [EFE 4/11/02]

Attempted Assassination, Union Suit Against Coca-Cola

Rightwing Colombian presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe Velez escaped uninjured when a bus exploded as his motorcade passed by on Apr. 14 in the northern city of Barranquilla. At least three bystanders were killed--including a five-year old girl, according to one report--and about 20 people were injured, including police escorts. Uribe, an independent, leads in polls for the May 26 presidential election. He was traveling in a heavily armored car which protected him from injury. [El Diario-La Prensa 4/15/02 from correspondent; New York Times 4/15/02 from AP]... Colombian union leader Javier Correa addressed a rally sponsored by the powerful US Teamsters union in New York on Apr. 17 to protest violations of workers' rights by the Coca-Cola Company. Correa's union, Sinaltrainal, which represents bottling plant workers in Colombia, filed a suit in Miami federal court last July--with the support of the United Steel Workers of America (USWA)--charging that Coca-Cola collaborated with death squads in the murder of union leaders [see Update #599]. Teamster president James P. Hoffa told the rally: "We're going to struggle for the rights of the workers; we won't allow more abuses, more injustices." [New York Times 4/18/02; El Diario-La Prensa 4/18/02, quotation retranslated from Spanish]

Thousands March In Washington Against US Military Aid to Colombia

Thousands of activists from around the US gathered in Washington Apr. 19-22 to express opposition to US military aid to Colombia. On Apr. 20, participants in the "Colombia Mobilization" joined an estimated 75,000 people - including tens of thousands of Palestinian and Arab Americans - in a broad anti-war march to protest the US government's so-called "war on terrorism" and defend Palestinian rights, among other issues.

US Plan Colombia Aid Restrictions Hold

Colombian president Andres Pastrana Arango visited Washington Apr. 17-18 to meet with US president George W. Bush and Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress. After meeting with Pastrana on Apr. 17, congressional leaders announced their endorsement of a Bush administration proposal to allow US military aid for Colombia to be used for counterinsurgency operations; the aid is currently supposed to be limited to anti- drug actions. After meeting with Pastrana, Bush reiterated his support for lifting restrictions on the aid and said he would push Congress to approve the measure. [Financial Times (UK) 4/18/02]

Nonviolence Marchers Kidnapped in Antioquia

On Apr. 21, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) detained Guillermo Gaviria Correa, governor of Antioquia department, along with Antioquia peace adviser Gilberto Echeverri Mejia, a former defense minister, as the two were accompanying church leaders and some 1,000 other people in a march to promote nonviolence and reconciliation. The marchers left the departmental capital, Medellin, on Apr. 17; Gaviria and Echeverri were abducted by the rebels just three kilometers short of the march's final destination in the municipality of Caicedo, about 70 kilometers northwest of Medellin. Gaviria had said the purpose of the march was to protest all forms of violence.

Colombian Army Bombs FARC Camp?

The commander of the Colombian Army's Second Brigade, Gen. Gabriel Diaz, announced on Apr. 19 that at least 100 rebels had been killed in a bombing raid by the Colombian Air Force on a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Aracataca municipality, Magdalena department. Gen. Diaz said his forces bombed the camp before dawn on Apr. 16, while the rebels were allegedly carrying out nighttime combat training exercises. Diaz claimed rebels who survived the attack had returned to dress the bodies in civilian clothes to make it look as if the bombs had killed campesinos at the site. [Hoy (NY) 4/22/02 from AFP]

Police Beat CUT Leader

Thousands of Colombian workers marked May Day by marching in major cities to protest neoliberal economic policies, high unemployment and paramilitary attacks against unionists. [El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 5/2/02 from AFP] During the march in the city of Cali, capital of Valle del Cauca department, police brutally beat Jesus Antonio Gonzalez Luna, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Unitary Workers Federation (CUT) and director of the CUT Human Rights Department. Gonzalez, who is also a member of the CUT-affiliated National Union of University Workers (SINTRAUNICOL), remains hospitalized in intensive care with a reserved diagnosis.

Oxy Drops Oil Project on U'wa Land

On May 3, Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) announced at its annual shareholder meeting that it plans to return to the Colombian government its controversial Siriri oil block (formerly called Samore), located on the traditional territory of the U'wa indigenous people. The company cited economic reasons for giving up the block; last July Oxy announced that its first exploratory well on U'wa land had turned up no oil [see Update #600].

US Indicts FARC Rebels For Murder of Indigenous Rights Activists

On Apr. 30, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and six of its members for the March 1999 murder in Arauca department of US indigenous rights activists Ingrid Washinawatok, Terence Freitas and Lahe'ena'e Gay. The three activists were visiting northeastern Colombia on the invitation of the U'wa tribe when they were kidnapped and killed.

US "Certifies" Colombian Military

On May 1, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell certified that the Colombian armed forces have met congressionally mandated requirements on human rights, clearing the way for the release of $104 million in aid to the Colombian military which was already approved in the 2002 budget. Certification had been held up since early this year; US and Colombian officials had claimed in recent weeks that they were curtailing counter-narcotics activities in southern Colombia because no money was available.

N.Y. Lawyer Pleads Guilty for Dealing Guns to Paramilitaries for Cocaine

On Oct. 2, Manhattan criminal lawyer Richard Canton pleaded guilty in federal court to two conspiracy charges for negotiating to provide weapons to the rightwing paramilitary United Self- Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) in exchange for bringing 1,000 kilos of cocaine to distribute in the US.