Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 29. Mars 2007 / Time Line March 29, 2007
Version 3.503/29/2007
DOCUMENTS IMPLICATE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT IN CHIQUITA TERROR
SCANDAL
Company's Paramilitary Payoffs made through Military's
'Convivir'
U.S. Embassy Told of "potential" for Groups "to devolve into
full-fledged paramilitaries"
Archive Documents Featured in Article Posted Today at The
Nation
National Security Archive Update, March 29, 2007
Washington, DC, March 29, 2007 - New documents published today by
the National Security Archive shed light on recent revelations
about the links between bananas and terror in Colombia and the
Colombian government's own ties to the country's illegal
paramilitary forces.
The scandal is also analyzed in detail in an article by National
Security Archive Colombia analyst Michael Evans published today on
the Web site of The Nation magazine.
Earlier this month, Chiquita, the international fruit corporation,
admitted to funding a Colombian terrorist group and agreed to pay a
$25 million fine. The Justice Department indictment, filed March 13
in D.C. Federal Court, states that Chiquita gave more than $1.7
million to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas
Unidas de Colombia - AUC), an illegal right-wing anti-guerrilla
group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian
massacres.
Key documents from the Chiquita case, along with a collection of
newly-available declassified documents, were posted today on the
Archive's Web site.
The payments were made over seven years from 1997-2004. At least
$825,000 in payments came after the AUC was designated a Foreign
Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in 2001.
Many of these payments were made through "intermediaries" in a
Colombian government-sponsored program known as Convivir, a network
of rural security cooperatives established by the military to
police rural areas and provide intelligence on leftist insurgents.
Declassified documents suggest that Convivir members often
collaborated with paramilitary operations.
The Convivir connection is especially important now, as current
President Alvaro Uribe was a key sponsor of the program while
governor of Anitoquia department. Antioquia's banana-growing Uraba
region is also the locus of Chiquita's Colombia operations. As
president, Uribe has implemented similar programs involving the use
of civilian informants and soldiers.
The article published today, along with additional documents,
describes a pattern of increasingly-strong links between military
and paramilitary forces in Uraba over the period of Chiquita's
payments to the AUC. Chiquita's relationship with the group
coincided with a massive projection of paramilitary power thoughout
Colombia. U.S. officials strongly suspected that these operations
were at least tolerated by--and at times coordinated
with--Colombian security forces.
The Chiquita-Convivir scandal comes as the Los Angeles Times has
published a report that the CIA has new information connecting
Colombia's Army chief, Gen. Mario Montoya, one of President Uribe's
top advisers, to a paramilitary group. The new allegation adds fuel
to the "para-politics" scandal, which has already taken down
several top government officials and implicated many others in
connection to the AUC.
Today's posting is the first in a series of new Archive postings on
the U.S. government's perception of Colombia's paramiltary movement
and its links to Colombian security forces. Under a program
developed by the Uribe government to disarm and demobilize the AUC,
paramilitary leaders are eligible for reduced prison sentences in
exchange for voluntary confessions and the payment of reparations
to their victims. However, the commission established to adjudicate
this process is not authorized to investigate state crimes or the
history of the government's links to paramilitary forces.
Documents made available on the Archive Web site today include:
* the Justice Department's indictment in the Chiquita case,
detailing the company's relationship with AUC chief Carlos
Castaño, the fugitive (and now deceased) paramilitary
leader;
* a U.S. Embassy cable in which Colombia's police intelligence
chief "sheepishly" admitted that his forces "do not act" in parts
of the country under AUC control;
* another Embassy cable in which Ambassador Myles Frechette warned
that the government's Convivir program was liable to "degenerate
into uncontrolled paramilitary groups";
* a U.S. military intelligence report on a Colombian Army colonel
who told of the "potential" for the Convivir "to devolve into
full-fledged paramilitaries";
* and CIA reports on the Colombian army's paramilitary ties, one of
which found that armed forces commanders had "little inclination to
combat paramilitary groups."
These documents and many others were posted today on the Archive's
Web site at http://www.nsarchive.org.
Please visit The Nation at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070416/evans to read the full
article.
03/29/2007
Iraq: Four Years of Failed Policy is Enough
http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/
House and Senate Approve Withdrawal DatesUpdates on Iraq
Legislation Find out the latest congressional action on Iraq. Great
news! By a vote of 50-48, the Senate on March 27 rejected an
amendment that would have stripped out a date for the withdrawal of
U.S. combat troops from Iraq from the Iraq war supplemental. How
did your senators vote?
The Senate passed the supplemental on March 29, joining the House
in approving legislation that could lead to the withdrawal of U.S.
combat troops from Iraq by a specific date. These votes begin to
establish a new U.S. policy on Iraq focused on ending the war and
bringing U.S. troops home. Find out more details about the House
and Senate bills, and read FCNL lobbyist Jim Fine's analysis of
next steps.
We at FCNL oppose any new funding for war, including the $96
billion in the Iraq war supplemental funding bill. Yet, in this
case, as is often true, we face a gap between the actions members
of Congress should take and the steps members of Congress are ready
to take. Given that members of Congress are unwilling to oppose new
war funding, we have concluded that legislation requiring the
president to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by a date
certain is an important step toward ending the U.S. war and
occupation of Iraq.
03/29/2007
Alabama Guard has shortage of chaplains due to war,
retirement
http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-28/1175189976250200.xml&storylist=alabamanews
By LISA HORN
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — It undoubtedly takes faith to be a
chaplain in the Alabama National Guard. They are overworked —
too few of them and too many to minister to.
Today, the Alabama National Guard is short 11 clergy members. And
the 21 who are in service are comforting both those on the
battlefield and on the homefront.
Active-duty assignments have left Alabama Guard units critically
understaffed, and recruiters aren't having much luck filling the
open positions.
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