hood
11-25-2003, 06:08 PM
By JUAN FORERO
EDELLÍN, Colombia, Nov. 25 — After a minute of silence in memory of the thousands killed in Colombia's conflict, 800 fighters from an urban band of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary group today laid down their weapons in a ceremony for a disarmament program the government says could bring Colombia closer to ending its 39-year-old war.
President Álvaro Uribe's government is hoping this will be the first step to the complete demobilization of a 13,000-member paramilitary federation, the United Self-Defense Forces, a process programmed to take two years. If successful, it would mark the first time in Latin America that a far-right, anti-guerrilla force has been demobilized through a formal process before the end of a conflict.
"Today, after a long stretch, we have a first important accomplishment," Luis Carlos Restrepo, Mr. Uribe's peace commissioner, told rows of young fighters in Medellín's convention hall. "Welcome to civilian life."
A range of critics, from human rights groups to some American congressmen, condemned the disarmament as a half-baked process that will let mass murderers and cocaine traffickers go free. They say the demobilization does not weaken the overall paramilitary group, with its top commanders remaining free to recruit new members and oversee operations.
"There's no transparency, and no accountability," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch. "How can we trust this process? Not a single international agency is participating."
With the support of the military, wealthy landowners and cocaine trafficking, the Self-Defense Forces have grown exponentially in recent years, taking control of wide swaths of territory and wiping out whole villages, union organizers and leftist politicians.
But under Mr. Uribe, the demobilization of the paramilitaries became a key component in a two-****ged process that includes waging relentless war against Marxist rebels.
A year ago, the government embarked on secret talks with the organization, which has long had close ties with Colombia's security forces. The government says disbanding the group would save lives, curtail the drug trade and put pressure on two rebel groups to negotiate peace accords.
Mr. Uribe is now pushing legislation in Congress that would allow the government to strike deals with the group's leaders, with the paramilitaries disarming in exchange for incentives that include suspended jail time for top commanders. Several of those commanders are wanted for some of Colombia's worst war atrocities, as well as for trafficking cocaine to the United States.
Those who demobilized this morning, members of a Medellín faction called Cacique Nutibara, did so under the framework of earlier legislation.
But the process has largely been cloaked in secrecy, say political analysts, noting that there is no way to independently determine if demobilized fighters will return to the war or enter a life of crime.
"If they find work, that will be good," one mid-level commander said in an interview on Monday in a Medellín slum long controlled by the paramilitaries. "But if not, well, no one will simply allow themselves to go hungry."
Today's ceremony in a cavernous hall in the convention center was carefully choreographed.
Rows of young men, their heads shaved, holding rifles at their side and wearing newly pressed camouflaged fatigues, sang in unison as the national anthem was played.
Then, they formed long rows and laid down their AK-47's, sawed off shotguns, old carbines and revolvers — fewer than 200 weapons in all. They dropped their ammunition vests and armbands, stamped with the paramilitary logo, into a heap before the peace commissioner.
With reporters boxed off to the sides, barred from interviewing the fighters, a videotaped greeting by three top paramilitary commanders was played on a giant television screen. They included comments from Carlos Castaño and Salvatore Mancuso, two leaders indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, and Diego Fernando Murillo, a reputed cocaine lord who heads the faction that demobilized.
After the ceremony, the young men were bused to a town outside Medellín, La Ceja, where they were to be housed in a recreation center for three weeks before entering job training or educational programs.
The mood was giddy in the vast slums around Medellín on Monday, as young men in baggy jeans and high-tops gathered in preparation for turning themselves in.
"I am a survivor — that's how I see myself," said one 23-year-old named Andres. "Maybe one day I can go to a university, or just get a job. That would be great."
By late Monday, after having been fitted for new uniforms, the men filtered to local community centers and schools, to be bused with their rifles and handguns to the convention center.
"They may be a little scared, but they want to do this demobilization," said one commander in the San Pablo district of Medellín. "We asked who wanted to do it, and they all said yes."
The group, led by Mr. Castano, has been angling for a deal since the United States labeled the group a terrorist organization and indicted Mr. Castano and two other leaders on drug trafficking charges.
Those leaders fear extradition to the United States more than anything else and say that led them in large part to enter into negotiations with the government.
But because Bush administration officials say the extradition requests will not be dropped, paramilitary commanders are trying to obtain government assurances that they will not be arrested during negotiations, a close advisor to Mr. Mancuso said in an interview Monday.
To show that they are negotiating in good faith, the advisor said, the paramilitaries will as early as January demobilize a group of as many as 1,500 paramilitary fighters in northern Colombia. "We are willing to give all guarantees to show that this is an irreversible process," he said.
Not really sure what to think of this...
EDELLÍN, Colombia, Nov. 25 — After a minute of silence in memory of the thousands killed in Colombia's conflict, 800 fighters from an urban band of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary group today laid down their weapons in a ceremony for a disarmament program the government says could bring Colombia closer to ending its 39-year-old war.
President Álvaro Uribe's government is hoping this will be the first step to the complete demobilization of a 13,000-member paramilitary federation, the United Self-Defense Forces, a process programmed to take two years. If successful, it would mark the first time in Latin America that a far-right, anti-guerrilla force has been demobilized through a formal process before the end of a conflict.
"Today, after a long stretch, we have a first important accomplishment," Luis Carlos Restrepo, Mr. Uribe's peace commissioner, told rows of young fighters in Medellín's convention hall. "Welcome to civilian life."
A range of critics, from human rights groups to some American congressmen, condemned the disarmament as a half-baked process that will let mass murderers and cocaine traffickers go free. They say the demobilization does not weaken the overall paramilitary group, with its top commanders remaining free to recruit new members and oversee operations.
"There's no transparency, and no accountability," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch. "How can we trust this process? Not a single international agency is participating."
With the support of the military, wealthy landowners and cocaine trafficking, the Self-Defense Forces have grown exponentially in recent years, taking control of wide swaths of territory and wiping out whole villages, union organizers and leftist politicians.
But under Mr. Uribe, the demobilization of the paramilitaries became a key component in a two-****ged process that includes waging relentless war against Marxist rebels.
A year ago, the government embarked on secret talks with the organization, which has long had close ties with Colombia's security forces. The government says disbanding the group would save lives, curtail the drug trade and put pressure on two rebel groups to negotiate peace accords.
Mr. Uribe is now pushing legislation in Congress that would allow the government to strike deals with the group's leaders, with the paramilitaries disarming in exchange for incentives that include suspended jail time for top commanders. Several of those commanders are wanted for some of Colombia's worst war atrocities, as well as for trafficking cocaine to the United States.
Those who demobilized this morning, members of a Medellín faction called Cacique Nutibara, did so under the framework of earlier legislation.
But the process has largely been cloaked in secrecy, say political analysts, noting that there is no way to independently determine if demobilized fighters will return to the war or enter a life of crime.
"If they find work, that will be good," one mid-level commander said in an interview on Monday in a Medellín slum long controlled by the paramilitaries. "But if not, well, no one will simply allow themselves to go hungry."
Today's ceremony in a cavernous hall in the convention center was carefully choreographed.
Rows of young men, their heads shaved, holding rifles at their side and wearing newly pressed camouflaged fatigues, sang in unison as the national anthem was played.
Then, they formed long rows and laid down their AK-47's, sawed off shotguns, old carbines and revolvers — fewer than 200 weapons in all. They dropped their ammunition vests and armbands, stamped with the paramilitary logo, into a heap before the peace commissioner.
With reporters boxed off to the sides, barred from interviewing the fighters, a videotaped greeting by three top paramilitary commanders was played on a giant television screen. They included comments from Carlos Castaño and Salvatore Mancuso, two leaders indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, and Diego Fernando Murillo, a reputed cocaine lord who heads the faction that demobilized.
After the ceremony, the young men were bused to a town outside Medellín, La Ceja, where they were to be housed in a recreation center for three weeks before entering job training or educational programs.
The mood was giddy in the vast slums around Medellín on Monday, as young men in baggy jeans and high-tops gathered in preparation for turning themselves in.
"I am a survivor — that's how I see myself," said one 23-year-old named Andres. "Maybe one day I can go to a university, or just get a job. That would be great."
By late Monday, after having been fitted for new uniforms, the men filtered to local community centers and schools, to be bused with their rifles and handguns to the convention center.
"They may be a little scared, but they want to do this demobilization," said one commander in the San Pablo district of Medellín. "We asked who wanted to do it, and they all said yes."
The group, led by Mr. Castano, has been angling for a deal since the United States labeled the group a terrorist organization and indicted Mr. Castano and two other leaders on drug trafficking charges.
Those leaders fear extradition to the United States more than anything else and say that led them in large part to enter into negotiations with the government.
But because Bush administration officials say the extradition requests will not be dropped, paramilitary commanders are trying to obtain government assurances that they will not be arrested during negotiations, a close advisor to Mr. Mancuso said in an interview Monday.
To show that they are negotiating in good faith, the advisor said, the paramilitaries will as early as January demobilize a group of as many as 1,500 paramilitary fighters in northern Colombia. "We are willing to give all guarantees to show that this is an irreversible process," he said.
Not really sure what to think of this...