Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Caribbean-Latin America

El Regreso: A 2013 film about a 2004 Venezuelan drug massacre you never heard of

2023-12-09

[ARCHIVE.PH] Alas the film is in Spanish without subtitles or English dubbing. You should have a basic working knowledge of Spanish language to follow event depicted in the film.

The film is based on the 2004 massacre of a Wayuu Indian village on the Caribbean Sea coast, which killed between 12 and 40 unarmed villagers, and scattered and wounded the rest.

The star of the film is a 10 year old girl who flees the attack, winding up in a border town without money or resources.

After befriending a woman on a bus, she is sold as a sex slave, but subsequently escapes after her captor gets into an argument with another, slightly older girl,

The two, her newfound friend and her, after a time and some personal problems become friends. They witness one of the drug gang Bad Guys murder her aunt.

Eventually, she makes it back to her village only to find it deserted.

Says Wikipedia:

The Bahía Portete massacre (Spanish: Masacre de Bahia Portete) was a massacre in the Colombian town of Bahía Portete (municipality of Uribia), in the Department of La Guajira on April 16, 2004. It was perpetrated by paramilitary groups of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) Wayuu Counter-Insurgency Bloc led by alias "Jorge 40" killing 12 people and the disappearance of one. Some 600 people were displaced against their will and took refuge in neighboring Venezuela.[1]

Jorge 40's men, alias "Pablo" and "Chema Bola" shot the indigenous group in Bahia Portete after receiving reports that these were "kidnapping and robbing" in the region. Five member of the Fince-Epinayú family were assassinated, accused of kidnapping a Lebanese immigrant.[1]

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported in 2004 that the motives were rivalries, aroused between paramilitary factions between "Jorge 40" and another paramilitary commander known as "Chema Balas" for the control of the port of Bahía Portete. Calculated the death of 30 members of the Wayuu executed, 60 disappeared and some 250 forcibly displaced into Venezuela.[2] Paramilitaries pertaining to the AUC demobilized in 2006, but new drug trafficking organizations arose, such as the Aguilas Negras. Between 2000 and 2005 the FARC and the AUC perpetrated two massacres each while the ELN perpetrated one in the Department of La Guajira.[3]

You can read about the Wayuu here.

You can read about the film (translated from Spanish) here.

The film is available on Tubi The dubbing is in Spanish since the indians used their own language.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Venezuela captures Colombian paramilitary group leader

2009-11-22

[Iran Press TV Latest] Venezuela has captured a leader of a right-wing Colombian paramilitary group. Magaly Janeth Moreno Vega was arrested by Venezuelan police on Thursday in Maracaibo near the country's northern border with Colombia, Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami said, describing the 39-year-old who is wanted by Interpol as the "paramilitary chief" of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), AFP reported.

"She is nicknamed ... 'The Pearl' within the AUC" and "handles extremely important information," El Aissami said.

Bogota, however, promptly hailed her arrest, vowing to seek her extradition from Venezuela so that she can be tried for various crimes in her native Colombia.

El Aissami said Moreno Vega was, along with a colleague, in charge of "relations between the AUC and Colombian security forces, that is, the DAS (the Colombian intelligence agency), army and police."

The Venezuelan interior minister called Moreno Vega a "confidante" of former Colombian attorney general Luis Camilo Osorio Isaza, the current ambassador to Mexico, and said the arrest was evidence of "aggression" against Venezuela.

Speaking on state television VTV, El Aissami accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of "institutional and moral decay" for his government's ties to paramilitary groups that "attack our people, and threaten peace and order."

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

U.S. Extraditions Raise Concerns in Colombia

2008-08-20

MEDELLIN, Colombia -- In a small courtroom here, Ever Veloza has over the past year confessed to nearly 1,000 slayings in Colombia's conflict and recounted how the death squads he helped run were supported by army officers and prominent politicians.

Veloza, 41, has been among two dozen top commanders to have participated in what is known here as the "Justice and Peace" process, special judicial proceedings designed to unravel the origins of Colombia's paramilitary movement. His testimony has helped authorities uncover crimes and open investigations to ferret out collaborators.

Now, Veloza may be extradited to the United States -- not for the war crimes to which he has confessed but to face cocaine-trafficking charges in New York federal court. Perhaps more than anyone else, he knows what that would mean for investigators who have been working for years to understand the intricacies of a coalition of paramilitary groups known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. "If I get extradited, the Justice and Peace process ends there, because the foot soldiers do not know anything," Veloza said in a four-hour jailhouse interview with The Washington Post last month. "If I go, then the story of the Self-Defense Forces is incomplete."

Fifteen other top paramilitary commanders have been extradited to the United States, raising major concerns among Colombian investigators, victims' rights groups and organizations such as Human Rights Watch, all of whom say complex investigations into paramilitary crimes are being thrown into disarray. With nearly all of the top commanders in U.S. jails, they argue, Colombian detectives and prosecutors have lost their most knowledgeable sources of information about paramilitary groups.

"I see this with huge and profound concern, because it could leave many cases in impunity," said one senior Colombian investigator, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He spoke of one extradited commander, Ramiro "Cuco" Vanoy, who had admitted to dozens of murders each time he testified in Colombia, leaving investigators thirsting for more testimony. "That has been overshadowed," the investigator said, "by the hastiness to resolve one problem -- and that problem is drug trafficking."

Indeed, the paramilitary groups for years smuggled cocaine in massive quantities to fund their war against Marxist rebels. But critics of the extraditions say such trafficking was far less pernicious than the war crimes that terrorized Colombia for a generation.

According to President Alvaro Uribe, those who have been extradited so far to the United States were sent only after they failed to cooperate with Colombian investigators. The Bush administration has touted the extraditions as a bold move by Uribe, Washington's closest ally in Latin America; his government has already extradited nearly 700 Colombians to the United States -- most of them low- and mid-level drug traffickers.

Critics of the Uribe administration, however, charge that the president shipped the commanders north to squelch testimony that had begun to link military officers and some elite members of society with death squad commanders. In fact, testimony by commanders has helped propel investigations that have put 33 members of Congress, most of them allies of Uribe, behind bars, while tarnishing the reputations of generals close to the president.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Colombian peace process in jeopardy

2006-12-09

Colombia's far-right paramilitaries pulled out of a peace process with President Alvaro Uribe's government late Wednesday following the decision to transfer jailed militia leaders to a maximum security prison. The announcement came after a three-hour meeting with the government's chief peace negotiator. The peace agreement was thrown into crisis on Friday when the government transferred 59 imprisoned paramilitary warlords from their special prison to a high-security installation on rumors of a possible prison break.

More than 30,000 paramilitary fighters have demobilized since 2003 as part of the peace process, which saw militia leaders turn themselves in. But critics say the punishments dished out to the leaders were too light and paramilitary groups continued to operate. The leaders of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, a paramilitary umbrella group, are accused of some of the worst atrocities in the country's civil war, now in its fifth decade. The AUC was created two decades ago by landowners and cocaine cartels to battle leftist rebels who held sway over much of Colombia's countryside, though it quickly morphed into one of the country's biggest drug-trafficking organizations.

The latest setback in the peace process with the paramilitaries comes as a scandal continues to grow linking Colombia's political class with the paramilitaries. A dozen legislators are accused of working with the outlawed group to kill political opponents in exchange for votes.

The paramilitary warlords handed themselves over to the government as part of an agreement limiting their prison terms to no more than eight years and suspending extradition requests.

Link

Terror Networks

Excerpts from State Department report on terrorist safe havens

2006-04-30

Virtual Safe Haven

Terrorists exploit electronic infrastructure such as the Internet, global media, and satellite communications for recruitment, training, planning, resource transfer, and intelligence collection between and among terrorists and terrorist groups. Like many others, terrorists view the Internet as the most powerful and inexpensive form of communication yet
developed. Harnessing the Internet's potential for speed, security, and global linkage gives terrorists the ability to conduct many of the activities that once required physical haven, yet without the associated security risks. With the ability to communicate, recruit, train, and prepare for attacks, any computer may function essentially as a virtual safe haven. Closing these havens demands concerted action at the global and regional levels.

The Internet also has empowered the enemy with the ability to produce and sustain its own public media outlets and to present its own distorted view of the world to further its agenda. Terrorists are placing encrypted messages in electronic files to hide photos, maps, and messages on innocent third-party websites, chat rooms, and bulletin boards.

There are several thousand radical or extremist websites worldwide, many of which disseminate a mixture of fact and propaganda designed to challenge information gleaned from
other sources. Traditions of tolerance, political asylum, and multiculturalism are key elements of open societies. The enemy has been savvy in exploiting this and in having a consistent message easily heard in the cacophony of the global media and the Internet. Countering the messages that terrorists propagate cannot be done quickly or easily; it must become part of a long-term strategy.

Physical Safe Haven

The remainder of this chapter provides a survey of the status of selected potential and physical safe havens worldwide.

AFRICA

The Trans-Sahara

The sparsely inhabited Trans-Sahara region provides safe haven for terrorist groups operating in North and Northwest Africa.

Mali. The Algeria-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) maintains a regular but small-scale presence in Mali's northern desert, where it is engaged in recruiting, training, and smuggling activities. GSPC members have been able to move without hindrance in northern Mali; the government has maintained a limited military presence in the north since the negotiated end of a rebellion by elements of the Tuareg
population in 1996. The size of the country and the limited resources of the Malian Government hamper the effectiveness of military patrols and border control measures. There have been no confrontations between the military and the GSPC in 2005, and
the government has not taken any steps to modify its military force posture in the region or directly confront GSPC elements in the north because of the perceived potential to create unrest. The Malian Government did cooperate fully with neighboring countries in June and July to try to isolate and capture GSPC cells in its territory, including those responsible for an attack in el-Mreiti, Mauritania.

Mauritania. The GSPC and the Mauritanian Group for Preaching and Jihad (GMPJ) have conducted supply, smuggling, fundraising, and recruiting operations in Mauritania and the region.

Somalia

Parts of Somalia, which has no functioning central government, have become havens for terrorist and other illicit activities, threatening the security of the whole region.

A small number of al-Qaida (AQ) terrorists, responsible for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, continue to operate in Somalia and are assisted by elements within the complicated Somali clan structure.

Members of the Somalia-based al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI) have committed terrorist acts in the past, primarily in Ethiopia. AIAI rose to prominence in the early 1990s with the goal of creating a pan-Somali Islamic state in the Horn of Africa. Presently, AIAI is highly factionalized and diffuse, and its membership is difficult to define.

Other groups have appeared in Somalia that are suspected to have committed terrorist acts against Western interests in the region, or to be capable of doing so. Little is known about movements such as al-Takfir wal-Hijra ("al-Takfir"), but the extremist ideology and the violent character of takfiri groups elsewhere suggests that the movement merits close monitoring. (Takfiri ideology is an inflexible interpretation of Islam that labels those who do not share the same interpretation as "infidels.) Some individuals and groups with past AIAI association and/or current takfiri leanings are sympathetic to and maintain ties with al-Qaida.

EAST ASIA

The Sulawesi/Celebes Sea

East Asia includes a maritime safe haven area composed of the Sulawesi/Celebes Sea and Sulu Archipelago, which sit astride the maritime boundary between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The physical geography of the thousands of islands in the region makes them very difficult for authorities to monitor. Thus, they are well suited to terrorist operations and
activities, such as movement of personnel, equipment, and funds. This area represents a safe haven for the AQ-linked Jemaah Islamiya (JI) group.

The southern Philippines and Sabah, Malaysia. The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), responsible for multiple bombings and kidnappings throughout the southern Philippines in recent years, remains active despite the loss of key leaders and Philippine military operations against the group. In addition, some JI members have
obtained safe haven in Mindanao in areas under the control of elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu Sayyaf Group. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) is addressing the JI presence through military operations and ongoing peace talks with the MILF. The Government of Malaysia is mediating the GRP-MILF peace talks. The U.S. Institute for Peace is supporting the process by facilitating dialogue on contentious issues such as control of territory. The
GRP-MILF talks have made progress, and could lead to a formal peace agreement that would be crucial in addressing the issue of safe haven in the long term. Two specific mechanisms have grown out of the peace process to increase cooperation between the
Philippine Government and the MILF. The Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) allows Philippine Government and MILF representatives to broker cease-fire violations. The Ad Hoc Joint Action Group provides a framework
for Philippine Government and MILF representatives to cooperate against terrorists and criminals in MILF areas, and has operated with some success over the last year.

Indonesia. JI has had links to al-Qaida and was responsible for the August 2003 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and the bombing outside the Australian Embassy in September 2004. While Indonesia has significantly improved its efforts to
control the maritime boundary area with the Philippines, the area remains difficult to control, surveillance is partial at best, and traditional smuggling and piracy groups provide an effective cover for terrorist activities in the area.

EUROPE

Although most of Europe is not a physical safe haven in a literal sense, domestic terrorist groups, as well as AQ and its associated terrorist cells, remain the principal groups of concern in Europe. North African Salafist groups are especially active, such as the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, the Armed Islamic Group, and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. Moreover, extremist groups recruit and proselytize heavily in some major European cities. The presence and activity of such terrorist cells was dramatically highlighted by the London bombings in July. In addition, terrorist groups opposed to the Middle East peace process such as HAMAS and Hizballah have active propaganda, fundraising, and other support activities in Europe.

Mediterranean

Smuggling, illegal immigration, and narcotics trafficking networks traverse the Mediterranean Sea between Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, providing opportunities for potential terrorist movement and support.

Cyprus forms a transit and support hub for various organizations operating in the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant. The Kongra-Gel/PKK has an active presence in Cyprus on both sides of the buffer zone, which it reportedly uses as both a fundraising and transit point. The Kurdish community in the south of Cyprus is estimated at approximately 1,500.

The Caucasus

Over the past decade, insurgent activities in Chechnya, Daghestan, North Ossetia, and surrounding areas have created opportunities for establishing a terrorist safe haven in the
north Caucasus. The Pankisi Gorge area of Georgia was previously noted as a safe haven; however, Georgian authorities were largely successful in eliminating it. Georgian internal troops continued to carry out operations to rid the Pankisi Gorge of terrorists. The identification and safe removal of hidden weapons caches in the Pankisi area enabled Georgian security forces to secure and protect it from terrorist acts or transit. Although border guard and customs reform continued, Georgia was still used to a limited degree as a transit state for weapons and money. Georgia made efforts to close its borders to those who wished to smuggle money, weapons, and supplies, but was hindered in particular by corruption at border checkpoints, as well as by lack of territorial integrity in the separatist
areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

SOUTH & CENTRAL ASIA

Afghan-Pakistan Border

For decades, the mountainous and sparsely populated Afghan-Pakistani border has been an autonomous area, with little control by Islamabad or Kabul. The Northwest Frontier Province
(NWFP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan have been a safe haven for AQ fighters since the fall of the Taliban in December 2001. The FATA also includes Islamist groups and local tribesmen who continue to resist the governments efforts to improve governance and administrative control at the expense of longstanding local autonomy. Bringing government services to this region, and turning an AQ safe haven into a regularly administered province of Pakistan, remains an important objective in the global war on terror.

Through substantial efforts since 2004, the Government of Pakistan has deployed more than 80,000 security forces into the FATA and made some improvements in health care, education,
and social services. These operations have disrupted the terrorists but also affected tribal institutions in the area, requiring efforts to build new political and economic institutions.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Government, in concert with U.S. forces and the international community, continues efforts to build security on the Afghan side of the border. The border areas remain a contested region, however, with ongoing insurgent and terrorist attacks and AQ-linked propaganda activity.

Iraq

Iraq is not currently a terrorist safe haven, but terrorists, including Sunni groups like al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), Ansar al-Islam (AI), and Ansar al-Sunna (AS), as well as Shia extremists and other groups, view Iraq as a potential safe
haven and are attempting to make it a reality.

Terrorist groups coordinated and conducted attacks on Iraqs utility infrastructure and claimed responsibility for kidnappings and attacks on Iraqi personnel working at refineries and electrical stations. Terrorists efforts to disrupt and destroy Iraqs energy infrastructure not only made the Iraqi
Government appear incapable of providing essential services, but hindered economic development. These attacks also sought to undercut public and international support for Iraq.

Efforts by the Iraqi Government, the United States, Coalition partners, and the international community are helping to thwart AQIs ambitions, but the battle is far from over. Not all of
Iraqs neighbors have supported the international community in this effort. In particular:

Syria. Designated by the United States as a state sponsor of terror, Syria was used as a facilitation hub for terrorist groups operating in Iraq, as well as for traditional tribal
groups, smugglers, and border-crossers exploiting a porous border with Iraq and lax immigration controls. Foreign terrorists constituted a small percentage of insurgent forces, but their impact was dramatic. Although Coalition and Iraqi commanders consistently reported that most of the enemy killed or captured were Iraqi citizens, the foreign terrorist cells continued to move and kept a low profile while training, equipping, and supporting other terrorist groups. In addition, HAMAS, Hizballah, and several other Palestinian terrorist organizations operate offices in Damascus, and the Syrian Government has taken little effective action to curb this activity.

Iran. Also designated by the United States as a state sponsor of terror, Iran has provided political and ideological support for several terrorist and militant groups active in Iraq. Attractive to terrorists in part because of the limited presence of the United States and other Western governments there, Iran is also a safe haven in that known terrorists, extremists, and sympathizers are able to transit its territory and cross the long and porous border into Iraq. Iran also equips terrorists with technology and provides training in extremist ideology and militant techniques.

Northern Iraq/Southeastern Turkey. The Kongra-Gel/PKK maintains an active presence in the predominantly ethnic Kurdish areas of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. The Kongra-Gel/PKK operates several base camps along the border in
northern Iraq from which it provides logistical support to forces that launch attacks into Turkey, primarily against Turkish security forces, local Turkish officials, and villagers who oppose the organization.

Lebanon

The Lebanese Government recognizes several terrorist organizations, including Hizballah, which holds several seats in Parliament, as "legitimate resistance groups" and permits them to maintain offices in Beirut and elsewhere around the country. The Lebanese Government recently agreed to work to control the weapons of Palestinian militias outside the refugee camps within six months and, for the first time, is discussing possible limits to Hizballahs arms. Although Syria withdrew its military forces in April 2005, it maintains an intelligence presence in Lebanon and continues to offer support and facilitate arms smuggling to Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups. Because the Government of Lebanon does not exercise effective control over areas in the south and inside the Palestinian refugee camps, terrorists can operate relatively freely in those areas.

Yemen

Several terrorist organizations continued to maintain a presence in Yemen throughout 2005. The Government of Yemen recognizes HAMAS and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as legal organizations. HAMAS conducted extensive fundraising through mosques and other charitable organizations and maintains offices. In December, HAMAS leader Khaled Mishal visited Sanaa and met publicly with President Saleh. Al-Qaidas operational structure in Yemen has been weakened and dispersed, but concerns remain about the organization's attempts to reconstitute operational cells there. Yemen continues to increase its maritime security capabilities, but land border security along the extensive frontier with Saudi Arabia remains a problem, despite increased Yemeni-Saudi cooperation on bilateral security issues.

THE AMERICAS

Colombia Border Region

This region includes the borders between Colombia on one side, and Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Brazil on the other. Rough terrain, dense forest cover, and lack of government authority and presence in this area create a safe haven for insurgent and terrorist groups, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama have adopted an unstated policy mix of containment and non-confrontation with Colombian narcoterrorist groups, while Peru pursues the domestic terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (SL). FARC used remote areas to house prisoners and hostages and to
stage and train for terrorist attacks in cities.

The Triborder Area

Suspected supporters of Islamic terrorist groups, including Hizballah and HAMAS, take advantage of loosely regulated territory and proximity to Muslim communities in Ciudad del
Este, Paraguay, and Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, to engage in illegal activity and illicit fundraising.

Venezuela

Venezuelan President Chavez has an ideological affinity with two Colombian terrorist organizations, the FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN), which in turn limits Venezuelan cooperation with Colombia in combating terrorism. The FARC and ELN regard Venezuelan territory near the border as a safe haven and often use the area for cross-border incursions. In addition, splinter groups of the FARC and another designated terrorist
organization, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), operate in various parts of Venezuela and are involved in drug trafficking.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Colombian Police Arrest Militia Leader

2005-05-28

A right-wing paramilitary leader accused of killing a state congressman surrendered Friday after a four-day, nationwide manhunt, the National Police said. President Alvaro Uribe ordered the arrest of Diego Fernando Murillo this week, throwing peace negotiations with the paramilitary groups into turmoil just days before Colombian legislators are expected pass an amnesty bill that would bring about a final peace deal. Other paramilitary leaders said earlier Friday the talks would continue without Murillo. RCN television showed footage of Murillo walking with government Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo. More than a dozen armed police officers were surrounding Murillo, a leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, but he was not handcuffed. "He turned himself in due to the pressure bearing down on him from the police's search," said Sgt. Jamat Guapacho. Guapacho said Murillo was placed under arrest. Murillo once allegedly ran a team of assassins used by Pablo Escobar's Medellin cocaine cartel. He is accused in the April 10 kidnapping and killing of Cordoba state lawmaker Orlando Benitez, his sister and an aide.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

U.S. army probes why troops go wild in Colombia

2005-05-11

The U.S. military is investigating what has gone wrong with its operations in Colombia, where troops have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs and selling arms to far-right militias, a senior U.S. officer said on Wednesday.
Gen. Bantz Craddock, commander of the U.S. military's Southern Command, said he was concerned by the recent incidents.
"I have talked to the commander of the units involved. We are initiating a complete review of our procedures, our processes and our security standards," Craddock told Reuters while visiting Colombian troops on a high mountain plain above Bogota -- recently a strategic transit route for Marxist rebels -- as a Black Hawk helicopter whirred overhead.
Colombian police arrested two American soldiers last week on suspicion of planning to sell stolen ammunition to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, an outlawed far-right militia group classified as "terrorist" by the United States.
Just over a month earlier, another five troops were detained in the United States for allegedly trying to smuggle hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine on a U.S. military aircraft leaving Colombia.
The arrests damaged the image of the large U.S. anti-drug operation here and led to calls by some Colombian officials and lawmakers for revision of a treaty granting immunity from prosecution to American personnel.
A Colombian Senate committee on Tuesday invited U.S. Ambassador William Wood to appear before it and explain how U.S. authorities were conducting the investigations.
Referring to the latest incident, Craddock said those involved would be punished if found guilty.
"We take very seriously allegations or indications of support for terrorist organizations, so I assure you that the United States military investigations will be thorough and complete," he said.
Congress has authorized the presence of up to 800 U.S. troops in Colombia as instructors and advisors to help the local armed forces against cocaine smugglers and rebels, but not to take part in fighting. This is part of a mainly military aid program to the Andean nation on which the United States has spent more than $3 billion since 2000.
Craddock inaugurated a primary school built with $50,000 in U.S. aid money on a site where rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by their Spanish initials FARC -- used to imprison people they had kidnapped for ransom.
The children will study at 12,500 feet above sea level in an Andean region where temperatures never rise above freezing.
Thousands of people are killed in Colombia's four-decade-old war every year, and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and FARC both obtain much of their money from cocaine.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Uribe offers safe haven to paramilitary groups

2004-08-03

President Ãlvaro Uribe is prepared to create a second safe haven for two rival paramilitary factions in southern Colombia on the condition that the groups declare an immediate cease-fire and begin disarming, his office announced on Monday.

The offer came five days after three commanders from the largest
paramilitary group, which is involved in fragile talks with the government in a northern safe haven created in May, vowed in a highly unusual appearance before the Colombian Congress that they would never agree to a deal that would lead to their imprisonment. In the havens, paramilitaries are shielded from arrest.

Mr. Uribe, whose two-pronged strategy for pacifying the country calls for co-opting right-wing death squads and battling Marxist rebels, called on the two paramilitary factions to end their conflict over cocaine or be shut out of talks with his government.

As an incentive, the government is prepared to create a second safe haven and possibly a third, so the two groups will have a secure zone in which to disarm and hold talks, said Martha MartÃnez, a spokeswoman for Mr. Uribe's peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo.

The government's announcement was criticized by some political analysts, who say the peace talks are in trouble because the government has been ceding ground without pushing the paramilitaries to stop their violence or admit to their crimes.

"This process is in a crisis of credibility," said Daniel GarcÃa-PeÃ±a, a former peace commissioner here. "The president has time to rescue the process if the conditions are well established and they make them comply. But the government has hard rhetoric one day, and they make concessions the next."

One of the paramilitary groups, the Centauros Bloc, led by Miguel Arroyave, is part of the country's largest paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which is carrying on peace talks with the government in Santa Fe de Ralito in the north. Commanders of the group are offering to demobilize if the government guarantees they will not be punished for crimes including mass murders and drug trafficking.

The second group, the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Casanare, led by MartÃn Llanos, is conducting separate talks with the government.

"We're talking about two more zones, or that the Centauros group will concentrate in Santa Fe de Ralito," Ms. MartÃnez said. "It is a given there will be at least a zone for Llanos."

On Friday, Mr. Llanos met with Mr. Restrepo, the peace commissioner, and told him that a zone was needed for the talks. Last Wednesday, one of the three commanders who visited the Congress, Salvatore Mancuso, also called for more safe havens, where paramilitary commanders and troops would be shielded from arrest and extradition to the United States on drug-trafficking charges while they negotiate.

Mr. Uribe is clearly open to creating the zones to further the talks, but under the condition that paramilitary groups cease hostilities. Though informal talks with various factions have been going on all year, the groups have continued killing labor leaders, human rights workers and peasants and trafficking in cocaine.

In the government's statement on Monday, Mr. Uribe directed his ire at Mr. Llanos and Mr. Arroyave, saying, "If these conditions are not met in the coming days, the national government will end the peace process with these two groups."

The paramilitary groups were formed more than 20 years ago by rogue military officers, landowners and drug traffickers to combat leftist rebels by killing their supporters and taking back territory. They quickly turned into major drug-running outfits, and several paramilitary commanders are now wanted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Colombian Warlord Castano âStrangled to Deathâ

2004-05-01

Colombian warlord Carlos Castano, whose disappearance has rocked peace talks between the government and far-right paramilitaries, has been strangled to death by former comrades, one of Castanoâs friends said on Friday.

Doesn't sound like a very comradely act to me...

The outlaw Castano, who was political chief of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, went missing after a shootout with gunmen commanded by rival AUC chiefs at his hidden ranch in northern Colombia on April 16. "They caught Commander Carlos alive that very day and they killed him two days later, after they kept him for two days with his hands and legs bound, in his underwear," his friend told Reuters, saying he had spoken to witnesses.

There's some doubt as to whether it was his underwear...

Military intelligence and state prosecution service officials who have spoken to the friend and colleague of Castano said they believed his report but still had no definitive evidence. Proof Castano was killed could be a fatal blow to year-old negotiations the government hoped would lead to the disarmament of 20,000 paramilitary gunmen waging an illegal war against Marxist rebels and trafficking in cocaine.

Who're waging an illegal war on the government and trafficking in cocaine...

Government officials fear the loss of Castano would fracture the AUC and make talks impossible. Castano aides said rival AUC members heavily involved in cocaine trafficking had attacked him because he was planning to give information about their activities to U.S. authorities. But other senior commanders from the group said Castanoâs guards had mistakenly opened fire on their own comrades and he ran away in the confusion.

Backtracking: later story from the AP sez he ain't dead yet.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

Uribe threatens to annihilate paramilitaries

2004-04-28

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Alvaro Uribe threatened paramilitary forces with annihilation on Tuesday unless they abide by a cease-fire and stop trafficking in drugs. Claiming that some of the groups want to kill him, Uribe also backed U.S. extradition efforts against paramilitary leaders charged with drug trafficking. "The peace process with the illegal self-defense groups cannot advance amid cease-fire violations, vendettas, drug trafficking, or confrontations between criminal groups," Uribe said.

Can we give Uribe a command in Najaf?

Uribe's comments came as power within the right-wing paramilitary groups appeared to be shifting to members involved in drug trafficking. Paramilitary co-founder Carlos Castano also disappeared on April 16 during an alleged attack by rival drug-trafficking militia leaders. The events have thrown the government's nascent peace process with the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, into doubt, Uribe said in a statement released by his office.

Paramilitary leaders facing such drug-trafficking charges in the United States have also said they see no point in completing a peace process only to wind up in a U.S. prison. "Extradition is not a subject for negotiation," Uribe said. "Those who want to avoid it should demonstrate to the international community their good faith and willingness to redeem themselves."

He said paramilitary groups must concentrate their forces, believed to number from 12,000 to 18,000 fighters, in specified zones monitored by the Organization of American States. "They must move forward on demobilization," he said. "Otherwise the government will keep combating them until they are annihilated."

Send this guy after Sadr!

Almost halfway through his four-year term, Uribe has cracked down on Colombia's two leftist rebel groups. But critics say he has been less tough on the paramilitary forces, which waged a dirty war against the rebel groups for two decades.

Sounds like he's fixing that.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Colombia Leader Avoids Assassination Try

2004-04-21

Hunted by an assassination squad, a founder of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary movement was on the run Tuesday in a remote corner of the country after members of his own group stripped him of power and allegedly turned on him. Assistant Attorney General Andres Ramirez said rival factions of the feared paramilitary forces appear to be behind the attempt to kill Carlos Castano, a well-known figure who has waged a brutal war against leftist rebels. On Friday, paramilitary gunmen attacked a ranch in the humid lowlands of northwestern Colombia where Castano was hiding out, killing at least six of his bodyguards. The description of the attack came from one of Castano's bodyguards who was wounded in the leg during the shootout and is being guarded by Colombian security forces in a hospital in Apartado, in northwest Colombia. "What we can say up to this point is that (Castano) fled with two of his bodyguards," Ramirez said. One leader of a paramilitary faction told The Associated Press that two other paramilitary figures had ordered Castano killed, believing he was trying to turn them over to U.S. authorities for drug trafficking.

Castano himself is wanted in the United States for trafficking tons of cocaine to American shores. Fellow paramilitary leaders apparently suspected he sought to cut a deal and identify other paramilitary members involved in drug trafficking in exchange for leniency. The leader of the paramilitary faction, who was interviewed on condition he not be further identified, put the number of bodyguards killed in Friday's attack at seven, and said some were executed after being wounded. Castano's wife Kenia Gomez and their 16-month-old daughter — who were not at the ranch during the attack — were under the protection of the government Tuesday at an undisclosed location.

Castano, whose United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, is battling Colombia's two leftist rebel groups, initiated peace talks with the government more than a year ago and pledged that the 12,000 militia fighters would disarm if paramilitary leaders avoided extensive prison terms. But the AUC's high command on March 31 named a 10-member negotiating team, and did not include Castano, underscoring his increasing isolation. Three years ago, Castano abruptly resigned as supreme commander of the AUC and named himself as the outlawed group's political chief. Some paramilitary commanders privately wondered if Castano, who was hiding out in the jungles and cattle-lands of northwest Colombia, was becoming unstable.

"Miguel! We gotta do something about Castano. I think he's becoming unstable!"
"Dis is Colombia, boss! How can youse tell?"

Link

Home Front: WoT

Details from investigations by the Houston Terror Task Force

2004-04-05

EFL
In a small South Texas town, an illegal immigrant managing a convenience store aroused suspicion by asking customers about explosives -- enough to detonate several city blocks. Investigators said he was also collecting photos of skyscrapers, including ones in Houston. In Corpus Christi, investigators found 30 illegal immigrants from the Middle East hidden in the bowels of a large ship. The stowaways refused to say why they had come. And in The Woodlands, the owner of a $350,000 house is about to be sentenced for leading a double life as an arms dealer for terrorists.

Quietly and without fanfare, teams of lawmen from federal, state and local agencies have banded together to probe these and other incidents they believe could lead to terrorism. The number of such task forces grew rapidly after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon to nearly 70 nationwide, including four in Texas. "Weâve followed thousands of leads. We get them daily," said Richard Powers, the FBI agent in charge of Houstonâs Joint Terrorism Task Force. "Ninety-nine percent turn out to be invalid, but I believe we have also prevented things." Two floors of the FBI headquarters in Houston are devoted to task force operations, giving members a round-the-clock base where they can access secure telephones and computers. The Houston task force comprises 100 members from 40 agencies. They include FBI agents, a police officer from Baytown and a detective from Texas A&M University. All are subject to background checks and are given top-secret clearance. They spend the bulk of their time following tips but also network with other intelligence sources. "They see the most sensitive secrets we have," Powers said, "like a fire hose of intelligence."

Local police have been sent to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to interview Taliban and al-Qaida detainees, though Powers declined to elaborate on the missions. "They went to get names and intelligence about possible cells to disrupt," he said. Most leads donât have serious consequences. A year ago, for instance, a suspicious box reported under the Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston Ship Channel contained nothing more sinister than a dead cat. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez, who serves on the local task force and is chief of the regional Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council, said the group thwarted attempts by suspected terrorists to cross the Mexican border into Texas. In one, a few days after the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, task force members received intelligence that five Iraqis in Mexico City wanted to exchange millions of dinars for U.S. currency and find a smuggler to bring them across the border near Laredo. They were believed to be planning an assault on President Bushâs Crawford ranch, where they "wanted to blow something up," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Porto, another task force member. The smuggler they approached sought help from two people with links to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, which has been named a foreign terrorist organization, Martinez said. "The threat was interrupted and went away," he said. "I canât say how."

Maybe we don't want to know...

Another tip triggered a task force investigation of a convenience store owner in Alice who was seeking explosives and collecting photos of tall buildings. Muhammad Navid Asrar is now in federal prison after pleading guilty to being an undocumented immigrant in illegal possession of 50 rounds of 9 mm bullets. Asrar, a Pakistani who overstayed his student visa, denied any connection to terrorists, and investigators said they could not prove what he intended to do with the photographs. However, FBI Agent David Troutman has testified that Asrar remains the subject of an investigation. "Besides trying to purchase explosives from an oil field worker, Asrar had made donations to the Holy Land Foundation," Martinez said. A federal appeals court in 2003 ruled that the U.S. Treasury Department had ample evidence connecting the Texas-based foundation to a terrorist group blamed for orchestrating suicide bombings in Israel.

Intentionally false tips also are prosecuted vigorously. Last year, Bill Taylor of Dickinson was sentenced to eight months in prison for making two 911 calls to falsely report that a bomb was planted at the Port of Houston, and Solange Villegas Bedoza of Colombia was given three years supervised probation for falsely reporting her live-in lover was plotting with terrorists to put cyanide in a water treatment plant in Houston.

The other task forces based in Texas are in Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso. Houstonâs task force was the first in the state and one of the few in the nation already in place before the Sept. 11 attacks, Powers said. Houstonâs was created a few weeks before the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Ahmad M. Ajaj, one of four men later sentenced to life in prison for the bombing, once made his home in Houston, records show. Martinez said Houston now is viewed as one of eight U.S. cities most vulnerable to a potential terrorist attack. "It is the only area in the U.S. with critical infrastructure in all risk categories," he added. Houston also has the nationâs second-largest Muslim population, numbering 350,000, and 80 mosques, Martinez said. Yet investigators are quick to stress that they do not use a broad brush to target Middle Easterners. "Weâre here to protect them, too," Powers said. "Iâve investigated more than 100 hate crimes against Muslims since 9/11."

The Council on American Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights group, agrees to a point. Council spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed said that while the FBI is doing important outreach in the fight against hate crimes, the agency is sometimes guilty of "profiling and unequal treatment of Muslims." Muslims do not want to be treated as if they are guilty until proven innocent, Ahmed said, based solely on rumors or suspicions. Martinez said the task force strives to be fair. At the same time, he and others added, the task force is charged with preventing terrorism, not waiting for the crime to occur and then determining who did it. For instance, the task force might seek to deport a terrorism suspect for a lesser offense, such as a visa or weapons violation. Martinez stressed that less than 1 percent of people deported from the 16-county southeast Texas area since 2001 were from the Middle East.

In order to make identifications in difficult cases, task force members say they must sometimes work with informants who go deep undercover. The case against Carlos Ali Romero Varela was made by such an informant, records show. Varela has pleaded guilty but not yet been sentenced for being part of a conspiracy to provide material support and resources to the AUC. The charge stems from Varelaâs negotiating for the sale of $25 million in cash and drugs for Russian-made weapons that could range from machine guns to shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. With the informantâs help, investigators were able to track Varela from his fashionable home in The Woodlands to AUC commandants in the Colombian jungles. The trail led to clandestine meetings in Mexico City, London, St. Croix, Panama City and San Jose, Costa Rica. Eventually, a case was built against Varela and three others, all of whom have pleaded guilty.

Some probes expose breaches in security that need to be corrected, Martinez said, citing the discovery in 2003 of 30 Middle Easterners illegally hiding on a ship in Corpus Christi. The stowaways would not tell investigators why they were sneaking into the country, and they eventually were deported. The U.S. Coast Guard ordered four armed security guards posted to see that none of the stowaways escaped. None did, but when Coast Guard officers returned they found only three guards on duty. One was asleep and only one was armed. Furthermore, the firm supplying the guards was not licensed to do business in Texas and was owned by a felon convicted of smuggling illegal immigrants, authorities said.

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