The Colombian Paramilitaries and Uribe are One

If anyone can doubt that the Uribe administration (a valuable U.S. government ally in the region) is closely connected to terrorism in Colombia, this passage from an Amnesty International USA document should dispel any questions:

a paramilitary group calling itself Colombia Free of Communists sent a threatening email to 20 organizations, including the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (COHDES) and the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), labeling them communists and supporters of the left-wing guerrilla organizations FARC and ELN. The email warns the 20 organizations that "you are going to know something more about us now that we are to continue in power... along with the legitimate Colombian armed forces clearing our countryside and cities of grovellers like you." The statement warns members of these organizations to "stop coming here and fucking around with your issue of human rights, education, inequality, and all those things that you have invented because here what we have is work to do... Clear our land of these unproductive elements... …You are all warned, we know where you are".

The phrase "now that we are to continue in power" is a crystal clear reference to Uribe's re-election.

The Amnesty document also notes that:

The paramilitary demobilization that is supposed to come to a closure this year has not proven effective. The process grants amnesty to many individuals responsible for human rights violations and does not allow for justice or reparations for the victims or victims' families. There is increasing evidence that the paramilitaries are not demobilizing after all, but are simply renaming themselves. The paramilitaries even boast about their ongoing collaboration with the army in recent threats they have sent to human rights defenders.

["U.S. Policy and Legislation: Help Reduce Security Assistance to Colombia," Amnesty International USA, June 6, 2006]

Tag: [Colombia]