By Juan Forero
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- A retired police major who is in exile in Argentina was deposed Tuesday by the Colombian attorney general's office after he accused President Álvaro Uribe's brother of having led a right-wing paramilitary group in the early 1990s.
A high-ranking prosecutor, Hernando Castañeda, traveled to Buenos Aires and took a three-hour deposition from Juan Carlos Meneses, the former police official. Meneses told The Washington Post in May, when he was living in Venezuela, that Santiago Uribe had led an illegal militia in the town of Yarumal that killed guerrilla sympathizers and suspected rebels.
Officials in the attorney general's office said Meneses's declaration would be evaluated in Bogota to determine if a long-dormant case against Uribe could be reopened.
Meneses, who was commander of the Yarumal police force in 1994, had publicly recounted how he and Uribe planned killings. Briefly jailed but not convicted, Meneses said he fled Colombia in October after associates in the security services warned him he would soon be killed for knowing too much. He went to Venezuela but has also been in Argentina, where he has met with the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.
Santiago Uribe has denied the accusations, though he said in a May interview that he expected the case to be reopened on the basis of the new allegations. The Colombian government has vigorously defended the president's brother, accusing Meneses of being paid by a drug-trafficking outfit to make the claims.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Far Worse Than Watergate: Report Reveals Widening Scandal Regarding Intelligence Agency as New Government Takes Office in Colombia
As Colombians prepare to elect a new president on Sunday, a new report reveals the shocking details of the Colombian intelligence agency's Watergate-like scandal, which went well beyond illegally spying on key players in the country's democracy. The Department of Administrative Security (DAS), Colombia's intelligence agency, actually orchestrated active efforts to sabotage the activities of Colombian judges, journalists, human rights defenders, international organizations and political opponents.
The authors of Far Worse than Watergate, the U.S. Office on Colombia, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, the Center for International Policy and the Washington Office on Latin America, reviewed hundreds of pages of documents from the Colombian Attorney General and other sources, revealing how the DAS developed elaborate defamation campaigns -- with titles like "Operation Halloween"-- to destabilize NGOs, create divisions within opposition movements, fabricate false ties to guerrilla groups to ruin defenders' reputations, and undermine the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the DAS was even behind grotesque threats issued to a human rights defender and a journalist -- and their daughters.
The scandal highlights the need to clean up Colombian intelligence operations. To maintain credibility, Colombia's next president -- to be elected on June 20th -- will have to address the dirty tricks, death threats and sabotage efforts against numerous defenders of democracy in Colombia. The new president should also take steps to remove the capacity of the President and his advisors to order intelligence operations without safeguards and oversight. In order to avoid repeat offenses and a politicization of intelligence, the Colombian Congress should be encouraged to exert oversight. The Colombian government must demonstrate that security does not come at the cost of fundamental freedoms.
But U.S. policymakers have cause for concern as well. Did the United States fund these illegal efforts, and in so doing endanger important human rights proponents and political actors? According to U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield, the United States has supplied surveillance equipment to the DAS, although he has claimed it was not used for illegal purposes. But we can not rest assured. During the trial of former DAS director Jorge Noguera, a detective testified that he had been part of a U.S.-funded special unit that apparently tracked union activities. The U.S. Congress appropriately responded to this Watergate-like scandal by including a prohibition of funding for the DAS in the FY2010 foreign operations bill. This is a vital first step. But the same prohibition must be included in defense and intelligence appropriation bills. Congress must investigate whether or not U.S. training and equipment were used for the sinister purpose of undermining the work of legitimate political actors. And most importantly, the U.S. government must establish guarantees to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are never used for criminal ends.
By: Kelly Nicholls, U.S. Office on Colombia, Lisa Haugaard, Latin America Working Group Education Fund, Abigail Poe, Center for International Policy and Gimena Sanchez, Washington Office on Latin America.
The authors of Far Worse than Watergate, the U.S. Office on Colombia, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, the Center for International Policy and the Washington Office on Latin America, reviewed hundreds of pages of documents from the Colombian Attorney General and other sources, revealing how the DAS developed elaborate defamation campaigns -- with titles like "Operation Halloween"-- to destabilize NGOs, create divisions within opposition movements, fabricate false ties to guerrilla groups to ruin defenders' reputations, and undermine the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the DAS was even behind grotesque threats issued to a human rights defender and a journalist -- and their daughters.
The scandal highlights the need to clean up Colombian intelligence operations. To maintain credibility, Colombia's next president -- to be elected on June 20th -- will have to address the dirty tricks, death threats and sabotage efforts against numerous defenders of democracy in Colombia. The new president should also take steps to remove the capacity of the President and his advisors to order intelligence operations without safeguards and oversight. In order to avoid repeat offenses and a politicization of intelligence, the Colombian Congress should be encouraged to exert oversight. The Colombian government must demonstrate that security does not come at the cost of fundamental freedoms.
But U.S. policymakers have cause for concern as well. Did the United States fund these illegal efforts, and in so doing endanger important human rights proponents and political actors? According to U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield, the United States has supplied surveillance equipment to the DAS, although he has claimed it was not used for illegal purposes. But we can not rest assured. During the trial of former DAS director Jorge Noguera, a detective testified that he had been part of a U.S.-funded special unit that apparently tracked union activities. The U.S. Congress appropriately responded to this Watergate-like scandal by including a prohibition of funding for the DAS in the FY2010 foreign operations bill. This is a vital first step. But the same prohibition must be included in defense and intelligence appropriation bills. Congress must investigate whether or not U.S. training and equipment were used for the sinister purpose of undermining the work of legitimate political actors. And most importantly, the U.S. government must establish guarantees to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are never used for criminal ends.
By: Kelly Nicholls, U.S. Office on Colombia, Lisa Haugaard, Latin America Working Group Education Fund, Abigail Poe, Center for International Policy and Gimena Sanchez, Washington Office on Latin America.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Haitian Farmers Resist GM Crops, Environmental Destruction
by: Beverly Bell, t r u t h o u t | Interview
Fast-growing plants and used tires in a demonstration garden of the Peasant Movement of Papay. Haiti's movement of small farmer advocates ecological agriculture as well as policies which protect both the environment and local production. (Photo: Roberto [Bear] Guerra.)
In part II of an interview, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste discusses the role that agriculture can play in Haiti in addressing both the environmental and food crises. (See "The Clock is Set to Zero" for the first part.) Jean-Baptiste is the executive director of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP by its Creole acronym) and the spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPNKP). Until this year, he also sat on the international coordinating committee of Vía Campesina, a confederation of organizations of peasant, family, indigenous and landless farmers from more than 60 countries.
The solutions Jean-Baptiste and many other Haitians propose reside in part in one set of policies and programs, which can restore land and other riches of nature, and another set, which can protect small-scale, sustainable agricultural production from agribusiness. An additional part of the solution rests in agro-ecology, a model of agriculture based on environmental health. Developed as an alternative to the Green Revolution, agro-ecology urges local production of healthy, organic food for local markets. It values biodiversity and traditional knowledge and opposes genetic modification and patenting of seeds. Haiti is among the many countries with thriving movements of organized farmers who are advancing this model.
Jean-Baptiste gave this interview from Papay where the MPP has created ecological demonstration gardens. The farmers maximize the productivity of small pieces of land in ways which sustain, rather than exhaust, it. They use all natural resources efficiently in bio-loops. They germinate seedlings inside of discarded tires and use other inventive gardening methodology. They are growing fast-growing plants, which yield harvests in six weeks, in addition to other organic vegetables and medicinal plants. Their goats, rabbits and chickens consume kitchen and garden waste and, from it, produce manure which is then used as fertilizer. Compost serves as additional fertilizer. The operation also involves draining gray water from kitchens and showers and running it through several ponds filled with sand, gravel and charcoal; with the cleaned water that emerges, they breed fish and irrigate gardens. MPP also employs cisterns, gravity-fed irrigation and other catchment and watering systems to conserve and maximize water during dry season.
This interview predated the news that Monsanto has donated 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds to Haiti. For Jean-Baptiste's and the MPP's response, see "Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Seeds."
"In contrast to the destruction that the industrial sector is causing around the world, Vía Campesina and other groups such as Friends of Nature have done studies that show that peasant and family agriculture can combat climate change. I'm in a Vía Campesina commission on climate change and, there, we're clear: to impact climate change, we have to change the mode of agricultural production. Peasants around the world are very vigilant about this. In Haiti, we have an advantage, which is that the majority of peasants grow only organically.
"We see the development of Haiti through the production of local, organic food; the conservation of that food; and its transformation into products for the cities. The peasants have said, 'Let's talk about storage and transformation and commercialization in local and national markets. Let's develop an economy where peasants have control.' This could really develop the riches of the country while bringing Haiti back environmentally.
"We see reforestation as extremely important. Haiti has less than 2% tree cover. Two years ago we asked for each rural section to plant 10,000 trees each, or 56,000 trees each year. That would allow us to cover the country.
"Also, if we could plant fruit orchard plantations, that would have three objectives. It would protect the environment. It would give peasants income so that wouldn't have to cut down tress to make wood charcoal. It would also mean that we wouldn't have to depend any more on the Dominican Republic for the lemons, the coconuts, the oranges and other food we consume.
"I talked with an exporter who told me that 200,000 cases of Haitian [Madame] Françique mangos are sold in five square kilometers in Manhattan. That means that there is an enormous market for mangoes in the U.S., which could also help us combat deforestation.
"One thing we need for that to happen is integrated water management systems. Now because of deforestation, when it rains, we get floods. Maybe an earthquake comes every 50 or 100 years, but floods are each year and hurricanes almost every year. Houses get washed away, animals get washed away, land gets washed away, people get washed away. I was talking with a peasant who said we used to have two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. Now we have two seasons: the dry season and the flood season.
"With good irrigation systems we could produce a lot of food and we could help the environment. In Haiti, we have 300,000 hectares of land that could be irrigated, but we have maybe 30,000 or 40,000 that have a good irrigation system now.
"We're developing different irrigation systems with wells that you pump with solar panels. You can use cisterns that catch water on the roof. We've had great experiences with one or two families capturing 15,000 liters of water that have carried them through the dry season. We have other, more advanced systems of mountaintop catchment lakes, which let you to hold rain in lakes that you make with bulldozers or abundant peasant labor, so that when the dry season comes you can have water and you can still grow food. You can also treat gray water, like in the MPP center; we treat the water that comes from the shower and kitchen with a series of lakes with gravel, sand and charcoal.
"One of the things we're doing is creating solar energy, because peasants should have electricity. One member of MPP has two lightbulbs run from a solar panel. He can play his radio, charge his telephone, even watch television.
"All our public positions are clearly against genetically modified seeds and against agro-fuels. We're in a heated battle against the introduction of GM [genetically modified] seeds and against jatropha plantations. We're especially against jatropha, the plant that has a seed that gives oil which you can make agro-diesel from. We don't call it bio-diesel, because we in Vía Campesina are clear that 'bio' means life and that you can't mix life with diesel and big business. They say jatropha is a miracle plant, but from other studies and my own, I know it's a catastrophe plant. One thing we want is a law against jatropha and a law against the introduction of GM seeds. Last year we marched to the parliament and we were well-received. In October we met with the parliament again and we were going to meet them again in January but now we're in a national crisis. But peasants are very vigilant about this.
"We in Haiti are committed to staying a county where organic, biological agriculture dominates. We know that Clinton and the multinationals, the IMF and the WTO, have another plan for us - one based on the import of GM seeds and food aid, one based on making us grow for export, including growing for agro-diesel. But we're putting on pressure to say: no, that's not what Haiti needs, here is what popular Haitian organizations want, here is our agenda."
Fast-growing plants and used tires in a demonstration garden of the Peasant Movement of Papay. Haiti's movement of small farmer advocates ecological agriculture as well as policies which protect both the environment and local production. (Photo: Roberto [Bear] Guerra.)
In part II of an interview, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste discusses the role that agriculture can play in Haiti in addressing both the environmental and food crises. (See "The Clock is Set to Zero" for the first part.) Jean-Baptiste is the executive director of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP by its Creole acronym) and the spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPNKP). Until this year, he also sat on the international coordinating committee of Vía Campesina, a confederation of organizations of peasant, family, indigenous and landless farmers from more than 60 countries.
The solutions Jean-Baptiste and many other Haitians propose reside in part in one set of policies and programs, which can restore land and other riches of nature, and another set, which can protect small-scale, sustainable agricultural production from agribusiness. An additional part of the solution rests in agro-ecology, a model of agriculture based on environmental health. Developed as an alternative to the Green Revolution, agro-ecology urges local production of healthy, organic food for local markets. It values biodiversity and traditional knowledge and opposes genetic modification and patenting of seeds. Haiti is among the many countries with thriving movements of organized farmers who are advancing this model.
Jean-Baptiste gave this interview from Papay where the MPP has created ecological demonstration gardens. The farmers maximize the productivity of small pieces of land in ways which sustain, rather than exhaust, it. They use all natural resources efficiently in bio-loops. They germinate seedlings inside of discarded tires and use other inventive gardening methodology. They are growing fast-growing plants, which yield harvests in six weeks, in addition to other organic vegetables and medicinal plants. Their goats, rabbits and chickens consume kitchen and garden waste and, from it, produce manure which is then used as fertilizer. Compost serves as additional fertilizer. The operation also involves draining gray water from kitchens and showers and running it through several ponds filled with sand, gravel and charcoal; with the cleaned water that emerges, they breed fish and irrigate gardens. MPP also employs cisterns, gravity-fed irrigation and other catchment and watering systems to conserve and maximize water during dry season.
This interview predated the news that Monsanto has donated 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds to Haiti. For Jean-Baptiste's and the MPP's response, see "Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Seeds."
"In contrast to the destruction that the industrial sector is causing around the world, Vía Campesina and other groups such as Friends of Nature have done studies that show that peasant and family agriculture can combat climate change. I'm in a Vía Campesina commission on climate change and, there, we're clear: to impact climate change, we have to change the mode of agricultural production. Peasants around the world are very vigilant about this. In Haiti, we have an advantage, which is that the majority of peasants grow only organically.
"We see the development of Haiti through the production of local, organic food; the conservation of that food; and its transformation into products for the cities. The peasants have said, 'Let's talk about storage and transformation and commercialization in local and national markets. Let's develop an economy where peasants have control.' This could really develop the riches of the country while bringing Haiti back environmentally.
"We see reforestation as extremely important. Haiti has less than 2% tree cover. Two years ago we asked for each rural section to plant 10,000 trees each, or 56,000 trees each year. That would allow us to cover the country.
"Also, if we could plant fruit orchard plantations, that would have three objectives. It would protect the environment. It would give peasants income so that wouldn't have to cut down tress to make wood charcoal. It would also mean that we wouldn't have to depend any more on the Dominican Republic for the lemons, the coconuts, the oranges and other food we consume.
"I talked with an exporter who told me that 200,000 cases of Haitian [Madame] Françique mangos are sold in five square kilometers in Manhattan. That means that there is an enormous market for mangoes in the U.S., which could also help us combat deforestation.
"One thing we need for that to happen is integrated water management systems. Now because of deforestation, when it rains, we get floods. Maybe an earthquake comes every 50 or 100 years, but floods are each year and hurricanes almost every year. Houses get washed away, animals get washed away, land gets washed away, people get washed away. I was talking with a peasant who said we used to have two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. Now we have two seasons: the dry season and the flood season.
"With good irrigation systems we could produce a lot of food and we could help the environment. In Haiti, we have 300,000 hectares of land that could be irrigated, but we have maybe 30,000 or 40,000 that have a good irrigation system now.
"We're developing different irrigation systems with wells that you pump with solar panels. You can use cisterns that catch water on the roof. We've had great experiences with one or two families capturing 15,000 liters of water that have carried them through the dry season. We have other, more advanced systems of mountaintop catchment lakes, which let you to hold rain in lakes that you make with bulldozers or abundant peasant labor, so that when the dry season comes you can have water and you can still grow food. You can also treat gray water, like in the MPP center; we treat the water that comes from the shower and kitchen with a series of lakes with gravel, sand and charcoal.
"One of the things we're doing is creating solar energy, because peasants should have electricity. One member of MPP has two lightbulbs run from a solar panel. He can play his radio, charge his telephone, even watch television.
"All our public positions are clearly against genetically modified seeds and against agro-fuels. We're in a heated battle against the introduction of GM [genetically modified] seeds and against jatropha plantations. We're especially against jatropha, the plant that has a seed that gives oil which you can make agro-diesel from. We don't call it bio-diesel, because we in Vía Campesina are clear that 'bio' means life and that you can't mix life with diesel and big business. They say jatropha is a miracle plant, but from other studies and my own, I know it's a catastrophe plant. One thing we want is a law against jatropha and a law against the introduction of GM seeds. Last year we marched to the parliament and we were well-received. In October we met with the parliament again and we were going to meet them again in January but now we're in a national crisis. But peasants are very vigilant about this.
"We in Haiti are committed to staying a county where organic, biological agriculture dominates. We know that Clinton and the multinationals, the IMF and the WTO, have another plan for us - one based on the import of GM seeds and food aid, one based on making us grow for export, including growing for agro-diesel. But we're putting on pressure to say: no, that's not what Haiti needs, here is what popular Haitian organizations want, here is our agenda."
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Priest faces criticism for shining light on human rights abuses in Colombia
By Juan Forero
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- The ruling issued this week was one of the most severe ever handed down in Colombia against a member of the security forces: 30 years in prison for a retired army colonel found responsible for the disappearance of 11 people in 1985.
And it happened in part because of the tireless work of a mild-mannered Catholic priest, the Rev. Javier Giraldo, who sought out evidence from witnesses and made sure that the relatives of the victims were heard by prosecutors and journalists.
For 30 years, Giraldo has been investigating some of the most heinous human rights abuses committed during Colombia's shadowy war and blaming those he says are responsible -- often U.S.-backed security forces. In recent weeks, that work has garnered attention like never before, with his adversaries issuing public threats against the man they call "the Marxist priest," and even President Álvaro Uribe leveling criticism against him.
Giraldo's most recent campaign, which resulted in former police major Juan Carlos Meneses,to President Alvaro, to commit murders in a small northern town in 1994. Giraldo accompanied Meneses to Buenos Aires, where he recounted his story in a videotaped meeting with prominent Argentines.
"A person who incriminates himself is likely a person who is telling the truth," said Giraldo, 65.
Giraldo's role in the Meneses case prompted President Uribe to call him "a useful idiot" of criminal bands out to discredit the administration. A more customary accusation came from Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, a pro-government essayist who labeled Giraldo a "nefarious priest" who does the bidding of the country's largest guerrilla army.
But others see Giraldo as an almost mythical figure who tirelessly collects evidence about crimes that have gone unpunished. That means urging witnesses to come forward, even soldiers and police overcome by their conscience after participating in atrocities.
"He's incredibly important -- a moral figure who is not linked to any armed groups," said Gimena Sanchez, a Colombia specialist at the Washington Office on Latin America, a policy group. "I think he completely and utterly pushes the envelope."
Sitting in his small office, Giraldo said he expects to be attacked for his work as an investigator for the Bogota-based Center for Research and Popular Education (CINEP). On the walls around his table are photographs of priests and other activists killed in Colombia.
"The establishment tries to delegitimize those who denounce and whoever helps the victims," said Giraldo, who has declined the government's offer of bodyguards. "The intent is to damage one's image, to portray me as a guerrilla supporter."
Those who know Giraldo say he is no stooge of the irregular armies battling for control of land and drugs. He does, however, turn convention on its head by reminding Colombians that their country is still a land of unspeakable crimes.
Colombians have been astonished by his revelations, many of which center on massacres committed by right-wing death squads linked to the military. For a quarter century, Giraldo also worked to shed light on the storming of the Palace of Justice in 1985, when troops wrested control from a guerrilla commando team in a firefight that left more than 100 dead, including 11 Supreme Court justices.
Years later, witnesses and videotaped evidence showed that guerrillas as well as innocent cafeteria workers were taken alive from the palace by soldiers, tortured and killed. A civilian judge found the retired colonel who led the operation, Luis Alfonso Plazas, responsible.
On Thursday, Uribe, flanked by the country's top military commanders, criticized the ruling.
For those who have worked to clarify atrocities, the sentence against Plazas vindicated work by Giraldo and other rights advocates. "He openly denounced this crime, and worked to find witness testimonies," said Jorge Molano, who has worked on the case.
The government initially denied Giraldo's accusations in the Palace of Justice and other cases. But Giraldo's supporters say his allegations, many years later, are proven to be true.
"People say he is paranoid, and then the truth comes out," said César Rodríguez, a legal scholar at University of the Andes and a member of DeJusticia, a legal policy group. "And he is vindicated."
What does concern some rights activists and constitutional experts is the priest's rejection of the justice system.
"The problem is there is hardly any justice," said Giraldo, explaining that the ring leaders of atrocities rarely end up behind bars.
But Alfonso Gómez Méndez, a former attorney general, said Giraldo's failure to support investigations weakens the very justice system that the priest accuses of not doing enough.
"This attitude does not help us to end the impunity," he said. "Justice has advanced in many areas, but the problem is not just the justice system but the attitude of the people."
When pressed, Giraldo acknowledged recent progress, including the arrests of dozens of military officers. He also said that despite his break with the justice system, his work will continue.
"I break with a justice system that is absolutely rotten," Giraldo said. "But I am not saying that I will stop denouncing crimes."
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- The ruling issued this week was one of the most severe ever handed down in Colombia against a member of the security forces: 30 years in prison for a retired army colonel found responsible for the disappearance of 11 people in 1985.
And it happened in part because of the tireless work of a mild-mannered Catholic priest, the Rev. Javier Giraldo, who sought out evidence from witnesses and made sure that the relatives of the victims were heard by prosecutors and journalists.
For 30 years, Giraldo has been investigating some of the most heinous human rights abuses committed during Colombia's shadowy war and blaming those he says are responsible -- often U.S.-backed security forces. In recent weeks, that work has garnered attention like never before, with his adversaries issuing public threats against the man they call "the Marxist priest," and even President Álvaro Uribe leveling criticism against him.
Giraldo's most recent campaign, which resulted in former police major Juan Carlos Meneses,to President Alvaro, to commit murders in a small northern town in 1994. Giraldo accompanied Meneses to Buenos Aires, where he recounted his story in a videotaped meeting with prominent Argentines.
"A person who incriminates himself is likely a person who is telling the truth," said Giraldo, 65.
Giraldo's role in the Meneses case prompted President Uribe to call him "a useful idiot" of criminal bands out to discredit the administration. A more customary accusation came from Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, a pro-government essayist who labeled Giraldo a "nefarious priest" who does the bidding of the country's largest guerrilla army.
But others see Giraldo as an almost mythical figure who tirelessly collects evidence about crimes that have gone unpunished. That means urging witnesses to come forward, even soldiers and police overcome by their conscience after participating in atrocities.
"He's incredibly important -- a moral figure who is not linked to any armed groups," said Gimena Sanchez, a Colombia specialist at the Washington Office on Latin America, a policy group. "I think he completely and utterly pushes the envelope."
Sitting in his small office, Giraldo said he expects to be attacked for his work as an investigator for the Bogota-based Center for Research and Popular Education (CINEP). On the walls around his table are photographs of priests and other activists killed in Colombia.
"The establishment tries to delegitimize those who denounce and whoever helps the victims," said Giraldo, who has declined the government's offer of bodyguards. "The intent is to damage one's image, to portray me as a guerrilla supporter."
Those who know Giraldo say he is no stooge of the irregular armies battling for control of land and drugs. He does, however, turn convention on its head by reminding Colombians that their country is still a land of unspeakable crimes.
Colombians have been astonished by his revelations, many of which center on massacres committed by right-wing death squads linked to the military. For a quarter century, Giraldo also worked to shed light on the storming of the Palace of Justice in 1985, when troops wrested control from a guerrilla commando team in a firefight that left more than 100 dead, including 11 Supreme Court justices.
Years later, witnesses and videotaped evidence showed that guerrillas as well as innocent cafeteria workers were taken alive from the palace by soldiers, tortured and killed. A civilian judge found the retired colonel who led the operation, Luis Alfonso Plazas, responsible.
On Thursday, Uribe, flanked by the country's top military commanders, criticized the ruling.
For those who have worked to clarify atrocities, the sentence against Plazas vindicated work by Giraldo and other rights advocates. "He openly denounced this crime, and worked to find witness testimonies," said Jorge Molano, who has worked on the case.
The government initially denied Giraldo's accusations in the Palace of Justice and other cases. But Giraldo's supporters say his allegations, many years later, are proven to be true.
"People say he is paranoid, and then the truth comes out," said César Rodríguez, a legal scholar at University of the Andes and a member of DeJusticia, a legal policy group. "And he is vindicated."
What does concern some rights activists and constitutional experts is the priest's rejection of the justice system.
"The problem is there is hardly any justice," said Giraldo, explaining that the ring leaders of atrocities rarely end up behind bars.
But Alfonso Gómez Méndez, a former attorney general, said Giraldo's failure to support investigations weakens the very justice system that the priest accuses of not doing enough.
"This attitude does not help us to end the impunity," he said. "Justice has advanced in many areas, but the problem is not just the justice system but the attitude of the people."
When pressed, Giraldo acknowledged recent progress, including the arrests of dozens of military officers. He also said that despite his break with the justice system, his work will continue.
"I break with a justice system that is absolutely rotten," Giraldo said. "But I am not saying that I will stop denouncing crimes."
Another Honduran journalist has been killed
The journalist Arturo Mondragon, a resident of Danli, El Paraiso, was killed last night when he walked out from the building where he worked for TV channel.
Mondragon was the news director for channel 16 of Danli, located in eastern Honduras. The profesional had denounced a series of events related to the stealing of cattle and other critical issues.
The Minister of Security, Oscar Alvarez, assured the publica that they are carrying out the investigation but would not reveal what they have found so as to not compromise the process. Since the beginning of 2010 eight journalists have been killed in Honduras.
Mondragon was the news director for channel 16 of Danli, located in eastern Honduras. The profesional had denounced a series of events related to the stealing of cattle and other critical issues.
The Minister of Security, Oscar Alvarez, assured the publica that they are carrying out the investigation but would not reveal what they have found so as to not compromise the process. Since the beginning of 2010 eight journalists have been killed in Honduras.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Washington Paid Journalists to Spin News against the Cuban Five
Walter Lippmann
HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 3 (acn) Washington paid nearly $74,400 to
journalists in Miami as part of a smear campaign against five Cuban
antiterrorists that remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States
since 1998.
The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five —as Gerardo Hernandez,
Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez
are internationally known— announced in a press conferencee on
Wednesday that the new evidence was obtained through a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request made 18 months ago.
“Fourteen names came back of journalists who it turns out were
receiving covertly monies from the US government,†said Gloria La
Riva, the coordinator of the committee.
Prensa Latina news agency reports that among those accepting bribes
is reporter Pablo Alfonso, who received $58,600 for 16 articles
published by El Nuevo Herald newspaper.
“This shows that the US Government was an accomplice to manipulating
the jury by bribing journalists that violated the principles of
impartiality and accuracy,†said Heidi Boghosian, from the US
National Lawyers Guild.
She affirmed that constitutional rights were also violated in the
process against the Cuban Five including the Sixth Amendment, which
protects the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
La Riva stated that they began a campaign calling on US Attorney
General Eric Holder to immediately move to remedy the situation and
added that the only remedy can be the freeing of the Cuban Five and
allowing them to go home.
She noted that the mission of the Cuban Five —who were monitoring
anti-Cuba extremist groupss that were planning and carrying out
terrorist attacks against the island— was to save lives. “Yet they
sit in prisoon while known terrorists and terror groups walk free in
Miami,†she pointed out.
HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 3 (acn) Washington paid nearly $74,400 to
journalists in Miami as part of a smear campaign against five Cuban
antiterrorists that remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States
since 1998.
The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five —as Gerardo Hernandez,
Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez
are internationally known— announced in a press conferencee on
Wednesday that the new evidence was obtained through a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request made 18 months ago.
“Fourteen names came back of journalists who it turns out were
receiving covertly monies from the US government,†said Gloria La
Riva, the coordinator of the committee.
Prensa Latina news agency reports that among those accepting bribes
is reporter Pablo Alfonso, who received $58,600 for 16 articles
published by El Nuevo Herald newspaper.
“This shows that the US Government was an accomplice to manipulating
the jury by bribing journalists that violated the principles of
impartiality and accuracy,†said Heidi Boghosian, from the US
National Lawyers Guild.
She affirmed that constitutional rights were also violated in the
process against the Cuban Five including the Sixth Amendment, which
protects the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
La Riva stated that they began a campaign calling on US Attorney
General Eric Holder to immediately move to remedy the situation and
added that the only remedy can be the freeing of the Cuban Five and
allowing them to go home.
She noted that the mission of the Cuban Five —who were monitoring
anti-Cuba extremist groupss that were planning and carrying out
terrorist attacks against the island— was to save lives. “Yet they
sit in prisoon while known terrorists and terror groups walk free in
Miami,†she pointed out.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
United Nations Attacks Refugee Camp, Protests Mount
Beverly Bell
Last week, the United Nations peacekeeping mission fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowded refugee camp, leaving at least six hospitalized and others suffering respiratory problems. Citizen organizations plan demonstrations for today, the sixth anniversary of the U.N. armed presence in Haiti. The march is part of growing protests against the military forces which have amassed in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake and the lack of attention to displaced people's needs.
On May 23, students at the School of Ethnology of the State University of Haiti held another in a series of protests on the central Champs de Mars Boulevard. The U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, by its French acronym) and Haitian police went into the school, firing tears gas and rubber bullets while the students threw rocks.
Then at about 3:00, MINUSTAH troops began firing in the internally displaced people's camp in the downtown parks around Champs de Mars, where many thousands of people are crowded into tight quarters. The firing continued for hours, according to residents interviewed for this article and other reports. Camp residents reported that babies and small children choked on the gas and passed out, as did at least two women with preexisting heart conditions. Three doctors with Partners in Health at the University Hospital reported treating at least six victims of rubber bullet rounds. Two children were wounded in the face, one of them requiring about ten stitches, according to one of the doctors.[1]
When the attack began, camp residents, including many elderly and infirm people, and babies and small children fled. "I saw one woman running with her twins that are three or four months old," said Eramithe Delva. "She had one in each arm, and with every step as she ran they banged against her chest. Is this what they want for us?" Many spent the night in the streets, for fear of returning to the camp. Residents interviewed said they had no idea why MINUSTAH fired on them.
MINUSTAH has since issued an apology for entering in the School of Ethnology. The statement did not mention the attack on the camp.
Demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and other areas of the country have become a daily occurrence. Most of them protest the government's handling of the disaster and the heavy political and military presence of foreign powers since January 12. Within days after the earthquake, 12,600 U.N. troops, 20,000 U.S. troops, 2,000 Canadians, 600 French, and more from other countries amassed there.
Rural organizer Selina Pierre-Louis said, "We don't know what these soldiers came to do. They have batons and guns in their hands. They zoom up and down in their huge vehicles all day. We're not at war and we're not armed. We need technical support, we need reconstruction, we need psychological help. They're not doing anything to help the rebuilding. They're just adding to our trauma."
Troop levels overall have abated since the first months after the earthquake. The most recent figures on MINUSTAH's web site show that just over 9,000 MINUSTAH forces remain there. The mission's cost for the current fiscal year is $611.75 million.[2]
The Security Council-approved MINUSTAH was established on June 1, 2004 with a triple mandate of ensuring a "secure and stable environment," promoting a constitutional political process, and strengthening human rights. Francky Etienne Remy, who owns a small craft shop in Jacmel, said, "The Haitian police are totally ineffectual so MINUSTAH fills a vacuum."
Yet MINUSTAH troops have repeatedly been accused of killings, arbitrary arrests, and human rights violations throughout the duration of the mission. (See, for example, the reports of Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.) These charges include an attack by MINUSTAH forces in Cité Soleil on April 15, 2005, killing several[3]; an attack on July 6, 2005, resulting in an uncertain number of deaths[4]; the killing of at least five, and possibly many more, people in Cité Soleil in December 22, 2006[5]; and the shooting death of a young man at the funeral of a prominent priest on July 14, 2009[6].
In February, 2008, the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services released its findings from an investigation into accusations against Sri Lankan MINUSTAH troops. It found that acts of sexual exploitation and abuse of children were "frequent" and occurred "at virtually every location where the contingent personnel were deployed."[7]
MINUSTAH forces have also been shot at and killed. MINUSTAH claims it has suffered 152 troop fatalities.[8]
Beyond charges of unnecessary force, others like the student, small farmer, worker, and popular organizations who are organizing today's march, oppose MINUSTAH because they claim the mission undermines Haitian sovereignty. The May 26 press statement for the march, signed by ten organizations, states, "After the January 12 catastrophe, the occupation has been strengthened with other foreign soldiers and MINUSTAH, on the pretext that they are helping us... [T]hey did nothing to help prevent more than 300,000 people from dying under rubble... Now on the sixth anniversary of the occupation, we are taking to the streets of Port-au-Prince to get the country out from under the rubble of MINUSTAH."[9]
Community organizer Nixon Boumba with the grassroots organization Democratic Popular Movement said in an interview, "We're asking for Haitians to be the true actors in their future, and for an end to the occupation to allow the country to have dignity and autonomy for the development and transformation of the country. We need schools, we need people in the camps attended to. After January 12 there have been a lot of opportunities to resolve the problems in the country. Instead, Canada, France, the U.S., Brazil, and others have acted like imperialists, strengthening their power and trying to undermine our chance to change the quality of our country. The U.S. wants Haiti to serve as a military base for the Caribbean, to control resistance from Latin America. And they want to prevent a massive emigration toward the U.S. and Canada."
[1] Information gathered from author interviews as well as first-person testimony collected by Melinda Miles, KOMPAY, and reported in a May 25 email to the author; and by Ansel Herz, Inter Press Service, reported in "U.N. Clash with Frustrated Students Spills into Camps," May 25.
[2] MINUSTAH Facts and Figures, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minustah/facts.shtml
[3] Eyewitness testimony, AP television news story, April 15, 2010.
[4] http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/yearman/cite_soleil.htm
[5] http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/12-another-massacre-in-haiti-by-un-troops/
[6] http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/secret-funeral-for-a-minustah-victim/
[7] Human Rights Watch, "Haiti: Events of 2008," http://www.hrw.org/en/node/79214
[8] MINUSTAH Facts and Figures, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minustah/facts.shtml
[9] Gwoup 77 et al., "Press Release: Let's mobilize to get the country out of the rubble of foreign aid and the rubble of the occupation," Port-au-Prince, May 26, 2010.
Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, www.otherworldsarepossible.org, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
Last week, the United Nations peacekeeping mission fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowded refugee camp, leaving at least six hospitalized and others suffering respiratory problems. Citizen organizations plan demonstrations for today, the sixth anniversary of the U.N. armed presence in Haiti. The march is part of growing protests against the military forces which have amassed in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake and the lack of attention to displaced people's needs.
On May 23, students at the School of Ethnology of the State University of Haiti held another in a series of protests on the central Champs de Mars Boulevard. The U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, by its French acronym) and Haitian police went into the school, firing tears gas and rubber bullets while the students threw rocks.
Then at about 3:00, MINUSTAH troops began firing in the internally displaced people's camp in the downtown parks around Champs de Mars, where many thousands of people are crowded into tight quarters. The firing continued for hours, according to residents interviewed for this article and other reports. Camp residents reported that babies and small children choked on the gas and passed out, as did at least two women with preexisting heart conditions. Three doctors with Partners in Health at the University Hospital reported treating at least six victims of rubber bullet rounds. Two children were wounded in the face, one of them requiring about ten stitches, according to one of the doctors.[1]
When the attack began, camp residents, including many elderly and infirm people, and babies and small children fled. "I saw one woman running with her twins that are three or four months old," said Eramithe Delva. "She had one in each arm, and with every step as she ran they banged against her chest. Is this what they want for us?" Many spent the night in the streets, for fear of returning to the camp. Residents interviewed said they had no idea why MINUSTAH fired on them.
MINUSTAH has since issued an apology for entering in the School of Ethnology. The statement did not mention the attack on the camp.
Demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and other areas of the country have become a daily occurrence. Most of them protest the government's handling of the disaster and the heavy political and military presence of foreign powers since January 12. Within days after the earthquake, 12,600 U.N. troops, 20,000 U.S. troops, 2,000 Canadians, 600 French, and more from other countries amassed there.
Rural organizer Selina Pierre-Louis said, "We don't know what these soldiers came to do. They have batons and guns in their hands. They zoom up and down in their huge vehicles all day. We're not at war and we're not armed. We need technical support, we need reconstruction, we need psychological help. They're not doing anything to help the rebuilding. They're just adding to our trauma."
Troop levels overall have abated since the first months after the earthquake. The most recent figures on MINUSTAH's web site show that just over 9,000 MINUSTAH forces remain there. The mission's cost for the current fiscal year is $611.75 million.[2]
The Security Council-approved MINUSTAH was established on June 1, 2004 with a triple mandate of ensuring a "secure and stable environment," promoting a constitutional political process, and strengthening human rights. Francky Etienne Remy, who owns a small craft shop in Jacmel, said, "The Haitian police are totally ineffectual so MINUSTAH fills a vacuum."
Yet MINUSTAH troops have repeatedly been accused of killings, arbitrary arrests, and human rights violations throughout the duration of the mission. (See, for example, the reports of Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.) These charges include an attack by MINUSTAH forces in Cité Soleil on April 15, 2005, killing several[3]; an attack on July 6, 2005, resulting in an uncertain number of deaths[4]; the killing of at least five, and possibly many more, people in Cité Soleil in December 22, 2006[5]; and the shooting death of a young man at the funeral of a prominent priest on July 14, 2009[6].
In February, 2008, the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services released its findings from an investigation into accusations against Sri Lankan MINUSTAH troops. It found that acts of sexual exploitation and abuse of children were "frequent" and occurred "at virtually every location where the contingent personnel were deployed."[7]
MINUSTAH forces have also been shot at and killed. MINUSTAH claims it has suffered 152 troop fatalities.[8]
Beyond charges of unnecessary force, others like the student, small farmer, worker, and popular organizations who are organizing today's march, oppose MINUSTAH because they claim the mission undermines Haitian sovereignty. The May 26 press statement for the march, signed by ten organizations, states, "After the January 12 catastrophe, the occupation has been strengthened with other foreign soldiers and MINUSTAH, on the pretext that they are helping us... [T]hey did nothing to help prevent more than 300,000 people from dying under rubble... Now on the sixth anniversary of the occupation, we are taking to the streets of Port-au-Prince to get the country out from under the rubble of MINUSTAH."[9]
Community organizer Nixon Boumba with the grassroots organization Democratic Popular Movement said in an interview, "We're asking for Haitians to be the true actors in their future, and for an end to the occupation to allow the country to have dignity and autonomy for the development and transformation of the country. We need schools, we need people in the camps attended to. After January 12 there have been a lot of opportunities to resolve the problems in the country. Instead, Canada, France, the U.S., Brazil, and others have acted like imperialists, strengthening their power and trying to undermine our chance to change the quality of our country. The U.S. wants Haiti to serve as a military base for the Caribbean, to control resistance from Latin America. And they want to prevent a massive emigration toward the U.S. and Canada."
[1] Information gathered from author interviews as well as first-person testimony collected by Melinda Miles, KOMPAY, and reported in a May 25 email to the author; and by Ansel Herz, Inter Press Service, reported in "U.N. Clash with Frustrated Students Spills into Camps," May 25.
[2] MINUSTAH Facts and Figures, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minustah/facts.shtml
[3] Eyewitness testimony, AP television news story, April 15, 2010.
[4] http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/yearman/cite_soleil.htm
[5] http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/12-another-massacre-in-haiti-by-un-troops/
[6] http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/secret-funeral-for-a-minustah-victim/
[7] Human Rights Watch, "Haiti: Events of 2008," http://www.hrw.org/en/node/79214
[8] MINUSTAH Facts and Figures, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minustah/facts.shtml
[9] Gwoup 77 et al., "Press Release: Let's mobilize to get the country out of the rubble of foreign aid and the rubble of the occupation," Port-au-Prince, May 26, 2010.
Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, www.otherworldsarepossible.org, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
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