Reply #23: COLOMBIA: Death Threats for Tracing Paramilitary [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

COLOMBIA: Death Threats for Tracing Paramilitary Expansion
By Constanza Vieira

BOGOTA, Sep 10 (IPS) - Death threats have been received by members of a think tank in the Colombian capital that published a new book describing the expansion of ultra-rightwing paramilitary militias in several provinces of Colombia and their alliance with local politicians.

"I never threw stones. I’m no good at that at all," said Laura Bonilla, director of the Armed Conflict Observatory of the Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris, which published the study in Spanish, titled "Parapolitics: The Route of Paramilitary Expansion and Political Accords".

"Your writings are very deep, you piece of scum," says the latest death threat received at Bonilla’s work email address, which also accuses her of having been a rebellious "stone-throwing" student. The message is dated Sept. 6, the day the book was released.

The return address is: [e-mail]. The AUC (United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia) is the paramilitary umbrella group that completed a partial demobilisation process last year, as a result of controversial negotiations with the rightwing government of Álvaro Uribe. But the "Bloque Capital" faction continues to operate in Bogotá.
(snip)

The researchers taking part in the study produced papers showing how the different AUC fronts achieved "dominance and influence" in Medellín, Colombia’s second-biggest city; Bogotá; the central provinces of Cundinamarca and Meta; the northern coastal provinces of Córdoba, Sucre and Magdalena Grande; the eastern provinces of Casanare and Norte de Santander; and the western province of Valle del Cauca.

The study also has a special chapter on the effects of AUC violence on indigenous people.

The ombudsman’s office’s early warning system sent out an alert in July that 42 percent of the country’s municipalities are at "electoral risk" and that nearly two-thirds of these are at "high electoral risk".

"Electoral risk" refers to factors that affect the elections and lead to exceptionally strong performance by a specific party; an unusually large number of blank ballots; unusually high or low turn-out; political violence; threats; or murders of candidates.
(snip)

During the paramilitary expansion that has occurred since the 1980s, 4.5 million hectares of prime land in Colombia has violently changed hands, leading to the displacement of between three and four million people.

This was not "a conspiracy among a group of criminals It was a social and political mobilisation of the country in 12 departments (provinces), which changed the political map," León Valencia, director of the Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris, said at the book launch.

"And they had a decisive influence in many other departments as well. They contributed 1.75 million votes in the 2002 presidential elections, and 1.85 million in 2006," he said.

The paramilitary militias back Uribe and in certain regions forced entire communities to vote for him, although the president would probably have been elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 without that support.

The Nuevo Arco Iris study began to be conducted long before the "parapolitics" scandal triggered an investigation and the arrest of a number of politicians.

More:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39202