Colombia’s Fascist Attack on Academic Freedom | James J. Brittain

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia’s Fascist Attack on Academic Freedom | James J. Brittain
June 7, 2009, 11:10 am

01 June 2009

Source: Upside Down World

It has been well publicized that on March 1, 2008 the Colombian government, with support from Washington, carried out a series of attacks on Ecuadorian soil which violated the sovereignty of a foreign nation (and international law) and resulted in the murder of Raúl Reyes and two dozen other members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP). Less attention, however, has been given to the five Mexican academics present in the FARC-EP encampment at the time of the attack conducting research on the insurgency movement. Of the five only Lucía Andrea Morett Alvarez survived while Soren Ulises Aviles Angeles <29>, Fernando Franco Delgado <28>, Veronica Velazquez Ramirez <30>, and Juan Gonzalez del Castillo <29> were violently killed.

Since arriving to power in 2002, the administration of Álvaro Uribe Vélez has repeatedly targeted any faction of society – be they human rights advocates, oppositional political parties, investigatory journalists, unionists, and so on – as terroristic if they demonstrate tendencies critical to government and military policy (see Isacson, 2008; Reuters, 2006; O’Shaughnessy and Branford, 2005: 62; Stokes, 2005: 127, 128). One sector of Colombian society increasingly silenced has been that of the academy (Brittain and Hristov, 2004). The past seven years have seen an escalation of harassment and imprisonment for scholars who have conducted research on Colombian society and politics and have published material critical of the state.

The most common tactic has been to classify such academics as members of the FARC-EP or, more recently, the ‘intellectual bloc’ of the guerrilla (also applied to left-of-centre politicians). Flatly associating professors and young scholars – without a shred of credible public evidence – with said revolutionary movement is exceedingly dangerous, as the accused subsequently become ‘justified’ targets of paramilitary (and state) reaction. For example, this past November 67 university students and professors had warrants issued under the belief they were members of the FARC-EP whom infiltrated Colombia’s university system (Colombia Reports, 2008c). Yet, in Colombia, things are not always as they seem and every rule has an exception. When concerning the November events it was not the state that acted first but rather it was paramilitaries who first labelled the above individuals as guerrillas and the state followed suit. Once again, the international community bares witness to the Colombian state mirroring paramilitary forces policy.

In mid-November the Águilas Negras (Black Eagles) issued what it declared to be a final ‘warning’ to various faculty and students at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá. The paramilitary, which admitted they had already dispersed members on campus, stated roughly three-dozen individuals (and their families) at the university were connected to the FARC-EP and/or the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party (PCCC) thus making them ‘military targets’ (Colombia Reports, 2008a).

Rather than issuing a statement to protect those threatened or secure the university by sifting out the Águilas Negras therein the state began an investigation of some 55 students throughout various public universities thought to be associated with the FARC-EP. Ironically, no investigation was administered concerning paramilitary infiltration in these same institutions even though the Universidad Nacional de Colombia has received over 312 threats from paramilitaries (Colombia Reports, 2008b).

The threat of academic freedom and integrity has been greatly jeopardized and restricted by the actions of the state. One can only imagine how critical they can be in classes, lectures, or debates if they know right-wing paramilitary networks are in the midst. Nevertheless, arguing the FARC-EP has acquired a significant presence throughout Colombia’s public universities the Uribe administration established a specific wing of the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) to exclusively gain intelligence on campuses. In 2007, Cecilia María Vélez White, Colombia’s then Minister of Education, argued the government/military must “watch those students who might be recruited by rebels” and suggested universities and the state must start working together “to follow up on students and their professional futures to prevent them joining guerrilla groups … This is why we will insist on a campaign that strengthens young people’s social values” (as quoted in Xinhua, 2007).

On May 22, 2009 this fascist attack on higher education reared is ugly head once more when Dr. Miguel Ángel Beltrán Villegas, an internationally recognized and respected sociologist, was arrested under the charge of ‘rebellion’. Beltrán Villegas was expelled from Mexico where he was working on his post-doctoral studies related to Mexican politics with the Centre of Latin American Studies in the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the Independent University of Mexico (UNAM).

State officials from Colombia claimed that the sociologist “is one of the ‘most dangerous’ members of Colombia’s largest guerrilla group” and has “a quite sophisticated terrorist profile” (CCTV, 2009; Latin American Herald Tribune, 2009). Without any open presentation of proof thus far, said officials alleged Beltrán Villegas was the mastermind behind infiltrating Central American academic circles under the direction and auspice of the FARC-EP (Colombia Reports, 2009). The basis of this tremendous threat has been that as an academic some of Beltrán Villegas’ work has been to evaluate the role of the state and the FARC-EP amidst the country’s half-century of civil war. While several of his peer-refereed publications raise questions about the classification of belligerent forces and armed ideologically led political movements being inappropriately categorized as terroristic it is highly disturbing that such critique is considered to be a revolutionary act. Even still, state authorities claimed Beltrán Villegas promoted the FARC-EP internationally and had articles published on what the state deems to be “pro-rebel Web sites” (CCTV, 2009). Is this really what it takes to arrest and incarcerate someone in Colombia? Apparently, for state officials in Colombia it is, as General Oscar Naranjo, the Director of Colombia’s National Police, expressed how pleased he was at the arrest of Beltrán Villegas and how his detention “is a heavy blow for the FARC’s international structure and influence in Latin America” (Colombia Reports, 2009).

It should, however, be added that Beltrán Villegas is not alone as there are literally dozens (if not hundreds) of scholars who have been targeted by the Colombian state in recent years. One example is Liliany Patricia Obando Villota – a colleague of Beltrán Villegas. In 2006, Obando Villota co-authored a peer-refereed article with Beltrán Villegas entitled “Colombia ¿terrorismo o insurgencia armada?” (Fermentum, 16(46): 327-354). On August 8, 2008, the mother of two was also charged with ‘rebellion’ and has been imprison since. At the time of her arrest, Obando was conducting research related to her graduate studies entitled “Dissident Memories and Peasant Resistance – FENSUAGRO: A Case Study”, which examined the historic role of peasant organization and the legacy of rural-based resistance in the Colombia. Having had the opportunity to look at some of this work, Dissident Memories offers a much-needed discussion of how mobilized peasantries were structurally excluded from any space of decision-making thereby weakening social and political structures in the countryside. By suppressing Obando Villota’s important work the violent persecution of peasant organizations and their capacity and attempts at change will remain a completely unknown phenomenon.

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