Human Rights Groups & the FARC: From the WSJ

   

Wall Street Journal Columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady

Over the past several years a number of Human Rights groups, usually referred to as NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), and the Colombian government have been in near constant conflict with each other over the twin issues of Colombia's struggles with the Paras (paramilitaries) and the FARC narcoguerrillas.  Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has accused these organizations of harboring or demonstrating pro-FARC sympathies and they have responded with the counter-charge that the Colombian situation must be viewed in the context of right-wing and left-wing violence taken as two halves of the same whole.  But the approach of these various NGOs does not match the reality on the ground because the paras have entered into a demobilization process, which admittedly has revealed problems, but continues to be monitored by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS.  The FARC have entered into no such agreement and they persist in holding hundreds of kidnapped Colombian citizens as hostages to force the government to cede a populated and agriculturally-viable section of the country's national territory to them as a prelude to entering negotiations for a peace settlement.  The area the FARC are demanding is in the south-central portion of the country and contains mountainous land and the plains to its east which are quite suitable for the cultivation of coca, which the FARC use as a cash-generating source to fund their continuing narcoguerrilla operations -- they have in fact long ceased to be a guerrilla insurgency, it is all about the drug trade now.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has consistently maintained from early in his presidency that he would be willing to offer both the paras and the FARC a negotiated settlement to end their lawlessness provided that the solution created a lasting peace and did not compromise Colombian sovereignty.  The paras accepted such a deal in 2004 and they remain within the demobilization phase of the implementation of that agreement, which has not been carried out to the full measure of its terms, especially regarding the protection of witnesses coming forth to testify against former para leaders, but complaints of the IAHCR monitors to that effect have been met with responses from the Colombian government and the IAHCR has reported progress (see link in 1st paragraph).  The Colombian government has even been pursuing its own independent investigation of what is called Parapolítica (Para Politics), even to the point of prosecuting some members of the Colombian government for their ties to the paramilitaries.  And earlier this year, Uribe's government extradited 14 top paramilitary leaders to the United States for failing to comply with the terms of the demobilization accords.  It is not a perfect process, but it is underway and the Colombian government is honoring its obligations, though some human rights groups continue to criticize it for failing to act more vigorously.

But what of the human rights groups and the FARC?  The real test was February 4 of this year, whenever more than a million people throughout Colombia and hundreds of thousands more elsewhere marched in opposition to the continued violations of human rights the FARC persist in committing by the holding of over 700 kidnapped hostages, many of whom have been held for years.  Numerous human rights organizations refused to support the march, though they did show up for a subsequent demonstration protesting the paras the following month in Bogota, which was only attended by some 40,000 people by comparison.  Thus was the mask lifted.  The human rights groups are pursuing a left-leaning political agenda and have turned their backs on the hundreds now held hostage by the most powerful narcoguerrilla group in the world, who no longer engage the Colombian army in combat, but who still kill with wanton abandon.

I am referring everyone to the July 7 editorial in the Wall Street Journal by Mary Anastasia O'Grady, who writes the Americas column for the newspaper.  Her article "The FARC's 'Human Rights' Friends" puts it all in perspective.  I quote: ". . . the already robust evidence that left-wing NGOs and other so-called human rights defenders . . . are nothing more than propagandists for terrorists. . . . Left-wing NGOs have made undermining the Colombian government's credibility a priority for many years. . . ."  It is a very good read, and can also be found in Spanish at this link.

StJacques
   

Read More. . . .

¡¡¡VIVA COLOMBIA!!!

   

Voy a publicar una entrada especial para enviar un mensaje de celebración a mis amigos colombianos, con ocasión de la liberación de Ingrid Betancourt y otros 14 rehenes que fueron rescatados por el ejército colombiano en una operación brillante y derramamiento de sangre el día antes de ayer.  Hay tanto quisiera decir en este momento, pero creo que sería mejor mantener mi propio comentario breve a fin de preservar un cierto grado de dignidad en el reconocimiento de los cientos de otros que permanecen en cautiverio a manos de las FARC.  Pero aún hay cosas importantes que decir.

En primer lugar, lo que sucedió fue una clara victoria para la libertad y los derechos humanos.  Es mi esperanza que los demás aquí en los Estados Unidos reconocerán que Colombia es un pais poblado con gente que comprender el significado de estos conceptos claves y que demuestran con sus actos, a veces paciente y en otros audaces, que van a apoyar la causa de la humanidad.  Les ofrezco mis disculpas a los colombianos en todas partes por la calumnia algunos políticos norteamericanos han hablado de ellos recientemente.  La nación de Colombia y los colombianos merecen mucho mejor que la que han recibido de mi país.

Segundamente, quiero felicitar al Ejército colombiano por su brillante ejecución del rescate.  Este fue un ejemplo perfecto de una organización profesional que funcione al más alto nivel de eficiencia.  He leído los artículos de noticias en repetidas ocasiones en asombro por el hecho de que nadie resultó muerto y todos fueron rescatados en buen estado de salud.  Ingrid lo dijo mejor: "impecable".

Como estadounidense, yo también quiero dar las gracias por el rescate de tres ciudadanos de mi país.  Sé que sus familias han sufrido la falta de noticias de su condición de todos los días.  Esto es una tragedia demasiadas familias colombianas han conocido.  Gracias.

Yo en particular quiero felicitar al Presidente Alvaro Uribe por su persistente esfuerzo por alcanzar una solución justa a la crisis de los rehenes.  Señor Presidente, usted ha aprendido las valiosas lecciones de la historia reciente de su país en su lucha para lograr la paz con honor y justicia.  Ha servido ambas causas bien.  Usted es un verdadero estadista.

Por último, quiero felicitar al pueblo colombiano porque demuestran que hablar con una sola voz en oposición a las FARC.  Sé que este debe ser un factor vital en el complejo proceso de toma de decisiones en el gobierno colombiano.  Sus líderes saben que tienen su confianza y se les hace más fuertes como resultado de ello.  Cada ciudadano colombiano que hizo oír su voz, puede enorgullecerse de este resultado.  No me sorprende en lo más mínimo a su conducta, porque yo vivía en su maravilloso país durante casi un año.  Yo sé quiénes son ustedes y espero que no importan si yo llamo a mí mismo de su amigo.

¡VIVA COLOMBIA!

StJacques
   

Read More. . . .

NEWS OF THE YEAR!!!! Ingrid Betancourt and 14 Other Hostages Freed!

   

Ingrid Betancourt (right) Hugs Her Mother Yolanda in Bogota Source:  AFP

The Colombian Army is on a roll!

That is not the way the story is being reported in the mainstream media today.  No; the MSM spin, at least here in the U.S., is that Ingrid Betancourt, the most highly-profiled of hundreds of kidnapped hostages held by the Colombian FARC has been "freed" along with 14 others, including three American military contractors.  You would think the FARC might have let her go to gain goodwill.  But in spite of all the MSM effort in this country to hide the truth from the American people, the Europeans are getting the story straight.  It was a rescue operation of the first order carried out by the Colombian Army, which now has two major success stories in its battle against the FARC this year, the other being their March 1 sortie across the border into Ecuador to take out Raul Reyes.

I am going to paste in the full text of an article from the British newspaper site of The Guardian that gets the story right.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colombian forces trick Farc rebels into freeing hostage Betancourt

Presidential hopeful was held captive for six years

14 others including three Americans also liberated

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent Sibylla Brodzinsky Bogota
The Guardian, Thursday July 3, 2008

Ingrid Betancourt was savouring freedom last night after Colombia's security forces rescued her and 14 other hostages from a guerrilla camp deep in the jungle.

The French-Colombian politician's six-year ordeal as a bargaining chip ended in a military operation yesterday which dealt a devastating blow to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

Military spies tricked the Marxist rebels into handing over their most valuable captives to disguised military helicopters without a shot being fired, said the government. Betancourt, called her rescue "absolutely impeccable" and said she and 14 other hostages had no idea they were being rescued until they were airborne. "They got us out grandly," she told Colombian army radio.

Her voice trembled with emotion last night as she related to Colombian radio her last moments of captivity.

She said the hostages who were being marched toward the helicopter thought they were part of an international hostage deal but when they saw the pilots dressed like guerrillas their hopes were dashed.

"They tied our hands and feet," Betancourt said. "It wasn't until the hostages were aboard the helicopter and that the pilots subdued the rebel commanders that they realised they had indeed found freedom. "We are with the army, you are free," the pilots told the hostages, Betancourt recalled.

The elaborate sting would "go into history for its audacity and effectiveness", said Juan Manuel Santos, the defence minister.

Relatives expressed surprise and joy... that the gaunt woman glimpsed in harrowing videos was on her way back to them. "If true, (it is) the most beautiful news of my life," said her teenage son, Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt.

Betancourt was being taken last night to the Tolemaida military base where government officials were due to greet them, along with three US military contractors and 11 Colombian former captives.

Analysts said the breakthrough could signal the demise of Farc. "For the Farc this is a mortal blow. They will never be able to recover from this," said Alfredo Rangel, director of the Security and Democracy Foundation in Bogotá.

George Bush phoned Colombia's president Álvaro Uribe, an ally whose security forces are funded by Washington, to congratulate him. Nicolas Sarkozy, who had made Betancourt's liberty a priority, also spoke to Uribe.

The day's emotion was heightened by the dramatic circumstances of the operation. At a press conference in Bogotá Santos drew gasps and then applause when he announced that Betancourt was among 15 hostages freed in Guaviare province, in the south-west.

Santos said intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrillas' seven-man ruling secretariat and led the commander in charge of the hostages, Cesar, to think they were to be taken by helicopter to Alfonso Cano, Farc's supreme leader.

The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rallying point where two helicopters piloted by Colombian agents were waiting. The helicopters took off with the hostages, Cesar and one other rebel, and those two "were neutralised" during the flight, Santos said.

Betancourt, 46, an outspoken politician, was abducted in February 2002 as she was running for president. As her captivity lengthened she became an international symbol for the plight of all the hostages. Images of her face adorned vigils and marches around the world.

As punishment for repeated escape attempts she was tied and chained up and became sick. The last images of her in captivity showed a frail, despondent woman with lank hair and a blank gaze.

"In all these years, I thought that as long as I was alive, as long as I continued to breathe, I must continue to hope," she wrote in a letter released at the end of 2007. "I don't have the strength I used to have."

Last night Clara Rojas, a political ally who was kidnapped along with Betancourt and freed in January, called the rescue "a blessing from God. I think that meeting again with her children is going to be fundamental for her."

The three American captives, Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes, were US defence department contract workers who fell into rebel hands in 2003 after their light aircraft crashed in the jungle during a counternarcotics operation.

Read More. . . .