POLITICS:
U.S. Praises Colombia at
OAS Meet
By Michael Flynn
MEDELLIN, Colombia
(IPS) - Stressing U.S.
commitment to the
Colombian government's
controversial efforts to
rid the country of "narcoterrorists",
which have included
briefly invading a
neighbouring country to
attack guerrilla forces,
U.S. Deputy Secretary of
State John Negroponte
said Monday that
Colombia was "an
outstanding example" of
what can be achieved
through a commitment to
democracy and good
governance.
Negroponte was speaking
at a press conference
during the 38th General
Assembly of the
Organisation of American
States (OAS) in this
Colombian city. Asked
whether Washington would
intervene in the growing
diplomatic dispute
between Colombia and its
neighbours Venezuela and
Ecuador, both of which
have been accused of
assisting Colombia's
FARC guerrillas,
Negroponte said that
direct U.S. intervention
was "not necessary, even
if we were inclined" to
get involved.
Regarding Colombia's
attack on a FARC camp
just across the border
in Ecuador in early
March, the event which
spurred the diplomatic
crisis between Colombia
and its neighbours,
Negroponte said very
little. The attack,
which the OAS condemned
in a March resolution as
a "violation of the
sovereignty and
territorial integrity of
Ecuador and of
principles of
international law", has
put an uncomfortable
glare on Washington's
outspoken support for
the Alvaro Uribe
government.
Negroponte glossed over
the issue, saying that
for the United States
there are two key
concerns in the growing
Andean dispute:
sovereignty and the
right of a country to
defend itself.
Negroponte said that it
was the responsibility
of neighbouring
countries not to allow
insurgent forces on
their territory.
Although eschewing some
of the rhetoric of other
George W. Bush
administration
officials, who have
issued heated
accusations regarding
Venezuela's alleged
support for the FARC,
Negroponte made clear
that Colombia's
sovereignty was its most
important consideration.
Saying that Plan
Colombia, the
multi-billion dollar
U.S. military aid
programme that has made
Colombia one of the top
recipients of U.S.
foreign aid, was how
Washington "defined" its
assistance to the
country, Negroponte
highlighted what he
considered the dramatic
improvements in Medellin
as proof that Colombia
was able to take care of
its own issues.
Notorious for its past
reputation as home to
the Pablo Escobar drug
cartel, Medellin was
apparently chosen by the
Uribe government to host
the OAS general assembly
in an effort to
demonstrate the progress
that Colombia has made
in recent years in
imposing the rule of law
and nurturing
development. It was a
message Negroponte
highlighted during his
comments. Arguing that
15 years ago it would
have been impossible to
hold an OAS assembly in
Medellin, Negroponte
said that today the city
was "emblematic" of the
strides Colombia had
taken.
Representatives of many
of the national and
international civil
society organisations
participating in this
year's OAS general
assembly challenge this
characterisation,
arguing that the United
States has decided to
ignore Colombia's
ongoing human rights
violations, including in
Medellin.
Maria Victoria Fallon, a
Medellin-base attorney
who heads the
Interdisciplinary Group
on Human Rights, said
many of the diplomats
attending the OAS
assembly will only hear
the pretty message and
not see the "real city".
Although the number of
official homicides in
Medellin has fallen in
recent years, Fallon
said there are mounting
disappearances of
activists and petty
criminals, who she said
are often killed and
their bodies disposed of
outside the city.
While Negroponte
applauded the ongoing
effort to demobilise
paramilitaries in the
country, Fallon charged
that "paramilitaries are
still active in many
parts of Colombia,
including in outlying
communities of Medellin.
Even those that have
been officially
demobilised still
operate."
For Fallon, Negroponte's
aping of the Uribe line
boils down to two
issues: "First, it shows
just how good Uribe is
at putting his arguments
together and selling
them. Second, the United
States buys what is
being sold as long as it
is in its interests."
Ariela Peralta of the
Washington-based Centre
for Justice and
International Law (CEJIL),
which closely follows
issues in the OAS,
agrees that Uribe has
done a remarkable job of
shaping the discourse
about his country.
Pointing to Uribe's
"Politics of Democratic
Security", the tag he
has given to his peace
and demobilisation
policies, Peralta said
that the vision of peace
advanced by Uribe "is
also a characterisation
that fits comfortably
with the vision put
forth by the Bush
administration."
But just as importantly,
said Peralta, is the
public's view. "You see
huge public support in
Colombia for the
government's policies.
Cities appear safer,
more relaxed. The
reality is that many of
the successes claimed by
this government are
true. At least, the
people say it is."
While she agrees with
Fallon that these
successes disguise
deeper problems, she
said that the way to
contest this from a
human rights perspective
is to "show the hard
parts of the conflict,
the parts that Colombia
and the United States
don't talk about. Those
parts include the
victims, how have they
been treated, have they
received justice."
Peralta said what makes
it difficult for rights
activists to influence
public views is that
"the actors in this
conflict, namely the
paramilitaries, have
merely changed their
appearances. They have
new types of
organisations, but they
continue to be the
dominant forces in many
communities."
Ultimately, say many
activists and observers
here, Negroponte's
comments and the
unswerving U.S. support
for Uribe boil down to
two key issues: economic
motives, the desire to
pass free trade
agreements; and the
struggle of the United
States to combat the
diplomatic successes of
Venezuela, which along
with other emerging
powers in the region,
like Brazil, have
stepped in to fill the
vacuum opened by the
Bush administration's
focus on Middle East
issues as part of the
"war on terror".
During almost the entire
Bush presidency, said
Peralta, the talk in
Washington has been
about "how to fight
terrorism and the drug
trade, and how to expand
free trade. Colombia has
been Washington's most
important ally in this."
"In only one small way
has this close
relationship been
affected, and that was
in the recent failure of
the U.S. Congress to
pass a free trade
agreement with Colombia,
which was a huge blow to
Uribe. Why did this
fail? Because Colombian
unionists, many of whom
have been murdered
during the Uribe
presidency, were able to
successfully express
their plight to U.S.
lawmakers. The failure
to get this free trade
agreement is one of the
ironic outcomes of
Uribe's Politics of
Democratic Security,"
she said.
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