New Blood ?

After some time away on leave, I am back with some "fresh" news on Colombia..

Italy and Colombia, two worlds apart, so far, so close

It's good to be back

Article by Alessandro Di Battista (from beppegrillo.it)

“Contrary to what people might think, Colombia is a country very similar to Italy. They’ve got sea and mountains. They do marvellous things to preserve the meat of the pig. The women are splendid and part of the institutions come to agreements with organised crime.

Let’s be sure we understand each other, the “agreements“ are still products that are “made in Italy”. We have the trade mark, but by now, with globalisation, they’re found all over the world.
In 2001, senators, mayors, and governors of Colombia signed the Ralito Pact which was an attempt to bring forth a project to relaunch the country, a sort of Caribbean version of Gelli’s Plan of Democratic Renewal.

It was signed not only by politicians but also by some of the bosses of narco-paramilitarism who were the most powerful at that time. It was signed by Diego Fernando Murillo, also known as Don Berna, who was for years the boss of Medellin and it was signed by Salvatore Mancuso a narco friend of the Calabrian mafia.

Don Berna and Mancuso were leaders of the AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), a paramilitary organisation that terrorised the people of Columbia for years. The founder of the AUC, Carlos Castaño, was perhaps the most influential criminal in Colombia. The AUC, in agreement with the corrupt secret services, and with parts of the police and of the army was responsible for the annihilation of the “Unione Patriottica” (UP), the left wing party in Colombia. Between 1985 and 2002, thousands of UP supporters were murdered, cut into pieces while still alive, and the pieces thrown into the Magdalena River. The AUC that was financed using dollars from drug trafficking, but also with donations from private companies as well as from national and multinational companies, was able to act with total impunity.

In spite of the fact that the powerful people are truly powerful, there are lots of people in Sicily as there are in Antioquia who, every day, are fighting against the arrogance of crime, against the law of the jungle, and against the killers of the powerful and those of poverty. I interviewed courageous journalists, young prosecutors and students who are tired of the fatalism all around. It’s really true what De André, said: that from diamonds nothing is created, from manure, flowers spring to life";.

Alessandro Di Battista (follow him on Twitter)
Alessandro Di Battista is the author of the book "Sicari a 5 euro" {assassins at 5 euros} to be published shortly.

Displacement continues, response still ineffective

The protracted internal armed conflict in Colombia had to May 2009 displaced almost 3.1 million people according to the government, and over 4.6 million people according to a re-liable non-governmental source. Nevertheless, under-registration in the government’s system remains pervasive. In 2008, Colombia’s highest administrative court derogated a decree that determined that internally displaced people (IDPs) could only be included in the national registry up to one year after being displaced, and in January, 2009, the Constitutional Court directed the government to decisively tackle this problem by improving regis-tration systems.

All parties to the conflict, including guerrilla groups, the new armed groups which have emerged since the demobilisation of paramilitaries, and state forces, are responsible for forced displacement and human rights abuses and violations. According to a recent survey, threats directed at civilians by the illegal armed groups have become the single greatest cause of internal displacement. Human rights violations by government forces have contin-ued, including systematic extra-judicial executions. Additionally, aerial fumigations of ille-gal crops, which also destroy other crops, have caused displacement by causing food insecurity. Finally, human rights defenders, including IDP leaders, have continued to be threatened, attacked, and killed, and discredited by government.

The government’s response to the plight of IDPs has continued to improve, but not enough to meet the benchmarks set by the Constitutional Court. The Court has ordered significant amendments to government policy and programmes for IDPs and has continued to measure the enjoyment of rights of the displaced population, declaring in January 2009 that the "unconstitutional state of affairs" in the government’s response for IDPs, originally declared in 2004, continued. In June 2009, a proposed law to protect and provide reparations to victims of conflict, the so-called "victims’ law", was defeated by a government majority in the House of Representatives.

The Court’s data shows that the biggest gaps relate to housing, income generation, and protection of land. Much more needs to be done to prevent new displacement, protect the displaced population, and implement durable solutions through effective reparations and solutions other than return – only three per cent of the displaced population wish to return to their place of origin under the current conditions.