Bush Not Following Rules on Colombia Aid Set by Congress

by Jim Lobe

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) charged today that the Colombian government's human rights performance has, if anything, worsened since the controversial U.S. decision last May to disburse a first instalment that amounts to about 60 percent of the total amount of aid.

The same groups had strongly opposed that decision on the grounds that the major Congress-imposed conditions, which included demands that the military sever all links to right-wing paramilitaries, had not been met.

"Our conclusion is stark," the three groups wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell today. "Not only has Colombia, once again, failed to meet even the minimum standard necessary to satisfy the human rights conditions, but its level of compliance has deteriorated markedly.

"We urge you to deny the human rights certification to Colombia and instead insist that it make convincing and demonstrable reforms before receiving any additional funds," the groups said.

The letter comes amid indications that the Bush administration has decided to strongly support Colombia's hawkish new president, Alvaro Uribe, despite his apparent intention to implement far-reaching and draconian measures to intensify the war against left-wing rebels.

In mid-August, Uribe, who was elected in the first round of voting last May, declared a "state of domestic commotion," which enables the government to make arrests without warrants, exert greater control over electronic media, and restrict internal movement.

The move also permits Bogota to levy a new tax on wealthy Colombians that would finance a huge military build-up planned by Uribe and cover the costs of recruiting some 100,000 civilian informers and of arming more than 10,000 peasants, who could act as a rural defence force.

The government has also proposed legislation that would enable it to exempt Colombian military officers from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court (ICC). That follows efforts by Attorney-General Luis Camilo Osorio to end investigations and prosecutions of military officers accused by his predecessor of serious human rights abuses. Osorio is a close ally of Uribe.

Finally, Uribe has given the green light to Washington to mount what the New York Times on Wednesday called "the biggest and most aggressive effort yet to wipe out coca growing" within its borders.

Under the new plan, all existing restraints on aerial spraying of coca plants will be lifted, despite continuing concerns about the health and environmental effects of fumigation and worries that spraying may work to increase the ranks of the most formidable left-wing group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), by ruining peasant farmers who cannot feed their families.

"Fumigation has acted as a recruitment tool of the guerrillas," says Robin Kirk, a veteran Colombia watcher at HRW. "In fact, it's just about the only recruitment tool they have."

Wednesday's letter was sent after State Department officials last week briefed human rights groups, including the three signers. The briefings, intended to inform the Department about groups' concerns before it decides on certification, are mandated under the same law that conditions the aid.

But the groups came away from the latest briefings convinced the administration had decided in advance to certify that the conditions had been met. "It was clear to us that what we said was irrelevant," said Kirk, who attended the meeting.

The State Department is likely to announce the certification within the coming week, predicted Kirk.

The groups say the exercise was a major contrast to similar briefings last year when the administration delayed certification for three months and held repeated meetings with the groups, which, although opposed to the eventual decision to certify the former government, credited Powell for abiding by "the spirit" of the legislation by pressing Bogota hard to improve its performance.

"Unfortunately, we do not believe the same seriousness has been brought to this latest review," says the letter.

Colombia will receive close to $400 million in military aid this fiscal year -- which ends Sept. 30 -- making it the third biggest recipient of U.S. military aid, after Israel and Egypt.

But of the total, only a little more than $100 million is subject to the conditions prescribed by Congress. At stake in this latest review is about $41.5 million.

The specific conditions passed by Congress require the army to: suspend military officers alleged to have committed serious rights abuses or to have aided paramilitary groups; co-operate with civilian prosecutors and judicial authorities in prosecuting and punishing such officers in civilian courts; and take effective measures to sever links with the paramilitaries, including executing orders to capture and submit them to justice.

Not only has the army failed to meet any of the conditions, according to the letter, but recent steps taken by Osorio have shown a "pronounced hostility" to human rights cases.

The groups say Osorio has purged dedicated prosecutors and investigators from his office and even accused members of the U.S. Congress of engaging in a "war" to discredit the Colombian authorities by raising questions about the country's rights performance.

According to some observers, Uribe appears to be trying to emulate the success of disgraced former Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori, in his successful but controversial counter-insurgency campaign against Sendero Luminoso, (Shining Path), one decade ago.

Some U.S. and Colombian rights activists have warned that such a strategy helped lay the groundwork for what became a de facto dictatorship under Fujimori and his intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos.

Uribe has his own intelligence adviser, Pedro Juan Moreno, who played a similar role when the new president was governor of Antioquia in the mid-1990s. By arming peasants and recruiting informers, Moreno somewhat reduced guerrilla influence there, while at the same time strengthening the paramilitaries who have been blamed by human rights groups for the vast majority of serious human rights abuses, including mass killings.

Other observers defend both Washington's and Uribe's performance.

Michael Shifter, vice president of the Inter-American Dialogue (IAD), an influential think-tank here, insists the administration has warned Uribe strongly against cozying up to the paramilitaries and also warned against rights activists reacting "reflexively" to steps he has taken so far.

"The real question is whether the U.S. will really put pressure on Uribe to respect human rights," said Shifter.