Bush, Colombia and Narco-Politics
by André–Ÿ Cala
(Consortium News)[Editor's Note: On March 1,
Colombian armed forces crossed into Ecuador to kill 24 leftist
Colombian guerrillas, including a senior commander, Raul Reyes. The
attack touched off a confrontation pitting Colombia against Ecuador and
Venezuela, which condemned the violation of Ecuador's sovereignty and
noted that Reyes was a key figure in negotiations over prisoner
releases and a possible reduction in political tensions.
The
Bush administration defended Colombia's right to attack terrorists
even if that requires crossing a border, a position echoed by this
year's presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama. Indeed, from the opinion circles of Washington, there was almost
no criticism of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe although his inner
circle has long been linked to both right-wing terrorism and cocaine
trafficking.
Last
August, journalist Andres Cala examined the new evidence about Uribe's
ties to this dark underworld of Latin American violence. We are
republishing that special report below:]
George
W. Bush strategy of countering Venezuela leftist president Hugo
Ch醰ez by strengthening ties to Colombia rightist government has been
undercut by fresh evidence of high-level drug corruption and human
rights violations implicating President Alvaro Uribe inner circle. These new allegations about Colombia
narco-politics have tarnished Uribe reputation just as Bush has been
showcasing the Harvard- and Oxford-educated politician as a paragon of
democratic values and an alternative to the firebrand Ch醰ez, who has
used Venezuela oil wealth to finance social programs for the poor
across the region.
Despite the corruption disclosures ?and Uribe failure to stem
Colombian cocaine smuggling to the United States ?the Bush
administration continues to shower Uribe government with trade
incentives and billions of dollars in military and development aid.
With other regional leaders unwilling to side with the United States
against Ch醰ez, Bush may see little alternative but to stay the course
with the 55-year-old Uribe and hope Colombia corruption doesn draw
too much attention in the United States or across South America.
Ironically, the latest evidence against Uribe government emerged from
a U.S.-backed peace process that offered leniency to right-wing
paramilitary death squads and their financial backers in exchange for
giving up their guns and disclosing past crimes.
The right-wing paramilitaries and their cocaine-trafficking benefactors
testified that elements of the Colombian government collaborated in a
decade-long scorched-earth campaign that killed almost 10,000 civilians
while seeking to dislodge a leftist guerrilla army known as the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The confessions include blood-soaked tales of political murders,
cocaine smuggling and staggering government corruption. As a result,
dozens of former and current congressmen, governors, government
ministers, military officers, prominent business leaders and
multinational corporations are being investigated or have been arrested.
This so-called ara-scandal?revealed that a counterinsurgency force,
known as the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC,
collaborated with drug lords to control the cocaine trade and
simultaneously worked with Colombia elites, including Uribe family,
to fend off the guerrilla threat.
Another troubling offshoot of the peace process was the creation of a
safe haven for drug lords, who flocked to a 370-square-kilometer
sanctuary set up for the AUC.
Colombian mafia boss Fabio Enrique Ochoa Vasco, 47, who was indicted in
Florida in September 2004 for drug trafficking and money laundering,
claimed he was one of 10 U.S.-wanted traffickers who found protection
in the Santa Fe Ralito sanctuary.
AUC leaders romised to include their financial backers in the
negotiation?as a way to shield alleged cocaine traffickers from
extradition to the United States, Ochoa Vasco told a Colombian magazine
in June.
It was all
prearranged in 2001, according to paramilitary and drug lord accounts.
If Uribe won the presidency, paramilitary leaders would be offered
generous sentence reductions and be allowed to serve their time outside
prison walls if they demobilized and confessed.
Ochoa Vasco, who allegedly ships eight tons of cocaine monthly to the
United States, was told that he and other AUC allies would be sentenced
in Colombia to a maximum of 12 years, rather than face possible life
sentences in U.S. prisons.
Uribe History
The new disclosures also have brought back to public attention the
Uribe family long history of ties to drug lords and paramilitary
militias. Colombia Supreme Court announced in July that it was
investigating Senator Mario Uribe, the president cousin and his point
man in the Colombian Congress, for alleged links to the AUC.
Several paramilitary leaders have said Mario Uribe was one of their
allies and an intermediary with the government. He has denied any
wrongdoing.
But the family
link to purported drug lords dates back several decades. As a young man
and an aspiring politician, ç¾–varo Uribe lost his position as mayor of
Medell韓 ?after only five months on the job ?because the country
president ousted him over his family suspected connections to
traffickers, according to media reports at the time.
His father Alberto Uribe, a wealthy landowner, reputedly had been a
close associate of the Medell韓 cartel and its kingpins, such as Pablo
Escobar and the Ochoa brothers, who were personal friends.
In 1983, Alberto Uribe was reportedly wanted by the U.S. government for
drug trafficking when he was killed in a kidnapping attempt by the
FARC. According to media accounts, his body was airlifted back to his
family by one of Escobar helicopters.
In the early 1990s, ç¾–varo Uribe brother, Santiago, was investigated
for allegedly organizing and leading a paramilitary militia that was
headquartered at the Uribe family hacienda. He was never charged and
the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. But Santiago was
photographed alongside Fabio Ochoa at a party even after the government
had declared Ochoa one of the most notorious Medell韓 cartel kingpins.
The incident with Santiago Uribe coincided with ç¾–varo Uribe eight
years in the Senate, where he opposed extradition of drug suspects. His
critics accused him of working for the Medell韓 cartel.
But the relationship between right-wing narco-financed paramilitaries
and the Colombian government has been a long and complex one, with
shifting alliances based on the self-interest of the moment.
In 1992, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the CIA and the U.S.
military, along with Colombian intelligence services, joined forces
with the Cali cartel to train, equip and coordinate an undercover group
of mercenaries known as the Pepes, an acronym for Persecuted by Pablo
Escobar. Among its leaders was Carlos Casta駉, who would later run the
AUC.
Systematically, the
Pepes assassinated Escobar top henchmen and their families, finally
killing Escobar himself in 1993. The Pepes then split up. Some went on
to create their own drug empires, while Casta駉 built a paramilitary
army financed by rich landowners and drug dealers.
Since the war on Escobar organization, Casta駉 and the Cali cartel ?
as well as Colombian military officers ?have claimed that they work
side by side with U.S. agencies, but U.S. authorities have denied such
an alliance.
The alienation
from Washington widened in 1994 when President Ernesto Samper came to
power amid disclosures that his campaign had received generous
donations from drug cartels. President Bill Clinton cut most aid and
severed some military support to Colombia because of Samper ties to
drug traffickers.
With less
U.S. aid, the Colombian army was unable to contain the FARC and coca
acreage soared. Colombia rulers responded with the creation of
paramilitary militias that used terror to reduce popular support for
the guerrillas.
The Samper
government pushed what was known as the Convivir project. It armed,
trained and organized local defence cooperatives to provide pecial
private security and vigilance services?alongside the armed forces,
creating another cover for right-wing paramilitary forces.
Rise of Uribe
Alvaro Uribe political rise was tied to the success of Convivir. In
1995, Uribe became the governor of Antioquia, a north-western district
with Medell韓 as the capital.
Uribe was the country most vocal supporter of the defence
cooperatives, authorizing dozens of them with almost 20 of these
Uribe-backed cooperatives run by paramilitary leaders, including the
AUC current top commander, Salvatore Mancuso. [Casta駉, who operated
in a different state, wasn one of them.]
Casta駉 is quoted in a biography as saying Uribe was the presidential candidate of the AUC social support base.
æ‡eep
down, he the closest man to our philosophy,?Casta駉 said, adding
that Uribe support for the Convivir was grounded on the same
principle that gave rise to paramilitarism in Colombia, the right to
self-defence against guerrillas.
When confronted with accusations of complicity between Convivir and
drug-connected paramilitaries, Uribe said that at the time nobody knew
who the right-wing leaders and the cocaine traffickers were.
After an international outcry, however, the government slowly phased
out Convivir. By the time it was outlawed in 1998, however, over 200
defence cooperatives, counting thousands of men, defied the order to
demobilize and joined Casta駉 new paramilitary alliance, the AUC.
The Convivir project had other long-term consequences. Beyond
establishing and arming paramilitary militias, the project created a
web of cooperation between Colombia military and right-wing death
squads. Some paramilitary leaders, such as Casta駉, claimed the CIA and
DEA also gave the AUC discreet support.
At least two top paramilitary commanders have claimed that the
Colombian military coordinated counterinsurgency operations with the
AUC.
æ‘ am living proof of state-sponsored paramilitarism in Colombia,?said the AUC Mancuso in his deposition earlier this year.
The AUC leaders have named several high-ranking Colombian officers as
collaborating with the paramilitaries, including former General Rito
Alejo del Rio, Antioquia commanding officer during Uribe
governorship.
While running
for the presidency in 2002, Uribe cited the perceived success of the
Convivir program in damaging the FARC infrastructure in Antioquia as
a key reason why Colombians should vote for him.
Despite the drug suspicions ?and the links to paramilitary death
squads ?Uribe benefited from public disenchantment with a sputtering
peace process that had failed to end the civil war. Uribe emerged as
the winner with 53 percent of the vote.
After Uribe election, several drug barons claimed they had financed
his campaign. Indicted drug trafficker Ochoa Vasco said he contributed
$150,000 of his own money at the AUC request.
Ochoa Vasco also said he witnessed a conversation between the AUC
leaders and supposed representatives of Uribe campaign before the
election.
hey talked about
the peace process,?Ochoa Vasco said. hey said anyone with problems
with the U.S. could get involved. And in another meeting, there were
businessmen, landowners and drug traffickers who [the AUC] thought they
could also include, so they told them to get ready for the peace
process.?/p>
All the
paramilitary leaders who negotiated the peace agreement æ†now the
truth. They know that to be there, they invested more than 10 million
dollars,?Ochoa Vasco said.
Government negotiations with the AUC began four months after Uribe took
office. Casta駉 repositioned himself as an opponent of the drug
corruption that, by then, clearly pervaded the AUC. He resigned as AUC
military leader.
In April
2004, Casta駉 was ambushed by 20 elite paramilitaries following orders
from the AUC top leaders. He was shot almost two dozen times in the
face, chopped into pieces, and burned.
Surviving AUC leaders and drug traffickers said Casta駉 was killed
because he was negotiating his surrender to the DEA along with all
trafficking information about the AUC and its government and military
allies. U.S. authorities have denied any negotiation.
Uribe-Bush Alliance
Meanwhile, Uribe lined up solidly behind President George W. Bush by
becoming the only South American leader to endorse Bush invasion of
Iraq. Uribe also sought more U.S. military aid as he defined the civil
war against the leftist FARC as part of the æ¼lobal war on terror.?
The backbone of U.S. policy in Colombia is Plan Colombia, a mostly
military aid program to fight both drug production and irregular
armies, most notably the FARC and the AUC. Since 2001, Washington has
sent over $5 billion to Bogot?
Nonetheless, Plan Colombia put little dent in cocaine production. The
coca acreage in 2006 was slightly more than in 2001, when Plan Colombia
was implemented. Acreage was reduced in 2003 and 2004 but shot up again
in 2005 and 2006.
But
Uribe success in curbing political violence boosted his popularity in
Colombia. He vigorously pressed the war against the FARC, forcing the
leftist guerrillas into a tactical retreat. Overall, Uribe reduced the
number of murders, kidnappings and massacres by about one-third.
The Uribe-controlled Congress also passed the Justice and Peace Law,
which launched a peace process with the right-wing paramilitaries that
demobilized 30,000 men and women. The law was written by Sen. Mario
Uribe, the cousin now being investigated for his AUC ties. Even the
Bush administration criticized the law terms as overly lenient.
With Uribe popularity soaring, he got his congressional allies to
change the Constitution to permit a second presidential term. Uribe
then swept to reelection in 2006, winning 62 percent of the vote.
Still, accusations of corruption and unpunished human rights violations dogged him.
Several investigations, especially those led by Colombia Supreme
Court, slowly amassed evidence against former and current government
officials and prominent figures among the country elite.
Those implicated included dozens of current and former members of the
Congress; high-ranking military officers, including the current chief
of staff; entire army battalions allegedly working for drug cartels;
prominent businessmen; and some of Uribe closest allies, including
the father and brother of Colombia former foreign minister Mar韆
Consuelo Araé·o.
In March
2006, a laptop belonging to a top paramilitary leader was seized in a
raid. The computer was found to contain detailed information on
drug-trafficking operations, killings committed during the peace
process, potential hit lists of other victims, the AUC plan for
influencing the government, and a list of contributors and political
allies.
One of the hit
lists was linked to Colombia intelligence service and to its
director, Jorge Noguera, a close Uribe ally who the president named
consul in Milan after the initial investigation was opened.
Noguera was later arrested for his ties to the AUC and drug
traffickers, for filtering information to the AUC, for erasing
incriminating evidence of several drug traffickers and paramilitary
leaders, for complicity in the assassinations of several union leaders,
and for obstructing operations to capture his allies.
Other Colombian intelligence officials also were arrested, including
one high-level official, Rafael Garc韆, who testified that he erased
evidence at the request of Noguera. Garc韆 also accused Noguera of
plotting to assassinate Venezuela president Ch醰ez in coordination
with high-level officials in Uribe administration, though Garc韆
didn give their names.
Paramilitary leader Mancuso also accused Uribe Defence Minister Juan
Manuel Santos in his deposition of plotting with the AUC to kill
Venezuela Ch醰ez, although it not clear whether Santos was one of
the men whom intelligence officer Garc韆 was referring to. Santos
denied the accusation.
Then,
in December 2006, embarrassed by the ongoing criminality in the AUC
Santa Fe Ralito safe haven, the government put some paramilitary
leaders in prison. But even there, they continued to live the high life
and kept on top of their criminal operations.
The local press published in May transcripts of police wiretaps
revealing AUC leaders continuing to order killings and to direct drug
trafficking from prison, while also enjoying dance parties, sexual
orgies and alcohol. They hosted æ—exican friends?and had unrestricted
access to cell phones and the Internet.
In one conversation, the frustrated former prison warden complained to
a colleague that her orders were constantly overruled by her superiors
when paramilitary leaders called to complain to the peace commissioner,
government ministers and even the president. The warden soon requested
to be relocated.
Infuriated by the wiretap disclosures, Uribe ordered the firing of the
top 12 generals in the police, but he said little about the evidence of
AUC criminality beyond promising another investigation.
AUC leaders also threatened to break off the peace process, accusing
the government of changing the terms. They felt betrayed, they said,
and threatened to incriminate all their elite allies, including
politicians, businessmen, and multinationals.
Regional Trouble
The Organization of American States, which has overseen the peace
process with the AUC, has been critical of the results. The OAS warned
that the paramilitaries are rearming and reorganizing under different
names, with stronger ties to drug traffickers, and are being led by
some of the same leaders who supposedly had surrendered.
OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin said this year that the
AUC demobilization process might well fail to solve Colombia problem
with drug-financed paramilitary groups.
Colombia approach æ·ould trigger a truth and justice process that
would put an end to paramilitary groups in the regions, and lead to
reconstruction of the State,?Ramdin said. æ™r, on the other hand, it
could accentuate the influence of paramilitary groups linked to drug
trafficking.?
Despite
Colombia problems ?the corruption, the shaky peace process and the
shortcomings of its anti-drug program ?Bush has continued to show
unstinting support for Uribe. Calling Uribe a true democrat and a
strong leader, Bush has visited Colombia twice, including earlier this
year, and met with Uribe several times in Washington.
æ‘抦
proud to call [Uribe] a friend and strategic ally,?Bush said during
one of Uribe visits. In Bogot? the U.S. president said: æ‘
appreciate the [Colombian] president determination to bring human
rights violators to justice. ?I believe that, given a fair chance,
President Uribe can make the case.?
Bush asked the U.S. Congress to increase financial support for Plan
Colombia, but Democrats cut military aid from 80 percent to 65 percent
of the total allocation, while increasing economic and humanitarian
aid. Moreover, the Democrats attached strict conditions on the total
$530 million.
Democrats
also have conditioned their ratification of a free-trade agreement with
Colombia on Uribe improving the country human rights record and
prosecuting paramilitary leaders.
In South America, Uribe has slowly backed himself into a corner by
siding with Bush. While most South American countries have grown more
critical of U.S. foreign policy and its Free Trade Agreement of the
Americas, Colombia has staunchly supported Bush policies, distancing
itself from its neighbors.
Brazil and Ecuador have closer relations with Venezuela, as do most
countries in the region, in stark contrast to a decade ago. Colombia
has been kept out of South America Mercosur regional trade union,
while Venezuela is expected to join sometime this year.
Uribe also has lost some regional backing in his fight against the
FARC. Ecuador has resisted labelling the FARC a terrorist organization,
but did criticize Plan Colombia and sought reparations for collateral
damage inflicted by Colombian forces on Ecuador border population.
Meanwhile, the drug and corruption scandal keeps growing. Though Uribe
has denied most of the accusations, drug lord Ochoa Vasco has said he
is willing to negotiate his surrender to the DEA along with proof to
support his charges.
Ochoa
Vasco said some AUC leaders and drug traffickers now are willing to
negotiate their surrender to U.S. law-enforcement agencies to avoid
being murdered in Colombia, as powerful forces seek desperately to
silence them and end the ara-scandal.?/p>
In July, Henao G髆ez Bustamante ?the biggest reputed drug lord since
Pablo Escobar ?was extradited to face trafficking charges in the U.S.
He is believed to have been a key player in right-wing politics and one
of the main financers of the AUC.
The target of at least half a dozen assassination attempts while he was
in prison, G髆ez Bustamante told a magazine that he preferred being
extradited to being murdered. He also said he will disclose all the
information about drug corruption in Colombia, AUC infiltration, and
Mexican cartels, in exchange for a more lenient sentence.
Whatever is ultimately proven, however, the spilling out of evidence
linking Uribe to Colombia vast cocaine industry and to the country
history of political murders is bad news for President Bush as he
counts on Uribe to serve as the model for South America future and as
a bulwark against Hugo Ch醰ez.
–Madrid-based
André–Ÿ Cala has written about Colombia civil conflict since 1998. An
award-winning journalist, he worked in six countries for several
outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, and
the Associated Press. Cala’s e-mail is:
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