Part Two Of A Three Part Special On Colombia

COLOMBIA REVISITED

Guns, Drugs And The New World Order

Monica Del Pilar Uribe Marin Is Granted An Exclusive Interview With The
Colombian Guerillas, The FARC

On 27 May 1964, 16,000 Colombian soldiers, assisted by the US, entered the
lush lands of Marquetalia, Colombia. Their mission was simple: to put down
an uprising of angry peasants. The 'operation' took just three weeks,
during which the military used all means at their disposal, including
bombing, bacteriological warfare, torture, execution and, for the luckier
ones, imprisonment.

Badly armed and with negligible backing, 48 of those beleaguered farmers
nevertheless survived the onslaught, and their resistance gave birth to the
FARC the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia. Today, 37 years on, the
FARC has 20,000 members, 70 fronts throughout the different regions of the
country and permanent representatives in more than 15 countries worldwide.

Ever since its inception, the revolutionary peasants of the FARC have been
the bane of the authorities and a worry to US ambitions to assert both
economic and political control throughout Latin America. Throughout the
years, the Colombian government and military have carried out a succession
of military operations, with names like Operation Exterminate, Operation
Destroyer and Operation Claw, to rid the country of the guerrillas. They
all failed. An attempt at a peace deal with the government in 1984 was
scuppered by opposition from within the military.

Having created its own new political party, the 'Bolivarian Movement for
the New Colombia', the FARC is once again engaged on a peace initiative,
this time with Andres Pastrana's government.

From the beginning, the armed forces, right wing paramilitaries, certain
businesses and some sectors of the population bitterly opposed the peace
process, seeing it as a dangerous concession to the guerillas. Some members
of the Columbian government disagreed with certain of the FARC proposals,
in particular its insistence that the USsupported 'antidrugs' scheme 'Plan
Colombia' be abolished. The peace process looked to be on the verge of
collapse.

But on 8 February, the Colombian president met with Manuel Marulanda, the
leader of the FARC. The two set out to inject life back into the
negotiations, and a series of frank discussions followed.

After many months of trying, I was able to speak to Raul Reyes, righthand
man to Marulanda. Reyes carries responsibility for the peace process and
for rn a i n t a i n i n g FARC's relationship with the international
community. He has been working with the organisation for 20 years.

Monica del Pilar: Do you think your peace talks with the government have
achieved anything so far?

Raul Reyes: Well, we have a demilitarised zone for the talks. Also, we now
have in place a 'Common Agenda for the New Colombia' which takes account of
12 themes we have agreed on.

MdP: And the 12 themes are?

RR: They concern the social aspects of life employment, health, education
and wellbeing; political aspects the right to express yourself without
repression, to elect and be elected; and economic how to reorganise the
country such that its natural wealth does not remain in the pockets of the
few, but benefits the population as a whole. We need to develop the
agricultural sector so that the peasant economy recovers.

MdP: Despite the peace talks, two groups, leftwing guerrillas and rightwing
paramilitaries, are implacably opposed to each other. Is the FARC open to
talks with the paramilitaries?

RR: Never! Not under any circumstances. We are talking with the
representatives of the government and the state, as named by the President
of the Republic. We do not hold talks with any others. MdP: The
paramilitaries claim the population is on their side in the fight. RR: It
certainly is a grave problem. All the time the country is becoming ever
more polarised and undoubtedly one sector on the right is in favour of
paramilitary action. Such people have abundant resources, good media
connections and run businesses.

MdP: And what about drugs? Isn't a major source of the FARC's finance from
coca and poppy production?

RR: In Colombia, production undeniably exists, but actual local drug
consumption is relatively small. Nor does Colombia produce the chemicals
required for extraction and purification of the drugs. What Colombia does,
because of the collapse of the rural economy, is to grow poppies and coca.
The FARC is in all Colombia, from the Amazon to the borders with Venezuela
and the Orinoco River, and to the borders of Ecuador and the Putumayo. Our
being in a particular area does not mean we are engaged in growing the crops.

On the other hand, the FARC represents a people in arms and has to survive
from whatever produce that goes into the overall economy of the country.
The FARC is a revolutionary organisation that is not in the business of
tackling the cultivation of drugs or of fighting the traffickers. That is
the responsibility of the state, though we have made proposals for dealing
with the problems.

MdP: You mean to tell me that the relationship between FARC and drug
trafficking is limited to occupying territory which happens to have illicit
crops?

RR: Exactly. The FARC is present throughout the country and it needs
resources to strengthen its political hold. Therefore it imposes taxes on
whatever is grown, whether coca or cattle, soya or sorghum. If, tomorrow,
coca was no longer grown, then the FARC would seek taxes on whatever was
substituted.

MdP: You talk a tot about 'Bolivarism' a kind of panLatin American
political ideal which would mean some form of integration with other
countries. How are the FARC relations with other South American countries?

RR: Often good, and we also have good relations with the European Union,
particularly through France. However, apart from Venezuela, no other Latin
American country is pursuing Bolivarian ideals. One of the essential needs
for the development of our countries is unity.

MdP: How can you get these 'Bolivarian' ideals off the ground in Latin
America, when many countries, as a result of economic crises, are becoming
'dollarised' and sucked into the economic orbit of the US?

RR: Dollarisation has to do with pressures from World Bank, IMF and US
policies. It is worrying what has happened to Ecuador, where the official
money is no longer the 'sucre' but the dollar. When Ecuador lost the sucre,
it not only lost its currency, but its symbol of liberty. just imagine what
it would be for Venezuela were it to lose the Bolivar. We must analyse
carefully the changes that result from the global economy. Our governments
are not particularly concerned about holding on to their country's symbols.
We must surely defend our symbols, our dignity, our independence.

MdP: How does the FARC view the current model of economic development? RR:
The model is exclusive, and does not take account of people's needs. it is
for the benefit of the richer sectors of society. Colombia has immense
agricultural resources and any model of development must consider both the
need for the country to be selfsufficient in food and to be able to export
competitively. It seems a big step back that in the 21st century we cannot
feed our 40 million people, but have to import.

MdP: How do you view the influence of the 'free trade' on Colombia?

RR: It's been damaging, in particular for those at subsistence level,
because it has undermined local production. We now get products from all
over, without any tariffs being paid: we get coffee from Vietnam, rice from
Asia, meat from Ecuador, cereals from the US and Canada. Colombia has the
capacity to produce all these products for itself and for export, but it
doesn't happen because the high costs of production are not compensated by
the returns from overseas markets.

This neoliberalism has pushed peasants away from food production and they
have had little alternative but to go into the jungle to cultivate coca and
opium poppies. It has also had an impact on the commercial sector, which
has seen itself obliged, for its own survival, to traffic coca and heroin.
Meanwhile, those people in commerce who have remained outside trafficking
find themselves unable to compete. The phenomenon of drug trafficking is
above all economic in nature. In that regard it has grown significantly in
every aspect in recent years: coca and poppy production, a surge in the
cocaine cartels, armies of criminals created as a result, the buying of
consciences, and increase in corruption.

MdP: But it's also a political problem.

RR: Not just national but international. For that reason, FARC has proposed
the legalisation of drugs on a worldwide basis, combined with a reduction
in the consumption and the need to control and restrain the production of
the precursor chemicals, which are manufactured in Europe and the US. We
need to make the main consumer countries, which also happen to be the
manufacturers of the precursors, aware of their responsibilities with
regard to encouraging demand and enabling drug traffickers to launder their
money overseas. The lack of import tariffs because of the open global
market means that they can bring in the chemicals they need without any
additional cost.

MdP: How does the FARC propose to tackle globalisation?

RR: The globalised world has some advantages, such as the benefits from
telecommunication and the means to transmit information. The model breaks
down when governments of 'dependent' countries like ours allow the big
bosses of capital to dictate policies. The interests of the Colombian
population must come first and we should not assume a feeble position in
the face of international economic policies.

MdP: P: And the FARC position on transnational corporations?

RR: At the moment, the great majority of transnationals in Colombia are
fuelling the internal conflict in the sense that they pay special taxes to
maintain the army and the security forces. Equally grave is their impact on
employment, with many workers losing their jobs. That doesn't mean we are
absolutely against transnationals in Colombia, just that we must have
contracts with them in which they guarantee social and labour security and
that the taxes that they pay will be used to combat political corruption.

MdP: How has the environment fared in the peace process?

RR: The FARC leaders have established an ecological decree, which is
rigorously upheld. The decree prohibits the cutting down of forests, and
calls for the protection of water, fauna, flora and the national parks. In
addition, we have established a system of fines. For example, for killing a
jaguar the fine is US$250, money that we then use for the benefit of the
community, including school maintenance, community health, the construction
of bridges and works that benefit the community. We have imposed laws to
prevent the contamination of rivers. In that respect, we also oppose the
use of herbicides, because they damage the environment and are a health
risk. We have therefore proposed to the government that they abandon the
use of herbicides and substitute other methods such as returning to hand
cultivation techniques that do not involve the use of chemicals.

MdP: How do you view the Colombian U'wa Indians' fight against Occidental
petroleum (Oxy) to defend their territory? RR: The U'wa, are seeking to
reclaim what they believe is justly theirs. Terrible lies have been said
about the FARC; it has been claimed that we have been receiving money from
Oxy to expel the U'wa. At no time would FARC ally itself with the
multinationals against indigenous communities, colonists, nor any
Colombian. What we do know for sure is that some of the revenue from Oxy's
operations are being used to strengthen the army and paramilitary groups,
which are now pitched against the U'wa, all Colombians and the country's
sovereignty.

MdP: How far do you support the U'wa in their refusal to negotiate with Oxy
or with the government? RR: If they succeed in holding out until such time
as a new government comes into being which takes as a basic principle that
the dispossessed must benefit from the use of natural resources, then we'll
support that. At the rate we're going, we are going to be left with little
more than the memory of all the riches that were taken away, while the
population remains as impoverished as ever.

For that reason, in oilbearing regions other than those of the U'wa, we are
putting pressure on the oil companies. What we see is that Ecopetrol the
Colombian state oil enterprise is investing its resources in more
repression, in financing paramilitary groups, in supporting the army and
police, with absolutely no benefits going into health, education or welfare.

MdP: What do you think of Plan Colombia? [see sidebar, below]

RR: It's a strategy of the US government. It's not, as sold to the public,
to combat drug trafficking. The peasant people who plant coca or opium
poppies, or indeed those gather the crop, are not drug traffickers. The
bigtime mafiosi in Colombia do not plant coca; they are the expresidents of
the republic, generals in service or in retirement, ministers, exministers
and congressmen. Or they are high in the Bank of the Republic, or they are
in Washington, Miami and Europe. The plan is fundamentally a plan for war,
and above all it is a strategy to allow the United States to expand its
interests in the region, and in South America in general.

MdP: One of the aims of the Plan is to wipe out guerrilla operations.

RR: The real reason for Plan Colombia is to launch war against
revolutionary processes. The drug war is a pretext. The US wants to strike
at the FARC, and the ELN. Colombia is undoubtedly suffering from an
internal war. As soon as the US intervenes in the fight against guerrillas,
the confrontation takes on a different and dangerous character. Once the
plan is put into action, that will signal that the war is no longer an
internal matter, but will take on the character of a true civil war, and
many Colombians will find themselves embroiled in defending what they
perceive as the sovereignty of their country.

MdP: Do you think that Plan Colombia will have a strong ecological impact
on Amazonia, by destroying coca plantations with herbicides, for instance?

RR: Undoubtedly. However, one element is in our favour, in that we can
count on many allies in the defence of the Amazon. When you consider the
Green Party, ecologists, and environmentalists, then you can see we have
some serious allies determined to protect our Amazonia. They will not go
down without a fight.

SIDEBAR: PLAN COLOMBIA

On 22 June 2000, the US Senate agreed overwhelmingly to support President
Andres Pastrana's 'Plan Colombia'. This flagship project was ostensibly
intended to strengthen the military forces in combating drug trafficking
and subversion. The amount approved was some $1.3 billion to be spent over
the following two years.

Most of the 'resources' for the Plan are to come from the US. They include
an 'antinarcotics' military battalion with helicopters ($600 million);
equipment for maritime and aerial interception ($340 million); the
strengthening of the national police in their antinarcotic role ($96
million); alternative development with regard to crop substitution ($145
million); and strengthening of justice and democracy ($93 million). The
European Union offered US$300 million for the social component of the Plan.

Critics of the Plan envisage big problems, including: displacement of the
rural population because of the destruction of 'illicit' crops and the
activities of paramilitaries; escalation in military activities with
serious consequences for human rights and the environment; failure to
distinguish between drug trafficking and the cultivation of 'illicit' often
traditional crops. They also note that similar antidrugs plans have so far
failed. And many share the FARC view that the plan is a thinlyveiled
attempt by the US to gain further control over the country.

The consequences of the plan could be far from what supporters intend.
Indiscriminate use of herbicides (fumigation) may, for example, generate a
new dynamic in the production of narcotics, that will lead to more natural
forest destruction and to widespread contamination, with environmental
consequences for watersheds.

Instead of large areas of illicit cultivation, the likelihood is that
growers will move deeper into the forest and generate small, less
conspicuous clearings, thus extending the problem. People will be displaced
from the land, adding to the numbers of unemployed; schools, households,
water sources have already been contaminated by aerial fumigation, and the
country could become even more polarised as people increasingly support the
guerrillas who oppose the Plan.

Colombia's Tragedy

Moises Villafana provides a more damning overview of FARC's activities.

This is a riven nation. In Colombia, armed groups, revolutionaries,
militants soldiers and drugs barons regularly drag ordinary folk into their
wars; with horrific results. What is happening to the people of the Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta, in the north of the country, gives a good idea of
what happens everywhere to traditional people caught up in the bloodbath.

In the remote past, this area had a highly developed civilisation which
exercised a major cultural influence on the surrounding region. These were
very peaceful cultures with a profound respect for nature, whose social,
political and religious institutions were based on a philosophy of natural
harmony. They also had a highly developed economy, cultivating maize,
fruit, beans, and root crops. They were excellent architects and engineers,
building roads, staircases, walls, canals, terraces and towns. The peoples
of the lowlands traded with those in the mountains, exchanging fish, salt
and conches for maize and beans.

Colonisation, of course, has uprooted many of these people. But many, too,
still live in peace, in their traditional way. Or did, before the gunmen
arrived.

The Conflict Zone

Colombia as a whole is the victim of armed conflict between antigovernment
guerrillas, the Union Camilista, the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN,
National Liberation Army) and the Ejercito Popular de Liberacion (People's
Liberation Army). There are also paramilitary counterinsurgency groups
known as autodefensas (selfdefence), most of whom refer to themselves
collectively as Autodefensa Unida de Colombia (AUC).

All of these armed groups have forcibly displaced the indigenous peoples.
Their lands have become a battleground, and they have lost large numbers of
people in what is essentially a form of permanent discrimination and
ethnocide; although the indigenous peoples are not involved in the
conflict, they are the worst affected because of constant forced
displacement from their homes. The indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada
de Santa Marta are highly traditional, with a deep respect for nature,
their lifestyles little changed for thousands of years. But it is precisely
because of this that they easily fall victim to the violence which has
wracked the country for so many years. The FARC, ELN and EPL have had a
presence in the region, but until recently it was relatively limited.
FARC's 'front 19' was located in the farming belt of the lower and middle
Sierra Nevada towards the Arhuaco indigenous reserve in the valleys of the
rivers Ariguam and Fundacion. Their 'front 59'was situated in the Guatapuri
and Atanquez and extended as far as Patillal and Rio Seco in the Kankuamo
region and the Marokaso sector of the Wiwa region. The ELN's '6 December
front' covered Bunsichama, La Senora, Kuanimu, Birwa in the Ahuaca region,
and Rio Seco, Murillo and the Kankuama. The EPL was located in Marokaso,
Mingeo and Hulago,

As if this wasn't enough, the autodefensa groups are operating throughout
the Plan del Cesar region, They are not based in the Sierra itself, but
they have camps on the plateau from where they operate patrols and
incursions into the foothills of the Sierra, entering and leaving at Pueblo
Bello, La Mina de Iracal and La Senora in the Arhuaca region, and in other
parts of the region.

The Colombian army, meanwhile, has a presence in the form of operational
command number 7, whose headquarters is at Valledupar in the Batallon La
Popa, and which has a base on the Inarwa hill (El Alguacil) behind the
Arhuaco reserve and in the municipalities of Pueblo Bello and Atanquez. It
also operates mobile campaigns in the rest of the Sierra Nevada and the
Serrania del Perija.

Might Is Blight

The effects of this invasion of military might on the autonomy and identity
of the indigenous peoples can be devastating. People constantly fear armed
invasion, the indigenous authorities' autonomy and decisionmaking powers
are being eroded, their cultural values are being destroyed, and their
territories invaded. They are afraid, very simply, because the situation is
beyond their control and understanding.

But the real, material problem, is the forced displacement which the
conflict causes. The displacement caused by armed conflict in the region is
difficult to quantify because only on a few occasions has it happened on a
very large scale. However, families are constantly having to relocate
through fear of becoming military targets.

Seventy families living in the municipality of Pueblo Bello Las Minas de
Iracal were, for example, forced to leave after two incursions by the
autodefensas in May and June 2000. And the table below shows that they were
far from alone.

On 10 May, 1,500 Kankuamu villagers were forced to move towards Valledupar
after a threatened incursion by the autodefensas into the village of
Atanquez. They returned following agreement with the municipal authorities
and the army that they would be protected. Four hundred Yukpa people were
forced to move to the village of Casacara after their food supplies came
under threat. One hundred of these are now living in Codazzi, and the
others have returned home. Two adults and four children died as a result of
this displacement. The depressing list goes on and on.

PLACE - DISPLACED FAMILIES
Guatapuri 30
Las Flores 10
Chemesquerneyna 25
Atanquez 60
En Ponton 15
El Mojao 10
Los Haticos 20
Rancho de La Goya 10
Rarnalito 10
La Mina 30
Patillal 45
Murillo 15
Rio Seco 35
Villa Rueda 40

The regional Red de Solidaridad Social [Social Welfare Network] states that
it is receiving an average of 40 families a day as a result of the
displacement of people from the south of Bolivar and other regions.

Killings

Then there are the killings. For this conflict does not just uproot and
disrupt lives; it ends them too. The table below lays out the cold
statistics; in every one of them is a tragedy.

KILLINGS IN THE SOUTH EASTERN REGION

PLACE NO. OF KILLINGS
Guatapuri 10
Chemesquerneyna 15
Atanquez 41
Haticos 76
La Mina 27
Patillal 38
Rio Seco 29
Murillo 9
Villa Rueda 17

These murders are being carried out both by the autodefensas and the
insurgent groups including the FARC. The mayor of the Copey municipality
was murdered on 29 May this year, and the mayor of Becerril on 6 June,
apparently by members of the autodefensas. The killings in the table above
were 'selective' individuals murdered for, apparently, specific reasons.
But there are random massacres too.

And if not death, then at least the threat of it, is a regular part of life
here. Death threats have been made by the autodefensas against paramedics,
indigenous leaders, and indigenous councillors, while FARC has made threats
against indigenous leaders and councillors. The shortage of cultivable land
has also resulted in many death threats being exchanged between indigenous
Yukpa people and settlers in the indigenous reserves.

MASSACRES PLACE NO. OF KILLINGS
La Mina district 11
Minas de Iracal 6
Pueblo Bello 3

Meanwhile, in the last month alone, there have been confrontations in the
Marokaso and Serrama del Perija regions between the FARC and the ELN,
resulting in territorial gains for FARC and an unknown number of civilian
deaths which can be added to the grim lists above, as the death tally
spirals and spirals.

The indigenous people of the Sierra and the Mama have strongly condemned
these acts of violence, because they not only cause death but also disturb
the natural balance. They have also called urgently for peace in the Sierra
Nevada and the country as a whole. Their latest plea to the gunmen, issued
by the indigenous people in 1999, reads as follows:

'We, the indigenous peoples of the world, prefer the life we have lived for
thousands of years to the war of intolerance. Peace cannot exist without
the rule of law and peaceful, sustainable coexistence between the different
sectors of Colombian society. Human rights, sustainable development and
peace are interdependent and indivisible. Peace is not simply the absence
of war; peace is a way of acting, creating, listening, talking, thinking
and living in harmony with nature and its laws.

'Peace comes from within us, and we can only experience things and express
ourselves through our spiritual ability to be peaceful and free of all evil.

'We, the indigenous peoples meeting in Umunukunu, in the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta in Colombia, the heart of the world, declare ourselves to be
guardians of peace. Honesty and respect are the first chapter in the Sacred
Book of Wisdom.'

But Will Anyone Listen?

Moises Villafana is art Arhuaco studying at Bogota University: his uncle
Adalberto was a major figure in Arhuaco politics who died in mysterious
circumstances four years ago.