lo-de-alla.org

[Translations of two articles from May 8, one by the Spanish news agency Efe as published in Crítica of Panama, the other by Agence France Presse as it appeared in La Prensa of Panama. See originals here and here.]

Persecution of prostitutes denounced

After the scandal involving United States Secret Service agents and sex workers, Colombian authorities have unleashed a witch hunt against sex workers, a regional organization defending their rights charged today in Panama.

On the eve of the Summit of the Americas held in Cartagena de Indias in April, Secret Service agents hired prostitutes but then refused to pay what they had agreed to for their services, Elena Reinaga, president of the Red de Trabajadoras Sexuales de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (Redtrasex – Network of Sex Workers of Latin America and the Caribbean) declared on Tuesday.

“The girls did nothing more than denounce the abuse and a witch hunt started… not only against them (those directly involved) but the police came out persecuting many others,” Reinaga stated in a press conference. (more…)

Santos distances himself from Uribe in response to US pressure

[Translation of an Agence France Presse article as published in Vanguardia of Bucaramanga, Colombia, on November 1. See original here.]

“The country knows very well the reasons we have decided to take this step,” said President Santos as he announced Monday evening the elimination of the agency. “It is not a transformation, it is not a reform. In the case of the DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad – Administrative Security Department) it is liquidation. DAS is being eliminated,” the president declared.

During the Uribe administration (2002-2010), DAS was involved in scandals over infiltration by paramilitary groups.

One of its former directors, Jorge Noguera, was convicted of homicide and complicity with these extreme right groups, which were demobilized between 2003 and 2006, and former vice director José Miguel Narváez is also charged with homicide. (more…)

At least 41 candidates have been assassinated by guerrillas or by paramilitaries during the campaign

[Translation of an article from Nueva Tribuna of Madrid, Spain, for October 28. See original here.]

By Javier M. González

This Sunday, October 30, Colombians will choose local and regional officials in the first elections under the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos. Between February 2 and October 20, 41 candidates were assassinated by diverse violent groups, according to a study by the independent NGO Misión de Observación Electoral (MOE – Electoral Observation Mission). This figure is practically double the number of deaths recorded in the last regional elections, in 2007.

The guerrillas, especially the FARC, rightist paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and other criminal groups are also competing in these elections, through the buying of candidates or the assassination of possible adversaries. For the different violent organizations, of the right or the left, tied or not to drug trafficking or other illegal activities, the control of mayors, city councilors and even governors is an objective that assures them impunity for their activities. And, in many cases, access to security information vital to their survival. (more…)

(("National March in Defense of Education as a Right" -- Vanguardia Liberal photo))

[Translation of an article from Vanguardia Liberal of Bucaramanga, Colombia, for October 17. See original article here and related article here.]

The Mesa Amplia Nacional Estudiantil (MANE – National Broad Student Council) has announced that the student strike will continue until the national government withdraws from Congress its bill to reform Law 30. They have called another march for October 26.

“MANE has ratified the university strike, which already includes 32 public universities, and we also have an agenda for mobilizations by which there will be a national mobilization every week, whether a march or another kind of mobilization. The largest planned so far is on October 26 in every city of the country; that morning there will be a welcome for public and private universities,” declared Sergio Fernández, spokesman of the Organización Colombiana de Estudiantes (OCE). (more…)

(("Education is not for sale" -- El Colombiano photo))

[Translation of an article from Página/12 of Buenos Aires for October 12. See original here.]

University leaders, inspired by the Chilean protests, warn that the educational reform reveals the privatizing spirit of the government of Juan Manuel Santos. The president claims the law is intended to improve the system.

By Katalina Vásquez Guzmán

Wearing leather shoes, because it’s a long walk, Kevin gets ready to march against the education reform that the Juan Manuel Santos administration is steering through Congress. Today workers and teachers will join students in the national strike to pressure the executive to give up the bill and to draw up a new proposal in conjunction with student groups and university leaders. The student federations that called on the more than 500,000 students in Colombian public universities to strike regard Santos’ reform as a threat, without consent. This would be one of the most important national protests since Álvaro Uribe’s successor assumed the presidency. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Revistazo of Tegucigalpa for April 12. See original here and "First Part" here.]

by Tomás Andino Mancía

Second part

As for President Hugo Chávez, we can reject the hypothesis that he was taken by surprise, like a naïve dove, by the cold and calculating Colombian president, since Chávez has confirmed in his statements that he has been making efforts for some time, and that he will continue making them, to advocate Honduras’ return to the OAS. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Revistazo of Tegucigalpa for April 11. See original here,  "Second Part" here and related article here.]

by Tomás Andino Mencía

First Part

The Honduran population in resistance has still not gotten over its surprise at the unexpected turn in international politics concerning the coup d’état in our country, not so much because of the well known cynicism of the Honduran oligarchy in blessing today whom it demonized yesterday as the worst monster in the world, but because of the political recognition and support the regime of President Hugo Chávez offered to the coup’s successor regime, as much for the sake of its return to the OAS as to enable it to receive the benefits of PetroCaribe. (more…)

[Translations of two articles from Colombian newspapers concerning plans by Greystar Resources of Vancouver, Canada, for an open-pit gold mine in the páramo, a large, diverse and environmentally sensitive area in the heights of the Andes consisting of  lakes, wet grasslands, peat bogs and forests.]

Protests held against Greystar plan for gold mining in Santurbán

Experts say it would affect rivers supplying metropolitan aqueduct

[Translated from El Tiempo for February 26. See original here.]

More than 15,000 people marched on Friday along the main streets of Bucaramanga to demand that the government not issue an environmental permit for a project in which the Canadian firm Greystar would attempt to exploit gold deposits in the páramo de Santurbán. (more…)

[Translation of an article from TeleSUR for January 22. See original article here and related article here.]

Colombian defender of human right Piedad Córdoba said on Friday that the public trial of former subdirector of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS – Administrative Security Department), José Miguel Narváez, demonstrates the truth of charges she has made for years concerning links between paramilitaries and the government.

“The link between the paramilitaries and the government, through DAS, is confirmed, there is overwhelming proof,” Córdoba declared in an interview granted to TeleSUR. (more…)

[Three articles. Under newly elected President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia renewed diplomatic relations with Venezuela last August after ties had been broken over accusations by former President Álvaro Uribe that Venezuela was harboring guerrillas of the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and Santos and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez have since made a show of harmony. In the meantime, Colombia has been hit with serious flooding in recent weeks, resulting in some 138 people dead, 208 injured, 22 missing and 1.3 million homeless. The United States has pledged $150,000 in relief funds, in sharp contrast to the seven billion dollars the US has spent on Plan Colombia in the ten years since the US began participating in the effort, most of it directed to financing the Colombian military in its pursuit of the FARC.]

Venezuela and Brazil to send aid after winter storms

[Translation of an article from Vanguardia Liberal of Bucaramanga, Colombia, for November 28. See original here.]

The president of the republic, Juan Manuel Santos, reported yesterday that his counterparts in Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and in Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have made a commitment to provide aid in response to the harsh winter weather the country is experiencing, as they informed him during the UNASUR (Union of South American States) heads of state summit held last Friday in Georgetown, Guyana. (more…)

Land owners seek government protection

[Translation of an article from El Liberal of Popayán, Colombia, for November 13. See original article here. Silvia is a small town in the mountains of southwestern Colombia, a few kilometers northeast of Popayán, the capital of the department of Cauca. The Guambiano indigenous people of the region, including the Kisgó, have largely resisted assimilation for over 500 years despite having most of their lands taken from them by the Spaniards.]

by Mery Johana Tutalchá T.

At least 300 indigenous residents of the municipality of Silvia seized control of part of the Puerta de Hierro ranch belonging to Eduardo Estela Garrido, who complained that the police and the army of the jurisdiction could not intervene to protect his lands.

“We raise fighting bulls on the ranch, a business that is totally legal but which at the moment does not receive the backing and protection of the national government,” Garrido said. (more…)

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for September 27.  See original article here.]

Bogotá – The attorney general of Colombia on Monday removed opposition Senator Piedad Córdoba from office and barred her from holding any public position for 18 years because of her alleged ties with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

The ruling was announced by the public ministry on Monday after confirmation of reports that the opposition legislator maintained a relation with the FARC, the largest and oldest guerrilla force operating in the South American country.

The ruling, which renders the Colombian senator politically powerless, can be appealed on petition by the accused, judicial sources stated on Monday. (more…)