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[Translation of an article from El Colombiano of Medellín for May 16, 2013. See original here.]

By Daniel Rivera Marín

Sunday, April 19, marks six months since the government and FARC sat down in Havana, Cuba, to negotiate peace and the first item on the agenda has not been exhausted, although both sides expect that by the end of this cycle, which is the ninth, a first agreement can be announced.

And if not, analysts agree, a signal that is not very favorable will shape public opinion, considering that President Juan Manuel Santos has spoken of a short peace process, with negotiations beginning in November, 2012, and ending, supposedly, in November, 2013, while FARC has said repeatedly that no exact period can be set.

On this topic, Sergio Jaramillo, high commissioner of peace [in the Santos administration], said, “The government is not interested in talking with FARC in Havana forever; the government does not want to talk with FARC beyond this year. The government wants to arrive at the signing of a final accord that allows us to begin the phase of a transition to peace.” (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Clarín of Santiago, Chile, for April 9, 2013. See original here.]

by Juan Diego García

In February, 1948, a leader of the people, Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, led a massive demonstration that moved in complete silence through the center of the capital city and ended with the reading of the “Prayer for Peace,” a call for the conservative government of the time to put an end to the civil war that was bleeding the country dry and was being orchestrated directly from government offices. A little less than two months later, on April 9, a gunman shot him to death, sparking a popular uprising throughout the country which by tradition has been known ever since as “El Bogotazo.” Lacking in guidance and leaders, the uprising was snuffed out without its ever being known for certain how many humble men and women were shot down by the armed forces. (more…)

The truth and the lies about a heroic guerrilla movement

[Translation of an article from Brasil de Fato of São Paulo for February 8. See original here and related articles here and here.]

By Miguel Urbano Rodrigues

There is no hiding the fact these days that the Juan Manuel Santos administration is not interested in having the Havana peace talks attain the objective of the agreement sketched out in Oslo with the sponsorship of Norway and Cuba. On the contrary, it makes an effort to prevent their leading to an end of the conflict and to the peace that the Colombian people want.

The head of the Bogotá delegation, Humberto de la Calle, repeatedly finds pretexts for threatening to end the talks, preventing the discussion of items on the agenda from moving forward.

The capture of two police officers in the Valle department, supposedly by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the Ejército Popular (EP), is the latest of these pretexts. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Carta Maior of São Paulo, Brazil, for October 25. See original here.]

By Marcel Gomes

In the face of slow progress in the negotiations between the government of Colombia and the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) in Oslo and Havana, economist Héctor-León Moncayo, a member of the Instituto Latinoamericano para una Sociedad y un Derecho Alternativos (ILSA), one of the most important NGOs in Bogotá, points out that the “Colombian agrarian question,” one of the reasons the insurgency exists, is also one of the main obstacles to the achievement of peace.

In the past few years, the country has seen a new wave of investment in agriculture and mineral extraction, threatening areas traditionally occupied by small producers and indigenous peoples. The greater part of the armed ranks of the FARC come from these sectors of society. (more…)

Timochenko accuses Santos of creating false hope

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for September 20. See original here.]

Bogotá, September 19 – The top commander of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Londoño, known as Timochenko, says no deadline for reaching an agreement in the near future should be placed on the peace process with the government that is to begin next month, according to statements released today.

Timochenko told the weekly Voz, organ of the communist party, that President Juan Manual Santos has made a point of saying that the process should last “months and not years,” which could create false expectations.

The guerrilla chief stated that in the secret meetings held by the two sides in Cuba between February and August there was never talk of how long the negotiations, which are to begin in Oslo, Norway, on October 18, might last. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Brasil de Fato of São Paulo for July 18. See original here.]

by Elaine Tavares

In the past few days, the Brazilian media have carried the news that a group of Colombian Indians occupied a military base in the city of Toribío, in the Cauca region, and expelled the army. The articles describe how the indigenous peoples were tired of living in the crossfire between state forces and the guerrilla commanded by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, the FARC. But the news in itself, as printed, gives no account of the long process of struggle and resistance carried on by the indigenous communities of that strategic region. As always, the Brazilian press is lacking in contextualization of the facts. (more…)

[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…)