Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) was looking into the issue of the FARC hostage crisis and the search for a humanitarian accord. To read more about McGovern’s visit, click here [2].

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examination of records shows [3].

The Colombian Public Ministry is investigating Colonel Horacio Arbelaez, former director of the Army’s Joint Intelligence Center; Major Javier Efrén Hermida Benavides; and Captain Luis Eduardo Barrero for orchestrating placement of bombs in a Bogotá shopping mall and other sites in July 2006, on the eve of President Uribe’s inauguration for his second term. At the time of the bombing and false attacks, they were attributed to guerrillas of the FARC. In most cases, the bombs weren’t detonated, but were denounced by the accused officers and deactivated to demonstrate the FARC threat and show military intelligence was doing its work.

According to SOA Watch [4], Hermida took two courses at the School of the Americas, including a three-month military intelligence intensive in 2000, while Arbelaez took an infantry course at the School in 1981. A statistical study by sociologist Katherine McCoy found that the more courses Latin American officers took at the School, the more likely they were to commit abuses. (Latin American Perspectives, 2005 [5])

In addition, the Army Joint Intelligence Center that Arbelaez directed receives U.S. aid, according to a State Department list of units vetted to receive assistance [6].

The officers reportedly collaborated with a FARC deserter on placing the bombs, according to tapes, videos and documents [7]. Hermida, who claims his innocence, told a Colombian radio station [8] that the operation at the shopping mall was carried out with knowledge of high military officials.

Hermida and Barrero also face criminal charges for the false attacks, five of which had been united into one case by the Prosecutor General’s office.

Arbelaez, who is now Colombia’s defense attache in Israel, was previously head of intelligence for the Army’s 18th Brigade [9]. That brigade, based in oil-rich Arauca state, has received extensive assistance and in-country training from U.S. Special Forces.

Press reports identified Hermida and Barrero as belonging to the Army’s 13th Brigade [10], part of which receives U.S. assistance, as well as to a regional military intelligence center that also receives U.S. aid.

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article [11] was printed that cited “leftist organizations as part of the FARC’s strategy to wage political and judicial war against the military” and that the investigation into the February 2005 massacre of peace community members was an effort to frame the military. It specifically mentioned Justicia y Paz, Colectivo de Abogados Jose Alvear Restrepo, Red Europea de Hermandad con Colombia, Comite de Solidaridad con Presos Politicos, Minga and Peace Brigades International.

FOR led an effort to write a sign-on letter, which responded to these accusations and asserted that they put the legitimate work of human rights defenders and communities in danger. Such libelous statements put at grave risk these national human rights organizations, the safety of the peace community San Jose de Apartado and, by including PBI, the ability of this and other international organizations to offer protection to our counterparts. The letter [12] was signed by 22 organizations and printed in the editorial page of the newspaper, the following weekend, December 22nd, 2007.

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Read the full interview in Spanish here [13].

As part of the legal proceedings in case 3856, the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Special Invesitagions Unit of the Attorney General’s office, opened a formal investigation against 23 businessmen and land buyers from Antioquia whose companies occupy the collective territories of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó in the lower Atrato river region of Choco. Among the crimes committed are forced displacement, land usurpation, falsifying public documents and crimes against the environment.

According to the information published in the newspaper, the actions of these businessmen are associated with the presence of paramilitaries in the region since 1996. Demobilized paramilitary boss Fredy Rendon Herrera alias “El Aleman,” made declarations stating that the military control of the region happened as part of an operation carried out by the brothers Castaño Gil, and that it wasn’t until the year 2001, when african palm started being planted, that the area was given over to the control of the Elmer Cardenas block. Mario Iguaran affirmed in the interview “the paramilitaries weren’t looking for anyone, but rather, people looked for them” (meaning it wasn’t the companies which started their businesses and then found the paramilitaries to protect them, but the companies who sent the paramilitaries in to clear and take control of the land).

While this investigation is a positive step forward, the organization Justicia y Paz warns that the displaced communities still face risks as they affirm their rights to Life and Territory. Read the full communiqué [14] of La Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz.

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Click here to read the full interview [15].

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Click here to make a secure online donation [16] to help make this delegation possible. (Please note "Colombia Youth Delegation" in the Special Instructions area.)

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