Colombia updates

A few items from ABColombia Group's November 8 email edition of Colombia This Week

In yet another indication of the ties between the Colombian government and the paramilitaries, the conservative Colombian newspaper, El Tiempo,:

reported that DAS [Colombian intelligence agency] officers were secretly taped while discussing alleged plans by a close aide to former DAS Director Jorge Noguera to sell intelligence data to paramilitary leaders. The newspaper claimed that DAS deputy Jorge Narvaez asked for the recording to be made to ensnare his boss in the scandal, revealing deep divisions within the agency. The vice-minister of defence, Andres Peñate, has taken over the DAS while the government investigates the allegations.

A few more excerpts:

The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) denounces to the national and the international community the recent death threats against Manuel Rozental, an internationally recognised Colombian activist who has been helping to coordinate the communications strategy of the ACIN indigenous organisation that has vociferously opposed the signature of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. It is not known which armed group is behind the threats.
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As approved, Colombia's "Justice and Peace" law has too many loopholes. There is hardly any penalty for "forgetting" to confess a massacre or an illegal asset. In short, the full truth is not required. Too few prosecutors with too little time for investigation and case preparation virtually guarantees that many atrocities will go unexamined. A notorious narco-trafficker who confesses to every drug offence will face a sentence of as little as two to three years for all crimes, -and his extradition to face those charges in the US will be blocked through a prohibition on double jeopardy. Evidence of the law's failings comes from a new Human Rights Watch report. It says that of 5,000 AUC combatants disarmed so far, only 25 have been detained or charged; combatants, moreover, aren't being asked to divulge details of crimes, criminal networks or illicit assets, Miami Herald reports.
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The Colombian government has lobbied hard to win international respectability for a peace plan that human rights organisations believe will entrench the political and economic power of a mafia guilty of drug trafficking, extortion and gross human-rights abuses. The endorsement given by the EU's council of ministers last month is counted as a major diplomatic victory. There is little hope of justice for the victims; of the 5,000 paramilitaries who have demobilised, only 25 had been detained for atrocities up to April. The government claims there is a paramilitary ceasefire, but has turned a blind eye to repeated violations; one commander is being legitimised even though he has been accused of ordering the assassination of a congressman in April. The government has ignored criticism of the law from the UN high commissioner for human rights, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, several US senators and many non-governmental organisations, Isabel Hilton reports in The Guardian.
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The US Congress has agreed to help fund the demobilisation of thousands of Colombian paramilitaries. It approved a contribution of $20m from next year's budget, but set several conditions for releasing it. Congress said the state department had to certify that Colombia was co-operating fully with the extradition of paramilitary commanders. Many of them are sought by the US on charges of human rights abuses or drug trafficking. The contribution agreed by the US Congress is less than Bogota wanted, but the Colombian Ambassador to Washington, Andres Pastrana, said it was a diplomatic boost, BBC reports.