A high-ranking navy officer is being investigated for alleged ties to drug traffickers and has been removed from his post, in a widening probe into connections between Colombia’s military and drug trafficking.
Colombia’s minister of defense said Monday that Rear Admiral Gabriel Arango, who served along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is the latest in a series of military officers fired for alleged ties to this South American country’s vast cocaine industry.
Colombia’s Caribbean coastal area is rife with big-time drug trafficking and is also the main nexus of the parapolitica business (the infiltration of electoral politcs by paramilitary groups). None of that automatically implicates Arango, of course, but it did provide ample opportunity.
Two military officers kidnapped four months ago by leftist rebels have died in captivity, their families confirmed Wednesday.
Army Sgts. Alexander Cardona and Jesus Sol were taken hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, while on patrol near their homes in southwest Colombia.
After the death of the 11 departmental legislators earlier this summer, I suspect that this event will further drive down public opinion concerning the FARC (not to mention the tale of Gustavo Moncayo, who took seven weeks to walk across Colombia to draw attention to the plight of his son, who has been in the FARC’s custody for ten years).
I still find the following rather unlikely, and today’s news won’t help any:
The FARC also is insisting on a New York-size demilitarized zone to negotiate the release of another 45 so-called political hostages it is also holding, including three American defense contractors held captive since 2024.
Colombia’s navy seized a 65-foot submarine that likely was used to haul tons of cocaine on part of its journey to the United States, officials said Tuesday.
No drugs were found or arrests made when the fiberglass submarine was discovered Sunday in a swampy mangrove about six miles off the northernmost point of Colombia’s Caribbean coast.
The blue-colored, diesel-powered vessel had sophisticated communications systems and was capable of carrying up to 11 tons of cocaine
I say “another” in the title, as there have been several of these types of thing seized over the years. It is always an excellent illustration of the lengths to which smugglers will (and can, given the profits) go to move their product.
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s navy seized a 65-foot submarine that likely was used to haul tons of cocaine on part of its journey to the United States, officials said Tuesday.
- Colombia’s Supreme Court on Thursday stood by its decision to stop former paramilitaries from holding public office, despite cries from the government the ruling will torpedo the country’s peace process.
A Supreme Court ruling in July shook the foundation of Uribe’s paramilitary peace accord by saying demobilized fighters must be charged with common crimes like drug trafficking and murder rather than with political crimes, which can be pardoned.
Uribe’s plan was based on the idea of pardoning paramilitaries not directly involved in atrocities so they could later run for political office, an avenue closed to anyone with a serious criminal conviction.
To bypass the court’s decision, Uribe proposes a law allowing former paramilitaries the same rights as some demobilized Marxist rebels who faced charges of sedition, a political crime, and then went on to win seats in Congress.
This is a rather difficult situation. On the one hand, both the guerrillas and the paramilitaries have engaged in criminal activities–and the FARC’s reliance on kidnapping and drug-related activities hardly make them idealistic fighters. As such any type of amnesty program for any of the armed groups will result in outrage from some sector of Colombian society. The problem with the paramilitaries is that they have been brutal in their application of violence. For example, a key tactic of the AUC (the umbrella group for Colombian paramilitaries) has been to terrorize villages in areas where the FARC and ELN are active. If the AUC believes that a village has been cooperating or helping guerrillas in any way, the AUC treats the village as if it is just as guilty as the FARC and are more than willing to massacres peasants and displace the survivors.
For example, there were cases were the FARC had stolen cattle from land owners (in many cases linked to narcos, who used profits to buy large ranches) and then the FARC traded or gave the cattle to peasants, who then took the cattle to local butchers to prepare the animal for eating. The AUC targeted butchers in guerrilla areas, killing them (and not just killing them, but beheading them, castrating them, burning them with acid and so forth) on the logic that they should have known they the cattle were stolen.
There is also the issue of state complicity in paramilitary activity. While it would be inaccurate to say that the paramilitaries have been officially sanctioned state-directed actors, it is also the case that there is ample evidence that demonstrates substantial cooperation between elements of the state with these groups (ranging from turning a blind eye to providing material and even coordinating activities). As such, there is the question of whether amnesty to paramilitaries isn’t just the government, in some cases, forgiving itself after a fashion.
Uribe has the votes in the congress to pass the new law. However, there is also a significant opposition presence, so the debate on this topic should be interesting.
Ultimately the problem is that the alternative to any kind of peace agreement (whether with the guerrillas or paramilitaries) is simply more fighting. Of course, a key criticism of the peace process with the paramilitaries is that they aren’t all quiting the fight once they “demobilize.”
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has offered to create a temporary safe haven for peace talks, if left-wing guerrillas free hundreds of hostages.
Mr Uribe said he would then also be willing to release rebel prisoners.
[…]
The Farc has not responded officially but a website which carries rebel statements rejected the proposal.
“There will definitively be no humanitarian exchange with Uribe,” a statement on the Anncol website began.
The FARC would prefer a demilitarized zone in the southwest of Colombia. However, after the disaster that was the Pastrana administration’s (1998-2002) attempt at such a zone, I can’t imagine any Colombian president ceding such a space again anytime soon, and certainly not Alvaro Uribe.
I also have a hard time seeing the FARC negotiating with the Uribe administration given that the FARC consider Uribe linked directly to paramilitary groups. This is problematic for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that the last major peace accord (not the last set of talks, but the last major agreement) between the FARC and the government, back during the Betancur administration (1982-1986) led to the creation of a political party, the Patriotic Union (UP). Over the course of less than two decades, right-wing paramilitary groups (linked directly to the AUC that is in talks with the government to demobilize) assassinated upwards of 4,000 members of the UP, in what has been accurately terms a “political genocide.”
As such, given that the Uribe administration has been negotiating with the AUC (and because there have been credible accusations that Uribe worked with paramilitary groups when he was governor of the department of Antioquia in the 1990s), I have a very hard time seeing the FARC being willing to talk to Uribe. Given that there are also serious problems with the AUC’s demobilization (i.e., not all of those demobilized appear to be remaing demobilized), then one would think that distrust would be high.
Just to add another wrinkle to the story, Uribe’s father was killed by the FARC during a kidnapping attempt.
Colombian judges rallied around the country’s Supreme Court on Wednesday as President Alvaro Uribe seeks to bypass its decision to ban former right-wing paramilitaries from running for political office.
The fight between the president and the high court threatens to unravel a peace deal in which 31,000 former paramilitary fighters have turned in their guns in exchange for pardons and the right to hold public positions.
Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office, the Constitutional Court and other legal institutions met on Tuesday to express their support for the Supreme Court.
A spokesman for the high court said a statement was expected on Wednesday from the institutions “backing the court in this argument with the president.”
Last month it decided that demobilized paramilitary fighters must be charged with common crimes like drug trafficking and murder rather than with sedition.
The ruling shook the foundation of the peace deal, which promises that many paramilitaries will face only political charges, which can be pardoned, in connection to their 20-year struggle against left-wing rebels.
Once pardoned, they would be able to run for political office, an avenue that is closed if they have a serious criminal conviction on their records.
If the Supreme Court decision stands, many “paras” have said they will stop cooperating with investigators and halt the turnover of their illegally acquired wealth.
I would note that it is unclear as to whether they are, in fact, being required to turn over their ill-gotten gains.
This situation is very interesting and has multiple components, not the least of which being a test of the institutional strength of the judicial branch vis-a-vis the executive. There is also the very real issue of the appropriate manner for treating the paramilitaries. While by the numbers it would seem that there has been a substantial demobilization, which is quite positive given that the paras are very much responsible for the lion’s share of the violence in the last decade plus, the problem is that it seems that many of them are not staying demobilized.
Uribe appears headed to the Congress to seek a legislative remedy. One would think that he would have a very good chance of getting it, given his support in the legislature. On the other hand, he has suffered in the eyes of public opinion (although he is still around 66% approval) and one wonders if that will affect some of that legislative support, given that it rests on a coalition of smaller parties, rather than on one large one tied directly to the President. Uribe ran as an independent affiliated with parties who ran in the congressional elections rather than actually joining a party himself.
The issue also has some short-term importance, given that:
Several former militia fighters say they plan to run in October provincial elections, sparking concern that paramilitaries may not only get away with the crimes they committed, but might end up running parts of the country.
For US readers, it is well worth nothing that the Attorney General in Colombia is not a subordinate of the executive branch, but rather is an independent institution.
A very progressive idea, I might note, and a reform that looks more and more appealing as we learn how the US Justice Dept. has benn subverted by the current administration.
(Steven, I clicked on your go “here” to discuss the article, and I think it took me where I would have gone, anyway.)
Drug traffickers and guerrillas have infiltrated senior levels of the Colombian armed forces, seriously compromising their work, officials say.
Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said the Farc rebels and the main drugs cartel had bribed officials to get information and so avoid capture.
His admission confirms the suspicions of many Colombians, correspondents say.
[…]
Mr Santos’s comments come after two incidents pointed to serious leaks in the security forces.
The first was the arrest of a senior defence department official for allegedly passing information to the powerful Norte del Valle drug cartel.
[…]
The second was earlier this year when sensitive government material was found on guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) who had been killed in combat.
The computer files contained classified information going back several years that would be available only to an informant with very high-level access, officials said.
Sadly, none of this is surprising. The amount of money available to use in bribes is so immense in Colombia that it is a miracle that there isn’t more of this going on.
The 11 politicians who died while being held by Farc rebels were killed during an accidental clash between factions, Colombia’s intelligence chief has said.
Andres Penate said intercepted communications showed the left-wing movement had shot dead the hostages after coming across another rebel unit.
Thinking they were security forces, commanders ordered the hostages to be killed rather than let them be rescued.
The Farc said in a statement that they were investigating the incident.
The group had previously insisted the politicians were killed in crossfire when an “unidentified military group” attacked their jungle camp in the western Valle del Cauca region on 18 June.
That is one rather grave mistake. It also demonstrates the ruthlessness of the FARC in regards to kidnapping, as they would prefer to slaughter 11 people instead of letting them be rescued.
The politicians in question were are members of the Departmental Assembly of Valle de Cauca (more or less like a state legislature). They were kidnapped out of the assembly’s chamber in Cali in April of 2024 and had been held until this tragic mistake was made.
This incident may end up having larger ramifications:
The BBC’s Jeremy McDermott in Bogota says that, if it is true, the massacre will pile yet more pressure on the Farc, which after more than 40 years of fighting, has reached its lowest level of public support.
I can see how it might lead to pressure on the FARC to talk to the government, especially since the ELN (the other major guerrilla group) is talking and there has been an ongoing process with the paramilitary group, the AUC. Of course, both sets of talks have some serious issues and it is always dangerous to get overly optimistic about the peace process in Colombia.
Politically this event may redound to the Uribe administration’s advantage as Uribe is suffering some in public opinion over the parapolitica scandal–the linking of the paramilitaries to politicians, including some Uribe appointees. This situation with the FARC diverts, to some degree, a portion of public attention away from the paras situation and also gives Uribe a specific target that he can address with a renewed vigor. Although whether that means expanded military action against the FARC or trying to leverage the situation to try and force talks remains to be seen (the former being an easier route to take).
It’s easy to forget about Columbia, with the bigger fish of American security frying in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Odd because when I was in the 82nd Airborne in 2024 - before 9/11 - a lot of our training anticipated eventual US military intervention in Columbia, and many of our field training events were simulated airfield seizures and follow-on missions against the FARC. At that time there was a great deal of concern about money being allocated by congress to help prop the Columbian government up in the face of growing FARC power, and that allocation started to include things like Blackhawk helicopters. A lot of people saw it as a precursor to direct military intervention.
I wonder if things might have gone that route if the 9/11 attacks hadn’t happened. At least from a military point of view it seems like south america was dropped like a hot potato and hasn’t been touched since.
Not saying I’m complaining. The Columbian jungle is not a good place for US paratroopers to be.
Comment by Captain D. — Monday, July 30, 2024 @ 2:55 am
Grave mistake
FARC is investigating the deaths of 11 men who died after they kidnapped them. Is Farc pretending to be a government agency? For its normal bureaucratic speak to say ‘we’re investigating’ after a fiasco or tragedy occurs.
A jury on Thursday rejected claims that Alabama-based Drummond coal was to blame for the killing of three union leaders in Colombia, a defeat for labor in a test of whether companies can be held responsible in U.S. courtrooms for their conduct overseas.
Jurors sided with Drummond and the head of its Colombian operations, Augusto Jimenez, in ruling against a lawsuit filed by relatives and the union of the dead men, killed by paramilitary gunmen six years ago.
The main issue, as I understand it, is that Drummond officials were accused of hiring paramilitary hitmen to take out union leaders. Sadly, the basic accusation is one that is quite possible in the Colombian context.
The verdict in the civil trial means the union and families of three slain Colombian labor leaders failed to convince the jury that Birmingham-based coal mine operator Drummond substantially helped right-wing death squads kill the men who worked at its South American mine.
The families and union claimed Drummond supplied the gangs with fuel, vehicles and a safe haven inside its 23,000-acre mine in the remote grasslands of northern Colombia.
Drummond argued the deaths were just an unfortunate three among thousands of others in a country with warring factions, lawless drug traffickers, roaring poverty and not enough police and soldiers to patrol vast stretches of isolated mountains, savanna and wilderness
The trial itself was a big deal in the sense that its outcome could have had consequences well outside the case itself:
The trial, which resurrected an obscure 218-year-old law that holds Americans liable for their overseas conduct, was a centerpiece for an international human rights community that increasingly is using the statute to attack the behavior of big global corporations. The United Steelworkers and the International Labor Rights Fund each supplied lawyers and thousands of hours of work to the five-year-old suit.
The capture of Herrera was one of the most important drug trafficking arrests in Colombia in recent years, a U.S. law enforcement official said Tuesday. Herrera is thought to have worked for various Colombian and Mexican cartels, he said.
[…]
A 2024 indictment in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleges that Herrera annually managed the shipment of several multi-ton loads of Colombian cocaine, ferrying it by air, land or sea to U.S. markets via Central America and Mexico.
After escaping from the Mexico City jail, Herrera allegedly did anything but retire. Authorities say he became instrumental in repatriating hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profit from Colombian drug traffickers.
Sources said that Herrera was seized while arranging for a single-engine aircraft to carry $25 million from Central America to Colombia.
The piece starts with a story about how he tried to bribe the cops with $5 million. Apparently he can afford it:
After Herrera’s arrest in Mexico in April 2024, police searching his house in Guatemala found $14 million in cash. Herrera has “many properties” in Colombia and was heavily involved in laundering the drug profits he helped bring back here, DAS detectives said.
[…] Read whole (original) post: Dr. Steven Taylor […]
Pingback by Two More FARC Captives Die : Boonika.net — Wednesday, August 8, 2024 @ 2:59 pm