From: Hope Benne
Dear Friends:
Frida Berrigan, recent graduate of Oberlin College and daughter of Philip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister (distinguished Catholic Worker and Plowshare 8 activists) now works for the Arms Trade Resource Center in New York City. She recently wrote a newsletter article about Colombia, and, while it's a story indeed familiar to us, I thought you might like to see it. Best wishes, Hope Benne
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COLOMBIA'S OIL, OUR WEAPONS
Frida Berrigan
Mario Murillo, the host and producer of Wake Up Call Fridays on WBAI radio in New York City, says that if you really want to know what's going on, you have to read the "World Business" section of the New YorkTimes. He sure is right.
On Friday, October 22, on the front page of the "World Business": section, sandwiched between "Arts and Leisure" and "Real Estate" the following blaring headline is buried: "Safeguarding Colombia's Oil."
If the New York Times wanted to engage in real truth telling, it should actually read "Safeguarding America's Oil," because, as the article goes on to explicate, that is how the United States is treating Colombia's oil.
With a dateline: Puerto Vega, Colombia, reporter Juan Forero writes:
"In the biggest, most ambitious army offensive in Colombia's 40-year rebel war, 18,000 counterinsurgency troops have since January fanned out across four isolated southern states, a lawless swath that for years functioned as a de facto republic for Marxist rebels.
"Aided by American helicopters, planning and surveillance, Colombian forces have the stated goal of penetrating the historic heart of Colombia's largest rebel group to "strike a decisive blow to narco-terrorists," as Gen. James Hill, the commander of United States forces in Latin America, put it earlier this year.
"The Bush administration, meanwhile, reversed American policy and dispatched Special Forces trainers from Fort Bragg, NC to train Colombian soldiers to protect a 500 mile pipeline used by Occidental Petroleum."
The article goes on to talk about how this level of American intervention is helping Colombia attract new investment in its oil production: ExxonMobil has moved in, ChevronTexaco has extended contracts, Harken Energy Company, Bush's former company, has signed a new exploration contract.
As Major Pedro Sanchez, who is the second in command of the battalion protecting oil installations, says, "there's a feeling of safety, that we are keeping the peace. We provide confidence so companies can explore here."
But what about the Colombian people? Do they enjoy a feeling of safety? Do they have any confidence?
According to the Washington Office on Latin American, Colombia suffers the most dire human rights situation in the Western Hemisphere. Leftist guerrillas fight the state and officially outlawed right-wing paramilitary organizations, which are often allied with sectors of the Colombian armed forces. Civilians caught between the warring groups suffer the majority of the casualties, and 2.7 million Colombians live as internal refugees. The State Department's annual human rights report 2003, found that the Colombian military continued to collaborate with illegal paramilitary groups, and impunity remained a core problem
COLOMBIA RESOURCES: The Arms Trade Resource Center is tracking this issue carefully as we put the "finishing touches" on our long awaited WEAPONS AT WAR report, documenting U.S. weapons sales and military aid to regions of conflict. We will let you know when this report is available.
In the meantime, Center for International Policy, Latin America Working Group, and the Washington Office on Latin America have worked together on an important new report, "BLURRING THE LINES: Trends in U.S. Military Programs With Latin America," http://ciponline.org/facts/0410btl.pdf
In 2003, write the report's authors, U.S. military aid to Colombia
came to $860 million dollars, just short of the $921 million spent on
economic and humanitarian assistance in the same year. The report
warns that, if recent trends hold, military aid may actually exceed economic
assistance.
