Colombia (Super thread)

[D-n-A]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27328148.htm

BOGOTA, Colombia, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Marxist rebels killed 24 Colombian soldiers sent to help destroy coca plants in the country's southern jungles on Tuesday in the worst blow against the military in at least three years, the army said.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attacked the soldiers near the town of Vista Hermosa in Meta province, an army spokesman said.

Details of the attack were not immediately available but the military death toll was the worst for any single incident since President Alvaro Uribe took office in late 2002 promising to crack down on the rebel army known by its Spanish initials FARC.

The soldiers were providing security for another army team which was manually destroying coca plants, the army said. Coca leaf is the raw material of cocaine.

The 17,000-strong FARC, which has been fighting for socialist revolution since 1964, draws much of its money from the cocaine trade. The peasant militia, which has little support in Colombia's cities, has staged several big attacks this year after a period of relative inactivity when Uribe stepped up military action against them.

Violence has fallen sharply during the Uribe government and polls say the right-wing president should easily win reelection next May.

But thousands of people are still killed in fighting in Colombia every year and at least 400 military personnel have been killed so far this year.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Chiquita Charged In Terror Investigation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070314/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terrorism_bananas

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer March 14, 2007

Banana company Chiquita Brands International said Wednesday it has agreed to a $25 million fine and admit paying a Colombian terrorist group for protection in a volatile farming part of the country.

The settlement resolves a lengthy Justice Department investigation into the company's financial dealings with terrorist organizations in Colombia.

In court documents filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers paid about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

The AUC has been responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia's civil conflict and is responsible for a sizable percentage of the country's cocaine exports. The right-wing group was designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization in September 2001.

Prosecutors said the company made the payments in exchange for protection. The company also made similar payments to the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.

Colombia's banana-growing region is a zone that has been viciously fought over by leftist rebels and far-right paramilitaries.

"The information filed today is part of a plea agreement, which we view as a reasoned solution to the dilemma the company faced several years ago," Chiquita's chief executive, Fernando Aguirre, said in a statement. "The payments made by the company were always motivated by our good faith concern for the safety of our employees."

Details of the settlement were not included in court documents but Aguirre said it would pay $25 million in fines, which it set aside this year. The company reported the deal to the SEC. A plea hearing was scheduled for Monday.

The payments were approved by senior executives at Chiquita, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997 and disguised the payments in company books.

"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing.

Company attorneys made it clear the payments were improper, prosecutors said.

"Bottom line: CANNOT MAKE THE PAYMENT," the company's outside counsel advised in February 2003, according to an excerpt of a memo included in court documents.

In April 2003, company officials and lawyers approached the Justice Department and told prosecutors they had been making the payments. According to court documents, the payments continued for months.

The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty plea.
___
Associated Press writer Toby Muse in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
Chiquita: http://www.chiquita.com/


At least they've kept to their corporate heritage of bribery in the banana republics. 

 

[Yrys]

And I thought the title was a joke...

At least they've kept to their corporate heritage of bribery in the banana republics.

 

[harry8422]

That is a funny headline

 

[gaspasser]

Could it be that this is the way business is done in certain banana republics?  A criminal based economics system only makes the "bad guys" richer and the "businesses" safer.
My 0.02


PS: yes, the pun was intended.  ;D

 

[the 48th regulator]

Heh,

Unfortunately, I love my bananas and my Nike shoes.

And to get them we either pay the Terrorist, or the Sweat master so we can be well fed and look good.

dileas

tess

 

[Blackadder1916]

Colombia Seeks 8 Chiquita Employees
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4646791.html

By JAVIER BAENA Associated Press Writer March 20, 2007, 3:04PM

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's chief prosecutor said Tuesday he will demand the extradition of eight people employed by Chiquita allegedly involved with the company's payments to right-wing paramilitaries and leftist rebels to protect its banana-growing operation.

The prosecutor also said his office had opened a formal investigation into allegations that Alabama-based coal producer Drummond Co. Inc. collaborated with paramilitaries to kill union members. A civil lawsuit in the U.S. makes similar allegations, which the company has denied.

Chiquita Brands International pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. federal court to one count of doing business with a terrorist organization. The plea is part of a deal with prosecutors that calls for a $25 million fine and does not identify the several senior executives who approved the illegal protection payments.

The agreement ended a lengthy Justice Department investigation into the company's financial dealings with right-wing paramilitaries and leftist rebels the U.S. government deems terrorist groups.

Prosecutors say the Cincinnati-based company agreed to pay about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as AUC for its Spanish initials.

The AUC has been responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia's civil conflict and for a sizable percentage of the country's cocaine exports. The U.S. government designated the AUC a terrorist group in September 2001.

In addition to paying the AUC, prosecutors said, Chiquita made payments to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as control of the company's banana-growing area shifted.

Chiquita has said it was forced to make the payments and was acting only to ensure the safety of its workers.

But federal prosecutors noted that from 2001 to 2004, when Chiquita made $825,000 in illegal payments, the Colombian banana operation Banadex earned $49.4 million and was the company's most profitable unit.

In 2001, a Banadex ship was used to unload 3,000 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition for the paramilitaries, which were officially listed as a "terrorist organization" by the U.S. government two months earlier.

"They should be judged in Colombia, not only for the extortion payments, but also for the transport and safekeeping of 3,000 rifles," chief federal prosecutor Mario Iguaran told RCN radio.

Iguaran did not identify the people he hopes to extradite, and the U.S. complaint did not identify anyone by name — it simply said that 10 people working for Chiquita or its Banadex subsidiary were involved in the illegal payments.

Mike Mitchell, a spokesman for Chiquita, said the company was not aware of any extradition requests.

"As we have previously noted, Chiquita voluntarily disclosed to the Department of Justice and Chiquita also informed the Colombian government of the situation and the payments almost three years ago," Mitchell said.

Iguaran said the arms were used by the paramilitaries to push leftist rebels out of the zone in northern Colombia where Chiquita had its banana plantations.

Chiquita sold Banadex, its Colombian subsidiary, in June 2004 for around $43.5 million.

Drummond officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

"In the case of Drummond, there's a formal investigation. The investigation is well-advanced. Still, a decision has yet to be made," said Iguaran.

A Colombian union, Sintramienergetica, sued Drummond in 2002 in Birmingham, Ala., with help from the United Steelworkers of America, blaming the company for the paramilitary killings of three union leaders at the company's mine in northern Colombia in 2001.

"What we're seeing is some private business that recruit the (paramilitaries), aware of their conduct, to kill," said Iguaran.

Both companies have operated along the northern coast, long a paramilitary stronghold. Colombia is now in the midst of its worst political crisis in decades as evidence emerges of a symbiotic pact between politicians and the paramilitaries, in which the militias intimidated voters into supporting certain candidates in return for cuts of public contracts.
___
Associated Press writer Lisa Cornwell in Cincinnati contributed to this report.

Interesting that Chiquita only turned themselves in after having a very profitable period and around the time they sold the Colombian subsidiary.  But then, having a conscience has rarely interfered with business.  Should their motto be 'get out before you slip on a banana peel'.

 

[CougarKing]

Either Chavez just wants more attention these days or he is actually serious about helping his fellow Leftists across the border in Colombia.
:
Hopefully this action on his part is just more chest-thumping and will not actually lead to war.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23435878/

Chavez sends troops to Colombia border

Venezuelan leader warns neighbor’s action against rebels could lead to war
BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
updated 10:55 a.m. PT, Sun., March. 2, 2008

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered thousands of troops to the border with Colombia after Colombia's military killed a top rebel leader.

Chavez told his defense minister: "Move 10 battalions for me to the border with Colombia, immediately." He also ordered the Venezuelan Embassy in Colombia closed and said all embassy personnel would be withdrawn.

The announcements by Venezuela's leftist leader pushed relations to their tensest point of his nine-year presidency, and Chavez warned that Colombia could spark a war in South America.

He called the U.S.-allied government in Bogota "a terrorist state" and labeled President Alvaro Uribe "a criminal."

The leftist leader warned that Colombia’s slaying of rebel spokesman Raul Reyes could spark a war.

“It wasn’t any combat. It was a cowardly murder, all of it coldly calculated,” Chavez said.

“We pay tribute to a true revolutionary, who was Raul Reyes,” Chavez said, recalling that he had met rebel in Brazil in 1995 and calling him a “good revolutionary.”

Chavez: Colombia 'the Israel' of region
Chavez said he had just spoken to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and that Ecuador was also sending troops to its border with Colombia.

“The Colombian government has become the Israel of Latin America,” an agitated Chavez said, mentioning another country that he has criticized for its military strikes. “We aren’t going to permit Colombia to become the Israel of these lands.”

Chavez accused Uribe of being a puppet of Washington and acting on behalf of the U.S. government, saying “Dracula’s fangs (are) are covered in blood.”

“Some day Colombia will be freed from the hand of the (U.S.) empire,” Chavez said. “We have to liberate Colombia,” he added, saying Colombia’s people will eventually do away with its government.

The U.S. State Department had no immediate reaction to Chavez’s comments.

On Saturday, Chavez cautioned Uribe against similar military strikes along Venezuela’s border.

“Don’t think about doing that over here, because it would very serious, it would be cause for war,” Chavez said. “How far is President Uribe willing to go in his warlike madness?”

Chavez, who maintains warm relations with the Colombian guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said that “it was obscene to see the smiling faces” of Colombian military commanders standing behind Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos as he announced the death of FARC spokesman Raul Reyes and 16 other rebels on Saturday.

Colombia defends incursion
On Sunday, Colombia defended its decision to carry out the raid, saying it acted in self-defense.

“The terrorists, among them Raul Reyes, have had the custom of killing in Colombia and taking refuge in the territory of neighboring countries. Many times Colombia has suffered from this situation that we must avoid to protect our citizens,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Ecuador has done little to try to remove the heavily armed fighters from Colombia’s conflict who cross the long, porous border into its territory.

Colombia’s military tracked Reyes’ location through an informant and bombed a camp on its side of the Ecuadorean border, where Reyes was thought to be, Santos said. Ground troops moved in but came under attack from another camp across the border in Ecuador. When the military overran that camp, they found Reyes’ body, Santos said.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Uribe had informed him of the raid but later announced that he was misled after Ecuadorean officials inspected a bombed rebel camp.

Ecuador: 'Airspace was violated'
“The (Colombian) president either was poorly informed or brazenly lied to the president of Ecuador,” said Correa, who called home the ambassador to Colombia for consultation and promised a diplomatic note of protest.

“Clearly Ecuadorean airspace was violated” in the bombing, Correa said.

Uribe earlier called Reyes’ death a step forward in defeating terrorism.

“Today we’ve taken another step in the process of recuperating the respect of the people of Colombia, the respect that our people deserve,” Uribe told a news conference.

Combatants in Colombia’s bitter four-decade conflict frequently cross borders with Ecuador and Venezuela, creating friction between the neighbors.

Colombia and Venezuela have been locked in a diplomatic crisis since November, when Uribe ended Chavez’s official role negotiating a proposed hostages-for-prisoners swap.

Nevertheless, the FARC freed four hostages to Venezuelan officials last week, and they were reunited with their families in Caracas. It was the second unilateral release by the FARC this year.

Chavez has recently angered Uribe by urging world leaders to classify the leftist rebels as “insurgents” rather than “terrorists.”

The FARC has proposed trading some 40 remaining high-value captives, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors, for hundreds of imprisoned guerrillas.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[tomahawk6]

I hope Chavez gives us a reason to take out his oil facilities. No more money.

 

[Mike Baker]

Here is the CNN article on the subject.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

I hope Chavez gives us a reason to take out his oil facilities. No more money.

Can you wait until after winter? We are paying high enough gas prices at the moment lol

 

[Richie]

Hugo Chavez has been encountering political opposition at home. I think Colombia has provided him with an external enemy that he focus his people's anger on; oldest trick in the book. It will also allow him to justify spending more on Russian military equipment.

Personally, I wish Chavez would take the king of Spain's advice and just "shut up".

 

[CougarKing]

And there goes Ecuador too...

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080303/3/3g0u4.html

Venezuela, Ecuador send troops to Colombia border

CARACAS/QUITO (Reuters) - Venezuela and Ecuador sent troops to their borders with Colombia on Sunday after their Andean neighbour bombed Colombian rebels inside Ecuador in an attack Caracas said could spark a war.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also deployed tanks to the frontier, mobilized warplanes and withdrew his diplomats from Bogota in the worst dispute in the unstable region for years.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, a close ally of the leftist, anti-U.S. Chavez, expelled Colombia's ambassador and recalled his own envoy from Bogota in protest over what he said was an intentional violation of his nation's sovereignty.

Colombia responded to Correa by offering its apologies for the troops crossing the frontier, but said the operation on a jungle rebel camp was necessary because its forces came under fire from inside Ecuador.

But Colombia, a U.S. ally, also said it found documents at the camp that linked Correa to the guerrillas.

"May God spare us a war. But we are not going to allow them to violate our sovereign territory," Chavez, an ex-paratrooper said.

Colombia's troops killed on Saturday Raul Reyes, a leader of Marxist FARC rebels, during an attack on a jungle camp in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency. The operation included air strikes and fighting across the border.

Chavez, who had warned a similar operation in Venezuela would be "cause for war," threatened to send Russian-made fighter jets into U.S. ally Colombia if its troops also struck inside his OPEC country.

He and Correa both accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of lying over the attack.

Colombia said it had no intention of violating Ecuador's sovereignty, saying it acted in "legitimate defense."

TROOPS ON ALERT

But Correa said Colombian warplanes entered Ecuador's air space to bomb guerrillas while they were sleeping and then flew troops into the camp in helicopters.

"This was a massacre," said Correa. "We even found bodies shot in the back ... We will not allow this to go unpunished."

Venezuela's armed forces went on alert and will support Ecuador, its poorer, smaller ally, "to the last," Chavez said.

Washington, which backs Uribe's fight against the rebels with its largest military aid outside the Middle East, said it was monitoring developments after Chavez's "odd reaction."

France called for restraint on all sides, saying the situation underlined the need for the negotiated release of FARC hostages, including the most high-profile captive, French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

The FARC said in a statement the killing of a leader who had been involved in hostage talks should not affect moves to free captives, according to the Venezuelan government.

Uribe, who is popular at home for his tough stance against the rebels, has often jousted with neighbors over spillover from the four-decade conflict. But he has managed differences with pragmatism and disputes have rarely moved past rhetoric.

Political analysts said a conflict was unlikely because Chavez -- the leader of Andean leftists -- was more interested in firing up his support base with rhetoric against Colombia. He can ill afford to lose the neighbor's food imports amid chronic shortages, they added.

"We believe a military conflict between the two nations is unlikely at this stage but the growing political tension sets the stage for a potential overreaction to future events increasing the risk of costly miscalculations and missteps," Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos said.

Chavez has been in a diplomatic dispute with Uribe for months over his mediation to free the rebels' hostages. Uribe says Chavez used the talks to meddle in Colombian affairs.

The Venezuelan called the rebel leader's death the "cowardly assassination" of a "good revolutionary."

(Additional reporting by Caracas, Quito, Bogota bureaux, Jean-Baptiste Vey in Paris and David Alexander in Crawford)

 

[Falange]

Mr. Chavez pisses me off so much. For those who have seen his rants in "Alo Presidente" you just have to love how he calls everyonethat it is outside his "21st Century Socialism" club, immorals, puppies of the empire, criminals, assassins etc etc. However, it seems he has the moral high ground even though he provides weapons, political cover and assistance to the FARC. I remember from the time I spent in Bogota how they showed inthe news a time when the FARC actually  placed a collar bomb in the neck of a working class woman and then when an explosive technician from the national police was trying to safe this poor woman's life the FARC insurgents decide to activate the explosive device. way to go Mr. Chavez! you are saint for real and your buddies too!

 

[megany]

Based on the millions of Colombians who marched against the FARC on February 4 in Bogota and around the world, I would say that the FARC has definitely lost favour with Colombians.  I haven't met a single person who sympathized with them (unlike in years past when the FARC actually had an agenda beyond terrorism). 

In terms of Venezuela, public Colombian opinion is definitely against their government.  There was also a surprisingly high amount of anti-Chavez graffiti scattered around the walls in Bogota (in the poorer neighbourhoods and the fancy business parks we worked in) - I even saw a "NO CHAVEZ" scratched on a wall in a nightclub.  Our security escorts said that they felt Chavez was trying to ruin their country again just as they had been working so hard to build it back up.

I think someone should remind Dear Hugo that Colombia has a much better military...

 

[Panzer Grenadier]

If Hugo Chavez wants to start a war - go ahead - who's he going to blame once everything starts falling apart around him. Oh yeah that's right - George Bush.

 

[geo]

If Hugo Chavez wants to start a war - go ahead - who's he going to blame once everything starts falling apart around him. Oh yeah that's right - George Bush.

Nah.... Dubya's presidency is on the wane..... but should be good practice material for Barak, Hillary or John....

 

[LineDoggie]

I wonder when the Venezuelan Gleiwitz Incident is to take place.....

Whats Spanish for "Panzers Vorwarts"? :

Ecuador can be the USSR in this re-enactment

 

[tomahawk6]

Documents captured on Reyes laptop indicate Chavez paid $300m to FARC and helped them get uranium.Equador is also implicated which explains why they have their troops on Colombia's borders.
Brazil isnt too happy with Chavez so they probably would assist Colombia.Should get interesting.

 

[Falange]

Well, I would not see president Lula getting that involved appart from the mediator role if Chavez rotten brain sees a casus bellum and decides to attack Colombia. At least the ratification of Venezuela's membership into Mercosur (Southern Common Market) is at stake right now as the Brazilians and Paraguayans are not that impress with Mr. Chavez antics and they know that it could affect the political capital of the trading bloc. In reality there is no tradition of solid alliances in South America and countries have shifted their attituted towards their neighbours according to their national interest and the underlying ideological core behind it.

Well, the assistance story is an old one too. When I was in Bogota Caracol noticias and RCN always showed this reports in which the Colombian Army, National Police, or Marine Infantry would capture FARC insurgents. For their surprise they would be using FN FAL rifles that were originally issued to the Venezuelan army. And megsy is right, Colombians do feel an animosity towards Chavez because he has always used a hostile rethoric towards Colombia. There is the lasting impression that Chavez and his minions want to see Colombia weaken for both political and economic reasons. I remember when Chavez was first elected most people in Colombia thought Chavez would invade the Guajira region of Colombia as according to him that belonged to Venezuela