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Today's Stories

Justicia y Paz
Colombia's Disappeared: Their Names, At Least!

June 30, 2005

Kathy Kelly
An Open Letter to Carl Levin: Compassion for Iraqis

John Stauber
Oprah Not the "Only" Mad Cow in America

Virginia Rodino
All Roads Lead to Baghdad: Unity in the Anti-War Movement

Jason Leopold
Meet the New Chair of the FERC: James Kelliher, the Man Who Invited Enron to Write Bush's Energy Policy

Dave Lindorff
What Was Bush Thinking?

Greg Moses
Racism at Cape Cod

Norman Solomon
Memo to the Iraq War

Joshua Frank
Israel's Theocrats

Alexander Cockburn
The Political Function of PBS

 

June 29, 2005

Mike Schaefer
How the Washington Post Lied About Its Own War Poll

Roger Burbach / Paul Cantor
Bush's Big Democratic Hoax in Iraq

Sharon Smith
Democrats Shift into Reverse

Sam Husseini
A Quick Way to End the Insurgency

John Stauber
Put a Photo of Mad Cow #2 on a Milk Carton

Ahmad Faruqui
Is Militarism Irreversible in Pakistan?

Linda S. Heard
Bush's Speech: the View from Cairo

Stew Albert
Chet Helms: a Rock and Roll Hero

Ray McGovern
Bush at Ft. Bragg: Stay the Crooked Course

June 28, 2005

Paul Craig Roberts
A Defeat Bred in Deceit

Landau / Hassen
Bush's Meddling in Internal Syrian Politics

John A. Murphy
Keeping Nader Off the Ballot: an Analysis of Political Profiling in Pennsylvania

Mike Whitney
More Lies from Rumsfeld: Those "Meetings" with Insurgents

CounterPunch News Service
JFK on Staying in Vietnam: Is Bush Reading from Kennedy's Playbook?

Dave Zirin
Pining for the Pistons

Dave Lindorff
Showtime in Washington

Patrick Cockburn
Iraq: a Bloody Mess

 

June 27, 2005

Paul Craig Roberts
Blood Sacrifices for Empty Slogans

Mike Marqusee
G8: Who are the Hijackers?

Mark Scaramella
When a Corporate Raider Claims Economic Hardship: the Court-Approved Lies of Charles Hurwitz

Leigh Saavedra
Press Apologists for Torture

Kathy Kelly
Where is the UN?


June 25 / 26, 2005

Alexander Cockburn
The Supreme Court's Jackboot Liberals

Jennifer Van Bergen
America's Parallel Legal Systems

George Corsetti
This Land is Their Land: Condemnation for Corporations

Mark Chmiel / Andrew Wimmer
Let's Open the Gulag: a People's Mission to Gitmo

Kevin Zeese
Counter-Recruitment: How to Keep the Military From Getting their Hands on Your Kids

P. Sainath
Russian Roulette in Vidharbha

John Stauber
How to Bury a Mad Cow

Scott Handleman
Gay in the Third World

Tom Barry
The Politics & Ideologies of the Anti-Immigrationists

John Walsh
Looking for Peace in All the Wrong Places

Justin E.H. Smith
The Hairless Apes of Kansas vs. the Reality-Based Community: Why Progressives Have a Stake in the War on Evolution

Alan Wallis
The Story of Pinky: the Drug Trade in My Neighborhood

Ben Tripp
Negative Space: an Artful Lesson

Frederick B. Hudson
Songs to Lose Your Loneliness By: the Raised Voices of Sweet Honey in the Rock

Poets' Basement
Gaffney, Engel, Davies, and Albert

 

June 24, 2005

Ray McGovern
The Downing St. Fixation: Fixing to Fix "Fixed"

Jorge Mariscal
"They Only Call Us Americans When They Need Us for War": the Paradox of Mexican Americans in Iraq

Desiree Hellegers
Portland vs. the FBI

Zeynep Toufe
What Do the American People Know and When Did They Know It?

Joshua Frank
Call Him Senator Con Job

David Lindorff
Which Flag Would Jesus Burn?

Michael Neumann
Victory and Recruitment

Website of the Day
Gagging Dr. Dean

 

June 23, 2005

Christopher Brauchli
Thomas Griffith and Rule 49: He Practiced Law Without a License; Now He's a Federal Appeals Court Judge

Clay Conrad
Killing Off the Jury with Tort Reform

Standard Schaefer
A Retort to Military Neo-Liberalism

P. Sainath
Vidharbha: No rains and 116F, But It Does Have "Snow" and Water Parks

Mark Engler
CAFTA Deserves a Quiet Death

Norman Solomon
Voluntary Amnesia in America

Cockburn / St. Clair
Frank Calzon

Kathy Kelly
Where You Stand Determines What You See

 

 

June 22, 2005

Kevin Zeese
The Bush Administration's Psy-Ops on the American Public: an Interview with Col. Sam Gardiner

William S. Lind
Afghanistan: the Other War

Arsalan Iftikhar
Patriots Against the PATRIOT Act

Dan Nagengast
Give Populism a Chance: From France to Kansas

David Krieger
To the Graduates: We Live in an Interdependent World

Kathleen & Bill Christison
Tempest in Santa Fe: Confronting Israeli Myth-making

 

 

June 21, 2005

Brian Cloughley
Destroy the Unbelievers!

Mike Whitney
President Disconnect

Dave Lindorff
Who Needs Big Bird, Anyway?

Mark Weisbrot
Bush's Lonely Campaign Against Hugo Chavez

Matthew R. Simmons
The Coming Saudi Oil Crisis

Dave Zirin
The Crass Slipper Fits: Ron Howard's Terrible "Cinderella Man"

Virginia Rodino
The Anti-War Movement and Impeachment

Paul Craig Roberts
A War Waged by Liars and Morons

 

June 20, 2005

Alan Maass
The GM Job Massacre

Tariq Ali
To the Gates of the Gleneagles Hotel!

Mickey Z.
WMDs American-Style: It's 60 Years Since Alamogordo

William Blum
Some Things You Need to Know Before the World Ends

Gary Leupp
Old News Indeed: In 1999, Bush Craved Chance to Attack Iraq

Jason Leopold
Someone Tell Bush Iraq Wasn't Behind 9/11, Before He Starts Another War

Dave Lindorff
Why the Media Should be Schiavo'd

Alan Maass
The GM Job Massacre

Uri Avnery
Condi and Hamas

Website of the Day
Crimes Against Poetry

 

June 18 / 19, 2005

Alexander Cockburn
Is the Jury Dead?

Greg Moses
Race Bias and the Death Penalty, One More Time

Benjamin Shepard
Arrested for Stickering, Biking and Other Misadventures: Creative Direct Action in the Era of the PATRIOT Act

Stan Goff
Stuff to Do to Stop the War: 95 Days to Pre-Nixonize George W. Bush

Lee Sustar
Does Iraq's Main Labor Union Support the Occupation?

Jude Wanniski
The Tipping Point: Getting Out of Iraq

Diana Barahona
Librarians as Spooks: the Scheme to Infiltrate Cuba Via Libraries

Brian Concannon, Jr.
Justice Dodge in Haiti, Again: Impunity and the Raboteau Massacre

Fred Gardner
How Many Wins Can We Take?

Mike Whitney
Gen. Tommy Friedman's Plan to "Win" the War in Iraq: Reinstate the Draft

Ahmad Faruqui
Star Wars or Earth Wars?

Manuel García, Jr.
De-Eichmannizing America

Roger Howard
Leave Iranian Politics to Iranians

Ron Jacobs
Eros and the Grateful Dead

Ben Tripp
Situation Desperate: Why Am I Not Pleased?

Poets' Basement
Louise, Albert and Engel

Website of the Weekend
Christ's Entry into Washington

 

 

June 17, 2005

Ricardo Alarcón
Who Helped Posada Enter the US?

Clay Conrad
Medical Marijuana: Is Jury Nullification the Next Step?

Marc Estrin
Open-Ended Closure: the Death Penalty and the Culture of Victimhood

Colin Brown
Firebombing Fallujah: Pentagon Lied About Use of Napalm in Iraq

Christopher Brauchli
Pennies for Africa: Bush's Phony Money

Joshua Frank
Blue State Warriors: How Democrats Derailed the Peace Movement

Norman Solomon
The Killing Street Memo

Mary Rizzo
Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?

Bond / Brutus / Setshedi
How Bono and Trojan Horse NGOs Sabotage the Struggle Against Neoliberalism

 

June 16, 2005

John Walsh
The Iraq War Polls: Dems' Stance Even Less Popular Than Bush's

Dave Lindorff
Work 'Till You Die: the Bush Retirement Plan

Adrian Lomax
Torture in U.S. Prisons: Common, Lethal, Unreported

Tom Crumpacker
The CIA, Posada and the Bombing of Cubana Flight 455

Jeffrey Kolakowski
The Kinsley Paradigm: Downsizing the Downing St. Memo

Julene Bair
Turning Off the Ogallala Spigot: Toward a New Way to Farm on the Great Plains

Michael Dickinson
As We Forgive Our Debtors: the Madness of Money

Francois Houtart / Isabel Parra, et al.
Against Terrorism; In Defense of Humanity: an Appeal

Tom Barry
Meet Bolton's Replacement: Robert "First Strike" Joseph

 

 

June 15, 2005

Stan Goff
An Open Letter to US Troops on Loyalty

Daniel Wolff
The Palace at 4 A.M.

Tim Wise
Discover the Nutwork: David Horowitz and the Politics of Ad Hominem Distortion

Ricardo Alarcón
The New CIA Revelations About Posada

Joshua Frank
House Republicans vs. Bush: "This is Not a Conservative War"

John Hilary
Bloodsuckers' Summit: Why the Left Should Rendezvous at the G8

Norman Solomon
Iran's Reformers: a Threat to Theocrats and Neocons

Alexander Cockburn / Jeffrey St. Clair
Juries and Lynch Mobs

Website of the Day
What It Feels Like to be Tasered (Turn Up the Volume)

 

 

June 14, 2005

Paul Craig Roberts
Enabling Evil: Bush's Willing Executioners

Forrest Hylton
Stalemate in Bolivia

Richard Gott
The Crisis in Bolivia

Fred Gardner
The Raich Decision: All Power to the Feds

Steve Breyman
Doing the Right Thing is Also Politically Expedient

Dave Zirin
Sacred Hoops: Basketball in the Barrio

Robert Kent
Outsourcing Torture and the Stop-Loss Program

Paul Craig Roberts
Enabling Evil: Bush's Willing Executioners

 

June 13, 2005

Gary Leupp
Another Damning Document

Dave Lindorff
The Inca and Us

John Stauber
Mad Cow USA: the Cover-Up Begins to Unravel

Fred Gardner
Supreme Indignity: Medical Pot Doctors Respond to Justice Stevens

Evelyn J. Pringle
TeenScreen: the Lawsuits Begin

Norman Solomon
Letter From Tehran

Winslow T. Wheeler
Neo-Con Unfurls the Big Picture

 

June 10 / 12, 2005

Alexander Cockburn
Thomas Friedman's Imaginary World

Sharon Smith
Torturers and Liars: Masters of Deception

Brian Cloughley
"Support Our Torturers!"

Chris Kromm
Home Cookin': Pentagon's Base Relignment Plan Would Increase South's Share

Heather Gray
A Day in Mississippi: Some Things Have Changed; Some Remain the Same

Kevin Zeese
What the Left Must Learn from 2004: an Interview with Josh Frank

Mickey Z.
The Pentagon Papers, 34 Years Later

Gary Leupp
A Review of Sison's "At Home in the World"

Eli Stephens
The Asshole in El Paso: Why Posada Carriles Matters

Nick Dearden
A Scottish Band in the Occupied Territories

Oscar Olivera
Recovering Bolivia's Oil and Gas

Robert Fisk
Screening "Kingdom of Heaven" in Beirut

Michael Dickinson
Oh My God!: Gunning for Blasphemers

Poets' Basement
Engel, Albert, Louise, Ford

Website of the Weekend
Gravity's Rainbow, Illustrated

 


June 9, 2005

Len Colodny
Felt Was Asked Under Oath in 1975 If He Was "Deep Throat"

Christopher Brauchli
From Baseballs to Hand Grenades

Ron Jacobs
Light a Candle; Curse the Darkness

Dave Lindorff
US Media Shamed by Brit Journalist

Katrina Yeaw / Alex Schmaus
Repression 101: Anti-War Students Sanctioned at SFSU

Alan Farago
Spin Machine Busts a Gasket in the Everglades: Fed Judge Whacks Jeb

Saul Landau
The Charmed Life of a Mass Murderer

 

June 8, 2005

Jim Hougan
Strange Bedfellows
Deep Throat, Bob Woodward and the CIA

Alan Maass
Is Bolivia on the Edge of Revolution? an Interview with Tom Lewis

Jason Leopold
Enron Lives!: Former Army Sec. White Wants Govt. Money for New Energy Scam

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Exit Right, Advani: Unpardonable Acts of Statesmanship

Dave Zirin
The Rotting Soul of the 49ers

Derrick O'Keefe
Bush's Terrorist: the Case of Posada Carriles

Diana Johnstone
Non, Neen, Angelene!
Why Defenders of the "Oui" are Wrong

Website of the Day
The Meatrix

 

June 7, 2005

Forrest Hylton
Bolivia's Agony of the Stalement Continues

Greg Moses / Susan van Haitsma
Pushing Back the Violence

Lenni Brenner
What Madison Would Think About the Air Force Academy's Offical Fanatics

Col. Dan Smith
Liberation vs. Survival in Iraq

Joshua Frank
Dean at the DNC: the Establishment vs. the Elites

Dave Lindorff
Fair-Weather Allies: US Denies French Fighters Emergency Landing Rights

Margot Veranes / Adrian Navarro
Xenophobia in the Desert: Racist Fever Becomes Law in Arizona

Michael Neumann
Sharing Music: Property Gone Wild

 

June 6, 2005

Stew Albert
Everybody Must Get Busted: Supremes Rule Against the Sick

Paul Craig Roberts
Federal Bureau of Entrapment

Nicole Colson
Inside Walter Reed Hospital

Ali Khan
Friendly Renditions to Muslim Torture Chambers

Jason Leopold
When Will Rumsfeld Be Indicted?

Charles Walker Poff
Rumsfeld, China and Hypocrisy

Ramzy Baroud
My Grandpa's Right of Return

Rep. John Conyers
Did Bush Deliberately Deceive America About Iraq?

Evelyn Pringle
TeenScreen's Top Pusher

Gary Corseri
25 Reasons to Impeach Bush

Website of the Day
Save This 200 Year Old Burr Oak from Bible Thumpers with Chainsaws

 

June 4 / 5, 2005

Alexander Cockburn
France's Magnificent Non!

James Petras
The Centrality of Peasant Movements in Latin America

Robert Fisk
Who Killed Samir?

Patrick Cockburn
My Father, Claud Cockburn, the MI5 Suspect

Rev. William Alberts
When Pride in Power Corrupts: the Story of a Methodist President, His Bishops and an "Incompatible" Lesbian Minister

Saul Landau
40 Interns and a Mule: Will the Dems Ever Take Advantage of the Republicans' Blunders?

Mario Lamo Jimenez
Dante with a Brush: Botero Immortalizes Bush

Dave Lindorff
What is the Media Running From?

Lance Selfa
Why Bush is Getting Away with Murder

Tom Crumpacker
On the Use of State Terrorism: the Posada Precedent

Joshua Frank
How Beltway Dems Sank Dean for America

Fred Gardner
Don't Bogart That Taxable Commodity

Michael Dickinson
Roll Out the Barrel: Blood, Oil and Baku

Roger Martin
We Can See, But Not Far Enough

Reza Fiyouzat
Welcome to the Third World

Ben Tripp
Romance: Advice from a Pro

Graeme Greenback
Pardon Me, While I Piss on this Bible

Poets' Basement
Smith-Ferri, Albert, Engel, Smith

 

 

 

June 3, 2005

Paul Craig Roberts
Welcome to a Has-Been Country

Joseph Massad
Witch Hunt at Columbia

Jeff Halper
The Process of Transfer Continues

Tom Barry
The Immigration Debate: Whose Side Are You On?

Bruce K. Gagnon
Bush Seeks Military Control of Space: "It's Our Destiny"

Joshua Frank
Bombing Iran: Facts Don't Matter

Mickey Z.
Deep Throat as Sideshow

Gary Leupp
"Peddling Lies About How They Were Mistreated"

Website of the Day
Tattoo on My Heart: Warriors of Wounded Knee, 1973

 

 

June 2, 2005

Paul Craig Roberts
The Slave Traders of the Gitmo Gulag

Forrest Hylton
Bolivia: the Agony of Stalemate

Mike Whitney
Post-Mortem on the 4th Amendment: Warrants without Judges

Brian Cloughley
Anarchy in Afghanistan; Ignorance in America

Mazin Qumsiyeh
A Two-State Solution is No Solution

Russell D. Hoffman
High Tension at San Onofre

Norman Madarasz
"Le Jolie Mois de Mai": the Meaning of the French "Non"

Norman Solomon
War Made Easy: from Vietnam to Iraq

David Price
The Shallowness of Deep Throat

Website of the Day
Fallujah on Film

 

 

June 1, 2005

James Petras
Beyond Hypocrisy: the Deeper Meaning of Posada

Justin Delacour
Framing Venezuela: US Media Bias Against Chavez

Edward Jay Epstein
Was "Deep Throat" a Fictoid?

Omar Barghouti / Lisa Taraki
The AUT Boycott: Freedom vs. "Academic" Freedom

Dave Lindorff
When War Goes Off the Script

Kevin Zeese
Reality Check: Who to Believe on Iraq War and Gitmo?

Jason Leopold
When Presidents Lie

William S. Lind
Wreck It and Run

 

 

May 31, 2005

Sen. Mike Gravel
Thank You, Mark Felt: We Need a New Deep Throat

David Krieger
US Nuclear Hypocrisy

Tad Daley
The Nuclear Me-Too Club

Joshua Frank
Pelosi at AIPAC: Israel Comes First

Richard Gott
Chavez Leads the Way

Norman Solomon
Time to Get Serious About Impeachment

Tom Segev
Our Man in the Territories

Walter Brasch
Killing Americans with Secrecy

Diana Johnstone
The French "Non"

 

 

May 28 / 30, 2005

Alexander Cockburn
There's Their Way or the Galloway

Richard Lichtman
We Wuz Framed! the Consolations of George Lakoff

Sharon Smith
The Road to Abu Ghraib

Paul Craig Roberts
Bush Opts for Civil War in Iraq

Dave Lindorff
Whigged Out: the Dems Have Become Merely a Vestigial Opposition Party

Ramzy Baroud
Muslims Were Desecrated, Not Just Their Holy Book

Brian Cloughley
Why Are Nukes OK for You, But Not for Us?

Fred Gardner
Advice from a Lawyer About Medical Pot

Lee Sustar
Chavez Gets Proactive

Joshua Frank
Isikoff Comes Clean: "Nobody in the US Said a Word, Until the Riots"

Justin E.H. Smith
What About the People? a Report from Romania

Jackie Corr
A Montana History Lesson on Assfulness

Michael Kimaid
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Toufic Haddad
Lessons from the Reversal of the AUC Boycott

Justin Taylor
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Amir Butler
Searching for a Saladin

Ben Tripp
Insomnia and Sarcasm

Poets' Basement
Albert, Engel, Davies and Louise

 

May 27, 2005

Gary Leupp
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Daniel Estulin
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Kevin Zeese
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Robert Fisk
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July 1, 2005

Colombia's Disappeared

Their Names, At Least

By JUSTICIA Y PAZ

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez opened negotiations with the country's right-wing paramilitaries almost as soon as he took office in August 2002. The paramilitaries -- currently grouped in a national federation called the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) -- have been responsible for the majority of murders and forced displacements of civilians in Colombia's tragic armed conflict for many years. Over 3 million Colombians have been uprooted from their homes and communities -- "displaced" -- since 1985, and tens of thousands more have been murdered. The paramilitaries' signature terror methods include slow torture, dismemberment, and the use of chainsaws. When guerrilla groups participated in the formation of new political parties in the 1980s as part of an attempt to resolve the decades-old war between the government and guerrillas, paramilitaries exterminated over 3,000 members of these new parties.

In a proposal announced in June called the "Justice and Peace" law, Uribe seeks to offer the paramilitaries immunity from any serious punitive consequences for their crimes. Under Uribe's proposal, they will not have to turn over the land and wealth they have acquired to victims (or even the government); tell the truth about their crimes to victims, survivors, or the society; or serve more than a few years in jail.

Uribe is the George W. Bush administration's only significant remaining ally in South America, a region whose people and leaders have become increasingly critical of U.S. economic and military policies. Some analysts have likened Colombia's strategic role for the U.S. to that of Israel in the Middle East: a military and economic beachhead for the U.S.. On June 28 the House of Representatives gave the go-ahead for another $700+ million in foreign aid to Colombia, bringing the total since "Plan Colombia" began in 2000 to nearly $4 billion of U.S. aid, over 80% of it military.

Since 2003, there have been a series of "demobilization" ceremonies held in different parts of Colombia, in which paramilitaries hand in their weapons. The communique below refers to one such ceremony -- which it calls not a "de-" but a "re-mobilization" -- which took place June 15 in the northwest Colombian province of Córdoba. Córdoba is the birth-place of the present-day paramilitary federation, and the town of Tierralta in Córdoba province is the site of the current paramilitary-government talks.

The human rights organization that wrote this communique is called "Justicia y Paz": Justice and Peace. It has a long and courageous history of truth-telling, organizing for peace, and accepting the horrible consequences of such dignified choices. (Their web site, in Spanish, is es.geocities.com/justiciaypazcolombia/ )

Here -- focusing just on the province of Córdoba, where the ceremony took place -- they simply remind us of the scale of what Uribe seeks to erase from memory.

A few key names and terms are explained at the bottom. ­ Phillip Cryan, translator

 

THEIR NAMES, AT LEAST

The mirage continues.

June 15, midday, was the time chosen for the mirage to be perpetuated, in the sustained ritual of false truths that is the Santa Fe de Ralito remobilizations.

465 armed "civilians" -- all part of the paramilitary armed strategy -- began the process of becoming institutionalized.

Now the "Heroes of Tolová" Bloc, led by Diego Murillo (alias "Don Berna"), have handed in their guns on the futbol field at Divine Child high school in Rusia Ocho, in the municipality of Valencia, Córdoba province.

This ceremony of lies has become routine. News media speak of it as a great achievement of "peace." It's one more expression of the search for legitimization, for institutionalization of the paramilitaries. Valencia's mayor Negus Correa announced a "civic holiday" for the municipality, "because of its support for peace." Security is ensured for this spectacle of institutionalization: the area is condoned off with "eight counter-guerrilla units and a reserve unit in Urrá," according to Col. Néstor Camelo, the official delegate from the Army's 11th Brigade. A ceremony of remobilization presented as a "gesture for peace." The Colombian government attempts to bury, in oblivion, the crimes committed in this region.

Today Córdoba province is the setting for paramilitary remobilization, in an attempt to hide the hundreds of crimes committed by the paramilitary strategy there. The media never said clearly what happened there; they denied its gravity, hid it, distorted it. And they likewise hid from view the genesis of this iniquity, the institutional responsibility for it.

THEIR NAMES, AT LEAST. Just some of the names. Many names never recorded in the media -- although those of their victimizers often were. Their names. THEIR NAMES, AT LEAST. Names that are witnesses to the barbarity they seek to hide today through a so-called "Justice and Peace" law.

NAMES of the men and women murdered, disappeared, tortured. Their names, at least. So that in this scenery of iniquity erected by the "paramilitary demobilization" process, they can at least be mentioned.

To evoke them is to call upon Truth, to call upon justice, upon the permanent work of building a new society. Bringing them into the present, right in the midst of their persecution. Bringing them into memory, while justice is possible.

THEIR NAMES, AT LEAST!

January 13, 1988

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries detained and disappeared the Patriotic Union members ROSA LEMOS, ZORAIDA MONTOYA and LUIS LEMOS.


February 4, 1988

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ZENÓN CONRADO NEGRETE, a lawyer and defender of political prisoners.


February 26, 1988

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered MARCO TULIO PÉREZ ARREDONDO, a Patriotic Union member.

March 15, 1988

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ALFONSO CUJAVANTE ACEVEDO, a lawyer and member of the Patriotic Union.

April 3, 1988

In BUENAVISTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "The Magnificent Ones" murdered 28 people, one of them a woman who taught in a rural school and the other 27 of them campesinos, most of them young. Six were members of the Popular Front. The act took place during the celebration of a party at the "Best Corner" country house. The victims were: JOSÉ PATERNINA, JOSÉ GUERRA, JOSÉ LUIS SIERRA, SILVIO PRIMITIVO PÉREZ, JUSTO RAMÓN LÓPEZ, TOMAS BERRÍO WILCHES (profesor), EDUERDO JOSÉ MERCADO, PEDRO MÁRQUEZ, JUAN MANUEL SAÉNZ, WILIAM BARRAGÁN, JAIME PATERNINA, JUAN ACEVEDO, SILVIO MELÉNDEZ, OSCAR SIERRA, MARCOS MARTÍNEZ, JONALDO ANTONIO BENÍTEZ, CARMÉN PASTRANA, CARLOS MÁRQUEZ, RAMÓN MISPERUZA, CLETO MARTÍNEZ, FREDDY MARTÍNEZ, ANTONIO SAÉNZ, SILVIO SAÉNZ, DOMINGO SAÉNZ, BENECIO BENÍTEZ, SERGIO TOMÁS RIVERO and two others whose names were not registered.

May 17, 1988

In MONTELÍBANO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered the City Councilor-elect from the Liberal Party, RICARDO SIERRA.

August 30, 1988

In CANALETE, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered 16 campesinos from the village of Tomate. Among the victims were: EMIRO BERTEL R., IDALIO NARVÁEZ, HÉCTOR NARVÁEZ, RAFAEL PEDROZA C., MANUEL PADILLA, MIGUEL A GÓMEZ, RICARDO ARISMENDI, OROSMAN SOTO, CLEMENTE CARMONA, LUIS HERNANDO GALINDO, CÉSAR MARTÍNEZ G., JOHNY DARÍO PÉREZ G., MANUEL MARTÍNEZ, and others whose names were not registered.

October 22, 1988

In SAN ANTERO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered FELIPE GALEANO, a campesino and attorney for the provincial board of the National Campesinos' Association (ANUC).

November 15, 1988

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered OSWALDO RENGIFO P., a journalist, after he reported the collective executions at the "Best Corner" and El Tomate.

February 13, 1989

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered FRANCISCO DE PAULA DUMAR MESTRE, vicepresident of the union at Avianca, former Patriotic Union candidate for the Provincial Assembly, and lawyer for the union Festracor.

August 3, 1989

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered GUSTAVO GUERRA DORIA, the Patriotic Union coordinator for the province.

August 9, 1989

In AYAPEL, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered FABIO MIRANDA PUPO, civil engineer and Patriotic Union coordinator.

August 9, 1989

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered DANIEL JOSÉ ESPITIA MADERA, national treasurer for the National Campesinos' Association (ANUC). His father and brother had been murdered June 21.

November 16, 1989

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered FELIX ENRIQUE TOSCANO, an employee of the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) and member of the Popular Front. Two other persons were wounded.

November 26, 1989

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries fired indiscriminately against people gathered for a baptism celebration, killing eleven campesinos and wounding one youth. This took place at "The Old Woman's Corner," in the village of Pueblo Bujo. The victims were: BLANCA ROSA ÁNGEL, JUAN MANUEL TERÁN, RAFAEL NN., ÁLVARO PACHECO ÁLVAREZ, JOSÉ ANTONIO HERNÁNDEZ, ÁNGEL EMIRO FLÓREZ, ESTEBAN RAUL MARTÍNEZ L., MELBA MARÍA TORRES, MANUEL HERNÁNDEZ, JORGE MIGUEL NARVÁEZ P. and EDILBERTO HERNÁNDEZ R.

November 28, 1989

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered BORIS ZAPATA MESA, an anthropologist, professor at the University of Córdoba, and City Council candidate for the Patriotic Union.

January 16, 1990

In PUERTO LIBERTADOR, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered LUIS LYONS, an aleternate City Councillor for the Popular Front.

March 31, 1990

In PUEBLO NUEVO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered TEODORO M. MEDRANO, a former Patriotic Union City Council candidate.

April 1, 1990

In PUEBLO NUEVO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered TEODORO M. BETANCUR M., a Patriotic Union member and former City Council candidate.

April 16, 1990

In VALENCIA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered thirteen people, whose bodies were found on the Las Tangas farm, property of Fidel Castaño's family. Six of the bodies were recognized, and were among those people disappeared at Puerto Bello the previous January 14. They were: WILSÓN FUENTES, JORGE DAVÍD MARTÍNEZ, RAÚL PÉREZ, RICARDO BOHÓRQUEZ, LEONEL ESCOBAR y JUAN LUIS ESCOBAR. Among the others identified were: OVIDIO CARMONA y ANDRÉS M. PEDRAZA J. Another five were not identified. An additional fourteen bodies were found in different parts of that farm and the Jaraguay farm -- also property of the Castaño family -- over the course of that month.

April 22, 1990

In SAN CARLOS, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered AMAURY MAZO, LINETH INÉS GAMERO O., CUSTODIA PÉREZ, MANUEL PEREIRA MERCADO, ARQUIMEDES GAMERO and another unidentified person, all Patriotic Union members.

July 16, 1990

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ALVARO GÓMEZ PADILLA, a member of the Córdoba Teachers' Union, affiliated with the CUT [Unified Workers' Central].

September 25, 1990

In PUERTO LIBERTADOR, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered GILBERTO GONZÁLEZ, an employee of the Córdoba Electric Company and trade unionist.

October 25, 1990

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries raided two houses and murdered twelve people in the "School" neighborhood. The victims were: ANA MILENA JULIO FLÓREZ, ANA ISABEL FLÓREZ T., ALBERTO JULIO FLÓREZ, MÓNICA DEL C. FLÓREZ, BEATRIZ HELENA JULIO FLÓREZ, EDUARDO JULIO FLÓREZ, JOSÉ AGUSTÍN OLIVEROS P., RAFAEL DE J. AYAZO M., GUIDO JOSÉ BRAVO H., ANTONIO LÓPEZ PÉREZ, JORGE ELIÉCER ENAMORADO, and another person who was not identified.

February 24, 1991

In AYAPEL, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ANTONIO FERIS PRADO, a theater director, Sahagún City Councillor, and Patriotic Union member.

September 2, 1991

In SAN ANDRÉS SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ÁNGEL MARÍA ROQUEME, a member of the municipality's council of indigenous leaders.

September 21, 1991

In MONTELÍBANO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ, DANIEL VICENTE RAMOS and JOSÉ ÁNGEL LONDOÑO.

December 5, 1991

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, seven paramilitaries identifying themselves as "The Head-Hunters" murdered MARÍA MARTÍNEZ MENDOZA, GUILLERMINA MARTÍNEZ PÉREZ and ANGELA MARTÍNEZ ENSUNCHO, widows from the collective execution that took place at "The Best Corner" on April 3, 1988.

January 30, 1992

In SAN ANDRÉS DE SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murderred MISAEL BASILIO BELTRÁN, an indigenous leader and president of the Esmuna indigenous council.

April 1, 1992

In SAHAGÚN, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered NURIS DE LOS REYES MUSLASCOS, MISAEL ANTONIO PACHECO, JOHN PACHECO, TIBALDO TULIO TRUJILLO and WALBERTO ANTONIO PACHECO GÓMEZ, campesinos, in the village of San Antonio. One of the victims was a twelve-year-old boy.

May 2, 1992

In PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered 70-year-old campesino DOMINGO ARCIA RICAURTE.

May 3, 1992

In AYAPEL, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered YESENIA CONTRERAS HERNÁNDEZ, JOSÉ ANTONIO BETÍN VILLEGAS, JOSÉ FLÓREZ ARRIETA and AYDÉ MARÍA HERNÁNDEZ RUIZ at the Santa Elena farm.

May 30, 1992

In SAN PELAYO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered PAOLA ANDREA BETANCUR BEDOYA and JULIETA BEDOYA BETANCUR. Four other people were wounded. This took place in the village of Carrillo.

August 29, 1992

In PUERTO LIBERTADOR, Córdoba, paramilitaries traveling in a vehicle owned by the Mayor's office murdered ÁNGEL JARAMILLO, WILIAM DÍAZ and ÓSCAR GONZÁLEZ, near the Juan José police station. In this region of the Upper San Jorge there were denouncements of paramilitaries under the command of William Montalvo, alias "Big Head," and supported by Marcos Jara (a former commmander of the EPL [Popular Liberation Army guerrillas] and Hope, Peace and Liberty movement leader), Jesús Gomego, Hernán Fortich (City Councillor in Puerto Libertador), Aquiles González, Alejandro Jiménez, Gilberto Grandona Oleas and Ferney Guillermo T.

August 30, 1992

In CERETÉ, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered the campesino leader JULIO MORENO, of the National Campesinos' Association (ANUC).

September 5, 1992

In PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered the campesino RAFAEL ANTONIO MORELOS HERNÁNDEZ in the village of Los Cheres.

December 16, 1992

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered the businessmen PEDRO EDUARDO MARTÍNEZ MÉNDEZ and DAGOBERTO MANUEL ARRIETA COGOLLO in the neighborhood of Santafé. The municipality stayed under military control.

December 19, 1992

In LOS CÓRDOBAS, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered JOSÉ VIVANCO GULFO LÓPEZ, EDUARDO TORDECILLA and GUILLERMO JULIO CARABALLO.

March 19, 1993

In SAN ANDRÉS DE SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered GERARDO MORENO FLÓREZ, a sociologist from the University of Antioquia, a teacher at the provincial high school of of Antonio Lenia in Sincelejo, a leader of the Zenú community, and a candidate together with Gabriel Muyuy Jacanamejoy to represent indigenous communities.

October 30, 1993

In MONTELÍBANO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered the campesino FILADELFO MANUEL CORDERO CRUZ, in the village of Uré, when he was at the wake for his son MIGUEL CORDERO BARRERO, who had been murdered the previous day -- also in Uré -- together with MANUEL MARRIAGA MARRIAGA (a cowboy) and JOSÉ URANGO RAMOS (a miner). These three were taken with force from their houses by a paramilitary commando unit.

February 11, 1994

In PURÍSIMA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered CLEMENTE MENDOZA, a leader of the Zenú indigenous community.

March 3, 1994

In SAN ANDRÉS DE SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered HERNANDO SOLANO, an indigenous leader.

September 1, 1994

In SAN ANDRÉS DE SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered AGAPITO LINIO PUCHE GONZÁLEZ and ALBERTO PUCHE VERGARA, indigenous men from the Zenú reservation.

October 19, 1994

In SAN ANDRÉS SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitares murdered ARNULFO AYAL CARPIO, a Zenú indigenous man, a member of the Petaca community, and a City Councillor for his movement. This brought the total number of indigenous leaders murdered that year to eight.

January 16, 1995

In VALENCIA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "Córdoba Self-Defense Forces" murdered the campesinos FREDDY HERRERA ARCILA, DONALDO IBÁÑEZ ÁLVAREZ and OMAR ENRIQUE DURANGO IBÁÑEZ, and disappeared ENOR MADERA. The commander of the Army's Ninth Brigade, Coronel Martín Orlando Carreño Sandoval, stated that the campesinos were murdered by paramilitaries "in retaliation for the burning of the Guayaquil farm ... and for being FARC sympathizers." The farm referred to is the property of a retired Colombian Air Force captain.

January 18, 1995

In LOS CÓRDOBAS, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered the campesinos HELIODORO MORA ROSARIO and MANUEL FLÓREZ ROSARIO.

May 25, 1995

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "ACCU" [Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá] murdered TOMY ELIÉCER CONDE ANAYA, a teacher.

September 7, 1995

In SAN ANDRÉS SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ANDRÉS SUÁREZ MONTALVO, a Zenú indigenous leader. This took place in the Venecia community. The indigenous people of that community were under pressure to abandon a piece of land claimed by the family of Julio César Guerra Tulena, then the president of the Colombian Senate.

December 2, 1995

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba paramilitaries murdered MIGUEL ALFONSO MORENO AGÁMEZ, an M-19 [demobilized guerrilla group] member, former City Councillor, former Representative, and the manager of the Cereté Supply Center, and his wife JULIETH PÁEZ MONTALVO, a former City Councillor and former Cereté Secretary of Education.

June 1, 1996

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered the president of the Bank of Colombia Union (SINTRABANACOL), ANTONIO MORALES ALEANS, in the Lacharme neighborhood. On October 25, 1995, 24 hours after contract negotiations began at the bank, the Armed Forces had raided his home.

June 10, 1996

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ALEJANDRA CAMARGO CABRALES, a 2-year-old girl, granddaughter of the former president of the University of Córdoba Workers' Union, René Cabrales Sosa. He and his two daughters were wounded. This took place in the Pradera neighborhood.

November 18, 1996

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered, Rev. PEDRO ALZATE VARELA, a Presbyterian pastor, when he was en route to Apartadó to participate in a training course for pastors.

January 10, 1997

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá (ACCU)" murdered the teachers JAVIER GALARCIO, CLAUDIO PÉREZ and ÁLVARO TABORDA. Taborda was a historian and department head at the University of Córdoba, and the other two were teachers at a provincial high school in Montería. The victims were taken from their homes by force and accused by the paramilitaries of participating in dynamite attacks carried out near the end of 1996 against the offices of the Córdoba Ranchers' Fund (Ganacor) and the Foundation for Peace (Fundepaz), which were created by the paramilitaries Fidel and Carlos Castaño.

May 5, 1997

In SAHAGÚN, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered JUANA EVANGELISTA VEGA, a City Councillor for the M-19 Democratic Alliance, at the bus terminal.

May 19, 1997

In SAN PELAYO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered EVANGELINA ORTEGA SIERRA, EDILBERTO ENRIQUE CONTRERAS, OLAD DEL CARMEN CONTRERAS P., ALEJANDRO PADILLA ORTEGA, HELENA PADILLA GUERRA, ALEJANDRO PADILLA GUERRA, ATAIN ABAD PADILLA GUERRA and ANUAR PADILLA DIAZ. Upon leaving, they set fire to the home.

June 10, 1997

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as Convivir ["Living together," a network of government-sponsored private self-defense militias established in the 1990s], led by men nicknamed "The Dancer" and "Boy-o", tortured and murdered the campesino PERFECTO DELGADO.

June 12, 1997

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ARNOLD ENRIQUE SÁNCHEZ MAZA, a teacher, who had been disappeared several days earlier. He was tortured, his teeth were torn out, and his stomach was torn open.

June 19, 1997

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered WILLIAM JARABA, a teacher. This brought the total number of teachers killed in first six months of 1997 to twelve.

July 18, 1997

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered FREDYS FUENTES PATERNINA, a teacher and member of the Board of Directores of the Córdoba Teachers' Association (Ademacor). He was the president of the Córdoba regional office of the Socialist Refoundation Current (CRS) political movement, and a City Council candidate for that movement in Montería.

August 8, 1997

In CIÉNAGA DE ORO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered MARCO CECILIO LUCAS CARPIO, a Zenú indigenous leader and craftsmen's leader from San Andrés de Sotavento. He had been subjected to intense forms of torture.

May 14, 1998

In MONTELÍBANO, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá (ACCU)" murdered JOSÉ PALENCIA, RAFAEL OLEA and JAIRO ACIA, indigenous men from the Zenú community.

August 27, 1998

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries invaded the Karagabi reservation and murdered the indigenous leader ALONSO DOMICÓ JARUPIA. The Emberá-Katío indigenous community was the object of multiple human rights violations, committed by the paramilitaries in opposition to the indigenous communities' struggle to stop the Urrá hydroelectric project [a large dam that was eventually built in Córdoba, flooding Emberá Katío land].

January 31, 1999

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "AUC" [United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the national paramilitary federation that grew out of the ACCU (Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá)] disappeared 40 people, among them ten Emberá Katío, at a roadblock on the Sinú River near where it meets the Verde River. It was only possible to register the names of GABRIEL DOMICÓ, ANA LUZ GUASARUCA, EUGENIO DOMICÓ, LIBARDO DOMICÓ, LUBERTIN CABRERA, LUZ MARINA DOMICÓ, MICAELA DOMICÓ, SOLANGEL ARIAS DOMICÓ, ANTONIO DOMICÓ, and WILLIAM DOMICÓ.

June 28, 1999

In VALENCIA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "AUC" murdered LUIS FRANCISCO GÓMEZ PAYARES, the municipal treasurer. The crime was acknowledged publicly in a communique sent to the Mayor and signed by "Esteban," the paramilitary leader responsible for the Caribbean coastal region.

February 13, 2000

In TIERRALTA, Córoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "AUC" murdered ABEL MARTÍNEZ ARCIA, ANTONIO MARTÍNEZ, WILLIAN OLAYA, RAMIRO MIGUEL PASTRANA HERNÁNDEZ and UBALDO MARTÍNEZ.

April 25, 2000

In CIÉNAGA DE ORO, Córdoba, at 11:30 am, in San Antonio village, paramilitaries murdered three brothers: JULIO AMADOR SIMANCA MARTÍNEZ, PEDRO MANUEL SIMANCA MARTÍNEZ and RICARDO ANTONIO SIMANCA MARTÍNEZ.

May 22, 2000

In CIÉNAGA DE ORO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered MARLYS DE LA OSSA QUIÑÓNEZ, a Social Sciences student at the University of Córdoba and student leader involved in the Colombian Association of University Students (ACEU). She was four months pregnant.

August 4, 2000

In VALENCIA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "ACCU" murdered ALIAS "EL CHUCHO, ELKIN SÁNCHEZ MENA, ALIAS "LOTHAR" OR "THE TATOO," ANDRÉS MOSQUERA, and three other people who were not identified.

August 12, 2000

In LORICA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered a married couple, OSCAR DAVID PADILLA and BEATRÍZ PADILLA FUENTES, after taking them by force from a house in the Los Andes neighborhood.

September 16, 2000

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, in the indigenous village of Widó, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "ACCU" murdered three members of the Emberá Katío High Council and disappeared 22 other indigenous people. Among the victims were: NARIÑO DOMICÓ, RUBIT DOMICÓ, RIGOBERTO DOMICÓ, ORAINE DOMICÓ, ATANIO DOMICÓ, AMADO DOMICÓ, DIANA DOMICÓ, ÁLVARO RUBIANO, ALGARIN DOMICÓ, AGUSTIN PERNÍA, RICARDO BAILARÍN, MIGUEL BAILARÍN DOMICÓ, SAÚL BAILARÍN, MARTÍN CASAMA, MARITSA DOMICÓ, LUIS ALBERTO CABRERA, LIDIA DOMICÓ, JAQUELINO JARUPIA BAILARÍN, IRENEA DOMICÓ CHAVA, HORACIO BAILARÍN, GERMÁN DOMICÓ, ELKIN RUBIANO, EFRAÍN CHAMARRA, DOMICILIO GUASARUCA and MIGUEL DOMICÓ GARCÍA.

September 20, 2000

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, at the El Guineo farm, in Naín village, paramilitaries murdered eleven people and wounded one other. Among the victims were: SABAS SALGUERO LÓPEZ, TOMÁS SALGUERO MARTÍNEZ, UBERMAR ANTONIO SALGUERO, WILMAR MARTÍNEZ SANDOVAL, LIBARDO LÓPEZ BENÍTEZ, WILMAR SALGUERO MARTÍNEZ, LEÓN RUDAS, ARNOLDO ENRIQUE GONZÁLEZ DELGADO, and another four people whose names were not registered.

May 27, 2001

In SAN ANDRÉS DE SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "AUC" murdered FÉLIX FILIBERTO HERNÁNDEZ SIERRA, LIBARDA HERNÁNDEZ and EMILIO ENRIQUE HERNÁNDEZ SIERRA.

June 2, 2001

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, at 6 pm, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "AUC" disappeared the Emberá Katío indigenous leader KIMY PERNÍA DOMICÓ, as he was en route to the office of the High Council for the Sinú and Verde rivers.

August 25, 2001

In PUERTO LIBERTADOR, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered ELÍAS FRANCISCO N., GUILLERMO MONTES OMARTEL, NORBERTO MANUEL VERTEL SALGADO and AMANDA GIL.

October 25, 2001

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries identifying themselves as "AUC" disappeared DANILO SÁNCHEZ MEJÍA, MANUEL LORENZO ESPINOZA ALTAMIRANDA, JAIRO ESPINOZA HERNÁNDEZ, and one other person who was not identified.

February 25, 2002

In PUERTO LIBERTADOR, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered CIRILO ENRIQUE DOMICÓ, ARMANDO DOMICÓ DOMICÓ, and two people who were not identified.

July 19, 2002

In SAN CARLOS, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered DAGOBERTO DE LA CRUZ PEREIRA GALVAN and MIGUEL MARÍA PÉREZ RAMÍREZ.

May 4, 2003

In SAN ANDRÉS DE SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered RAMIRO MANUEL SANDOVAL MERCADO, an indigenous leader from the San Andrés de Sotavento reservation and a teacher at Álvaro Ulcué Chocué high school in the village of Tuchín.

May 6, 2003

In TIERRALTA, Córdoba, paramilitaries, with Army troops' acquiescence, murdered ANA BERENICE GIRALDO VELÁSQUEZ, NATIVIDAD DE JESÚS BLANDÓN, MIGUEL POSADA VERTEL and N. TORRES, members of the Iglesia Latina religious community.

June 1, 2003

In MONTERÍA, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered JULIET PAOLA CASTILLO MÉNDEZ, in the Simón Bolívar neighborhood, and JORGE LUIS PACHECO FLOREZ, in the El Dorado neighborhood. These events took place at night in urban areas.

June 14, 2003

In CIÉNAGA DE ORO, Córdoba, paramilitaries murdered MILTON DE JESÚS GAVIRIA COGOLLO, a campesino.

June 15, 2003

In SAN ANDRÉS SOTAVENTO, Córdoba, paramilitares murdered EMIGDIO TALAIGUA ALEAN, a 22-year old indigenous man.

THE GENESIS OF INIQUITY

.....

Decree 3398 of 1965, which became Law 48 of 1968, authorized military commanders to give Armed Forces weapons to civilians (Art. 33, paragraph 3). It also authorized the government to enlist the civilian population's support for armed actions (Art. 25). The Supreme Court of Justice declared these articles unconstitutional on May 25, 1989 -- after they had been in effect for 24 years. All the Colombian military manuals prepared between 1969 and 1987 include provisions for forming armed civilian groups known as "self-defense forces" -- better known in the country as "paramilitaries." Starting in 1989, when these groups became "illegal," contacts between the "self-defense forces" and the Army High Command began to be carried out through intermediaries instead of directly, according to testimony Army officer Luis Antonio Meneses Báez gave to the Dijin (Police intelligence agency) (page 24 of his testimony).

.....

Bogotá, D.C., June 15, 2005

INTER-ECCLESIAL COMMISSION FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE

(Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz)

 

Glossary of key names and terms:

Campesino: Peasant farmer.

Fidel and Carlos Castaño: Brothers instrumental in the creation and expansion of the paramilitaries. Fidel was the most prominent leader of the ACCU in its growth throughout the 1980s, and Carlos was the most prominent leader of the ACCU's successor, the national AUC federation, in the mid-late 1990s and early this century. Both disappeared under unclear circumstances. Some believe they were killed; others believe they went into hiding abroad.

Diego Murillo (alias "Don Berna"): A paramilitary commander heavily involved in drug trafficking.

Patriotic Union: A political party built in the mid-late 1980s by civil society groups and members of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and other guerrilla groups, as part of a peace process initiated at the beginning of the 1980s. Over 3,000 Patriotic Union members -- including two presidential candidates -- were murdered by paramilitaries.

Popular Front: A political party created in the mid-late 1980s by civil society groups and members of the EPL (Popular Liberation Army) guerrillas, a smaller group.

Translated and edited by Phillip Cryan can be reached at: phillipcryan000@yahoo.com)