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Human rights defenders need defending
COLECTIVO DE ABOGADOS JOSÉ ALVEAR RESTREPO - 09.03.2011 07:34
COLECTIVO DE ABOGADOS JOSÉ ALVEAR RESTREPO
THURSDAY, 03 MARCH 2011 05:35
Human rights defenders need defending
From an early age, David Ravelo Crespo has dedicated his life to defending human rights and some of the least-favored sectors of society; social, student, and grassroots leaders, unions, teachers, government employees, and rights workers. Today he is detained in Bogota's La Picota jail, as one of 130 human rights defenders who last year became victims of detentions, judicial processes and/or investigations.
This phenomenon is not new in Colombia. This was highlighted in a recent investigation by the national and international campaign "For the right to defend human rights in Colombia," which focused on the harassment of human rights defenders through legal means ("judicializacion").
This legal persecution of social leaders has historically been a method of repression against social movements in Colombia, aimed at weakening human rights defenders and undermining grassroots organizing.
There are many examples. According to a report by the human rights and peace platforms of the National Bureau of Guarantees, a government body set up to monitor threats against social movements, there are a number of "framings," attacks on human rights defenders and social leaders that originated from sources which have been legally discredited. These sources include information provided by more than 2 million members of the Network of Informants and Collaborators of the Public Security Forces, created under the previous government; data from alleged demobilized guerrillas who were seeking benefits; information obtained from illegal wiretapping and illegitimate intelligence activities (as developed by the DAS); and information supposedly extracted from computers seized from members of guerrilla organizations, and which, due to the failure to preserve the chain of custody, have dubious merit.
Or, as in the case of David Ravelo, the judicial processes were initiated based on false and malicious accusations, made by members of paramilitary groups or individuals involved with them, in order to obtain legal benefits in proceedings against them.
Such is the case with "Panadero," a member of the AUC's United Self Defense of Santander and Cesar who was convicted by a civilian court -- for incidents reported by the human rights defender David Ravelo -- for massacres carried out in Barrancabermeja on May 16, 1998, and February 28, 1999. In 2008 he "recalled" in his off-the-record version of events that Ravelo had allegedly participated in a meeting held in mid-1991, in which the murder of Nuñez Cala was planned. Six months after this version, he added a new name to this list of attendance, another paramilitary, Fremio Sanchez Carreño, a friend of his, who he forgot to mention in the first version.
Newly appointed prosecutor general, Viviane Morales, was this week asked to keep special track of this case and those other of human rights defenders who are unfairly arrested and prosecuted, Agamez and Carolina Rubio. She must guarantee due process and the right to defense, not only to David, Carmelo, and Carolina, but to 127 other human rights defenders, who overnight went from being the defenders to being the accused.
 http://colombiareports.com/opinion/157-guests/14609-human-rights-defenders-need-defending.html
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| Lees meer over: anti-fascisme / racisme antimilitarisme vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten | | aanvullingen | | Big scandal Colombia’s Intelligence Agency | Wola - 11.03.2011 07:44
17 Jun 2010
Far Worse than Watergate
Widening Scandal regarding Colombia’s Intelligence Agency
Far Worse than Watergate reveals that the Watergate-like scandal in Colombia is even more shocking than initially reported, with the presidential intelligence agency, DAS, not only spying, but also carrying out dirty tricks and even death threats on major players in Colombia’s democracy. Far Worse than Watergate, a new report by the Washington Office on Latin America, US Office on Colombia, Latin America Working Group, and the Center for International Policy, reveals that the Watergate-like scandal in Colombia is even more shocking than initially reported, with the presidential intelligence agency, DAS, not only spying, but also carrying out dirty tricks and even death threats on major players in Colombia’s democracy. Research in the report indicates that operations did not target alleged terrorists, but rather people carrying out legitimate, democratic activities, including: the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges, presidential candidates, journalists, publishers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations and human rights defenders in Colombia, the United States and Europe. The report also details new evidence that shows that this illegal activity may have been carried out with orders from top presidential advisors.
To read the full report click here.
http://www.usofficeoncolombia.org/uploads/application-pdf/FarWorseThanWatergateFinalfinal.pdf
http://www.wola.org/publications/far_worse_than_watergate
| | Uribe to teach at French university ENIM | Visiteren - 11.03.2011 09:09
Colombian intelligence agency spied on UN: Report
FRIDAY, 04 MARCH 2011 07:13 ADRIAAN ALSEMA
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14729-colombian-intelligence-agency-spied-on-un.html
DAS illegal spying in Europe
WEDNESDAY, 21 APRIL 2010 15:56 ALEX HOCKING
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/9279-das-wiretapped-european-parliament.html
http://www.mo.be/artikel/belgische-ngo-s-bespioneerd-door-colombiaanse-i...
http://www.mo.be/artikel/colombia-arresteert-hoogzwangere-activiste-die-...
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/buitenland/1.915878
Congressman alleges DAS plot to discredit NGO
WEDNESDAY, 09 MARCH 2011 09:01 BEN HOCKMAN
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14795-congressman-reveals-das-plot-to-discredit-ngo.html
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Uribe to teach at Georgetown University
WEDNESDAY, 11 AUGUST 2010 12:37 KIRSTEN BEGG
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11292-uribe-to-teach-at-georgetown-university.html
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'Hollman Morris denied US visa'
WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE 2010 16:13 HANNAH STONE
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10572-hollman-morris-denied-us-visa.html
http://www.cipcol.org/?cat=33
http://progressive.org/mc062910.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10711-morris-refused-us-visa-because-of-terrorist-activities.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10791-press-association-defends-hollman-morris-.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10803-hollman-morris-terrorist-visa-rejection-puts-my-life-in-danger.html
http://colombiareports.com/opinion/the-colombiamerican/10838-morris-visa-case-shows-little-change-in-obama-policy.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10929-oas-asks-us-to-reconsider-colombian-journalists-visa.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/2894-interview-with-garry-leech-the-gringo-who-goes-where-no-gringo-goes.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11037-us-reverses-decision-on-colombian-journalists-visa-denial.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/13172-wiretap-victims-sue-uribe-for-crimes-against-humanity.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14669-yale-university-hosts-colombian-student-conference.html
Adios, Uribe
Mar 4 2011 - Hollman Morris
https://nacla.org/node/6905
(..)
"But Uribe’s third term never materialized, and in the fall he took up an appointment at Georgetown, the Jesuit university known for its training in international affairs, as a Distinguished Scholar in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. (He was also appointed co-chair of the UN panel investigating the Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla.7) Students and faculty at Georgetown, together with allies in the Washington area and beyond, quickly organized to both pressure the university to sever its ties with Uribe and to bring charges against him for human rights violations. The Adios Uribe Coalition (uribe-georgetown.org) was formed, and it held a series of events in November to raise awareness about Uribe’s presence on campus.
Meanwhile, Morris had also come to the United States, to take up a fellowship at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism. He gave the following talk on the invitation of the Adios Uribe Coalition, which provided NACLA a full transcript in Spanish. He accompanied the talk with video clips of Uribe denouncing journalists and human rights defenders as terrorist accomplices.(8)"
(..)
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Uribe to teach at French university
WEDNESDAY, 02 MARCH 2011 15:24 EDWARD FOX
A university in northeastern France announced on Wednesday that former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will teach a course called "Economic development in Latin America."
The course will be taught in English, although the institution gave no details of the syllabus.
The university, ENIM, published a statement on its website with a brief biography of Uribe.
Uribe was awarded an honorary degree from the university in October 2007, and accepted this role last year, according to reports.
This is the second teaching role Uribe will have since leaving the presidency last year, having already held a position at Georgetown University in the U.S.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14693-uribe-teach-french-university.html
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Prosecutor General pushes Congress to investigate Uribe
TUESDAY, 08 MARCH 2011 09:34 JIM GLADE
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14779-prosecutor-general-pushes-congress-to-investigate-uribe.html
| | About Adios Uribe @Georgetown | mr. DAS, pak jas & tas - 11.03.2011 23:53
In spite of his links to paramilitarism, attacks on human rights defenders, and the widespread condemnation of his administration by human rights organizations, former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been selected to teach our future leaders as a Distinguished Scholar at Georgetown’s foreign service school.
We are a coalition of students, faculty, human rights activists and NGOs. We are citizens of many countries, including Colombia and the United States. Many of us have worked and lived in Colombia, many come to this out of a broader concern for human rights. We have in common our deep concern about the appointment of Alvaro Uribe to the Georgetown faculty, and our commitment to his immediate departure.
http://uribe-georgetown.org/alvaro-uribes-cv-2/
| | Army convicted of 'false positive' killing | Rep. Incident 2006 - 12.03.2011 01:49
Army sergeant convicted of 'false positive' killing
FRIDAY, 11 MARCH 2011 07:53 EDWARD FOX
The former head of intelligence for an army battalion in Cali, Sergeant Luis Eduardo Mahecha, has been found guilty of the extrajudicial killing of a peasant who he later falsely claimed was a FARC guerrilla, El Espectador reports.
http://elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-256060-falso-positivo-declaran-culpable-suboficial-del-ejercito-cali
The prosecutor of the National Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law unit (DIH) demonstrated that the victim, Jose Orlando Giraldo Becerra, who was killed March 11, 2006, had not died not because of clashes between security forces and the FARC but instead was a defenseless farmer who was executed.
Giraldo's brother was also killed three years later in what his family claims was an effort to silence him by the army to prevent him from testifying.
Agents from the Technical Investigation Team (CTI) added that the army battalion responsible had handled the crime scene so as to try and present it as a battle site and conceal any incriminating evidence. Seven military personnel were also convicted for their roles in the cover up.
Sergeant Mahecha will now be transferred to a local penitentiary where he will await sentencing.
In a case last year, three soldiers received a sentence of 40 years for their "false positive" crimes. Some estimate that thousands of people may have been murdered in such cases, where the army kill civilians then claim they were enemy combatants, in order to inflate kill counts.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/13295-40-years-prison-for-false-positive-murders.html
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14846-army-sergeant-convicted-over-false-positive.html
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