Ex-Governor of Sucre Captured

El Tiempo today reported the arrest of Salvador Arana Sus, the ex-governor of Sucre. Arana, the alleged founder of paramilitary groups in Sucre is thought to have played a role in the murder of Edualdo Diaz, see the post Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

After “Tirofijo”

The death of ‘Manuel Marulanda Velez’ is not likely to have a significant impact on the armed conflict between the FARC and the Colombian state. ‘Marulanda’ had been rumored to be in ill health and the FARC had surely planned for an orderly transition of leadership. Any internal power struggles would certainly have already been played out. It will be interesting to see who ‘Alfonso Cano’ brings into the secretariat. Semana reports that ‘Pablo Catatumbo’, a trusted aid to ‘Cano’, ‘Bertulfo’, military head of the Bloque Caribe, and ‘Pastor Alape’, a militant from the juventud comunista, are the three newest members of the secretariat (replacing Marulanda, Raul Reyes, and Ivan Rios, all of whom died in March, 2008). Nevertheless, Marulanda’s passing could lead to a loss of morale among the ranks of the guerrilla group he founded and could further deplete its ranks. The FARC will most likely continue to lay low and hope that Uribe is not reelected in favor of someone more likely to enter into negotiations over a humanitarian accord and the associated “zona de distencion”, a proposed demilitarized zone which would allow them to regroup.

Political Dimension of “farcpolitica” and more…

The so-called farcpolitica scandal has more to do with the conflict between Uribe and the Colombian supreme court than with a smokescreen to divert attention from the parapolitica scandal and a growing scandal involving alleged payoffs and favors to congressmen for their vote in support of the constitutional amendment that allowed Uribe to be re-elected. Uribe has been in a heated debate with the Colombian supreme court over its investigation of links between members of his administration and paramilitary groups. By pressing farcpolitica, Uribe was attempting to force the Colombian supreme court’s hand. Had the court ruled not to investigate alleged ties to the FARC geurrillas by three members of congress (based on evidence that is yet to be released), Uribe could have employed his often-used tactic of associating his detractors with the guerrillas. The supreme court called Uribe’s bluff and went ahead with its investigation.

Today’s Washington Post had an interesting column from Marcela Sanchez about the extradition of the 14 paramilitary leaders to the U.S. Sanchez claims (correctly in my view) that “with the paramilitary leaders being prosecuted in the U.S., impunity seems today far less likely than ever before”.

A Tale of Two Laptops

The first one belonged to ‘Jorge 40′, the paramilitary thug recently extradited to the U.S., and implicated numerous Colombian politicians of having ties to the paramilitaries. No one questioned the veracity of the contents of Jorge 40’s laptop, and many of those whose names appeared in the laptop are now in jail awaiting trial for alleged paramilitary ties in the parapolitica scandal. Which brings us to the second laptop belonging to ‘Raul Reyes’, the member of the FARC secretariat who was killed in an attack by the Colombian military while camped on the Ecuadorian side of the border. This laptop implicates Venezuelan president Chavez of having ties to the FARC. Yesterday, Interpol released a statement confirming that the contents of Raul Reyes’ laptop had not been tampered with; yet Chavez, Correa, and Piedad Cordoba are insisting that the contents of the laptop have been fabricated. Piedad Cordoba was quoted as saying that one would be “very dumb” to believe the contents of the laptop. Chavez called the process surrounding the laptop a “circus of clowns”, and Correa’s foreign minister María Isabel Salvador said “the chain of custody [of the laptop] cannot be guaranteed”.

What we see here is an laughable double standard (doble moral) being applied to the contents of the two laptops by Chavez et al. Regrettably, Chavez has morphed from a democratically elected leftist president into a windbag demagogue and would-be dictator for life.

HRW Tied Up in Knots Over Extraditions

Today’s Washington Post editorial describes how Human Rights Watch first called for the extradition of paramilitary leaders to the U.S., only to criticize the extraditions now that Uribe has complied. Once again Uribe has proven himself to be a formidable chess player.

IAHCR Expresses Concern over Extraditions

The Interamerican Commision on Human Rights expressed concern over the extradition of the 14 paramilitaries, claiming the extraditions would put a freeze on ongoing investigations of crimes committed by paramilitaries. The extradited paramilitaries were being investigated under Colombia’s “Justice and Peace Law” for the massacres of tens of thousands of civilians and links to Colombian politicians and institutions.

Paramilitary Leaders Extradited

Alvaro Uribe’s decision to extradite Salvatore Mancuso, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo (Jorge 40), Diego Fernando Murillo (’Don Berna’), Hernán Giraldo (’Pablo Sevillano’) and Ramiro ‘Cuco’ Vanoy, to the United States, as well as the extradition of Carlos Jiménez, alias ‘Macaco’ last week is a dramatic development which changes the political landscape in Colombia. According to the International Herald Tribune, 14 high-level paramilitaries were extradited. The paramilitary leaders had previously submitted themselves to judicial processes under Colombia’s “Justice and Peace” law, and were extradited on the grounds that they were continuing their illicit activities from behind bars, and therefore violated the provisions of the law. The justice and peace law provides for lenient sentences in exchange for confessions of crimes committed and restitution to the victims, and was largely seen as a sham, effectively giving the paramilitaries impunity. What is unclear is whether the families of  the thousands of victims massacred by these paramilitaries will ever receive restitution and justice. U.S. authorities have hinted that paramilitaries, who have been extradited primarily for narcotics trafficking, must still answer for their crimes against humanity.

By extraditing the paramilitaries, Uribe effectively removes the cloud of suspicion that he is sympathetic to the paramilitaries. This event will have far-reaching consequences, particularly with respect to the approval of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement by the U.S. Senate. Nevertheless, Uribe must still demonstrate that he is doing something about the harassment and assassination of Colombian union leaders and human rights activists by rearmed paramilitaries.