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AKTIONEN UND ANKÜNDIGUNGEN
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01 antifaschistische gedenkkundgebung am 18.01.2003
From: "Helmuth Zink" <glb-zink@apanet.at>
================================================

Das Antifaschistische überparteiliche Erdberger Personenkomitee Grete Jost
teilt mit:
Liebe Antifaschistinnen, liebe Antifaschisten!
Samstag, den 18. Jänner 2003, um 14 Uhr, findet bei der Gedenktafel für
Grete Jost, Rabenhof, Baumgasse 39, 3. Bezirk (U3-Haltestelle
Kardinal-Nagl-Platz) anlässlich der 60. Wiederkehr des Hinrichtungstages
eine ANTIFASCHISTISCHE GEDENKKUNDGEBUNG mit Kranzanbringung und Ansprachen
statt.
Ansprachen halten:
Widerstandskämpfer Nationalrat a. D. Leitender Sekretär des ÖGB i. P. Prof.
ALFRED STRÖER, Bundesvorsitzender der Sozialdemokratischen Freiheitskämpfer,
sowie ein Vertreter des KZ-Verbandes und des Grete-Jost-Komitees.
Mit dem Gedenken an Grete Jost ist das Gedenken an alle hingemordeten
Widerstandskämpferinnen und Widerstandskämpfer, an alle Opfer des deutschen,
spanischen und österreichischen Faschismus sowie an die Opfer des 2.
Weltkrieges verbunden.
Anschließend findet eine GEDENKFEIER im Zentrum Erdberg, 1030,
Waldbrunnerhof, Durchgang Dietrichgasse 49 - Lechnerstraße 2, statt.
Das Thema ist:
"Der Kreuzweg, Leiden und Verfolgung der Roma und Sinti im 3. Reich!"
Dazu spricht RUDOLF SARKÖZI, Obmann des Kulturvereines der Roma und Sinti,
der als Kind im Konzentrationslager den Leidensweg seines Volkes erleben
musste.
Ernst Toman singt mit uns Arbeiter- und Freiheitslieder.
Antifaschistinnen, Antifaschisten, nehmt teil an der Kundgebung und an der
Gedenkfeier!

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02 SIEBENSTERN - Programm 4. bis 18. 1. 2003
From: el awadalla <el@awadalla.at>
================================================

Samstag, 4. Jänner,16.30 Uhr
Spielenachmittag für Kinder und Erwachsene
Du hast zuhause ein Brettspiel, das du schon immer spielen wolltest,
aber niemand will mitspielen? Du würdest gern ein Brettspiel
kennenlernen, das du nicht hast? Du hast zu Weihnachten ein Spiel
bekommen, das du nicht immer nicht probiert hast? Wenn du Glück hast,
findest du das richtige Spiel und die richtigen MitspielerInnen.
Eintritt frei für alle, die Brettspiele mitbringen.
Spiele, die wir haben: Hugo, das Schloßgespenst; Der zerstreute Pharao;
Mensch ärgere dich nicht; Das verrückte Labyrinth; Dame; Cluedo; Zicke
Zacke Hühnergacke (+ Entengacke); Superkreisel; Die Maulwurf Company;
Memory; Mühle;
Typ Tom; Back Gammon; Die Siedler von Catan (+Seefahrer-Erweiterung);
Würfelpoker usw.
UKB für alle ohne Spiele: 2 Euro

Mittwoch, 8. Jänner, 20 Uhr
RHYTMISCHE LESUNG
TA dada tatam
brigitTA maczek (anmerkung: bitte nur TA fett schreiben), bildende
Künstlerin, übermalt lyrische Bemerkungen zu Sehnsucht, Kraft,
Produktion und anderen politischen Notwendigkeiten auf dem Schlagzeug.
Spende

Montag, 13. Jänner, 20 Uhr
WILDE WORTE: KING SIZE
Literatur, Musik und Kleinkunst mit Freier Wildbahn und Wunschgedichten
GastgeberInnen: Franz Hütterer, Michaela Opferkuh und Richard Weihs
http://meineseite.i-one.at/richard.weihs/
Achtung Programmänderung
Gast: Christian Futscher
Spende

Mittwoch, 15. Jänner, 20 Uhr
BUCHPRÄSENTATION: LINKES WORT AM VOLKSSTIMMEFEST 2002
Unter dem Titel "Seien wir realistisch ..." lasen folgene AutorInnen am
Volksstimmefest 2002: Ruth Aspöck, Erika Danneberg, Elfriede Haslehner,
Fritz Herrmann, Eva Jancak, Güni Noggler, Thomas Northoff, Amir P.
Peyman, Helmut Rizy, Werner Rotter, Dieter Schrage, Rolf Schwendter,
Christine Werner, Martina Wittels
Nun ist diese Textsammlung als Buch erschienen, wie schon zuvor vier
Lesungen von den Volksstimmefesten 1998 bis 2001. Einige der genannten
AutorInnen werden im Siebenstern lesen.

Donnerstag, 16. Jänner, 20 Uhr
ROTER STERN SINGER - CHORPROBE
Erhebe Deine Stimme: Chorprobe der Roter Stern Singer
Ungehört? Unerhört! Der Chor, vorwiegend aus sangesfreudigen Laien
bestehend, singt Arbeiterlieder und alles, was die Mitglieder gern
singen wollen. Wer mitmachen will, ist herzlich eingeladen. Auskunft bei
Ute: 0676-522 77 64

Freitag, 17. Jänner, 20 Uhr
NiM SOFYAN
Eine lange Nacht der ungeraden Takte
Im neuen Projekt des Sängers und Gitarristen Alp Bora treffen drei
verschiedene musikalische
Vorlieben und Temperamente aufeinander. Mit dem Flötisten Pedro Duarte
und dem Fiddler
Paul Dangl wurde ein Programm erarbeitet, in dem sich
Anatolisch-Balkanisches,
Französische Tänze und Irische Folklore zu einem vielfarbigen und
spannenden Klangbild
mischen. Melancholische Lieder und Instrumentalstücke mit komplexen
rhythmischen Strukturen
wechseln sich ab mit fetzigen, irischen Jigs und Reels. In so mancher
Improvisation vereinen
sich die verschiedenen folkloristischen Stile zu reizvollen
musikalischen Neuschöpfungen.
NiM SOFYAN sind: Alp Bora (TR) Gesang, Gitarre, bundlose Gitarre
Pedro Duarte (P) Querflöte
Paul Dangl (A) Geige, E-Geige, Gesang

Samstag, 18. Jänner, 20.30 Uhr
KONZERT: SKYKO
contemporarelectricjazz
Seit Herbst 1997 sind sich die drei jungen Musiker Weggefährten durch
unterschiedlichste Formationen und Ensembles, im Frühjahr 1999 faßten
sie den Entschluß eine eigene Band zu gründen, die mit den reduzierten
musikalischen Mitteln der Triobesetzung und den daraus entstehenden
improvisatorischen Freiräumen vorallem Möglichkeit bieten sollte, den
Eigenkompositionen Ripplingers und Hanushevskys Leben einzuhauchen und
sie zu entwickeln. Mit "SkyKo" ist ein energiegeladener Klangkörper
entstanden, der in ständiger Bewegung sich wandelt und wächst und der
die Musiker inspiriert für genau diese Besetzung und diesen Sound zu
komponieren, bzw. ausgewählte Jazzstandards zu arrangieren.
Michiru Ripplinger (guitar), Janko Hanushevsky (electric bass), Clemens
Adlassnigg (drums). UBK 7 Euro

*******
7*STERN im Web
http://www.7stern.net
powered by action.at
*******
Café täglich außer Sonntag 16 - 2 Uhr geöffnet.
1070 Wien, Siebensterngasse 31
Tel. +1/5236157
Programmkoordination, Vermietung und Information zu den Veranstaltungen:
El Awadalla, E-Mail: 7stern@action.at oder el@awadalla.at
Wir sind Mitglied der Wiener Interessensgemeinschaft für freie
Kulturarbeit.

--
widerstandslesung jeden donnerstag von 17 bis 19 uhr 1010 wien,
ballhausplatz 1a
wieder ab 9. 1. 2003
http://www.awadalla.at/
*******
7*STERN im Web
http://www.7stern.net
powered by action.at
*******
Café täglich außer Sonntag 16 - 2 Uhr geöffnet.
1070 Wien, Siebensterngasse 31
Tel. +1/5236157
Programmkoordination, Vermietung und Information zu den Veranstaltungen:
El Awadalla, E-Mail: 7stern@action.at oder el@awadalla.at
Wir sind Mitglied der Wiener Interessensgemeinschaft für freie
Kulturarbeit.

================================================

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MELDUNGEN UND KOMMENTARE
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03 Stellenausschreibung
From: Günter Ecker <guenter.ecker@aon.at>
================================================

Stellenausschreibung
Der Verein Menschenrechte Österreich sucht für seine Niederlassung in Wien 9 mehrere leistungsbereite
Betreuer/-innen von Asylwerbern und Migranten
Voraussetzungen: Führerschein B, verfügbarer Pkw, PC-Kenntnisse (Office, Internet), gute Kenntnisse in Deutsch und weiteren Sprachen zur Betreuung von Staatsangehörigen vor allem aus
- Osteuropa (v. a. Russland, Rumänien)
- dem arabischen Raum, Iran und Kurdengebieten
- Indien, Bangladesh, Pakistan
- dem ehemaligen Jugoslawien
- Schwarzafrika
- der VR China
InteressentInnen mit entsprechendem ethnischen Hintergrund werden ausdrücklich ermutigt, sich zu bewerben. Aussagekräftige Unterlagen richten Sie bitte per Post an den Verein Menschenrechte Österreich, Postfach 69, A-1095 Wien oder per eMail an guenter.ecker@aon.at.
Verein Menschenrechte Österreich
Postfach 69
A-1095 Wien
Günter Ecker
Tel.: 0664/ 300 32 24
eMail: guenter.ecker@aon.at

================================================
04 Mexico: Jahrestag des Aufstandes in Chiapas
aus: info@linkeseite.de
================================================

Mexico: Jahrestag des Aufstandes in Chiapas
Zapatistas nehmen San Christobal erneut ein

NEUNTER JAHRESTAG DES AUFSTANDES IN CHIAPAS: ZAPATISTAS NEHMEN SAN CRISTOBAL
ERNEUT EIN !
Neun Jahre nach dem Aufstand vom 1. Januar 1994 besetzen mehrere zehntausend
Indigene der EZLN ("Zapatistische Armee zur Nationalen Befreiung") mit einer
Grossdemonstration in der Neujahrsnacht die Stadt San Cristóbal de las Casas
erneut. Die mexikanische Polizei und die Bundesarmee versucht, die
Zapatistas auf dem Anmarsch einzuschüchtern. In den nächsten Tagen sind
weitere Mobilisierungen zu erwarten, auch von den erstarkten
Bauernbewegungen, die ab 1.1.03 Grenzen und Häfen des Landes blockieren
werden. In Mexiko beginnt ein heisses 2003.
KEIN FRIEDEN OHNE GERECHTIGKEIT! Die Zapatistas demonstrieren in diesen
Tagen ihre ungebrochene Stärke, mit zahlreichen lokalen Feiern, neuen
Landbesetzungen (bspw. das Rancho Esmeralda, nahe von Ocosingo) und einer
massiven Demonstration von Tzotziles, Tzeltales, Choles und Tojolabales in
San Cristóbal. Die Machtdemonstration der Aufstandsbewegung straft die
mexikanische Regierung Fox Lügen, welche seit bald zwei Jahren behauptet,
der Konflikt in Chiapas sei gelöst. Doch die verwässerte Verfassungsreform
über die indigenen Rechte, welche im April 2001 verabschiedet wurde, ist ein
Hohn gegenüber den 52 indigenen Völkern Mexikos. Aus ihr spricht der
jahrhundertealte Rassismus und die Angst, dass bei der Gewährung von
indigenen Rechen, ja gar indigener Autonomie, den nationalen und
multinationalen Konzernen Schranken zur Ausbeutung der natürlichen
Ressourcen gesetzt würden.
Seit April 2001 herrscht deshalb Funkstille zwischen der Regierung und den
Zapatistas, welche im Frühjahr 2001 ihre Forderung nach Anerkennung der
indigenen Rechte in einem "Marsch der indigenen Würde" bis in die Hauptstadt
trugen und im Kongress vertraten. Seit letztem September sind auch die
juristischen Einsprachen gegen die verwässerte Verfassungsreform vom
höchsten mexikanischen Gericht abgelehnt worden. Einzig Einsprachen bei
internationalen Organisationen wie der ILO sind noch hängig, aber der ILO
fehlt die Macht zur Durchsetzung ihrer Abkommen und Empfehlungen.
In diesem langen Schweigen der Zapatistas, das zwanzig Monate andauerte,
haben Regierungsorgane ihre Arbeit zur Aufstandsbekämpfung fortgesetzt und
viele indigene Gemeinden mit intensiver assistenzialistischer Politik weiter
gespalten. Regierungsnahe Medien verbreiteten gezielt Gerüchte über die
Zersplitterung oder gar Auflösung der zapatistischen Aufstandsbewegung, die
vor vier Jahren bei einer nationalen Befragung über die indigenen Rechte
rund 300'000 Mitglieder allein im Bundesstaat Chiapas zählte.
VON RÄUMUNG BEDROHTE GEMEINDEN IN DEN MONTES AZULES HABEN DIE "TOTALE
UNTERSTÜTZUNG" DER EZLN In einem Communiqué vom 29.12.02, mit dem das
Schweigen der Zapatistas beendet wird, betont der Sprecher der EZLN,
Subcomandante Marcos, dass die von der Räumung bedrohten Gemeinden in dem
Naturschutzgebiet "Montes Azules" um die Unterstützung der EZLN angefragt
hätten. Sie hätten ihnen ihre "totale Unterstützung" zugesagt, und mit der
EZLN gäbe es keine "friedliche Räumungen".
Die 42 räumungsbedrohten Siedlungen, in denen etwa 25'000 meist
zapatistische Indigenas wohnen, beschädigen laut Regierung (und zahlreicher
konservativer Umweltschutz-NGO's, darunter der WWF) die Natur in der
Naturschutzzone. Subcomandante Marcos betont jedoch, dass die meisten
BewohnerInnen Vertriebene des schmutzigen Krieges gegen die zapatistische
Basis sind und sich die Räumungen als Aufstandsbekämpfungs-Massnahme im von
Zapatistas kontrollierten "Hinterland" des lakandonischen Urwaldes ausnimmt.
Die BewohnerInnen der Montes Azules hätten der EZLN erklärt, dass sie sich
entschieden hätten, "hier zu bleiben, auch wenn dies ihr Leben kosten
sollte, solange nicht die zapatistischen Forderungen erfüllt sind". Sollte
der Zeitpunkt der Auseinandersetzungen kommen, dann gäbe es keine neue
Kriegserklärung oder weitere Communiqués, so Subcomandante Marcos.
VON DER INDIGENEN AUTONOMIE ... Die zapatistische Bewegung ist in den
letzten Jahren um einige Mitläufer geschrumpft, doch der Grossteil der
Bäuerinnen und Bauern, welche seit neun Jahren im Widerstand sind, lassen
sich von den Almosen der Regierung nicht kaufen, wie die aktuellen
Demonstrationen und die Auseinandersetzungen um die Montes Azules zeigen. In
den indigenen Bezirken, die sich zu "autonomen Gemeinden im Widerstand"
erklärten, funktioniert eine revolutionär-indigene Struktur, welche in den
Bereichen wie Gesundheitsversorgung, Schulwesen, Versorgungs- und
Verkaufskooperativen und in der Selbstverwaltung, vom Frauen- bis zum
Ältestenrat, zunehmend Form annimmt.
Die indigene Autonomie, welche den Regierungen und Konzernen ein Dorn im
Auge ist, wird von der zapatistischen Basis täglich in die Praxis umgesetzt.
Die Zapatistas gewannen so ihre Würde zurück, während die Bauernfamilien,
welche Regierungsgelder annehmen, zunehmend vom Subventionstropf der
Regierung abhängig sind.
.. ÜBER DEN BAUERNPROTEST GEGEN DEN FREIHANDEL ... Der Beitritt Mexikos zum
nordamerikanischen Freihandelsabkommen NAFTA war die Initialzündung für den
zapatistischen Aufstand 1994. Am 01.01.2003, werden im Rahmen des
NAFTA-Abkommens weitere 45 Agrarprodukte "liberalisiert" - die Appelle für
ein Liberalisierungs-Moratorium verhallten ungehört. Gegenüber der
hochsubventionierten nordamerikanischen Agrarindustrie und der
Dumpingpolitik der Multis wie Cargill oder Nestlé haben kleinere und
mittlere Bauernhöfe in Mexiko - wie auch in der USA und Kanada selber -
keine Chance. Die 24 Millionen MexikanerInnen, welche von der Landwirtschaft
leben, sehen düsteren Zeiten entgegen. Neben der Subsistenzproduktion sinken
die Marktpreise ihrer "cash crops" unter die Produktionskosten, die
Kaffeekirschen verfaulen an den Sträuchern, das Geld für Kleider, Schulwesen
und Medizin fehlt und in der Folge lässt die Landflucht ganze Regionen
verwaisen.
Eine landesweite Koalition aller Bauernorganisationen namens "El campo no
aguanta más!" ("Die Landwirtschaft erträgt nicht mehr!") hat mit
aufsehenerregenden Mobilisierungen begonnen. Sie drangen Anfang Dezember in
das Bundesparlament ein, blockieren seit Tagen die Verkehrswege des
Bundesstaates Morelos und ab dem 01.01.2003, werden alle grossen Häfen und
wichtigen Grenzübergänge des Landes blockiert. Das ländliche Mexiko kämpft
um seine Existenz.
Zusätzlich zur erneuerten Kriegserklärung der indigenen Völker in Chiapas
befindet sich der mexikanische Staat auch noch in Konfrontation mit einer zu
vielem entschlossenen Bauernbewegung. Dabei hat Mexiko als südlicher Nachbar
der USA und neuntgrösste Ökonomie der Welt eine strategisch wichtige Rolle
in Lateinamerika als Vorreiter des - auslaufenden - neoliberalen
Wirtschaftsmodells. Und auch der mexikanische Widerstand gegen den
Neoliberalismus ist seit dem 01.01.1994 ein wichtiger Referenzpunkt für die
internationale Bewegung gegen die Globalisierung der Reichen.
.. ZUM WELTWEITEN WIDERSTAND GEGEN DEN NEOLIBERALISMUS ! Der Champaner an
den Neujahrsfeiern hinterlässt bei der dünnen mexikanischen Oberschicht also
erneut den bitteren Nachgeschmack der sozialen Rebellion, des Aufstandes der
verarmten und marginalisierten Bevölkerungsmehrheit. Und dies ist erst der
Auftakt, denn im Jahre 2003 werden zahlreiche umstrittene Grossprojekte,
bspw. Staudämme, im Rahmen des "Plan Puebla Panama" begonnen, um das Land
und ganz Zentralamerika für das "Gesamtamerikanische Freihandelsabkommen"
(FTAA) "fit" zu machen. Ausserdem soll im September 2003 die fünfte
Ministerkonferenz der WTO im Touristenstädtchen Cancún an der mexikanischen
Karibikküste stattfinden, an der die Landwirtschaft weltweit weiter
liberalisiert werden soll. Die internationalen Mobilisierungen gegen diese
WTO- Runde sind bereits angelaufen, es ist von einem möglichen zweiten
Seattle die Rede, die Durchführbarkeit des Anlasses in dem sonnigen
Touristenort wird diskutiert. Davos läs!
st grüssen!
Die Zapatistas haben durch ihre kämpferische Entschlossenheit, ihre
erfrischende Offenheit und ihre Fantasie dem weltweiten Widerstand gegen den
Neoliberalismus viele Impulse gegeben. Dass sie jedoch nicht Geschichte
sind, zeigt ihre starke Demonstration am neunten Jahrestag des Aufstandes
und ihr aktiver Beitrag zu einer "Welt, in der viele Welten Platz haben".
Direkte Solidarität mit Chiapas, Zürich / San Cristóbal de Las Casas
T/F: 01-400 45 69 soli@chiapas.ch www.chiapas.ch
Direkte Solidarität mit Chiapas Eglistr. 25 Postfach 8616 8036 Zürich, SUIZA
Tel/Fax: **41 1 400 45 69 soli@chiapas.ch http://www.chiapas.ch

================================================
05 Irak
From: Sachse-Seelow@t-online.de
================================================

Wir haben eine Aktion "Friedenstaube" gestartet.Dieses Symbol ist geeignet als ständige Demonstration gegen den Krieg sowohl in der breiten Öffentlichkeit als auch im Internet. Wir bitten für diese Aktion um Unterstützung. Mehr ist zu erfahren unter www.pds-seelow.de
vielen Dank bernd

================================================
06 Erklärung: 291
From: Cephe Info <cephe@gmx.at>
================================================

Datum: 1. Januar 2003 Erklärung: 291
Bei einem Angriff auf unsere Landguerillaeinheit in Tokat, ist unser Kommandant Celalettin Ali Güler gefallen... Die Oligarchie verheimlicht ihre eigenen Verluste. Das Monument der Verbundenheit zum Volk und zur Revolution, der Schrei der Befreiung in den Bergen: Celalettin Ali Güler Auf der Landebene bei Tokat dauern die massiven Operationen der Oligarchie seit ungefähr zwei Monaten an. Im Zuge der Operationen, die sich in letzter Zeit gänzlich gegen unsere Guerillaeinheit gerichtet haben, sind die militärischen Kräfte der Oligarchie am 28. Dezember um 14.00 Uhr auf einen Unterschlupf unserer GuerillakämpferInnen gestoßen. Unsere Guerillas haben den Feind rechtzeitig bemerkt und zuerst das Feuer eröffnet, wobei sie die Umzingelung verhindern konnten. Das erste Gefecht dauerte ungefähr eine halbe Stunde. Während sich unsere Guerillas aus dem Gebiet zurückgezogen haben, kam es noch dreimal an verschiedenen Punkten zu Gefechten. Bei dem vierten Gefecht gegen 16.00 Uhr, ist ein!
Kommandant und Genosse unserer Guerillaeinheit, Celalettin Ali Güler, der sich in den vordersten Reihen befand, gefallen. Die Oligarchie führt ihren Angriff zur Vernichtung und Außerkraftsetzung der Guerilla seit sehr langer Zeit, indem sie ihre Sondertruppen und Kommandoeinheiten in der Region zusammenzog. Neben den militärischen Angriffen gegen die Guerilla, gehören Repression gegen das Volk, sowie die Methoden der psychologischen Kriegsführung mittels regionaler Radiosender in der Umgebung von Tokat seit Jahren zum Alltag. Aber die Oligarchie wird sich niemals von dieser Gefahr, die seit Jahrzehnten in den Bergen unseres Landes existiert befreien können. Denn die KämpferInnen in den Bergen, welche für die Oligarchie eine Gefahr darstellen, sind Teil der Hoffnung und Befreiung für unsere Völker. Während die Oligarchie unmittelbar nach der letzten Auseinandersetzung in der Umgebung von Tokat in der Presse und im Fernsehen verlautbarte Wir haben einen DHKP-Cler ermordet, me!
ldete sie nicht ihre eigenen Toten und Verletzten. Die Auseinandersetz
und den Militärkräften der Oligarchie hat sich beinahe im Nahkampf zugetragen. Unsere GuerillakämpferInnen haben zahlreiche angeschossene Soldaten zu Boden fallen sehen, sie schreien gehört Wir haben Verwundete. Die Oligarchie sollte alle Informationen im Zusammenhang mit der Auseinandersetzung bekanntgeben. Güler der 25 Jahre ununterbrochen, für die Sache kämpft, wird als Monument der Verbundenheit zum Volk und zur Revolution und des ununterbrochenen Revolutionärseins, im Befreiungskampf unseres Volkes in den Bergen und Städten weiterleben! Ali Güler bedeutet, von 77 bis heute, 25 Jahre, von denen kein Augenblick ohne Kampf und Organisation verstrichen sind. Er war vor dem 12. September ein Militant im antifaschistischen Kampf, Während der Zeit des Millitärputsches vom 12. September ein Widerstandskämpfer in Gefangenheit ein Organisator des Aufschwungs in den 90ern, und in der zweiten Hälfte der 90er ein bewaffneter Kämpfer in den Bergen... All diese Jahre hindurch verfügt!
e er über eine revolutionäre Begeisterung, auf den wechselnden Kampfgebieten, zwischen Folter und Gefangenschaft, gab er niemals seine Überzeugung auf, Müdigkeit und Überdruss sind ihm nicht einmal in den Sinn gekommen, seinen Glauben stärkte und vergrösserte er unentwegt. Celalettin Ali Güler wurde 1960 in Istanbul geboren. Er ist von türkischer Nationalität und kommt aus einer alevitischen Familie. Er ist das werktätige Kind einer ArbeiterInnenfamilie. Er arbeitete lange Zeit als Gemischtwarenhändler und begann damit bereits während seiner Schulzeit. In seinen Gymnasiumsjahren lernte er die revolutionäre Bewegung kennen und begann sich am Kampf zu beteiligen. Seit Beginn seines Kampfes im Jahre 1977 bis heute befand er sich in den Reihen unserer Bewegung. Im März 1980 geriet er zum ersten Mal in Gefangenschaft. Seine Gefangenschaft dauerte bis zum Juni 1987. Nachdem er ungefähr 7 Jahre im Gefängnis verbrachte, konnte er nur 2,5 Monate draußen bleiben, in deren Anschluss er!
weitere 9 Monate in Gefangenschaft lebte. Nach seiner Freilassung im
er 4 Jahre hindurch Aufgaben auf verschiedenen Gebieten der Bewegung. In unseren Jahren des Aufschwungs wurde er mit als politischer Verantwortlicher für die Ägäische Region bestimmt. Im Laufe dieser Aufgabe geriet er im April 1992 in Gefangenschaft. Seine Leidenschaft nach Freiheit ist die des Kampfes! Erneut inhaftiert als Widerstandskämpfer, war er Mitglied des Komitees der Gefangenenorganisierung der Front (DHKC) im Gefängnis von Buca. Er fuhr damit fort zu lernen, zu lehren und sich zu entwickeln. Es gab keinen marxistisch-leninistischen Klassiker, den er nicht gelesen hätte. Er hat gelesen, um den Kampf draußen zu stärken. Er gehörte zu denen, die die Leidenschaft der Freiheit durch Lernen erweiterten. Auch er war einer der Mitwirkenden der Freiheitsaktion in Buca. Am 17. Juli 1995 sind vier Mitglieder der Front, darunter auch Celalettin Ali Güler, bei der im Buca- Gefängnis verwirklichten Freiheitsaktion ausgebrochen. Für ihn waren seine Organisation und sein Kampf, !
seine Leidenschaft nach Freiheit und für den Kampf ausschlaggebend. Nun war er in den Bergen. Unser Genosse, der jede Aufgabe im Namen der Bewegung und alle Tätigkeiten als gewöhnlicher Arbeiter erfüllte, ist seiner Aufgabe in den Bergen mit gleicher Begeisterung und Enthusiasmus nachgegangen. Er besitzt eine Persönlichkeit, die durch den Kampf existiert und mit dem Kampf heranwächst! 25 Jahre lang hat er keine persönlichen Wünsche und Begierden geäußert. Mit dieser Leidenschaft führte er seinen Kampf mit Begeisterung fort. Er besitzt eine Einstellung, die sich ein Leben ohne den Kampf nicht einmal für einen Augenblick vorstellen kann. Wie die Partei in einem Schreiben über unseren Genossen bekräftigte: Er ist Ausdruck der Gesamtheit höchster Werte. Und genau deswegen betrachtet er jede Form des Kampfes aus folgender Perspektive: Bis heute habe ich mich voll und ganz, bedingungslos dem Willen meiner Partei unterworfen. Auch danach werde ich, wenn gesagt wird sterbe oder blei!
be, mich dementsprechend verhalten. Er ist ein Meister in der "Kunst d
ununterbrochenen Revolutionärseins herrscht absolute Überzeugung und ein großer Anspruch. Dies ist es auch, was dazu führt, das alle übernommenen Aufgaben mit Erfolg beendet werden. Es ist die Behauptung der Revolution, die den Glauben und die Begeisterung nährt. In einem seiner Schriften erklärte er: "Am Anfang wurde ich revolutionär und nahm in den Reihen der Bewegung teil, weil mich die Haltung gegen die faschistischen Angriffe beeinflusst haben. Aber mit der Zeit habe ich gesehen, dass das Problem sich nicht auf die Reaktion gegen die Faschisten beschränkt, sondern viel weitreichender gedacht werden muss. Deshalb habe ich das Revolutionärsein als Lebensform akzeptiert und bis heute fortgesetzt. Wenn man das Revolutionärsein als Kunst, die Gesellschaft und die Natur zu verändern betrachtet, dann ist es meiner Ansicht nach das größte Glück zu sehen, dass auch ich daran mitwirke, ein paar Ziegeln und Mörtel beimische und für das Glück unserer Menschen kämpfe." Mit diesem g!
roßen Anspruch und Glauben hat er gekämpft, mit diesem Gefühl des Glücks ist er gefallen. Er hat all unseren GenossInnen, SympathisantInnen, unserem ganzen Volk, das sich eine Veränderung dieses Systems herbeisehnt, ein Leben zurückgelassen, welches zum Beispiel werden wird.
Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi Revolutionäre Volksbefreiungsfront

================================================
07 RAWNEWS: Latin America
von: "RAWNEWS" <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================

Venezuela's Chief Proposes Global Effort to End Strike
The New York Times
January 3, 2003 - By LARRY ROHTER

BRASÍLIA, Jan. 2 Venezuela's embattled president, Hugo Chávez, said today that he favored the creation of a group of "Friends of Venezuela" to lead an international diplomatic effort to end the monthlong general strike that has crippled oil production and brought normal activity to a halt in his country.

The Venezuelan leader was here for the inauguration Wednesday of Brazil's new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He made the announcement at a news conference after a breakfast meeting with Mr. da Silva, leader of the left-wing Workers Party and an advocate of a negotiated solution to the growing turbulence in Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil producer.

"This is a good initiative," Mr. Chávez said this afternoon. "Any country that wants to cooperate will be welcome."

Mr. Chávez, a former army colonel who led an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1992, said the composition of the support group and the exact role it might play were still in the talking stages. But he said that he expected that the countries taking part would be drawn from Latin America, Europe and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, which Venezuela helped found more than 40 years ago.

At a news conference this evening, Mr. da Silva's spokesman, André Singer, said Mr. da Silva had asked the governments of Spain and Portugal to join him in trying to bring about "a peaceful resolution" to the standoff in Venezuela. Mr. Chávez returned to Caracas this afternoon, but Mr. da Silva was scheduled to have dinner here tonight with Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader, and was expected to discuss the Venezuelan situation with him.

The Venezuelan leader, whose 1998 election mandate was reconfirmed by another national vote in 2000, said that he had also met with Libyan officials and other Latin American heads of state while here. He said his fellow presidents were universally supportive, in part because they fear that the demands that Mr. Chávez be replaced might establish a precedent that could undermine their own hold on power.

Jimmy Carter, the former United States president, and César Gaviria, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, have tried to mediate the political crisis in Venezuela, so far without much visible success. Mr. Chávez said the "Friends of Venezuela" group could serve a similar function, but also made it clear that his negotiating position had not changed.

The strike, which comes eight months after Mr. Chávez was briefly deposed in a military-led rebellion, has been organized by a coalition of business, labor and retired military leaders. They have called for Mr. Chávez's removal from office through institutional means, such as new presidential elections or activating a provision in the Venezuelan Constitution for a referendum.

"Moving elections up is impossible," Mr. Chávez said today. "A referendum, yes, but only at the midpoint of my term," which would be in mid-August of this year.

Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil outside the Middle East and is a leading supplier of gasoline and heating oil to the United States. But executives and many workers at the Venezuelan state oil company, Pdvsa, have supported the strike, causing normal production of about 2.5 million barrels a day to drop by as much as 90 percent and leading to supply shortages and long lines at gasoline stations.

"What is going on in my country is not a strike," Mr. Chávez charged today. "It is a coup attempt disguised as a strike," organized by "terrorists who are blocking oil and food distribution and sabotaging refineries."

To relieve that pressure, Brazil last week sent an oil tanker with 520,000 barrels of gasoline to Venezuela. Mr. Chávez said he had asked both Mr. da Silva and Brazil's departing president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, to approve the shipment and acknowledged that if the situation continued he might have to ask for additional fuel supplies from Brazil and other allies.

"Yes, that's possible," he said, adding that his government had already been in contact with both OPEC members and neighboring countries like Mexico, Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago. A Russian tanker loaded with 600,000 barrels of gasoline should be arriving in Venezuela soon, he added.

Mr. Singer, the Brazilian presidential spokesman, said Mr. Chávez had also requested that the Brazilian tanker be allowed to remain in Venezuela to haul gasoline from refineries there to Caracas. No decision has yet been made, he added.

Mr. da Silva has expressed his admiration for Mr. Chávez and his "Bolivarian Revolution," saying that the Venezuelan leader "thinks like I do." Mr. Chávez in turn welcomed the Workers Party landslide victory here in October, saying he hoped that Mr. da Silva would join him and Mr. Castro in building a Latin American "axis of good."

Today Mr. Chávez said he hoped the Venezuelan and Brazilian state oil companies would create a joint venture that could be extended to other nations in the region and act as a sort of "Latin American OPEC." He said Mr. da Silva had expressed his "total support" and predicted that Brazil and Venezuela would make "great advances together in the coming years" because of the similar views that he and Mr. da Silva share.

Mr. Chávez was dismissive of news reports from Caracas that opposition leaders were now willing to begin temporarily limiting their strike action, an offer that does not extend to the oil industry, which accounts for about 80 percent of Venezuela's exports. He argued that the proposal was not a good faith gesture but a sign of weakness.

"The Venezuelan opposition is divided and fragmented," he said. He described the leaders of the strike as "a fifth column who would stab their own mothers in the back" and said that "no one can accept this kind of blackmail."

"We have to dig in and defend ourselves," he said.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

More Than 3000 Venezuelan Patients Treated in Cuba

Havana, December 28 (RHC)-- More than 3000 Venezuelans have been treated
under the Cuba-Venezuela Health Agreement, according to the island's health
authorities. Cuba reports that over the past two years, more than 1100
operations have been performed by medical personnel on the island -- mainly
in the areas of cardiovascular and orthopedic surgery.

Venezuelans have also benefited from reconstructive and general surgical
operations. The Camilo Cienfuegos International Center for Retinitis
Pigmentosa reports the largest number of operations -- 271 -- followed by
the Frank Pais Orthopedics Complex -- with 227 operations.

Patients and their relatives have always expressed their profound
appreciation for the work of the specialists and paramedics involved in the
solidarity project.

In related news, 70 new patients arrived at Havana's José Martí
International Airport from Caracas earlier this week. They have already
begun medical treatment at area hospitals and special clinics.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Brazil Sees Coalition With Venezuela, Cuba

By ALAN CLENDENNING
.c The Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Breakfast with Hugo Chavez, dinner with Fidel Castro.

The first day in office for Brazil's new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, projects the image of a leftist alliance in Latin America - one that Chavez, Venezuela's president, has already nicknamed the ``Axis of Good.''

Such an alliance could hinder U.S. efforts to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas stretching from Alaska to the tip of Argentina by 2005.

Despite the perception of a new Latin American troika, doubts abound that Silva really wants to form a bloc with such close ties to Chavez and Castro, Cuba's leader.

But by giving Latin America's other two leftist leaders such a warm welcome a day after his inauguration, Silva gets huge political mileage in Brazil, where Castro and Chavez are revered by the far left of his party

The United States sent trade representative Robert Zoellick to the inauguration, seen by the Brazilians as something of a snub because Zoellick suggested last October that Brazil's only trading partner would be Antarctica if it did not join the hemispheric trade zone.

Silva responded by calling Zoellick ``the sub secretary of a sub secretary of a sub secretary'' during his election campaign.

At the breakfast meeting, Chavez asked Silva to send technical experts from Brazil's state-owned oil company to replace some of the 30,000 Venezuelan state oil workers who have joined a crippling nationwide strike. Silva said he would consider the request.

And before dining Thursday night with Silva, Castro told Associated Press Television News that Brazilian-Cuban relations will grow stronger now that Brazil has its first elected leftist president.

Arriving at Silva's rural retreat 20 miles outside Brasilia for dinner, Castro shook hands and signed autographs for about 50 cheering Silva supporters. He did not speak with reporters.

Castro and Chavez had front-row seats in Congress at Silva's inauguration Wednesday, where an estimated 200,000 Brazilians waved red flags. Many were dressed in red and white clothes, the colors of Silva's Workers Party.

The Cuban and Venezuelan leaders had dinner together, and talked until 4 a.m. Thursday at the Brasilia hotel where Castro is staying.

But experts said Silva's efforts to accommodate Castro and Chavez in Brasilia could be carefully calculated political window dressing.

Silva angered his party's left wing by appointing fiscal moderates to key cabinet posts, but needs its help to push programs through Congress, where he lacks a majority.

``Embracing Castro and Chavez, the symbols of anti-U.S. influence in Latin America, gets Silva political capital in Brazil,'' said Stephen Haber, a Latin American expert at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. ``But this is a dangerous game, you go too far one way or the other and this will blow up in your face.''

Silva doesn't want to scare away investors, who already sent the value of the Brazilian currency, the real, down 40 percent last summer over fears that his administration might not follow responsible economic policies.

So far, Silva seems to be pleasing his supporters without spooking financial markets. The real, which ended down 35 percent last year, finished stronger Thursday as the market reacted positively to second-tier finance ministry appointments.

Named to the posts were a mix of left-leaning, moderate and liberal economists with strong credentials, along with officials from the administration of former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso who will keep their posts.

Chavez coined the ``Axis of Good'' term after Silva was elected in October, hailing the victory and saying Venezuela, Brazil and Cuba should team up to fight poverty.

``We will form an 'axis of good,' good for the people, good for the future,'' Chavez said at the time.

But Brazilian political scientists dismissed the possibility of an ``Axis of Good'' being created by the meetings between Silva, Castro and Chavez.

``There is no way this represents the beginning of Chavez' 'Axis of Good' and much less the 'Axis of Evil' imagined by right-wing Americans,'' said Luciano Dias, a political scientist at the Brasilia-based Brazilian Institute of Political Studies.

Silva, who is popularly known as Lula, ``would never even consider creating a nucleus of leftists in Latin America, he is too smart for that,'' Dias said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher would not comment Thursday on the possibility of the alliance.

Chavez left his strikebound and politically riven country despite the crippling work stoppage aimed at toppling him from the presidency of the world's fifth largest oil producer.

Silva also has a compelling reason for staying on friendly terms with Chavez: The long border the two countries share.

``Brazil worries very much about violence in Venezuela spilling over into Brazil,'' Haber said. ``So you want to have peaceful relations with the Venezuelan, regardless of who is in charge.''

During his breakfast with Silva, Chavez also brought up the idea of increasing cooperation among Latin American state-owned oil industries and set up a company called Petro-America.

``It would become a sort of Latin American OPEC,'' Chavez said. ``It would start with Venezuela's PDVSA and Brazil's Petrobras,'' and could come to include Ecopetrol from Colombia, PetroEcuador from Ecuador, and PetroTrinidad from Trinidad and Tobago.''

Last week, Cardoso's outgoing administration sent a tanker to Venezuela carrying 520,000 barrels of gasoline, but that barely dented shortages around the country.

If Silva decides to help Chavez with Brazilian oil workers, it probably won't accomplish much either, said Albert Fishlow, who heads Columbia University's Brazilian studies program.

``If he does it will be minimal and not enough to affect the situation,'' Fishlow said.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Brazil's new president reaches out to Chavez and Castro a day after his inauguration
ALAN CLENDENNING, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, January 2, 2003
©2003 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/01/02/international0737EST0470.DTL

(01-02) 08:30 PST BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) --

Brazil's new president began his first full day on the job Thursday, meeting Latin America's other two prominent leftist leaders, embattled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and scheduling dinner with Cuba's Fidel Castro.

The day after his inauguration, former radical union leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also had meetings scheduled with top officials from eight countries -- including Portugal, Canada, Sweden and Germany.

At a breakfast meeting, Chavez asked Silva to send technical experts from Brazil's state-owned oil company to replace some of the 30,000 striking Venezuelan state oil workers. Silva said he would consider the request.

Chavez left his strikebound and politically riven country despite the crippling workstoppage aimed at toppling him from the presidency of the world's fifth largest oil producer.

Earlier, Chavez predicted Venezuela would return to pre-strike oil production of 3 million barrels a day in a month to 45 days, a claim the opposition cast doubt on.

Silva was scheduled to have dinner with Castro, who praised the new president during a pre-inauguration interview with Associated Press Television News.

"I wished on January 1st what could be wished to our beloved brother," Castro said. "Cuba loves Lula very much and feels very happy."

Castro looked healthy and showed no signs of difficulty walking after recovering from a leg infection that kept him out of sight for nearly two weeks last month.

Silva, Brazil's first elected leftist president, counts Chavez and Castro as friends, and they sat in the front row of Congress when he was sworn in.

After Silva was elected in October, Chavez had hailed the victory, saying Venezuela, Brazil and Cuba should team up to fight poverty.

"We will form an 'axis of good,' good for the people, good for the future," Chavez said at the time.

In his sweeping inaugural address, Silva told how, as a boy, he sold oranges and peanuts to help his family survive in Brazil's impoverished northeast.

As Brazil's new president, Silva has made ending hunger his goal, saying a fertile land the size of the continental United States has no excuse for not feeding its people.

"If at the end of my mandate all Brazilians have the possibility to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, I will have fulfilled the mission of my life," Silva said.

Silva's childhood anecdote came near the end of an address detailing plans to help the 175 million citizens of Latin America's biggest country, including its 50 million poor.

Silva, a 57-year-old former radical union leader, said he would improve education, control inflation, reduce corruption and boost efforts to give land to the poor.

He promised to create jobs and negotiate hard with the United States over the terms of a hemisphere-wide free trade agreement, and he also railed against American and European subsidies that hurt Brazil's robust agricultural industry.

But Silva warned he cannot improve the lot of Brazilians overnight. The country's weak economy and investor concerns over how Silva will balance his social agenda with fiscal responsibility have contributed to double-digit inflation and the currency's 35 drop in value against the dollar.

"No one can reap the fruit before planting the trees," Silva said.

When Silva spoke before Congress, the masses jammed in a huge park outside, dancing and chanting "Lula! Lula!" -- as Silva is popularly known. The mostly blue-collar crowd came from all parts of Brazil, many dressed in the white and red colors of Silva's party.

Then they stopped cheering, as if listening to a sermon from one of their own, as indeed he was -- the son of a poor farmer who dropped out of the fifth grade to work.

Maria Aparecida Gussi cried tears of joy as Silva recounted his childhood struggles.

"All I want is a better Brazil for my children, and he's giving us that hope," said Gussi, a psychiatry professor. "The hope that it will be better."

After the ceremony, Silva ascended a ramp to the white marble presidential palace, and accepted from outgoing President Fernando Henrique Cardoso the presidential sash.

Leaders and representatives of 119 countries attended Silva's inauguration.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and U.S. Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., met Wednesday with Silva's finance minister, Antonio Palocci, to discuss the Brazilian economy. Zoellick said Washington will "work with Brazil."

Silva is Brazil's 36th president, taking over from Cardoso in the country's first transition between democratically elected presidents in more than 40 years.

The country's last leftist president, Joao Goulart, got the job in 1961 after elected President Janio Quadros unexpectedly resigned. Goulart's presidency was characterized by a polarization of Brazil's society that led to a military coup in 1964.

Silva, who used to espouse socialism, was jailed during the dictatorship that lasted until 1985. He was elected president in an October landslide -- his fourth try since 1989.

Before the inauguration, Brazilian pop music superstar Gilberto Gil performed. The dreadlocked Gil then donned a dark suit and was sworn in as Silva's cultural minister at the presidential palace.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A Leftist Takes Over in Brazil and Pledges a 'New Path'

New York Times - By LARRY ROHTER - January 2, 2003

BRASÍLIA, Jan. 1 Latin America's largest nation embarked on an ambitious political and social experiment today, as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, leader of the left-wing Workers Party and a former lathe operator and labor union leader, was inaugurated here as president of Brazil, promising "a new style of government" and a crusade against hunger, injustice and corruption.
"The time has come to tread a new path," Mr. da Silva declared in his inaugural address, arguing that Brazil's progress had been stalled by what he called the "economic, social and moral impasse" of a system based on self-interest.

"Yes, we are going to change things, with courage and care, humility and daring," he added.

On at least two counts, Brazilian history offers no precedent for the rise to power of Mr. da Silva, who has only a grade school education, lost part of a finger in a factory accident and, as he recalled in his address, sold peanuts on the streets as a child to help his divorced mother make ends meet. He is the first member of the working class to become president here and the first candidate of a left-wing party to win a presidential vote.

Mr. da Silva gained a landslide victory in October, receiving more than 52 million votes in his fourth attempt at the presidency, by running on a platform that promised Brazil's 175 million people better times after nearly a decade of austerity. He sounded that theme again today, saying that "creating jobs is going to be my obsession" and that "it is absolutely necessary that this country return to growth."

The new president has credited his resounding triumph to rejection of the free market policies of his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

The change of guard has delighted and reinvigorated the Latin American left, as was evident from the foreign labor and political delegations that were waving Argentine, Uruguayan, Ecuadorean and Peruvian flags as they mixed with ordinary Brazilians along the parade route.

World leaders attending ranged from President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to the Prince of Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne. But the two heads of state who drew the most attention and applause were Fidel Castro of Cuba and the embattled president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, who recently invited Mr. da Silva to join him and Mr. Castro in what he called a Latin American "axis of good."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

La Jornada

Santafe de Bogota, 12/28/02

Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Army
of National Liberation (ELN) wiped out an extreme right wing paramilitary
base during a fierce battle resulting in 60 dead for the latter.

The attack by the two guerrilla groups happened in San Pablo where the
battle lasted several hours in the early morning hours of Thursday,
reported El Tiempo.

Persons in the village of Cerro Azul said that they had to take cover in
the crossfire. They reported that once the paramilitaries vacated the area,
carrying their dead and wounded in seven vehicles, the guerrilla burned the
camp where 18 cadavers lay scattered.

Commander Alberto of the FARC's 24 Front reported 60 dead inflicted on the
paramilitary Autodefensas Unidas of Colombia (AUC) with one dead and
several wounded in his ranks.

The fighting occurred while the AUC are in a truce awaiting the initiation
of peace negotiations with the government of President Alvaro Uribe.

The paramilitaries had occupied the area in early December after flushing
out the guerrillas that have now reoccupied the zone.

Simultaneously, the FARC killed one policeman, wounded three persons and
kidnapped three others in an attack against a reserve in Caldas. Also, 6
persons -including two uniformed individuals- were wounded in an attack
with explosives in Santa Marta and Arauca.

Families of kidnapped persons and the Catholic Church have renewed demands
for the release of individuals held by illegal groups, after learning that
12 government representatives are in custody of the FARC.

The government of Alvaro Uribe has announced the creation of a citizen's
"support and solidarity" network to report anything that may prevent acts
of terrorism. The private (snitch) network will be coordinated by the
National Police.

Editing & Translation
Luis Martin

Boletin Latino
www.latinamericabulletin.cafeprogressive.com/index.html

COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE OF NEW MEXICO
www.peace4colombia.org

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

URGENT ACTION - STOP THE HARASSMENT OF SINTRAEMCALI

The Association for Research and Social Action NOMADESC and the other organisations belonging to the National and International Human Rights Campaign Against Privatisation, Corruption and the Criminalisation of Social Protest "Never Forget" denounce the serious incidents which show that the workers of SINTRAEMCALI, especially the union's executive members, continue to be victims of persecution from state forces

The Events

1. At 2:45 p.m. on 22nd December 2002, a call was received at the union headquarters from an unidentified person who said "You lot will be blown into a thousand pieces".

2. At 4:30 p.m. the same day several police officers arrived at the union headquarters with an order to drive away vehicle 138, because according to them someone from this vehicle had shot at agents of SIJIN (the political police). However the DAS (state security department) member * who drives vehicle 138, who was in front of the union building, told them that they were mistaken given that he had been in charge of the vehicle. That same day there had been a phone call at 2:45, p.m., in which the union was warned that in the next few days a bomb was going to be placed. These threats show the type of persecution imposed on the social, popular and workers organisations who struggle for peace with social justice.

3.- Next when union president LUIS HERNANDEZ left the union headquarters at about 6:00 p.m., a few blocks from the building he was detained by members of the police and driven to Fray Damian police station, where the police commander stated that his protection vehicle would stay decommissioned, as well as the arms and the security items used by this three bodyguards.

SINTRAEMCALI's president communicated with NOMADESC human rights organisation, which immediately informed the national authorities. NOMADESC was told by the official in charge at DAS that the protection vehicle and protective arms would be decommissioned.

LUIS HERNANDEZ, decided to leave the police station in a public vehicle, but before doing so insisted with the assistance of NOMADESC that the Metropolitan Police and the Valle branch of DAS sign a statement that they would be responsible for any form of physical or psychological attack on him. The police commander then decided to return the vehicle and the security items to the bodyguards.

Note that this incident is a clear indication that the protection measures agreed for the SINTRAEMCALI executive, and specifically its president who is most at risk, are not being fulfilled.

4. On 20th December 2002, at about 4:30 p.m. SINTRAEMCALI leaders LUIS HERNÁNDEZ, RUBEN DARIO GONZÁLEZ, Adviser and OSCAR FIGUEROA Treasurer, together with the union's lawyer Doctor DANNY JARAMILLO RAMOS were waiting outside Villa Hermosa prison in Cali for the exit of RICAURTE MARTINEZ MILLAN, one of OSCAR FIGUEROA's bodyguards.

When RICAURTE MARTINEZ, came out the group noticed the presence of several armed men in civilian clothes in a vehicle, filming and taking photos of them. The vehicle was a new model, coloured green with dark windows. The trade unionists' bodyguards move to the vehicle to ask the occupants who they were and why were they filming. At this point the watching group drove off, abandoning one of their team who had stepped out the vehicle. The man left behind was CARLOS GIOVANNI CALBACHE who identified himself as a member of SIJIN, and stated that by order of a high ranking officer he had to stay there taking photos of whover left the prison.

SIJIN agent, CARLOS GIOVANNI CALVACHE FIERRO, identified by Citizen ID Card No. 12.999.050 from Pasto, after much insistence showed his ID card of this intelligence body.

The trade unionists noted that he was carrying a advance technology digital camera. The SIJIN agent refused to show the images he had already taken. In the face of repeated requests from LUIS HERNÁNDEZ, OSCAR FIGUEROA and RUBEN DARIO GONZÁLEZ he had to show them on the camera's high resolution screen. The photos had been taken over sevreal days, as marked by date and hour. The first ones were of RICAURTE MARTINEZ coming out of the prison and marked 5:00 p.m. 20th December. On these photos OSCAR FIGUEROA, LUIS HERNÁNDEZ, RUBEN DARIO GONZÁLEZ, DANNY JARAMILLO, WILMAN CASTILLO and RICAURTE MARTINEZ were all clearly shown.

Other photos taken at 3:20 p.m. were of DANNY JARAMILLO and OSCAR FIGUEROA, leaving the prison after their visit. Other photos showed their entry into the prison at 2:00 p.m. Photos taken that morning from outside the officers of the Attorney General showed LUIS HERNÁNDEZ, OSCAR FIGUEROA, DANNY JARAMILLO, WILMAN CASTILLO and Luis's bodyguards. There were many other similar photos of these same people performing their trade union activity.

Meanwhile the bodyguards of RUBEN DARIO GONZÁLEZ had followed the green vehicle, catching up with it after six blocks. When he realised that he was about to be stopped, the green vehicle's driver accelerated, the occupants started shooting at the SINTRAEMCALI bodyguards and the vehicle turned the wrong way up a one-way street. Under these circumstances, and in bad light, the bodyguards decided to call off the chase. They contacted their leaders, who immediately ordered the bodyguards to return to the prison to collect them.

Requested Action

On the basis of the above report, and given the seriousness of the situation, we ask you to direct a preventative action to the Colombian government and the state's control bodies. We ask that you demand that the Colombain government:

1. Ceases the persecution of SINTRAEMCALI.

2. Carries out an exhaustive investigation of the state security agents who have been following SINTRAEMCALI union leaders and advisers. And that there be an explanation for their persecution.

3. Investigates state security agents who are committing abuses of authority against SINTRAEMCALI members.

[* Translator's Note: DAS - Department of Adminstrative Security. As a result of pressure from the unions and a case taken to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, the Colombian government agreed a security scheme for trade unionists under threat of assassination. The scheme is limited, and does not address the union's central demand for those responsible for the murders to be prosecuted. Nonetheless some union leaders have had their own bodyguards trained and awarded the status of an official DAS agent. It is precisely this limited protection that the authorities are now trying to remove from SINTRAEMCALI. ]

Direct your protests to:

Presidencia de Colombia
Alvaro Uribe Vélez
Correo_E: uribe@presidencia.gov.co. Carrera 8 n. 7-26 Palacio de Nariño, Santa Fe de Bogotá. Teléfono. +57.1.5629300 ext. 3550 (571 ) 284 33 00. Fax (571 ) 286 74 34 - 286, 68 42 -284 21 86. Página Web: http://www.presidencia.gov.co/

Vicepresidencia de Colombia
( Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos)
FRANCISCO SANTOS
fsantos@presidencia.gov.co. Calle 7 No 6-54 Piso 3- Bogotá. Telefax: +57.1.337.1351

Defensoría del PuebloEDUARDO CIFUENTES MUÑOZ
Correo_E: secretaria_privada@hotmail.com. Calle 55 n. 10-32, Bogotá. Fax: +57.1.346.1225

Ministerio de Defensa
MARTHA LUCÍA RAMíREZ DE RINCÓN
Correo_E: mdn@cable.net.co. Avenida El Dorado con carrera 52 CAN-Bogotá. Télex: 42411 INPRE CO; 44561 CFAC CO Tel-fax: +57.1.222.1874

Ministerio del Interior
FEDERICO LONDOÑO HOYOS
Correo_E: mininterior@myrealbox.com. Carrera 8 # 8-09 - Bogotá. Fax: 0057-1-286.80.25

Fiscalía General dela Nación
LUIS CAMILO OSORIO
Diagonal 22 B n. 52-01 Bogotá. Tel fax: +57.1.570.2022.

Dirección General de la Policía Nacional
Gral (RE) TEODORO CAMPO
Bogotá. Fax: +57.1.428.7634 - +57.1.315.9527

Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
CAROLINA BARCO
Fax: +57-1-341.6777

Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares
JORGE ENRIQUE MORA RANGEL
Avenida el Dorado con Carrera 52-Bogotá. Telefax. 57-1-2222935

Comandante del Ejército Nacional
CARLOS ALBERTO OSPINA OVALLE
Bogotá. Fax: +57.1.221.9111. Página Web: www.fuerzasmilitares.mil.co

Alto Comisionado para la Paz Fax
LUIS CARLOS RESTREPO
Tel : +57.1.560.9946

WITH COPIES TO

Colombian Embassy (UK): mail@colombianembassy.co.uk
Bill Rammell MP Under Secretary of State Foreign Office james.morrison@fco.gov.uk
CUT Human Rights Department: derechoshumanoscut@cc-net.net
Colombia Solidarity Campaign (UK) colombia_sc@hotmail.com

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.01.03/news2.html

FORWARD
JANUARY 3, 2003
Feds Call Chile Resort a Terror Hot Spot
By MARC PERELMAN
FORWARD STAFF
IQUIQUE, Chile The Bush administration has designated this windswept resort town and free-trade zone on Chile's northern Pacific coast as a terrorist hot spot, second in South America only to the notorious tri-border region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet.

Indeed, American and regional officials say, Iquique pronounced "ee-KEE-kay" ! a booming free-trade zone created 30 years ago in what was once a sleepy fishing village, may be poised to compete with the tri-border area as a center of terrorism financing and support.

"Iquique is definitely a place we are looking into because there is a lot of money going in and out and some strange guys moving there," an American official told the Forward on the condition of anonymity.

The tri-border area, with its 30,000-strong Arab community and reputation for smuggling and money-laundering, has been monitored closely by intelligence agencies during the last decade, especially following the September 11 terrorist attacks. The stepped-up law enforcement has contributed to the exodus of terrorism suspects to Chile.

Among them is a group of Paraguayan citizens of Lebanese descent suspected of links to the Shiite group Hezbollah who have set up shop here in recent years after fleeing the heavily monitored tri-border zone.

More specifically! , those men are suspected of collecting sometimes coercively and sending proceeds from the region to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Washington has insisted on the need to dry up the financial sources of Islamic terrorism. And while the dispute with Saudi Arabia about Islamic chari and their possible links to Al Qaeda has grabbed headlines, the administration has also been pushing South American countries to crack down on the millions of dollars leaving the continent to Middle

Eastern terrorist groups, primarily Hezbollah and, to a lesser degree, Hamas.

Besides the tri-border area and Iquique, free-trade zones such as Maicao in Colombia, Isla Margarita in Venezuela and Colon in Panama which have a similar mix of unregulated businesses and an Arab presence have come under American scrutiny.

The concern in Iquique was prompted by a 35-year-old Paraguayan man of Lebanese descent named Assad Ahmed Barakat. He has lived for years in the tri-border a! rea, becoming in recent years one of it most prominent businessmen until he was arrested by the Brazilian authorities last summer at the request of the Paraguayans.

Earlier this month, Brazil extradited Barakat to Paraguay, where he faces charges of tax evasion, illicit association and criminal incitement.

Because Paraguay, like most of its neighbors, does not have a law defining terrorism financing as a crime, he was not charged with terrorist activities. Still, Paraguay and the United States believe Barakat is in fact the regional head of Hezbollah.

Barakat has admitted to being a Hezbollah sympathizer and sending money to the group but denies being its regional leader.

Alarm bells started ringing in Santiago and Washington in late July 2001, when Barakat, one year before his arrest, made a four-day trip to Iquique to set up businesses with Paraguayan-Lebanese associates in the free-trade zone.

Taking advantage of the new climate cre! ated by the September 11 attacks, Chilean Interior Minister José Miguel Insulza publicly announced in November 2001 the launching of an investigation into suspicious activities in Iquique.

In addition, the Forward has learned, state prosecutors specializing in money laundering opened a parallel, secret investigation of several companies linked to Paraguayan-Lebanese in Iquique.

"Barakat was the detonator, no question," a Chilean official said.

The investigative judge in charge of the public case, Jaime Chamorro, told the Forward in an interview here that the investigation was now in a secret phase. He added that while Barakat was a key feature, the investigation was not limited to him and his associates.

Chamorro explained that when he came to Iquique, Barakat participated in the creation of three companies. His biggest stake was in Barakat Import & Export. He also took between 1% and 2% stake in Saleh Trading and Saltex.

However, ! probably because of the Chilean reaction, Barakat Import & Export never operated and Saleh Trading only operated until April 2002. Today, only Saltex still exists.

Many security officials in the region, however, say the Chilean investigation has been more convenient than thorough. They point to American interest in the case Chamorro has been assisted by the FBI, even traveling to Washington in September and a relative lack of evidence against Barakat in questioning the real objectives of the investigation.

"There is very little against Barakat, they are just trying to please the gringos and sending a message to these guys: 'stay away,'" a regional intelligence source said.

A Chilean official acknowledged that "there were people from the tri-border who wanted to come to Iquique and who decided not to come when we opened the case. So you could say that this is also a way to protect ourselves."

A knowledgeable judicial source said Chamorr! o did not make much headway. He has indeed not charged or arrested anyone in more than a year, although some 15 people were interrogated and then released.

Moreover, the parallel investigation conducted by state prosecutors has found little evidence of a financial trail between Lebanese-controlled companies and the tri-border area or the Middle East.

Chamorro countered that he was working "diligently and without discarding any hypotheses."

And judicial sources said that there were some troubling points they were looking into.

For example, a source close to the investigations said, a company called Frankfurt Import and Export, controlled by Paraguayan-Lebanese individuals in Iquique, was sending substantial quantities of used clothes to neighboring Peru, and sometimes to New York, Angola and Syria.

Another company under scrutiny is Guarani Import & Export, which investigators believe could be involved in cigarette-smuggling between ! Iquique and the tri-border area.

In addition, Paraguayan intelligence sources believe Khalil Saleh, the founder of the now closed Saleh Trading company, was in charge of money collection for Barakat in Iquique.

A Chilean judicial source told the Forward that when Saleh tried to send money from Iquique to Lebanon, the Chilean central bank intervened to bar the transfer following an American recommendation. Saleh did not try again.

"We believe they had a plan that fell through after Barakat was publicly denounced," the source said.

One of the main reasons for the quick Chilean reaction is that the police have been on the lookout for some time.

According to a secret 2002 Chilean police report obtained by the Forward, the authorities began worr about the arrival of Paraguayan Shiites of Lebanese descent as early as the mid-1990s.

During 1994 and 1995, according to the police report, Youssef Hassan Abdallah, the sheik of one of the! tri-border area's main mosques and a key Hezbollah sympathizer, visited Chile several times and met with Lebanese businessmen in Iquique. His visits to Iquique came as Argentinean investigators focused on the tri-border area as a base of operations for the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish communal center in Buenos Aires.

Abdallah's objective was to support the creation of an Islamic center in Santiago and establish a new operative center for his activities, according to the report.

The Chilean police report contends that starting in 1997 a major migration movement started from the tri-border area to Iquique, especially by Paraguayans of Lebanese descent.

As a result, the police decided to launch the top secret "Operation Iquique" to monitor their movements, meetings, places of residence and bank accounts.

The operation singled out nine companies and 22 individuals all of Lebanese descent including Barakat, whose four-day trip to Iquique in! July 2001 was closely tracked.

"There is a relationship, on a financial standpoint, between Hezbollah, the tri-border area and Iquique, through the use of front import and export companies to cover money transfers without justification," the police report concluded.

One recent development worrying the authorities, a Chilean source told the Forward, is that during the last six months, some 40 people have been coming each week to Iquique from Lebanon, staying only two or three days.

"They could be money couriers," the source said.

While no Al Qaeda presence in Chile or in the region has been established, the Chilean authorities have also been looking into another recent immigration movement, this one from the lawless Pakistani-Afghan border. Investigators are focusing on individuals of Pakistani origin running businesses in Iquique and with alleged links to Islamic groups operating on the Pakistani-Afghan border, including Al Qaeda.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A connection between the Israeli Military man Yair Klien and the
Colombian Death Squads.
A deadly union of Zionist torturers and Colombian oligarchs.
NorteAmericanos for Bolivar
----- Original Message -----
Subject: Colombia's Paramilitaries and Israel
New World Phalange, Colombia's Paramilitaries and Israel
by Jeremy Bigwood -December 04, 2002

"I copied the concept of paramilitary forces from the Israelis."
Carlos Castaño, Mi Confesión 2002[1]
In 1983, an intense 18-year-old Colombian arrived in
Israel to take a yearlong course called "562."[2] He was no normal
foreign exchange student. His name was Carlos Castaño and the course
was about making war, something that he would exceed at: he was
destined to become the most adept and ruthless paramilitary leader in
Latin America's history.

Carlos Castaño had been impelled along this vengeful
path after his cattle-ranching father had been killed during a botched
rescue attempt by the army while being held for a "tax" ransom by the
FARC - Colombia's strongest left-wing guerrilla army.[3] Bitter over
their father's death, Carlos and his older brother, Fidel, vowed
revenge, a vengeance that would dovetail with both the interests of the
Colombian right-wing landholding classes and US foreign policy. It is a
vengeance that continues into the present..

The brothers first offered their services as scouts for
the Colombian Army's Bombona Battalion - fingering FARC sympathizers,
providing intelligence and even participating in military operations.
But Fidel - some 14 years older than Carlos - concluded that by merely
working for the army, they were going to get nowhere.[4] One of the
battalion's majors introduced them to a local paramilitary death squad
called "Caruso," with whom they started a killing spree. When local
police started to investigate them, they found it necessary to operate
even more clandestinely. Unlike in many other third-world countries
under the U.S.'s shadow, Colombia's police and judiciary have sometimes
played an independent role from the Army.

Later, according to press reports,[5] Fidel started his
own paramilitary death squad called "Los Tangueros," named after his
ranch, "Las Tangas."[6] The Los Tangueros was responsible for more
than 150 murders during the late 1980s and early 1990s. When
discussing this period in his book, Castaño openly talks about murders
he has committed or ordered, making his habit of executing what he
calls "'guerrillas' in towns" sound routine.[7] In one massacre alone,
the Los Tangueros captured dozens of campesinos from a neighboring
town. Back at the ranch, "they tortured them all night with crude
instruments before shooting some and burying others alive."[8] Los
Tangueros along with other death squads dispersed throughout the
country would evolve into the present 9,000-strong paramilitary force
in Colombia, [9] now killing up to twenty civilians per day.[10]

During the early 1980s when Castaño's father was
captured by the FARC, rural Colombia was rife with small diverse
paramilitary units working for the army and the landholding upper
classes.[11] Many of these groups were merely the enforcers and
protectors of the local wealthy, while others worked protecting the
"new rich" of the cocaine trade from the "taxation" of the left-wing
insurgencies. Some of these groups bore the names of petty criminal
gangs or the names of their leaders. They liked to call themselves
"self-defense" or "auto defense" groups, but here we will use the term
'paramilitaries" to avoid confusion. In the 1980s, these paramilitary
groups were disparate and not well trained, and sometimes got involved
in turf battles between themselves. If they were to take the offensive
against the steady advances of the leftist guerrillas, the
paramilitaries would need both political/military training and
unification. And while these paramilitaries essentially worked for the
same counterinsurgent goals as those of US foreign policy, the US could
not directly support them. But another country could.

Exactly how Carlos Castaño got to Israel is still a
mystery, as is precisely which entity trained him there. But whoever
set it up, the Israeli course "562" definitely had a strong effect on
Castaño. "Something clicked in me, and I began to behave
differently[12]...My perception of this war changed radically after my
trip to Israel,"[13] he said in his "as told to" Colombian run-away
bestseller of interviews edited by Spanish journalist Mauricio
Aranguren Molina.

Carlos Castaño was clearly a good and highly motivated
student. Of his studies in Israel, which is the subject of chapter 6 of
in his book, he reminisces:

"Unlike what one might think, we studied in the classroom more
enthusiastically than in the military training. The classes emphasized
the regular and irregular ways in which the world operates... It was
there that I rounded out my education... [The teachers] insisted on us
carrying ourselves well, in both the way we dressed and in the way we
spoke in public. I also received a class on how to enter and register
in a hotel and we analyzed how to behave around immigration police in
airports. We read in libraries and spent long sessions on both the
self-esteem and the security that an individual should have. This was
an invaluable process which taught me to respect and have confidence in
myself, to triumph during tough intimidating moments."[14]

Most importantly for the eager student, he "received
lectures on how the world arms business operates, and how to buy
arms."[15]

And of course, there was also a military component:

"I received instruction in urban strategies, how to protect oneself,
how to kill someone, or what to do when someone is trying to kill you,
depending on the situation. We learned how to stop an armored car and
use fragmentation grenades to break through and enter into a target.
We practiced with multiple grenade launchers, and learned how to make
accurate shots with RPG-7s, or shoot a cannon shell through a
window."[16]

"We also took complementary courses on terrorism and counter terrorism,
night vision equipment, and parachuting. We also learned how to make
homemade bombs. In short, we learned what the Israelis know, but, in
all sincerity, very little of all of this has been applied to the war
in Colombia. I got a very good basic education, and there I learned
how to do the most important thing - I learned how to control
fear..."[17]

Castaño also describes training that could not have
taken place without the express permission of the highest authorities
of the Israeli Defense Forces, such as when he performed "airborne
maneuvers and [we] parachuted at night over islands of the
Mediterranean. I had to carry weights as ballast to adjust my free-fall
speed." [18]

Not all was study for Castaño in Israel, and he used
his free time to meet with Colombian soldiers undergoing regular
military training there, in which the worst human rights violators in
the western hemisphere were being trained by the worst human rights
violators in the Middle East. But these were precisely the connections
that would prove so useful in the future.

"In the Sinai desert, I also had the opportunity of meeting military
men from our country, the men of the Colombia battalion. I did not
meet the battalion as a whole, but on my R & R days, we went to the
same places, and I spent time in the company of sergeants and
officers." [19]

Castaño summarizes his epiphany in Israel: "Upon
returning to Colombia, I had become another person... I learned an
infinite amount of things in Israel and to that country I owe part of
my essence, my human and military achievements, although I repeat, in
Israel I didn't only learn about things related to military training.
There I became convinced that it was possible to destroy the guerrillas
in Colombia. I started to understand how a people could defend itself
against the whole world. I understood how to bring into the "cause" a
person who had something to lose in the war, with the aim of converting
him into the enemy of my enemies."[20]

By 1985, shortly after Castaño returned to Colombia,
some of the paramilitary groups that were springing up had become
completely dependant on the monies from drug trafficking. Indeed, some
paramilitary units had merely evolved as such from drug protection
rackets. In fairness it is true that some of the paramilitary groups
were not related to illicit drug protection: some were formerly the
guards of rich landowners, cattle ranchers and the like. A secret
1989[21] Colombian Police (DAS) Intelligence document [22] includes a
section on the "Contamination of the Paramilitaries by Drug
Trafficking," even places a time and a place on this event, although
there is other evidence (below) that this took place earlier. "The
economic crisis facing the paramilitary forces in 1985 was resolved by
an alliance with drug trafficking... This alliance came about in mid-
1985 when the Paramilitary intercepted a camper full of cocaine...
After conversations with the drug traffickers through the initiative of
HENRY PEREZ, the Paramilitary forces returned the camper and the drugs
to their owners, receiving in exchange for it a four-door Toyota
pickup..."[23] It should be noted that Henry Perez was part of the
Caruso paramilitary gang, at the time also known as the Autodefensas
del Magdalena Medio (Paramilitary Militia of Magdalena Medio)- as were
the Castaños. In fact, Castaño calls Henry Pérez one of the "fathers"
of the paramilitaries, along with his brother Fidel, and the previously
mentioned Bombona battalion Major Alejandro Álvarez Henao, who had
introduced the brothers to their first death squad.[24] From this
point onwards, these paramilitaries expanded, protecting operations of
the Medellín cartel and others, including that cartel's competition in
Cali.

The DEA was also watching: Its agents had noticed a
paramilitary/drug trafficking connection at least as early as 1993:
"Intelligence indicates that some of Colombia's private paramilitary
groups have been co-opted by cocaine trafficking organizations.
Throughout the 1980s, the Autodefensas del Magdalena Medio (Self-
Defense Militia of Magdalena Medio), one of the most important of these
groups, had close ties with the Medellín Cartel's organization."[25]

A year later, in another report, the DEA looked at the
relationship between the left-wing insurgencies and the drug trade,
accurately stating: "Despite Colombian security forces' frequently
claim that FARC units are involved directly in drug trafficking
operations, the independent involvement of insurgents in Colombia's
domestic drug production, transportation, and distribution is
limited...No credible evidence indicates that the national leadership
of either the FARC or the ELN has directed, as a matter of policy, that
their respective organizations directly engage in independent drug
production or distribution. Furthermore, neither the FARC nor the ELN
are known to have been involved in the transportation, distribution, or
marketing of illicit drugs in the United States or Europe."[26] In
other words, the left-wing insurgencies taxed the production of coca or
its products' transportation through insurgent-controlled areas, but
were not involved in its processing to cocaine, shipping or marketing -
as opposed to the paramilitaries who ran and still run processing
factories and were and still are actively involved in shipping it out
of the country.[27]

Paramilitary leaders also set up clandestine training
schools in Colombia, or "schools for assassins" as they were called by
the previously mentioned secret 1989 Colombian Police (DAS)
Intelligence report.[28] The first such school that was discovered was
called "El Tecal,"[29] and it trained the first of the paramilitary
forces, and as these extended themselves deeper into the countryside
and received greater funding form the drug trade, they formed other
schools in other areas. For instance, "Cero Uno [Zero One] located at
kilometer 9 of the Puerto Boyocá-Zambito road," and "El Cincuenta"[30]
[# 50] located on the road between Delirio and Arizá (Santander)."[31]
There were also "satellite schools" with names reminiscent of bars such
as "Galaxias."[32] According to the DAS report, "Personnel graduated
from these schools to incorporate into the 'paramilitary-
narcotrafficking' structure with an aim to undertaking four specific
jobs:
a. Protect the community and the properties of narcotrafickers from the
guerrillas and rival groups.
b. Be responsible for the personal protection of the heads of the
cartels and those of the paramilitary forces, functioning as
bodyguards.
c: Produce cocaine in the laboratories of that organization...
d: Attack members of the Unión Patriótica[33] [legal political party
affiliated with the FARC] and members of the government or political
parties that opine against the drug trade."[34]

To qualify as a candidate for training in these
"schools for assassins" one had to be interviewed by narco Henry Perez
and his cohorts, all friends of the Castaño brothers. Students were
selected by "the express recommendation of a rancher, farmer or
narcotraficker from the region." with questions like "What is your
ideology? Are you capable of killing your father, mother or brother if
it can be confirmed that they are guerrillas?" The candidates were told
that the war may go on forever and that the only enemy was communism.
And "upon the evaluation and verification of all of the information
supplied by the candidate, the candidate is given a medical exam and
placed in a basic training course. During the first stage of training,
recruits are selected to work in the financial apparatus (drug
production) or security (bodyguards, patrolmen). The training course
includes: a.) Camouflage techniques, b.) Handling small arms and
parading, c.) Explosives, d.) Personal defense, e.) Identity
preservation, f.) Body guarding, g.) Intelligence, h.)
Counterintelligence, i.) Communications, j.) First Aid."[35]

But apparently this training by fellow Colombians was
not enough, and in 1987 the Israelis were called in to help. In the
mainstream media the 16 Israeli and British trainers were presented as
"mercenaries," perhaps because of the bias of the Colombian DAS agents
who wrote a report on them. These foreign military trainers were far
too well connected to be ordinary "mercenaries"-they clearly acted with
some government approval, most definitely that of Israel, and probably
of some US entity also - as we shall see below. Castaño, who attended
these courses, said that members of the Colombian Army had actually
arranged the courses, which featured the training by a famous Israeli
officer, Yair Klein.[36]

Again, it was Castaño ally Henry Perez who picked the
candidates - along with drug kingpin Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha.
According to his book, Carlos Castaño took part in the courses, and
their organization occupied five[37] of the 50 scholarships.[38]

a. A group of five Israelis taught the course called "PABLO EMILIO
GUARIN VERA" in the "El Cincuenta" school of Puerto Boyocá.
b. The instructors were in the area for a period of 45 days after
having entered the country through Cartegena (Bolivar). Initially,
they stayed in the "El Rosario" residence of Puerto Boyocá and later in
a rustic house on the Isla de la Fantasía (Fantasy Island)...[39]

There were also 30 scholarships awarded so that
students could train further in Israel, just as Castaño had done:
"According to what these instructors said, they were going to send the
best 30 students for further schooling in a special course that would
be taught in Israel."[40] Thirty paramilitaries being sent to Israel
would have clearly required the permission of the Israeli Defense
Forces - the Israeli government. It is hard to imagine anything else
for a country continually at war.

And there was a Nicaraguan Contra connection: "TEDDY,
the Israeli interpreter told our source that they should shorten and
speed up the course because they had promised to train the Nicaraguan
Contras in Honduras and Costa Rica."[41] Anyone who thinks that these
were simple "for hire" mercenaries would do well to analyze this quote.
At the time, only with express US government approval - particularly
that of the State Department and CIA - could one get into the contra
camps located in Honduras or Costa Rica, let alone a group of men
bearing arms. These Israelis were clearly trusted at the highest
levels of both the Israeli and US governments.

During this time, and even up until the present, the
Colombian state has not shown itself to be a monolith. Even today, in
spite of all of the US influence, one still finds government ministries
that refuse to go along with the official line crafted by the US State
Department and filtered through the presidency or some other
ministry.[42] This explains why part of the Colombian state -justice
and police - were so clearly disturbed by the paramilitaries' advances
that in 1990 police units raided a Castaño property and exhumed 24
decomposed corpses, some showing signs of torture.[43]

And there were other troubles too: competition was
growing between the Medellín and Cali drug cartels. According to a DEA
Intelligence Report from 1993, "By 1990, for reasons that are still
unclear, the Autodefensas del Magdalena Medio and the Medellín Cartel
emerged as bitter foes."[44] Former ally, Medellín cartel drug-kingpin
Pablo Escobar was now being hunted by the Colombian state, aided by US
intelligence agencies and the DEA.[45] The Castaño brothers helped the
Colombians and the U.S. in the hunt for Escobar, which resulted in
Escobar's death. Carlos had lines of communication open to the actual
police squad that killed Escobar, as he knew "the brother of the famous
police colonel, Hugo Martínez Poveda, commander of the Search Team that
killed Pablo Escobar" from time both of them had spent in Israel.[46]

After Escobar was out of the picture, the Castaño
brothers consolidated and unified the paramilitaries under the name
"Auto-Defensas Unidas de Colombia" (Unified Self-Defense Forces of
Colombia), known by its Spanish acronym AUC:

"From these death squads grew the Peasant Paramilitary Force of Cordoba
and Urabá (ACCU), the oldest and largest of the AUC's confederation of
privately funded armies across the country. This was a result of Carlos
Castaño's new leadership: He transformed a regional protection force
into a national political movement.."[47]

The effect was dramatic. The paramilitaries grew in
size from a few thousand to nine thousand or more, and as Time magazine
reported in 2000: "Fear of AUC vengeance is one reason at least 1
million peasants fled their homes during the past decade."[48] Like
the Nicaraguan contras, the Salvadoran and Guatemalan death squads, the
paramilitaries were known for using excessive violence to terrorize the
population, and on at least one occasion paramilitary units used
chainsaws to torture and kill their victims.[49]

But there were also losses for the paramilitaries. In
1994, Carlos's elder brother Fidel or "Rambo" as he was known - then
the paramilitaries' leader - was - according to Carlos -- killed in a
chance combat with FARC guerrillas in northern Colombia.[50] However
there exists some doubt as to whether he is really dead. The State
Department apparently believes that he may still be alive and a recent
article rumours him to be living in Israel.[51] Whatever the truth
may be, Carlos took over the top paramilitary position at that point,
and the movement grew even more, even acquiring a rudimentary air
force, something that CIA black propaganda was always trying to pin on
the guerrillas,[52] so it could induce the mainstream press to argue
for more military aid to bolster the Colombian government.

In reality, the insurgents didn't have an air force,
but the paramilitaries did and still do. By the late 1990's, the
paramilitaries had acquired several helicopters, along with maintenance
mechanics and pilot training.[53] Helicopters are extremely costly to
purchase and maintain, but are very useful in this type of war, as
Carlos was soon to find out. According to his autobiography, his life
was saved during the Christmas holidays of 1998 when a large FARC
contingent attacked his base-camp in a surprise assault. It was the
Israeli-trained pilot and[54] paramilitary commander Salvatore
Mancuso[55] who rescued him in a paramilitary helicopter.[56]

Castaño has often met in secret with government
officials, but by 2000 the meetings were being openly reported. On
November 6, 2000, he met with Colombia's Interior Minister Humberto de
la Calle of then-President Andrés Pastrana's Government. As a result
of the meeting, Castaño released two of seven legislators that his
paramilitaries were holding captive.[57] Indeed, at the time of this
writing, Castaño and Mancuso are in discussion with the new Colombian
government.[58], [59]

As the movement expanded, continuing to absorb other
paramilitary organizations, it needed arms, and probably had several
sources for them, one of which came to light last May. It should come
as no surprise to the reader that the suppliers were Israelis. Israeli
arms dealers have long had a presence in next-door Panama and
especially in Guatemala (see side bar). While some of the details of
this particular deal have been contested and are still sketchy, one
thing is clear: by a series of misrepresentations, GIRSA, an Israeli
company associated with the IDF and based in Guatemala was able to buy
3,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and 2.5 million rounds of ammunition
that were then handed over to the paramilitaries in Colombia.[60] This
may remind us of what Carlos Castaño said about his course in Israel -
when he received "lectures on how the world arms business operates, and
how to buy arms,"[61] - probably complete with the connections to do
so.

This arms deal featured tier upon tier of deniability
and smokescreens. Although Colombian police uncovered the deal, no one
has been indicted over it. The only players who appear to have known
what was going on were the Israelis and the paramilitaries. The
Nicaraguan police who sold the arms thought they were trading them for
Israeli mini-Uzis and Jericho pistols. The US State Department, which
had recently placed the Colombian paramilitaries on its "terrorist"
list claims though spokesperson Wes Carrington that the department was
under the impression that the fully automatic assault rifles were going
to collectors in the US![62] Somehow that bait doesn't go down easily.

The Uribe - Castaño Connection

Colombia's President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, like Castaño,
also lost his narcotrafficking father to the FARC, [63] but in the case
of Uribe, the father died fighting on his ranch that was attacked by
the insurgents.[64] And there are other similarities, too: like
Castaño, the Uribe family has had close ties to the cocaine trade, even
renting out a helicopter to the business.[65] In fact, Uribe's father
was once indicted for his role in the famous Tranquilandia cocaine-
processing lab, after it was taken out by a combined DEA-Colombian
police operation [66]. During the 1980's (check dates) Uribe was head
of Civil Aviation (Aerocivil) in Colombia and controlled all of the
aviation licensing throughout the country at a time when small planes
did most of the drugrunning.[67] When Uribe was governor of Antioquía
department in the mid-1990s, he helped set up a paramilitary force
called Convivir,[68] in which paramilitary boss Salvatore Mancuso is
rumored to have served.[69]

Legitimizing the paramilitaries

During the last Colombian presidential elections, a "cleansed" Uribe
was voted into power supported by the US State Department. Many of the
plans for his government are based upon a US-generated Rand Corporation
study. A major part of both the Rand study and Uribe's plan involve
the creation of a large civil defense/government informer force that
will be beholden to the Colombian state. The Rand report, like all
things Plan Colombia, was first written in the United States. It bases
a new Colombian Civil Defense counterinsurgency structure on the
Peruvian "Ronda" system -- which acted under Army supervision and was
greatly responsible for reducing the size of the Shining Path
guerrillas as well as committing a multitude of human rights abuses.
Apparently, Uribe's idea is that Castaño's paramilitaries first have a
ceasefire against the army - which is in itself a falsity since the AUC
always worked alongside the army -- then the paramilitaries would
become legal entities of the Colombian state under a different name.
Thus Castaño's paramilitaries will become legitimized and continue the
counterinsurgent war with the direct assistance of the United States,
their bloody hands washed in State Department PR.

At that point, Israel will no longer be needed in
Colombia. And indeed, it would prefer to be forgotten, as there is no
doubt that it shares some blame for the many years of ongoing bloodbath
in Colombia, which kills as many as 20 people a day[70] - some 70% or
more of which is attributed to the paramilitaries, totaling tens of
thousands over the last decade.[71] Most of those murdered are killed
for merely being suspected of sympathies to the insurgency, not for
being actual combatants. Unfortunately, we can expect the training of
Phalange-like paramilitary groups to continue throughout the world, as
the Israeli state gleefully continues to undertake operations that are
deemed too distasteful for its US counterparts.

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