'Dismantled' paramilitaries continue to extort 'taxes'

At least 10 percent–that is the "quota" charged by the extreme-right paramilitaries for each contract granted by government offices in the northeastern Colombian province of Cesar, the regional section of the Association of Engineers (SIC) complained in a statement to which IPS had access. The extortionists continue to present their demands in the name of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the paramilitary umbrella group that formally demobilized this year as a result of negotiations with the government of right-wing President Álvaro Uribe. These are "the same people who have collected the money in years past, who in the name of their supposedly demobilized chiefs strike terror" into the heart of the association, stated SIC. The AUC declared a unilateral ceasefire in December 2002, and three years ago began the negotiations for demobilization. But after the ceasefire, the paramilitaries committed at least 3,000 murders, according to Alirio Uribe, head of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective, an internationally respected human rights group. The demobilization "has taken place in a climate of skepticism and lack of credibility," Sergio Caramagna, the head of the Organization of American States (OAS) mission of support for Colombia's peace process, acknowledged this week, speaking at a conference on the AUC demobilization process. According to figures approved by the OAS mission, 30,944 members of the paramilitary groups–which were led by a number of well-known drug lords–handed in their weapons as part of the process. The collaboration between the paramilitaries–which are blamed by the United Nations and leading human rights watchdogs for at least 80 percent of the atrocities committed in Colombia's civil war–and the armed forces has been amply documented by the US State Department and UN bodies. In a September 2005 report, "The Paramilitaries in Medellín: Demobilization or Legalization?," the London-based Amnesty International expressed its concern over the paramilitary disarmament process, stating that "there are no guarantees to ensure that demobilized paramilitaries who might be responsible for serious human rights violations are not being 'recycled' into the conflict by being integrated into security-related employment, including private security firms." The main targets of the paramilitaries are civilians–including human rights and labor activists–whom they deem guerrilla sympathizers. Although in late 2002 it was estimated that the AUC had less than 4,000 armed members, shortly afterwards the figure was raised to between 13,000 and 15,000 members. "The doubts regarding the demobilization have focused on whether the participants [in the process] really belong to the AUC, the inflation of the number of [paramilitary] troops and support personnel, the exponential growth of some of the paramilitary structures during the process, and the continued existence of armed structures in some regions of the country," Caramagna said at the conference organized this week by the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (INDEPAZ) and the local magazine Semana. Colombia is the only case in the world where a demobilization process has been carried out without a broad political accord, said Caramagna. He said that in the provinces of Chocó in the northwest, Putumayo and Meta in the south, Vichada and Arauca in the east and Guajira in the northeast, where paramilitary groups have been dismantled, the local population has not perceived any changes indicating that a "peace process" is underway. According to a February report by the Presidential Program Observatory on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, "the self-defense groups act in this area not only as a military structure, but also as an organization that influences local politics, carrying out actions that range from pressure on people aspiring to public posts to approval of projects in villages and towns." The government report describes "the huge proportions that the extortion has taken on" in Valledupar, the provincial capital of Cesar, where everyone, "from coffee vendors to owners of supermarket chains, must pay a 'quota' to the self-defense forces." "The phrase 'everyone here must pay' appears to be a premise for survival," says the government report, which refers to the control exercised by the paramilitaries in many regions, achieved through the use of terror. According to former government minister Camilo González, director of INDEPAZ, the map showing where the 43 paramilitary groups are active correlates closely with the map of the country's coca crops, the raw material of cocaine, which is one of the factors fueling the four-decade armed conflict. Between 1994 and 2004, the paramilitaries forcibly displaced 200,000 families, committed 8,386 summary executions, and forcibly disappeared 3,294 people, according to González. In the meantime, legal action is moving ahead for some of the worst atrocities. The Interamerican Court on Human Rights has already ruled several times against the Colombian state for its collusion with paramilitary groups. Human rights activist Alirio Uribe said "the truth cannot be negotiated" in legal cases against those responsible for crimes against humanity. The complete truth must come out, the paramilitary structures must be entirely dismantled, and there have to be guarantees that there will be no repeat of the crimes committed by the paramilitaries, because "they are killing people every day," said Uribe (no relation to the president). He said the truth "means revealing everything about how these groups were created–who promoted them, who financed them, and who benefited. The big truth, which is hidden in these forums, is that the state is responsible" for the phenomenon of the paramilitaries, he maintained. The activist pointed out that only last year did the OAS mission acknowledge that the AUC had violated its ceasefire, and only this year did it admit that there are still active groups, "even though it claims that they are no longer paramilitaries, that they are something else: crime gangs." "Are we going to continue lying?" he asked.