This post is an excerpt from a report recently released by the Latin America Working Group Education Fund. Written by LAWGEF's executive director, Lisa Haugaard, the brief report provides an update on the human rights situation in Colombia. The update focuses on three topics--military jurisdiction, the Victims' Law, and the human rights defenders' verification mission--and provides recommendations to U.S. policymakers for each human rights concern. Download the full update on human rights in Colombia as a PDF here.

Santos Administration Presses for Step Backwards for Human Rights:
Human Rights Crimes by Soldiers May Return to Military Jurisdiction
by Lisa Haugaard, Latin America Working Group Education Fund

The Santos Administration is pushing through Congress a provision regarding military jurisdiction that threatens to undo much of the progress achieved since early 2007 in ensuring justice for severe human rights crimes committed by members of the military. In particular, it would unravel key reforms instituted to address the "false positive" scandal in which more than 3,000 civilians were allegedly killed by soldiers, often to up their body counts and obtain incentives. Soldiers detained or purchased from criminal "recruiters" live young men whom they believed would not be missed, killed them and dressed them up in guerrilla uniforms, in order to claim them as killed in combat.

An article of the justice reform bill (currently article 13) would modify the Colombian Constitution to provide that all acts committed by security force members during military operations would be presumed to be acts of service, and thus would be subject to military jurisdiction. This initial presumption would apply to any crime—including rape, torture, forced disappearance and extrajudicial executions. According to the United Nation's Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights' representative in Colombia, this would amount to an "historic step backwards for human rights" in the country.

As the provision would modify the Constitution, it needs to be approved in two congressional sessions. It was approved in one round last year, and is likely to come up again in March for final consideration.

The proposed provision would result in the military justice system opening the initial investigations into all alleged human rights abuses committed by security forces during operations. This will nullify Directive 19, emitted by Juan Manuel Santos as defense minister in 2007, which called for the investigative body (CTI) of the Attorney General's office to be the first to investigate deaths in combat. The agency that first investigates a potential crime scene has the capacity to set the investigation on the right or wrong course. "Even when a case is transferred to civilian jurisdiction, after military jurisdiction has carried out the initial steps, it becomes almost impossible to correct the skewed direction of the investigation," according to a leading Colombian human rights network. This change will not only affect investigations of new crimes, but could also lead to the transfer of hundreds of extrajudicial execution cases—the false positives—from civilian jurisdiction back to military justice authorities, a tremendous step backwards.

While the Colombian government maintains that human rights crimes would be subsequently transferred to civilian authorities, practice has shown that when the military justice system initially investigates, human rights crimes are rarely brought to light or to justice. "This is evidenced by the military courts' glaring lack of results in obtaining convictions against those responsible for cases of false positives," according to Human Rights Watch. Many of the false positive cases were closed by military justice officials, according to the UN. Despite clear jurisprudence (prior to this new proposal) regarding the obligation to investigate and prosecute human rights crimes in civilian jurisdiction, military authorities have a very poor track record when it comes to promptly transferring alleged cases of human rights violations to civilian jurisdiction. According to UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston, "the most significant obstacle to effective prosecution of extrajudicial executions by members of the security forces are the continuing jurisdictional conflicts [between military and civilian justice systems] and the failure of military judges to transfer cases to the civilian justice system." Even without this proposed step backward, too few cases are being transferred to civilian courts. After a brief period in which hundreds of cases of alleged extrajudicial executions were moved to civilian courts, the transfers of cases from military to civilian jurisdiction slowed again in 2010, according to both the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and State Department.

The military justice system's reluctance to investigate human rights crimes, and its lack of independence from the military's retired and active leadership, are qualities far too deeply engrained for some technical fix of the military justice system to resolve. Moreover, unlike in the United States, the Colombian military on a daily basis conducts law enforcement operations within Colombia's national territory and interacts with the civilian population, making it all the more urgent that the military be accountable to Colombia's civilian authorities for human rights crimes. However, there is no objection to efforts to improve the military justice system's handling of appropriate matters, such as violations of military discipline.

Unprecedented efforts were invested to achieve gains since 2007 to ensure justice for human rights crimes committed by the military. The State Department and U.S. Embassy under Republican and Democratic administrations since early 2007 invested political capital in ensuring the transfer of hundreds of extrajudicial executions to civilian courts. The U.S. Senate held up significant portions of Colombia's military aid over the issue of impunity for extrajudicial executions. The United Nations made an intensive effort via the UNHCHR office and the landmark visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions. Colombia's human rights networks and relatives of victims of extrajudicial executions made well-coordinated, heroic efforts to document and expose the "false positives" crimes, even as their allegations were dismissed and they faced constant threats. Semana magazine shone with its investigative journalism on the subject. Then-Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos chose to embrace reforms. This not only resulted in advances in justice for these cases, but also led to a dramatic drop in new extrajudicial executions. This constellation of Colombian and international effort is unlikely to be resurrected if these gains slip away.

The proposal would make it impossible for the State Department to certify compliance with the human rights conditions provision that, "The Colombian Armed Forces are suspending those members, of whatever rank, who have been credibly alleged to have violated human rights, or to have aided, abetted or benefitted from paramilitary organizations or other illegal armed groups; all such cases are promptly referred to civilian jurisdiction for investigation and prosecution, and the Colombian Armed Forces are not opposing civilian jurisdiction in such cases; and the Colombian Armed Forces are cooperating fully with civilian prosecutors and judicial authorities."

In addition, this backward step would make it difficult for the Colombian government to comply with its obligation to "prevent violence against labor leaders, and prosecute the perpetrators of such violence," in cases involving members of the military. Such cases are not just in the past. On January 9, 2012, a member of the Sintrapaz union, Victor Manuel Hilarion Palacios, was traveling to work when he was allegedly killed by Colombian army troops. As noted in a February 1 letter from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka to President Obama, "According to reports, the soldiers who later delivered his body to the Technical Investigation Unit (CTI) of the Fiscalia office in the town of Villavicencio stated that he had been killed in crossfire—yet the colleagues and relatives who went to collect his body discovered it bore signs that he had been brutally beaten and tortured."

U.S. policymakers should urge the Colombian government to withdraw this proposal to expand military jurisdiction. If this proposal goes into effect, the State Department cannot in good conscience certify Colombia meets the human rights conditions attached to U.S. security assistance. This proposal would also affect Colombia's ability to meet its commitment under the Labor Action Plan to "prosecute the perpetrators" of violence against trade unionists.

“It’s hard for us to do human rights work where we are. We have to hide what we are doing so they don’t watch us. Our comings and goings are monitored. Our emails are monitored. Our leaders are in a permanent state of stress, not just for themselves but for their children. It was hard for us to even get out to talk to you.”

This is what I heard from one activist when I visited Colombia on an international mission to investigate the status of human rights defenders this past December. Unfortunately, he was not alone in describing this systematic persecution and attacks against those working for justice in Colombia.

In a union hall in Popayán, Cauca, in the southwest of Colombia, dozens of human rights defenders told us about the dangers they face every day. A young woman who was calmly giving us an overview broke down as she was showing us a film on Alex Quintero, a campaigner for justice for the victims of the 2001 Naya River massacre and community organizer who was murdered on May 23, 2010. Alex had brought together the diverse campesino, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in Naya.

“He was our friend. It could happen to any of us,” she said.

We were there as a team of four defenders sent to Popayán, part of a 40-member delegation from around the world in Colombia on this human rights verification mission. We visited Colombia at the invitation of the National and International Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights in Colombia. The mission visited 8 regions, met with hundreds of defenders in addition to local, regional and national authorities and held a press conference in Bogota. Our preliminary report is in English here, in Spanish here. See also the recommendations of the Human Rights Defenders Campaign.

We found that human rights defenders throughout the country continue to face severe threats, harassment, and attacks. Fifty-four defenders were murdered in Colombia from July 2010 to May 2011, according to the Information System on Attacks on Human Rights Defenders of the Somos Defensores program.

Defenders endure constant death threats, which are often signed by paramilitary successor groups like the Black Eagles. Whenever a community objects to the way their territory is being used, especially by mining companies and other extractive industries, then death threats, and worse, follow. “Those who defend the rights of communities to determine their own development are attacked,” said one leader.

Family members of victims, who are courageous human rights defenders themselves, are in grave danger. Whenever a family member seeks justice for the death of their loved one, they face threats and attacks as well. The families of the disappeared, too, are at risk as they search for their loved ones.

Land rights leaders are especially under attack; 22 have been killed since August 2010. You can read their stories here and see our letter calling for protection for them here.

Women human rights defenders are often subjected to sexual violence. Threats against women defenders are also frequently directed at their families. We met with women who found threats against their children the most terrible burden they faced.

We talked with the parents of Sandra Viviana Cuellar, who is described by her friends and family as a “sister, friend, daughter, teacher, environmentalist, dancer, and defender of water, nature, and love.” They had photos of their 26 year-old daughter, with a bright smile and hip glasses, so vibrant, so alive, on their T-shirts. But they had not seen Sandra since she was disappeared in February 2011.

The vast majority of attacks against human rights defenders, including such serious crimes as the murder of Alex Quintero and the forced disappearance of Sandra Viviana Cuellar, remain unpunished. Our team was struck by the way in which many government authorities in Popayán simply denied the existence of the paramilitary groups whose names appeared on the death threats. If the groups “don’t exist,” then the government does not have to take their threats seriously.

It is true that the Colombian government makes some important efforts to protect defenders. Its human rights protection program has undoubtedly saved lives. The Santos Administration appears to be committed to continuing this program, and has been dialoging with defenders about how to improve it. However, protection still arrives too slowly, sometimes after a defender has already been attacked. The program often fails to provide protection in a way that allows defenders to keep doing their important work in the same area.

We heard a number of disturbing cases of defenders who recently had their protective measures withdrawn. Perhaps the most serious drawback is that threats and attacks against defenders are rarely successfully investigated. Attacks, threats, and break-ins to defenders' offices are often treated as isolated incidents and classified as common crimes unrelated to their work in defense of human rights.

For example, on June 13, 2011, two armed men walked into the offices of Taller Abierto, which helps displaced women and works to end violence against women in Cali. “They asked for the director of our organization,” a young lawyer from Taller Abierto told us. “And one of them began to climb the stairs towards the offices. But people upstairs hid and called the police.” The armed men left, but Taller Abierto remains in danger and the perpetrators have not been caught. “In terms of protection, all we have are cell phones assigned to us,” they told us. Protective measures are of little use if attacks routinely go unpunished and threats go uninvestigated.

But it is not just that the government fails to adequately protect defenders and punish those who attack them. Government officials themselves continue to place human rights defenders in jeopardy. Human rights defenders face unfounded criminal investigations, and a number of human rights defenders known for their legitimate human rights work are jailed. We heard about the arrests of defenders who engaged in social protests, such as opposition to large-scale mining and infrastructure projects as well as student protests.

We also heard from defenders concerned that government surveillance persists despite the shutting down of the DAS intelligence agency, infamous for spying on defenders, opposition politicians, journalists and Supreme Court justices. They spoke of tapped phones, of thefts of human rights files from their offices, of security forces confiscating their handouts and filming their public events.

Finally, we found that President Santos's initially welcome change in rhetoric towards human rights defenders is not being adhered to by many regional and local government officials, some of whom continue to stigmatize human rights defenders. Civilian and military authorities label activists who participate in social protests as subversive. The army and police distribute pamphlets and air radio ads that call on specific communities, community organizations and individuals to “demobilize,” thus labeling them insurgents and putting entire communities at risk.

We were concerned with the increasing trend, including by national government officials, to discredit and insult victims who are seeking justice by branding them as “opportunists.” The Santos Administration has even issued a monetary reward for those who provide information on “false victims,” which could incentivize the manufacture of false evidence to discredit valid human rights cases. Thus, even as the Santos Administration rolls out the Victims Law to compensate victims of violence and return land to some of Colombia’s 5 million internally displaced people, other government words and actions undercut this potentially historic advance.

The loss of a defender not only leaves family and friends bereft. “You lose a whole process,” a collective struggle for change, when a leader who brings people together for justice is jailed, forced to leave the area, killed or disappeared. Those struggling for justice in Colombia need our support now more than ever.

“He was our friend. It could happen to any of us.”

This post was written by Lisa Haugaard of the Latin America Working Group. It was cross-posted with the LAWGblog.

During 2011, researchers from the Center for International Policy (CIP, Washington), Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA, Washington), Asociación MINGA (Bogotá), and the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (INDEPAZ, Bogotá) carried out a joint project to monitor the Colombian Government's National Territorial Consolidation Plan (PNCT). Also known as "Consolidation" or "Integrated Action," this large-scale U.S. supported military and development aid program -- the successor to "Plan Colombia" -- purports to introduce a functioning government in long-neglected territories.

The Consolidation strategy begins with offensive military operations to establish "security conditions." Then, it aims quickly to bring in the rest of the government to provide basic services in a phased, coordinated way. The desired end state is the military's near-total pullout from the zone, leaving behind a functioning government, greatly reduced violence, the absence of armed groups, and the elimination of drug production.

Though its design indicates that learning has taken place since Plan Colombia's launch in 2000, we have concerns about Consolidation: the role of the military, coordination between government bodies, consultation with communities, effects on land tenure, and several others.

Over the course of 2011, we traveled to three of Colombia's Consolidation zones: the Pacific coast port of Tumaco, the La Macarena zone in south-central Colombia, and the Montes de María zone near the Caribbean. In each zone, we interviewed leaders, community members, military and civilian Consolidation officials, human rights defenders, analysts and others.

We found the desired end-state to be distant in all three zones. In some areas, the security situation was difficult. In all areas, the military's role remained predominant. Getting "buy-in" from the entire government was a frequent challenge, and local governments' performance varied very widely. In general, the pace of progress toward the declared end-state had slowed noticeably since the Consolidation program's initial phase (about 2007-2009).

CIP, WOLA, INDEPAZ and MINGA are proud to present "Waiting for Consolidation: Monitoring Colombia's U.S.-aided counterinsurgency and development program" (PDF). This new publication lays out our organizations' principal findings, concerns and recommendations following our research visits to the three zones.

Download "Waiting for Consolidation" as a printer-friendly PDF. We hope that you find it to be a useful overview of our work over the past year to monitor Colombia's U.S.-backed National Consolidation Plan strategy.

Drug war news this week includes a Mexican newspaper, Reforma, putting the drug war death count for 2011 at 12,000. From Australia comes a thorough, well-written, and appalling look at the horrors of the drug war in Acapulco. A U.S. NGO looks at the spread of violence throughout Mexican civil society and whether, as a Mexican researcher reports, cartels control 70% of the country's municipalities.

Meanwhile, while the federal police are supposed to be the "good" police in Mexico, some are being accused of torturing suspects. And a prison riot, evidently between rival drug cartel members, kills 31.

Immigration and the Border news includes a look at how NAFTA has caused farmers who used to raise pigs in Veracruz to end up butchering pigs for a U.S. company in North Carolina. There is a look at the questionable effectiveness of the border fence. And CIP's TransBorder Project questions whether the Border Patrol's capture of poor Mexicans hauling marijuana across the border on their backs constitutes defeating "transnational crime." 

Meanwhile, the border becomes more and more a fiction for U.S. corporations. One U.S. railroad profits greatly from having its own Mexican rail line to ship products north.

The Articles

Drug War

In Mexico 12,000 killed in drug violence in 2011
Washington Post: Jan. 3, "About 12,000 people were slain last year in Mexico’s surging drug violence, according to grim tallies reported Monday by the country’s leading media outlets. Annual indexes of torture, beheadings and the killing of women all showed increases. More than 50,000 people have been killed during President Felipe Calderon’s U.S.-backed military confrontation with organized crime and drug trafficking, which began in 2006." read more

Days of the dead
Sydney Morning Herald: Dec. 30, "Mexico's drug wars are crippling the country. Chief Correspondent Paul McGeough, reports from Acapulco." read more

Mexico Violence Threatens All Sectors of Civil Society
InSight Crime: Jan. 2,"As the Mexican government continues its crackdown on organized crime, the country’s civil society is finding itself exposed to acts of extreme violence. No sector has been spared: environmentalists, human rights activists, indigenous leaders, journalists, students, and university professors have all been targeted." read more

Do Gangs Control 70% of Mexico?
InSight Crime: Jan. 3, "A new report from a renowned Mexican crime analyst says that 71.5 percent of the nation’s municipalities are under criminal control. But the reality of illicit activity can hardly be described through a simple label like “control”. ... While blatant examples of impunity suggest some degree of official collusion, there is a great deal of distance between some corrupt interaction and a gang’s total control of a city. The reality is, of course, much more complicated. read more

Mexican federal police tortured 5 men detained in killings of 2 agents
AP/Washington Post: Jan. 2, "Mexican human rights authorities say five men detained in the killings of two agents and a car-bomb attack in Ciudad Juarez were tortured by federal police to confess their roles in the crimes. The National Human Rights Commission said Sunday the country must investigate six federal officers and a doctor who didn’t report signs of severe beating." read more

31 killed in Mexican prison brawl
AFP: Jan. 5, "Fighting between inmates left at least 31 dead and 13 wounded in a jail holding alleged drug gang members in northeast Mexico. ...Prisoners used makeshift weapons in the clash, which broke out in a jail in the  border state of Tamaulipas. ... It lies in an area where the rival Gulf and Zetas drug gangs have been locked in a bloody turf war." read more

Immigration and the Border

How US Policies Fueled Mexico's Great Migration
The Nation: Jan. 5, "Smithfield (a U.S. company) has used NAFTA ... to become the world’s largest packer and processor of hogs and pork. The conditions in Veracruz that helped Smithfield make high profits plunged thousands of rural residents into poverty. Tens of thousands left Mexico, many eventually helping Smithfield’s bottom line once again by working for low wages on its US meatpacking lines." read more

New fencing doesn’t stop illegal crossings
Washington Post: Dec. 30, "Overall, the United States has added 413 miles of new fencing to its southern boundary since 2006, raising to 649 miles the total length of border that has some form of man-made barrier. ... Now the question is: How much more should be built? ... Border Patrol agents say that smugglers and illegal migrants don't simply go to the place where the fence ends, and walk around it. “Anywhere is a good place to sneak across if we’re not watching.”" read more

Backpacking Transnational Criminals
Border Lines: Jan. 5, "... media releases from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ... (tout) that the Obama administration’s new Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime is working. But most of the reported strikes against TCOs involve Mexican illegal border crossers carrying 50-60 pound burlap bags packed with marijuana. ... this doesn’t mean that these apprehensions “target transnational criminal organizations,” as CBP falsely claims." read more

U.S. Trade Buoys Railroad
Bloomberg: Jan. 5, "Cross-border merchandise trade totaled $341 billion by the end of September, about 18 percent higher than it was at the same point in 2010, according to the most recent data .... The increase will help Kansas City Southern, the only U.S. railroad with a wholly owned Mexican subsidiary, ...as the company seeks to take business away from trucks traversing the border." read more

Cross-posted from the Center for International Policy's Americas Program's Mexicoblog

Human Rights Violations dominated the news from Mexico this week. A major national drama unfolded after two students in a normal school (teacher training college) were shot and killed by police while participating in a demonstration seeking changes in the school in the southern state of Guerrero. At first, state authorities claimed that some of the students were armed and shot first. Students immediately denied this.

Blame is now being exchanged between local, state and federal police, all of whom had forces present at the time. The state governor has fired his chief of police and attorney general. National politicians have called for a thorough investigation. The federal Human Rights Commission and the UN Office on Human Rights in Mexico announced investigations and the federal attorney general has taken over the judicial investigation. Eleven local and state police are being interviewed for possible responsibility in the deaths.

This tragedy is the latest in a two-week long series of attacks, kidnappings and/or murders of eight activists across Mexico. These violent events starkly reveal the fragility of Mexican democracy, the continuing penchant for resorting to government supported as well as clandestine violence, the failure of a public security and justice system that fosters impunity and the resulting destruction of human life and liberties. Reflecting this, at the beginning of the week, the president of Mexico's National Commission of Human Rights, announced his belief that President Calderon does not have enough time, in the one year left in his administration, to reverse the high levels of violence, insecurity and human rights abuses that have pervaded the country.

Drug War news included a denial by the Mexican president's office that it knew of the DEA money laundering operation. The U.S. Dept. of Justice defended itself, saying that money laundering "stings" had been authorized by Congress during the Reagan administration. And Time Magazine recognized and interviewed Javier Sicilia, leader of the Moverment for Peace with Justice and Dignity, as one of leading protesters of the year. He talks movingly of his motives in speaking out and his experiences as the Movement has grown since April.

Immigration news brought the Supreme Court's decision to review Arizona's immigration crackdown law, another poll shows that the majority of Americans, including registered Republican voters, think undocumented immigrants should have a shot at legalizing their status, as long as they meet certain criteria and the Obama administration's Secure Communities program, aimed at identifying undocumented immigrants with criminal records, has erroneously detained a number of U.S. citizens.

Two reports found that the crackdown on immigrants is producing abuse in detention centers and harassment and fear among immigrants. A report by the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights found significant abuse and denial of rights of detainees at three jails in the midwest. A report by Human Rights Watch on the impact of Alabama's crackdown law found that it " fosters a culture of fear and denies basic rights to undocumented residents and their families."

Border news centered on an announcement by the Obama administration that it plans to reduce National Guard presence at the border.

Human Rights Violations

Two students dead in clash with Mexico police
Read more: Los Angeles Times.com

Mexican police claim weapons found at scene of protest clash that killed 2 students
Read more: AP/Washington Post

Guerrero students say they were unarmed and blame the governor
Read more: MexicoBlog,  Spanish original CNN Mexico

The governor of Guerrero fires the Attorney General and the Chief of Police
Read more: MexicoBlog, Spanish original CNN Mexico

Federal and state governments differ on what happened in Guerrero
Read more: MexicoBlog, Spanish original CNN Mexico

Political leaders of Mexico unanimously condemn double murder of students
Read more: MexicoBlog, Spanish original La Jornada

Eleven police officers involved in the death of teachers college students are referred to the federal Attorney General
Read more: MexicoBlog, Spanish original Milenio

Spate of Attacks on Human Rights Defenders and Activists
Read more: Americas Program

No Protection for Activists: Eight Attacked in Two Weeks
Read more: InterPressService

Mexico's Commissioner of Human Rights Says Calderon Has Run Out of Time to Reduce the Violence and Abuses of the Drug War
Read more: MexicoBlog, Spanish original

Drug War

Mexico President's Office Says Mexico Didn't Know of DEA Money Laundering
Read More: MexicoBlog. From Reforma, which only allows subscribers access to its website.

Justice Department says DEA drug-laundering "stings" date back to Reagan presidency
Read more: Houston Chroincle

Why I Protest: Javier Sicilia of Mexico
Read more: Time

Immigration

Arizona Immigration Law Gets Supreme Court Review
Read more: Bloomberg

On Immigration, Polls Show Most GOP Voters Share Gingrich Stance
Read more: Fox News Latino

Immigration Crackdown Also Snares U.S. Citizens
Read more: New York Times

Detention Centers in Kentucky, Illinois Violate Rights, Report Says
Read more: Fox News Latino

Human Rights Watch criticizes Alabama immigration law
Read more: CNN

The Border

Obama prepares to trim National Guard on U.S.-Mexico border
Read more: Houston Chronicle

Cross-posted from the Center for International Policy's Americas Program's Mexicoblog

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federation of American Scientists' Arms Sales Monitoring Program, the Just the Facts database now includes information about weapons and equipment that the United States government sold to Latin America and the Caribbean through the Foreign Military Sales program in 2010.

Foreign Military Sales (FMS) is one of two programs through which military equipment is sold from the United States to the rest of the world. FMS is the means through which the U.S. government sells items directly to other governments, with the Department of Defense serving as an intermediary. U.S. corporations can sell directly to other governments as well; those sales are licensed by the Department of State through the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) program.

In 2010, the U.S. government delivered over $627 million in military equipment to Latin America and the Caribbean - $495 million more than in 2009. The regional total for deliveries through FMS had been in a decline since its peak in 2006, when Chile received several high-tech F-16 fighter planes. However, 2010 marked a dramatic, 245% increase in sales deliveries to the hemisphere. This significant jump is mainly attributed to Colombia. In 2010 alone, Colombia received over $455 million in military equipment that it purchased through the FMS program - over two-thirds of the region's total in 2010 and more than twice the region's 2009 total ($201 million).

While Colombia is said to be a "post-conflict" country, the Colombian government took its highest-ever number of deliveries in a single year (since 1996) on purchases of military equipment through FMS. The country's major purchases in 2010 included 15 UH-60 (Black Hawk) helicopters, 39 armored cars, 71 "other" weapons and ordnance, and 104 miscellaneous boats/craft. The top 20 items delivered to Colombia through FMS in 2010 were:

Even with sales to Colombia removed from the equation, FMS deliveries to the rest of the region still increased in 2010, with Brazil, Chile and Mexico leading the pack with significant increases.

The Just the Facts database also includes information on sales licensed through the State Department's Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) program, though it is important to keep in mind that perhaps half of the DCS licenses have not ended up as actual deliveries of equipment. Licenses granted by the State Department are valid for four years, during which sales may be delayed or canceled. And while the State Department records the licenses issued, it does not maintain reliable records of actual DCS deliveries. That said, the graph below shows the trend in all arms sales, from FMS and DCS combined, from 1996 to 2010.

Mexico Drug War
The media debut a week ago, in the state of Veracruz, by a group calling themselves the Mata Zetas, the Zeta Killers, raised discussion in the press of whether or not they were a "paramilitary" group or just another cartel spinoff. In one article, the Mexican government denied the existence of paramilitary groups in the country, but another article discusses the reality of such groups, which are tied to political and economic powers in various parts of Mexico.

Lastly, a leading Mexican political analyst, Enrique Krause, writes about the critical importance of the emergence of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity -- and other citizens action groups -- for the future of democracy in Mexico.

Immigration
The Justice Department of the Obama administration announces that it plans to challenge more state immigration laws. Hispanic children in Alabama begin to disappear from the school system as the law requiring schools to document students' citizenship status goes into effect. And the immigrant flow across the border boils down more and more to those who have lived a significant part of their lives in the U.S., have families there and are, therefore, determined to return no matter what the U.S. Border Patrol does to dissuade them on one side or the Mexican cartels charge on the other.

DRUG WAR

Mexico denies that paramilitaries operate
The Washington Post: Sept. 30, "Top Mexican security officials said Thursday that there is no evidence that true paramilitary groups are operating in Mexico, countering video boasts by a shadowy group of masked men who asserted responsibility for the torture-murder of 35 alleged drug cartel members last week." Read more

No Paramilitaries in Mexico?
The Pan-American Post: Oct. 4, "While it may be true that the drug war has not resulted in the rise of paramilitaries on the scale of Colombia (a point which is excellently argued here by InSight Crime's Elyssa Pachico), Mexico is not completely free from paramilitary groups. According to UN security consultant Edgardo Buscaglia, the country is home to some 167 paramilitary organizations, most of which are in the service of wealthy ranchers and businessmen." Read more

Acapulco Teachers End Strike
NYTimes.com: Sept. 30, "Teachers in Acapulco have agreed to go back to work on Monday after more than a month on strike in protest over crime. Thousands of the city's teachers have stayed home after receiving extortion threats demanding half their salary. Leaders of the teachers signed an agreement with the state government late Thursday that lays out increased security measures around schools." Read more

Most Acapulco schools stay closed due to extortion threats despite ramped-up security
The Washington Post: Oct. 4, "About 120 soldiers are patrolling streets around schools in Acapulco's rougher neighborhoods, but that hasn't persuaded many of the schools to reopen after receiving extortion demands and threats. Some 460 schools have been closed since late August after banners, handwritten signs and other threats had demanded that teachers hand over part of their pay as protection money." Read more

Two Cartels Poised To Battle For Drug Markets
Huffington Post: Oct. 1, "Mexican federal authorities, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told The Associated Press that the Zeta and Sinaloa cartels are now the nation's two dominant drug traffickers. One or the other is present almost everywhere in Mexico, but officials are braced to see what happens next in a drug war ...

The government's success in killing or arresting some cartel leaders has fractured most of the other gangs to such an extent that they have devolved into quarreling bands, or been forced to operate as subsidiaries of the two main cartels. That has often meant expanded territory and business opportunities for the hyper-violent Zetas and drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's Sinaloa cartel.

'They are the two most successful cartels, or at least they have been able to expand in recent years,' said drug trade and security expert Jorge Chabat. ... 'The question is whether the Sinaloa cartel and Zetas are going to break at some point or not,' said Chabat. 'Right now they are very strong, but if in two or three years these cartels are pulverized, they may say that (the drug war) was a success.'" Read more

Doubts Emerge as Juarez Police Step Up, Feds Withdraw
InSight Crime: Oct. 4, "As federal police withdraw from the troubled Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, a newly-published report paints an alarming picture of the municipal police force as underequipped and overburdened....

The report, entitled 'A Comprehensive Diagnosis of the Municipal Police in Ciudad Juarez,' is based on a collection of survey responses from over 2,400 of the city's 3,146 police officers, which amounts to one of the most comprehensive independent studies of a local police force in the country. The authors asked the policemen a number of questions regarding different aspects of their work, ranging from their degree of experience to their perceptions of corruption in the department. Read more

Can This Poet Save Mexico?
NYTimes.com: Oct. 2, "Enrique Krauze is the editor of the magazine Letras Libres and the author of "Redeemers: Ideas and Power in Latin America." This article was translated by Hank Heifetz from the Spanish.

SOMETHING amazing is happening in Mexico. A few weeks ago, a 14-bus caravan, which had been traveling under the leadership of Javier Sicilia, a poet and the founder of the Movement for Peace With Justice and Dignity, arrived here after a 10-day trek around the country. Its every move was followed by the national media, and thousands showed up to greet its return.

The caravan was organized in protest against the onslaught of drug-related violence that has cost my country 40,000 dead and at least 9,000 unsolved 'disappearances' since 2006 — a few weeks ago, 35 bodies were left on a busy highway in Veracruz. It was just one part of a larger awakening of civil society here, which can be seen in the strengthened investigative efforts of the press, a more aggressive application of anticorruption laws, and the formation of voluntary associations, focused on everything from the environment to poverty." Read more

IMMIGRATION

Obama administration widens challenges to state immigration laws
The Washington Post: Sept. 30, "The Obama administration is escalating its crackdown on tough immigration laws, with lawyers reviewing four new state statutes to determine whether the federal government will take the extraordinary step of challenging the measures in court.

Justice Department lawyers have sued Arizona and Alabama, where a federal judge on Wednesday allowed key parts of that state's immigration law to take effect but blocked other provisions. Federal lawyers are talking to Utah officials about a third possible lawsuit and are considering legal challenges in Georgia, Indiana and South Carolina, according to court documents and government officials." Read more

Hispanic students vanish from Alabama schools
msnbc.com: Oct. 1, "Hispanic students have started vanishing from Alabama public schools in the wake of a court ruling that upheld the state's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration. Education officials say scores of immigrant families have withdrawn their children from classes or kept them home this week, afraid that sending the kids to school would draw attention from authorities.

There are no precise statewide numbers. But several districts with large immigrant enrollments — from small towns to large urban districts — reported a sudden exodus of children of Hispanic parents, some of whom told officials they planned to leave the state to avoid trouble with the law, which requires schools to check students' immigration status." Read more

Mexican Immigrants Repeatedly Brave Risks to Resume Lives in United States
NYTimes.com: Oct. 3, "Migrant shelters along the Mexican border are filled not with newcomers looking for a better life, but with seasoned crossers: older men and women, often deportees, braving ever-greater risks to get back to their families in the United States — the country they consider home.

They present an enormous challenge to American policy makers, because they continue to head north despite obstacles more severe than at any time in recent history. It is not just that the American economy has little to offer; the border itself is far more threatening. On one side, fences have grown and American agents have multiplied; on the other, criminals haunt the journey at every turn. And yet, while these factors — and better opportunities at home — have cut illegal immigration from Mexico to its lowest level in decades, they are not enough to scare off a sizable, determined cadre." Read more

Mexico Drug War: Three articles focus on the efforts of Mexican citizens to use social media to inform one another about the drug war in their communities and the violent response by the Zetas cartel in order to stop this flow of information.

Immigration: A federal judge upheld most of the provisions of Alabama's law cracking down on unauthorized immigrants.

DRUG WAR: SOCIAL MEDIA

Mexico Turns to Twitter and Facebook for Information and Survival

NYTimes.com: Sept. 25, "... according to scholars and many Mexicans, social media has become a necessity in Mexico, with a mission far different from what has emerged in the Arab revolutions, or in China. In those countries, social networks have been used to route around identifiable sources of repression and to unify groups dispersed over large areas. In Mexico, Twitter, Facebook and other tools are instead deployed for local survival.

'These aren't acts of political sedition or real-time attempts to bring about a change in government,' said Nicholas T. Goodbody, a professor of Mexican cultural studies at Williams College. 'These are people trying to navigate daily life.'" Read more

Newspaper, bloggers stunned by killing in Mexico

MiamiHerald.com: Sept. 27, "The killing of a Mexican woman purportedly in retaliation for her postings on an anti-crime website has left stunned chat users and employees at the newspaper where she worked wondering who can still be safe in the violent border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Press freedom groups condemned the killing of Maria Elizabeth Macias, whose decapitated body and head were found Saturday next to a message citing posts she wrote on 'Nuevo Laredo en Vivo,' a website used by Laredo residents to denounce crime and warn each other about drug cartel gunfights and roadblocks.

Some bloggers vowed to keep up the fight against powerful drug cartels but warned users to trust no one." Read more

The Zetas' Biggest Rival: Social Networks

InSight Crime: Sept. 28, "The Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo has seen three brutal killings in an apparent campaign by the Zetas against social media websites -- what is it about these sites that makes the gang so angry?

... The show of citizens grouping together to defy the criminal groups, prominently displayed on NLV (Nuevo Laredo en Vivio), poses a challenge to the Zetas' image. Much of the traditional forms of media have been cowed into silence --... This stands in contrast to the outpouring of tributes to the dead woman, and protests against the Zetas that could be found on the website. Many posters rail against the 'ratazzz,' or rats, spelt with a z to represent the Zetas, who are 'ruining Nuevo Laredo.' Online forums like NLV represent an arena of defiance that is difficult for the Zetas to control, and this is a challenge to their authority -- one that they are answering with an escalation of brutality." Read more

DRUG WAR: MEXICAN POLICE AND ARMY

Despite Violence - Many Mexican Police Still Paid Low Wages

Fox News Latino: Sept. 25, "They are fighting a violent drug war - but a new government report released Sunday shows many Mexican police officers still earn $350 per month or less, despite reform efforts aimed at increasing wages and decreasing corruption among the country's police." Read more

Pay Rises Alone Won't Break Chain of Police Corruption

InSight Crime: Sept. 30, "... it's not clear that higher salaries will be a determining factor in cleaning up the police. A pair of recent studies looking at police corruption in Mexico, the first by John Bailey and Matthew Taylor, the second by Daniel Sabet, conclude that salary is just one of the variables that determines whether an officer decides to actively work with criminal gangs, to merely tolerate them, or to confront them.

The other factors, which can weigh just as heavily, include the likelihood of being caught and the severity of the resulting penalty; the moral cost and the degree of personal commitment to the job; and the probability of suffering physical attacks, both in cases of agreeing or refusing to work with the gangs." Read more

Mexico's Army Seeks More Funding, But Should it Have Key Security Role?

InSight Crime: Sept. 26, "Mexico's Ministry of Defense (SEDENA) is lobbying the country's Congress for more than 13 billion pesos ($980 million) in funding to modernize the army and add thousands of new soldiers to its ranks. According to chairman of the Congressional Defense Committee, Rogelio Cerda Perez, the expansion and modernization of the army is 'not a luxury but a necessity.' He has called for 'more troops on the streets,' to fight drug trafficking gangs. The need to renew weaponry and vehicles is urgent, Cerda argues, with some equipment dating back to World War II. The 13 billion pesos demanded by the ministry would be used to reshape the army entirely, adding 10,800 troops and creating 18 new special forces battalions specialized in combating drug trafficking. Read more

MEXICO BORDER

Is violence spilling across the border? New report sheds little light

Austin Statesman: Sept. 29, "Few topics in Texas are more politically charged than the issue of violence spilling into Texas from the ongoing drug war in Mexico. ... But what's been missing in the debate is conclusive evidence of whether spillover violence is actually occurring along the Texas border.

As we reported in Tuesday's paper, the latest report seeking to bring clarity to the issue is the $80,000 'Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment.' Produced by two retired generals and commissioned by the Texas Departments of Agriculture and Public Safety, the report comes to some powerful conclusions: Not only is spillover violence real, but conditions on both sides of the Texas border are akin to a 'war zone' and border residents are under attack 'around the clock.' America's fight against 'narco-terrorism' is taking on 'the classic trappings of a real war.'

But the report relies not on new statistics, or analysis of existing statistics. Instead it largely uses anonymous anecdotal evidence from ranchers and farmers, most of it culled from online postings. (The website, protectyourtexasborder.com is run by the state agriculture department and aims to win more federal help for border security.)" Read more

How Unaccountable Private Contractors Pocket Your Tax Dollars Militarizing the Texas Border

AlterNet: Sept. 27, "Heavy on outsourcing and lacking documented success, the "Texas model" of border security's features are not original, but borrowed directly from the DHS or the military and are funded with federal money." Read more

IMMIGRATION

Alabama to enforce strict immigration laws

CBS News: Sept. 29, "Police in Alabama are getting ready to enforce what is considered by many as the toughest immigration law in the United States. Beginning Thursday, authorities can question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond, and officials can check the immigration status of students in public schools, Gov. Robert Bentley said. Those two key aspects of Alabama's new law were upheld by a federal judge on Wednesday. The governor said parts of the law take effect immediately. 'We intend to enforce it,' Bentley said." Read more

This is cross-posted from the MexicoBlog of the Center for International Policy's Americas Program.

The State Department on September 15, 2011, certified that Colombia had met the human rights conditions attached to U.S. assistance. No surprise there—the State Department always certifies Colombia meets the conditions, no matter what is happening on the ground.  To be fair, this time, with the year-old Santos Administration, there’s somewhat more reason to certify than during countless rounds of certification during the Uribe Administration.   The certification document cites the Santos Administration's successful passage of a victims' reparations and land restitution bill; a “disarming of words” initiative in which it abandoned the inflammatory anti-NGO language used by Uribe and his top officials, which had endangered human rights defenders and journalists; progress on some historic human rights cases; and a variety of directives and policy initiatives, at least on paper, to support human rights and labor rights.
 
But the 118- page document contains a wealth of information that shows why we should still be deeply concerned.

Lack of progress in achieving justice for human rights abuse.  

• Snail's pace of progress on extrajudicial execution cases. These are the infamous cases of soldiers who killed civilians and then dressed them up in guerrilla uniforms and claimed them as guerrillas killed in battle.  In the Soacha cases, paramilitaries lured young men with promises of jobs, then turned them over to soldiers who killed them to up their body counts.  Of 1,572 cases involving 2,731 victims being pursued by the Attorney General's office, only 138 convictions involving 326 defendants have been obtained so far.  The State Department summarizes, “Though progress was made in several key cases, throughout the judicial system progress remained slow in investigations and prosecutions of human rights cases and cases of links between public forces and criminal groups.”  Military defense attorney's delaying tactics and judges not managing their cases effectively are two reasons for delays.  Human rights groups cite other reasons as well, including lack of cooperation from the military and the transition to a new accusatory justice system which limits victims’ participation in the judicial process.  The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights Colombia office reports that in addition to the cases in the civilian system, “more than 448 active cases still remain in the military justice system,” in contradiction to the Constitutional Court ruling that gross violations of human rights must be tried in civilian courts. The UNHCHR urges that these cases be transferred immediately.
• Even when military officers or soldiers are convicted, they often do not serve their time in regular jails.  The State Department describes Semana’s article on the Tolemaida “prison-resort” which revealed that “many of the approximately 300 military officers and enlisted men detained (most who were convicted, some for serious crimes including torture and homicide) were living in privileged conditions…  Allegations included that convicted soldiers were still receiving salaries and retirement pensions; inmates were allowed to leave the facility at will, including on vacation; some ran businesses; and some lived in private 'cabanas' built with donations from retired officials, equipped with internet and satellite television.” While the State Department describes how the Ministry of Defense respond to this scandal, it notes that “NGOs and the press have reported that high-level military officers continue to enjoy privileged detention conditions. For example, according to these reports, Colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega, General Jesus Armando Arias Cabrales, and General Jaime Humberto Uscategui, all convicted and sentenced for serious crimes, are held at a large military base (the Escuela de Infanteiía) in Bogota, where they live in apartments, enjoy freedom of movement within the base, eat in the officers' dining room, and interact with active duty officers.... In June, a magistrate granted Plazas Vega permission to leave the military base, with an armed escort, for eight hours to attend his son's wedding at an upscale Bogota country club.”
• The State Department notes the significant decline in new cases of extrajudicial executions since 2008. However, it cites the nongovernmental group CINEP's reporting of an increase in cases from 2009 to 2010, with 12 cases involving 23 victims.
• Backlash in reaction to advances. Convictions, including of high-level military officials, have been reached in some landmark cases in the past two years. But the backlash can be intense. For example, consider the circumstances surrounding the case of Colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega, sentenced to thirty years in jail for the disappearance of 11 cafeteria workers and one guerrilla following the army takeover of the Supreme Court after guerrillas had taken the judges hostage.  Following this verdict, 25 years in the making, the judge “temporarily fled Colombia because of death threats,” and the well-regarding prosecutor was fired “under questionable circumstances.”
• The glacial progress in achieving convictions of gross human rights violators among the more than 30,000 paramilitaries who have been demobilized.  The Justice and Peace law governing demobilization permits maximum sentences of 5 to 8 years for even those responsible for multiple massacres and assassinations.  However, even these light sentences are not generally being applied; only 4 convictions have been achieved since 2005.

Human rights defenders and communities remain in peril.   

• The State Department cites GOC efforts to protect human rights defenders and to expand and reorganize protective services in consultation with those protected. This part of the certification memo contrasts significantly from what we are hearing from defenders on the ground. We hear that the protection services are being privatized without sufficient input from human rights defenders; that some protection has been removed for defenders, particularly in the regions; and that the GOC's response to urgent calls for assistance have deteriorated.  Human defenders report continual threats which are rarely if ever successfully investigated and prosecuted.
• There was a “spike in murders of IDP leaders” during the certification period.  In the first half of 2011, at least 12 leaders were murdered.   
• Indigenous persons are at particular risk. The Colombian government reports 12 homicides of indigenous leaders and a total of 55 indigenous persons killed from August 2010-May 2011, while the ONIC indigenous federation reports 122 indigenous persons killed in 2010.
• Although the State Department outlines Colombian government efforts aimed at paramilitary or BACRIM, it cites NGO and UN concerns regarding increasing violations by these groups. According to the UNHCHR, there was a 40 percent increase in number of massacres in 2010 (at least 179 people killed in 38 incidents in 2010).

This post was written by Lisa Haugaard of the Latin America Working Group. It was cross-posted with the LAWGblog.