Colombia Advisory Sheet

12 Aug 2002

Emergency Declared By Colombian President

COLOMBIA: In response to five days of violence following his inauguration, Colombia's new President, Alvaro Uribe, has declared a national state of emergency. Uribe invoked a provision in the Colombian constitution, allowing him to suspend civil liberties in the event of a threat to the security of the state. The decision -- taken at an emergency cabinet meeting late on Sunday -- follows a spate of violence which began on Wednesday and has claimed more than 100 lives.

Twenty people were killed and more than 60 wounded in the initial attacks, in which a military academy and the presidential palace itself were targeted. No details were given about the measures, which became effective immediately. According to the constitution, the emergency can be imposed for as long as 90 days, after which the president can extend it for the same period twice if necessary.

18 May 2002

COLOMBIA: Officials said on Friday that some 300 people have been killed in three days of fighting between leftist guerrillas and right- wing paramilitaries in the northwestern part of Colombia. Authorities said that further casualties were inevitable. The fighting began this week after the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) attempted to take over the town of Campamento, which is an important trading center for illegal drugs and weapons.

The town is under the control of Colombia's largest rebel force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which responded with an all-out assault on the paramilitaries. Initial reports suggest the FARC's 36th Front inflicted a heavy defeat on the paramilitaries. The majority of the bodies recovered so far were of AUC members...

23 Apr 2002

Governor Kidnapped by Guerillas

COLOMBIA: Authorities said on Monday leftist rebels abducted one of the country's most important governors and a former defense minister, snatching them from the ranks of a peace march to join a growing collection of kidnapped politicians. Guerrillas identifying themselves as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) intercepted the duo as they marched along with 1,000 activists in a rural area about 175 miles northwest of the nation's capital, Bogota, on Sunday evening.

President Andres Pastrana condemned the abduction, but also slammed kidnapped Antioquia Governor Guillermo Gaviria for failing to heed military warnings against participating in the march. Pastrana said: "The government fights as hard as possible to create safeguards, but there is no security worth anything if the military's recommendations are not obeyed." With the kidnapping, Gaviria, based in Colombia's third largest city of Medellin, joins a growing number of high-profile abductees, whom the rebels want to swap for jailed guerrilla leaders.

22 Apr 2002

COLOMBIA: The Colombian secret service reportedly foiled a planned rebel bomb attack that was to have taken place in a busy commercial district of the capital, Bogota. Colonel German Jaramillo, the head of the secret service, said: "The terrorist action would have destroyed a large part of the commercial area. The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) had installed a bomb in the corner of a building, but fortunately for the business owners in the area it was deactivated." He said the bomb, found in front of the Shangai shopping area in the San Andresito commercial district, was made out of a powerful mixture of initiating high-power explosives, gunpowder and detonators.

20:15CDT - 11 Apr 2002

Gunmen Storm Regional Assembly in Colombia; 20 Legislators Taken Hostage

CALI, COLOMBIA (EmergencyNet News) -- Armed gunmen reportedly stormed a regional assembly and kidnapped up to 20 Colombian legislators in the city of Cali. The attack was reportedly carried out by a group of about 20 armed men and accompanied by at least three explosions in various parts of the city. At least one policeman was killed and several other people may have been wounded during the incident. It is believed that five of the assemblymen were eventually rescued by police and military forces. There is no information on who carried out the attack, but left-wing rebels are suspected and have carried out similar kidnappings in the past. The brazen attack on a major government building by guerillas, in Colombia's second largest city, is viewed as an escalation of the conflict by ERRI counter-terrorist analysts. Few other official details are currently available. We will bring you additional information as circumstances warrant...

10 Apr 2002

Urban Bombing Campaign in Bogotá?

COLOMBIA: Just hours after two small devices were detonated in city sewers and another was deactivated, police located two improvised explosive devices fewer than 200 yards from the office of Colombia's President Andres Pastrana. A bomb squad was reportedly trying to deactivate the devices near the Casa de Narino, Pastrana's office. Two police explosives experts were killed on Tuesday as they tried to deactivate a car bomb in Sibate, just south of Bogotá.

Police said Tuesday's bomb exploded at 11:45 GMT in the vehicle, which was parked close to a police station and contained a corpse. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. But police said early signs pointed to an urban commando of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Shortly thereafter, two small explosions shook sewers at separate points in downtown Bogotá, leaving three people slightly injured. The explosions occurred in heavily traveled areas just 1,200 yards from one another. A third "sewer bomb" was later deactivated.

07 Apr 2002

Ten Dead, Fifty Wounded in Colombian Car Bomb

COLOMBIA: A car bomb has exploded in the city of Villavicencio, killing at least 10 and wounding more than 50, according to law enforcement sources. The incident happened overnight, at about 01:10 local time, in a busy neighborhood filled with nightclubs and restaurants. There are so-far unconfirmed reports that the main blast was actually a secondary explosion, possibly designed to target police and rescue workers. One source says that there was a small explosion, designed to draw officials to the scene, before the larger car explosion. Although no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, preliminary indications seemed to indicate that the act was perpetrated by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerillas. Investigation of the bombing continues at the time of this report.

31 March 2002

COLOMBIA: In continues to be one of the most underreported stories of recent times in the Western media, rebels reportedly kidnapped six people this weekend in western Colombia, while police seized a ton of explosive material from a vehicle in the southern province of Huila, a day after deactivating a large bomb. The six were kidnapped in rural areas of Risaralda province. Military authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Rebels set up a roadblock at San Clemente Friday, originally taking eight people hostage, before releasing four. Another two people were kidnapped on Saturday at Belen de Umbria after some 20 FARC rebels set up another roadblock.

Police seized explosives from a vehicle near the town of Villavieja, after being alerted by the "suspicious" behavior of the three people traveling in it. Earlier in the day, army authorities said that nine anti-government rebels and five civilians had been killed in weekend violence in Colombia.

22 Mar 2002

Concerns About Cross Border Raids By FARC; 483 Dead Since Peace Accords Failed

COLOMBIA: According to a recent army report, an upsurge in fighting since early January has left 483 people dead, including 21 leftist rebels and 17 army troops killed in two days of violence on the border with Venezuela. Of the total, some 246 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

(FARC) rebels have lost their lives since the start of the year, while armed forces losses are at 161. Some 44 National Liberation Army guerrillas and 24 paramilitaries are among those killed, along with two members of the Popular Liberation Army and six common criminals.

The toll includes heavy losses of FARC rebels and army fighters since Wednesday due to violent clashes in the Tibu region, some 385 miles northeast of Bogota. The fighting was said to be ongoing in the coca leaf-producing region and FARC was now reportedly launching attacks from Venezuelan territory. Underlining the severity of the situation, a military spokesman said some of the rebels had crossed into neighboring Venezuela and were launching propane gas tanks loaded with explosives at Colombian soldiers across the border.

The fact that rebels had taken refuge in Venezuela meant any offensive against them is diplomatically impossible. The spokesman said: "The situation is serious." Colombia's Foreign Ministry has informed the Venezuelan authorities of the presence of members of FARC on its territory and of the fighting taking place on the frontier.

17 Mar 2002

Colombia: Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino Killed Outside Church

CALI, COLOMBIA: Unknown gunmen in the city of Cali shot and killed Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino. The 63-year-old priest, who had frequently spoken out against drug barons and guerrillas, was gunned down on Saturday evening, outside the church where he had just conducted a marriage ceremony. The killing came as the Colombian army dealt its hardest blow against rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), since peace talks broke down on 20 February.

Monsignor Duarte was rushed to a hospital, after he was shot a number of times as he left the Buen Pastor Church and got into his car. Doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. Durate's driver said: "Two guys came and opened fire and hit him three or four times, maybe even six times." Soon after the churchman's murder, a major generator failure cut off power to Colombia's three main cities, Bogota, Medellin and Cali. It was not clear if the blackout was the result of sabotage.

13 Mar 2002

COLOMBIA: Five people were killed, four others were wounded and a store was destroyed when a car bomb exploded on Tuesday in the town of Puerto Lleras, located about 105 miles south of Bogota. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, but local officials stated that the left-wing rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is the most likely culprit. In a separate incident, a FARC militant was killed when explosives that he was carrying in a car detonated prematurely. Reports did not specify the location of the incident.

01 Mar 2002

COLOMBIA: The government on Thursday declared a war zone in a large part of southern Colombia, including areas just outside the capital. The military was given special powers and rewards have been posted for the capture of rebel chiefs. The Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia (FARC) have stepped up attacks on power lines, bridges and other infrastructure since President Andres Pastrana called off three-year-old peace talks last week. Guerrilla bands skirmished with the army in the Andes mountains just over an hour's drive from the capital Bogota on Thursday as Interior Minister Armando Estrada declared parts of six provinces a military "operations theater."

27 Feb 2002

COLOMBIA: Three Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas were killed in an ongoing battle just 12 miles east of the capital near the town of Fomeque. The three rebels were killed in fierce clashes with army patrols in towns surrounding Bogota. Seven civilians from a group the FARC kidnapped at a roadblock on Monday were also set free. Local news reports indicated that the civilians included two ten-year-olds, and that ten more remained hostage. Soldiers also clashed with rebels outside towns located 30 miles southeast and 25 miles northeast of Bogota. Rebels on Tuesday also bombed a key regional bridge and communication towers throughout the region surrounding Bogota, leaving thousands without telephone service...

26 Feb 2002

THREAT MATRIX

U.S. State Department Issues Public Announcement For Colombia

WASHINGTON: On 22 February, the U.S. Department of State issued the following Public Announcement for Colombia: "The security situation in Colombia has worsened in the aftermath of the collapse of peace talks between the government and rebels. On February 20, Colombian President Andres Pastrana announced that peace talks with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) had ended and that the armed forces would re-establish government control over the demilitarized zone in southern Colombia. As a result of these developments, there is a likelihood of increased terrorist violence in Colombia.

The Department of State reaffirms its warning that American citizens avoid all travel to Colombia. Americans already residing or traveling in Colombia are advised to exercise increased caution and vigilance under the current circumstances. Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately to the appropriate Colombian authorities."

COLOMBIA: Officials said at least 18 people were killed in rebel- related clashes over the past two days, including three police officers in a FARC ambush and two soldiers attempting to deactivate a bomb. The deaths come as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas launch a vast offensive against the government, blasting bridges, electricity and telecommunication towers, and blocking key highways across the country. Three police officers were killed and four seriously wounded when their patrol was ambushed by FARC rebels in southern Magdalena department.

Earlier two soldiers were killed when attempting to deactivate explosives found inside a bus that the FARC had placed to block a highway near La Florencia. In a separate incident a soldier was killed in clashes with rebels near the town of Suaza, just north of the former FARC safe haven. Also four residents of La Macarena, a jungle town deep inside what used to be southern rebel-controlled territory, were murdered on Sunday while another was missing.

And right-wing paramilitaries in the northern town of Magangue killed five detectives belonging to the DAS, the Colombian secret police, and threw the bodies into a river. Soon after, DAS agents, joined by navy personnel, hunted down the killers, shot and killed three and captured five along with a weapons cache. However some 30 municipalities in south- east, southwest and southern departments as well as on the border with Ecuador, were without electricity after FARC rebels destroyed pylons carrying power lines.

From: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-Saturday, February 23, 2002-Vol. 8, No. 054

COLOMBIA: Government soldiers have begun retaking a huge rebel safe haven in the south of the country. Thousands of troops met little resistance as they advanced into the area from the east and west, backed by hundreds of air strikes, and took control of the main rebel town, San Vicente del Caguan. Local residents said three civilians -- including a child - had been killed in the aerial bombardment of the town. Three armed forces personnel were wounded when their helicopter came under fire.

Analysts in Bogota say the retaking of the zone appears to have caught the rebels entirely by surprise. Government forces are in such a position of control that President Pastrana will visit San Vicente on Saturday. On Friday, government troops captured a former army base and moved on towards five towns inside the former rebel stronghold. The head of the armed forces, General Fernando Tapias, said although rebel leaders had left the area many fighters were disguising themselves and trying to mingle with civilians.

22 Feb 2002 - 08:30CST

COLOMBIA:

Peace Talks Suspended, Troops Move Into FARC Enclave; The Battle May Soon Be Joined

Bogotá, Colombia -- Colombian special forces are preparing to move into an area in the south of the country which served as a safe haven for left-wing rebels for three years. Troops are massing on the edge of the enclave and are expected to enter on foot later on Friday. The Colombian air force has been bombing the area and said several rebel targets had been hit.

The bombing began hours after the President Andres Pastrana broke off peace talks and vowed to retake the area following the hijacking of a civilian plane. A senator, Jorge Gechem Turbay, was kidnapped on Wednesday and his plane was flown to a rural area close to territory held by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The Colombian military said 85 rebel targets had been hit in 200 sorties.

One fighter plane was hit by guerrilla ground fire, but was not badly damaged and was able to return to base. Targets are likely to have included clandestine air strips used for smuggling cocaine, hideouts of guerrilla commanders and drug labs. About 13,000 troops were ordered to advance on the stronghold, and three planeloads of counter-insurgency forces landed at an airport in Florencia, a three-hour drive to the west. One top army commander predicted "a bloody fight."

Elsewhere in the country, 18 right-wing paramilitaries were reported killed in clashes with a joint force of left-wing guerrillas. FARC members joined National Liberation Army (ELN) forces for an attack on the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The bodies were found by the side of a road in Dagua, located south of the capital Bogota...

20 Feb 2002

21:00CST - 20 Feb 2002

Peace Process Suspended in Colombia; Troops to Move Into Enclave

Bogotá, Colombia (Emergency Net News) -- According to reports coming from the region, Colombian President Andres Pastrana has declared a suspension to peace talks with guerillas from the FARC revolutionary organization. Additionally, it is being reported that military forces are being readied to move to retake the Switzerland-sized enclave that was granted to FARC during three years of peace negotiations. Usually reliable sources told EmergencyNet News that any such movement by Colombian military forces into the FARC enclave will undoubtedly result in escalating violence in any number of parts of the country. Military operations could begin as soon as midnight tonight. EmergencyNet News is monitoring events in Colombia closely and will provide additional details as circumstances warrant...

27 Jan 2002

Five Policemen Killed in Reported FARC Attack

COLOMBIA: Police said suspected leftist rebels on Saturday ambushed and killed five policemen along a northern road. The five policemen were traveling in vehicles in Cesar province when the guerrillas stopped them by detonating a bomb and then opening fire. Although it wasn't immediately clear who was behind the ambush near Manaure, about 370 miles north of Bogota, the capital, police suspect it was one of the two main leftist rebel groups. Meanwhile, the army said its soldiers killed five FARC fighters on Saturday in southern Colombia while police accused the rebels of attacking police stations in five towns late Friday.

16 Jan 2002

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Attack Police Station Shortly After Peace Extension

Leftist rebels came out fighting Tuesday, just hours after President Andres Pastrana accepted an eleventh-hour accord to salvage Colombia's three-year-old peace process. Guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) detonated bombs in the town of Puente Quetame, 30 miles south of the capital, Bogota. They also blasted into a prison and freed 39 suspected rebel members. Defense Minister Gustavo Bell said: "While the FARC was expressing their willingness to have peace, they were bombing a civilian town."

The latest violence seemed to take officials by surprise, and there was no immediate comment from the rebels on the purpose or timing of the attacks. But analysts said that without a cease-fire in effect, insurgency violence would likely continue as it had throughout the three-year negotiations with the FARC carrying out attacks and taking hostages for ransom. Bell said that because of the new attacks, troops would maintain their positions around the rebel zone.

In Puente Quetame, attacks by FARC fighters damaged a police station and a nearby courthouse. In the nearby town of Ibague, FARC rebels blasted into a prison and freed 39 suspected rebel members. One guard was killed. And in the towns of Guayabal and Cubarral, rebels used dynamite to destroy two electrical pylons, causing rolling black-outs throughout Meta province in the south. Rebels also attacked the town of Algeciras, 175 miles southwest of Bogota, leveling the police station late Monday night. Army troops were sent in to repel the attack. At least three FARC rebels were killed.

15 Jan 2002

COLOMBIA: Foreign envoys and rebels celebrated an accord that saved Colombia's peace process and averted an escalation of the 38-year civil war. Thirty minutes before elite counter-insurgency troops backed by tanks, helicopters and warplanes were to seize a rebel safe haven on Monday, President Andres Pastrana told a national television audience from Bogota that he had stopped the count-down-to-war clock because of a breakthrough in negotiations...

13 Jan 2002

COLOMBIA:

Pastrana Declares End to Cease-Fire and Orders Rebels To Vacate Sanctuary

COLOMBIA: Colombian President Andres Pastrana said the peace process with the rebel army is over. He ordered the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia  (FARC), to vacate a jungle safe zone he granted them three years ago as a condition for peace talks. An 11th-hour proposal from FARC was rejected as "not sufficient." Pastrana on Saturday gave the rebels 48 hours to vacate the zone. In FARC's proposal, the rebels appeared to drop demands that the military immediately end overflights of the zone and controls on its borders.

Car Bomb Wounds 13 People as Region Heats Up

Officials announced that eight civilians and five Colombian soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a military post on the edge of the rebel-controlled demilitarized zone in southern Colombia. The car bomb went off in front of the headquarters of an army battalion in the town of Granada, Meta department, where soldiers are mobilizing to enter the Switzerland-sized demilitarized zone leftist rebels control. The victims were slightly injured.

In a separate incident before the attack, police said officers arrested four men from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who were observing troop movements. Police said the FARC was planning a wave of car bomb attacks to stop soldiers mobilizing towards the demilitarized zone.

Early Saturday, one person was injured when 55 pounds of dynamite exploded in a border town in northeastern Colombia, causing only modest damage. The blast damaged buildings at a park near the international bridge connecting Cucuta to Venezuela. The victim was injured as he drove by when the dynamite exploded. Cucuta, is 380 miles northeast of the capital and has long been a hotbed of activity for the National Liberation Army (ELN). The army brigade responsible for patrolling the area said Saturday two car bombs allegedly set by the ELN had been deactivated. They said the vehicles were abandoned on a highway outside of Cucuta.

08 Jan 2002

COLOMBIA/N. IRELAND:

More Links Drawn Between IRA and FARC

[Terror Group Reference: Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)]

Colombian authorities are said to believe that up to 25 IRA members may have entered the country to train local terrorists over the past decade. New allegations were published in newspapers in Dublin and Bogota as prosecutors in Colombia completed their case against three Irish nationals arrested in August. The new claims paint a picture of links between the Provisional IRA and Colombian rebels.

According to the Dublin-based Evening Herald newspaper and Colombia’s El Espectador, three defectors from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have now identified the three Irishmen being held in Bogota on suspicion of training terrorists. Two defectors have claimed that they were trained by Martin McCauley and James Monaghan in the assembly of an antipersonnel mine. The Evening Herald said that Colombian intelligence had evidence of at least three visits by IRA cells, each with five members, in recent years.

It said that at the time of the arrests in August another two Irishmen were working with anti-government rebels, but apparently managed to flee to Venezuela and returned to Ireland. Colombian prosecutors are also understood to be looking at evidence that FARC guerrillas are using mortars powered by oxygen cylinders, a trademark of the Provisional IRA.

Additional, Updated Reference: January 9, 2002--ERRI PROFILES OF COLOMBIAN REBEL GROUPS

September 7, 2001

COLOMBIA:

Colombia - Public Announcement

In view of the recent extraditions to the United States of indicted narcotics traffickers from Colombia, and the past history of narcotics traffickers conducting bombings in public areas as a reprisal for or deterrent to extradition, the Department of State advises American citizens in Colombia to exercise enhanced security awareness. Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately to the appropriate Colombian authorities, and to the U.S. Embassy. American citizens in Colombia may contact the U.S. Embassy via telephone at 571-315-0811 during work hours, or 571-315-2109/10 after hours.

For further information concerning travel to Colombia, travelers should consult the Department of State's Travel Warning and Consular Information Sheet for Colombia at http://travel.state.gov/colombia.html.

This Public Announcement supplements the April 17, 2001, Colombia Travel Warning and the April 18, 2001, Consular Information Sheet for Colombia. This Announcement expires December 3, 2001.

Right-Wing Colombia Group Added to Terrorism List as Powell Heads for Latin America

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration Monday designated a right-wing Colombia group as a terrorist organization as Secretary of State Colin Powell headed for Latin America with pledges of closer relations. The designation of the United Self-Defense Forces as a foreign terrorist group was based on "an exhaustive review of the AUC's violent activities over the past two years," Powell said in a statement, using the Spanish initials for the group.

As a result of the designation, financial support for the group is illegal and American financial institutions are required to block the group's assets.

"The AUC has carried out numerous acts of terrorism, including the massacre of hundreds of civilians, the forced displacement of entire villages and the kidnapping of political figures to force recognition of AUC demands," Powell said. "Many of these massacres were designed to terrorize and intimidate local populations so the AUC could gain control of those areas," the statement said.

In all, 31 groups, including FARC and ELN of Colombia, are designated as foreign terrorist groups. "I hope this will leave no doubt that the United States considers terrorism to be unacceptable, regardless of the political or ideological purpose," Powell said.

20:00CDT - 04 Sep 01

Allegations that Colombian Rebels Used "Gas" in Attack on Police Station

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA (EmergencyNet News) -- ERRI analysts are currently examining preliminary reports that Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerillas have used some kind of "toxic gas" in an attack on the police station in the town of San Adolfo, in Huila province.

According to National police chief Gen. Ernesto Gilibert, four police officers were killed after the rebels threw some sort of device into a police bunker. Witnesses said that a "dark gray smoke," which caused almost immediate blindness and shortness of breath, engulfed the bunker. Although Colombian police said that the gas may have been CN or CS tear-gas, which can cause serious symptoms in a confined space, tear-gas usually is not lethal. 

Colombian authorities said that autopsies and toxicology tests are being carried out on the remains of the deceased police officers to ascertain the exact nature of the gas that was used. Both Colombian and U.S. experts say that if the FARC guerillas actually used poison gas in their attack, that it is a new and dangerous escalation of the conflict in Colombia. EmergencyNet News is monitoring this story closely and will provide additional details if/when they become available... 

22:30CDT - 23 August 2001

Powerful Blast Strikes Colombian City

From ERRI/EmergencyNet News Watchdesk

Medellin, Colombia (EmergencyNet News) -- According to police and military sources, a powerful explosion struck a residential neighborhood in Medellin at about 21:00 (local time) tonight. At least ten people were believed injured in the blast. Reports on the number of casualties vary, depending on the source. An unidentified army observer said that it appeared that the blast was caused by "a car bomb of some type."

So-far officially unconfirmed reports suggest that the late-evening Medellin explosion may have been one of three in the country in the past 24 hours. At least one person was killed and 25 others wounded in a blast near Marinilla, which is about 35 miles east of Medellin, earlier today. Another explosion, also earlier today, reportedly claimed the lives of at least fifteen (15) National Liberation Army, or ELN guerillas, as a truck load of explosives they were using to mine a roadway exploded.

ERRI counter-terrorist analysts said that they are seeing increasing evidence that the incidents today may only be the start of an impending terror campaign by both ELN and FARC insurgents. EmergencyNet News is monitoring the situation in Colombia closely and will provide additional updates as circumstances warrant...

19 August 2001

COLOMBIA:

Investigation Continues Into IRA Connections to FARC Revolutionaries; Reports of New Explosive Device

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA  (EmergencyNet News) -- According to a report in the Sunday London Times, three men who have been arrested on suspicion of teaching Colombian FARC guerrillas how to build better terrorist bombs, may have been experimenting with a new type of incendiary mortar munitions.

"This case just continues to get 'curiouser' and 'curiouser'...as the saying goes," ERRI's Clark Staten said today. "First you have allegations that the three men arrested while exiting a FARC enclave are members of, or associated with, the IRA in the U.K.," he continued. "And then further allegations surface that the suspects are also connected to the IRA offices that represent Sinn Fein in Cuba," Staten added.

"Finally, today's revelations would seem to indicate that the three suspects -- Monaghan, McCauley, and Connolly -- were engaging in weapons testing in anticipation of further terrorist attacks in either the U.K., Colombia, or both," the veteran counter-terrorism analyst added. "If these reports turn out to be true, they may be prime evidence of an international terrorist conspiracy and links that were previously not well known by law enforcement, Staten concluded.

In their defense, a court-appointed attorney for Monaghan, McCauley and Connolly said that they "maintained their innocence," and were just visiting Colombia "for sightseeing." 

16 August 2001

COLOMBIA:

IRA Suspects Arrested

Police said three Irish Republican Army (IRA) suspects arrested in the country may have been training rebels in the use of explosives. Police named two of the men as James Monaghan and Martin McCauley, both of whom it is believed have been previously convicted in Britain of terrorist charges and membership of the Provisional IRA. The identity of the third man has not been firmly established, though he was traveling under the name of  David Bracken.

Security forces were unable to arrest the men for five weeks because they were in a safe haven agreed by the Colombian government and the revolutionary paramilitary FARC. The men were detained as they left the area controlled by FARC. Police said Bracken is alleged to be the leader of the group, and was the only one of the three who spoke Spanish.

The arrests were made by a specialist investigative branch of the Colombian Police, known as the "Fiscalia," over the weekend. The Colombian military said they believed that the men had been instructing the FARC  in explosives and terrorist tactics. Observers in Colombia said it was reported that forensic examination of the men's clothing and luggage had shown traces of explosives.

ERRI counter-terrorist analysts said that they are not surprised by the arrests in Colombia. Current and former IRA bomb specialists have been observed acting as mercenary instructors in several parts of the world, including the Middle-East, Africa, and Asia. IRA bombers are said to be some of the "best and most experienced" in the world...and, if proven to be true, their participation could be expected to increase the sophistication of bombings carried out by the FARC.

11 August 2001

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Captured By Government Troops

A military spokesman said that government forces have captured 11 rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN). The men were caught in the city of Cartagena as the army continued its offensive against the ELN following the breakdown of peace talks earlier this week. Some 2,000 soldiers from the elite Rapid Deployment Force have been sent to Bolivar province - an ELN stronghold.

The government has revoked the rebels' political status and arrest warrants for guerrillas leaders have been renewed. This week's violence was sparked by the Colombian government's suspension of peace talks in Venezuela with the ELN guerrillas.

ERRI counter-terrorism analysts said that there is a greater likelihood of a renewed terrorist offensive and/or political kidnappings as a result of the break-down in peace negotiations.

07 August 2001

COLOMBIA:

Bomb Blasts Colombia's Oil Pipeline

BOGOTA -- According to the Xinhua news agency, a bomb blast paralyzed Colombia's longest oil pipeline on Saturday. The Cano Limon-Covenas Pipeline, located in western Colombia, the state-owned Colombian Petroleum Firm (Ecopetrol) announced the incident. The attack occurred near the town of Samore and caused an oil spill, Ecopetrol said.

A communiqué released by the Ecopetrol attributed the attack to the National Liberation Army (ELN), which criticized multinational oil firms for "exploiting oilfields in Colombia." The ELN is the second largest rebel group in Colombia after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline has been the target of 114 attacks so far this year, with 60 percent of the sabotage acts occurring in or near Arauca, a border area between Colombia and Venezuela.

13 July 2001

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Threaten Pipeline Sabotage

Late on Wednesday, Colombia's largest guerrilla group threatened to renew sabotage against the operations of the U.S.-based multinational Occidental Petroleum. The threat by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) came only hours after pumping resumed following a five-month stoppage due to earlier guerrilla bombings.

In a statement, the rebel group vowed to prevent even "a drop of petroleum" from being pumped out Occidental's Cano Limon oil field in eastern Arauca state until the company agrees to enter into negotiations. Los Angeles-based Occidental has said that it does not make extortion payments to rebels. The pipeline has reportedly been bombed 109 times this year.

03 July 2001

COLOMBIA:

18 Killed In Clash

Helicopter gunships and troops were used to repel attacks on two small towns just outside a guerrilla-controlled demilitarized enclave on Monday. The army said it killed 16 leftist rebels in the operation. Two soldiers were also killed in the fighting with leftist FARC guerrillas around Cartagena del Chaira and Puerto Rico in the southern province of Caqueta.

In more violence reported on Monday, local television said that suspected far-right paramilitary outlaws killed five people in the village of El Retiro in the northern province of Antioquia. The police could not immediately confirm the report, but the paramilitaries often target suspected guerrilla sympathizers and have killed hundreds of civilians this year.

BOGOTA:  Reports say a prison riot has broken out in the country's largest prison, La Modelo. It started after fighting began between left- wing rebels and right-wing paramilitary inmates. Witnesses said they heard explosions and shots at the prison, in the capital, Bogota. Police and army troops surrounded the building...

30 June 2001

COLOMBIA:

TODAY'S CENTRAL FOCUS:

Colombia Still The Kidnap Capital Of The World

By Steve Macko, ERRI Risk Analyst

In recent years, thousands of people have been abducted by the notorious kidnappers in Colombia. The victims are looked upon as nothing more as merchandise in an increasingly lucrative criminal industry that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Records for the year 200 show one abduction occurring in Colombia on average of every three hours. That is an estimated annual total of 3,500 - and includes only those that are actually reported.

Most abductions are blamed on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - leftist guerrillas who use kidnapping and the drug trade to fund their military campaign against the government. A report by the Colombian military in 1999 estimated the guerrillas had grossed more than US$600 million in ransom payments in the preceding five years. But the country's second rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), has also taken to staging mass abductions to boost its income and leverage in negotiations.

Several ELN operations have been particularly spectacular. The hijacking of a domestic airliner, the abduction of an entire church congregation in Cali and the kidnapping of an angling club out fishing. In the year 2000, the ELN emptied a restaurant outside Cali and set up roadblocks nearby, netting some 80 people.

The attacks showed Colombians they were not safe anywhere, whether at sea, on land or in the air. Kidnapping had previously been a fear of only the very rich. Many ordinary Colombians will no longer travel long distances by road, for fear of being abducted at rebel roadblocks.

In many cases, hostages are released following negotiations or payment. But others have been killed or mutilated. In November 2000, the body of a businessman, Fernando Betancur Sanchez, was found bearing signs of torture. A ransom of US$400,000 demanded for his release had already been paid. Foreigners, and especially oil workers, are a favorite target, particularly of the ELN.

The two guerrilla groups are not solely responsible for Colombia's startling kidnap statistics. Colombia's police say they have just dismantled one of the country's most sophisticated kidnapping rings. It had been operating for 11 years, snatching oil workers and tourists from the Amazon region of northern Ecuador and then shuttling them across the Colombian border. Experts say kidnappings in Colombia are unlikely to stop, as the rebels are reliant on ransom revenue to continue finance their "revolutionary struggle."

25 June 2001

COLOMBIA:

FARC Jailbreak Reported

Left-wing rebel prisoners at a high security jail managed to blast their way to freedom by blowing up a wall with dynamite. Five inmates were killed in a shootout with guards trying to stop them. It is not yet known how many prisoners escaped. Police said 30 have been recaptured. Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are believed to have staged the jailbreak to free their jailed comrades.

22 June 2001

COLOMBIA:

At Least 56 Dead In Clashes

The Colombian army said 56 people were killed in fierce clashes between government troops and left-wing rebels in the southern jungle region of Putumayo. Thirty soldiers and 26 rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed after a rebel attack on an army base at Coreguaje. The FARC was said to be seeking to eliminate the military presence in the country's largest cocaine-producing province, to ensure the free transit of rebels and drug traffickers across the region.

Kidnapping Ring Busted

Police said they have broken up a sophisticated kidnapping ring which targeted foreigners working for multinational companies and demanded millions of dollars in ransom money. The police announced the arrest of 52 people in raids across the country after receiving information from the US Central Intelligence Agency. The kidnappers allegedly collected a US$13 million ransom payment for seven oil workers in Ecuador's Amazon region after killing an American captive in December. Four of the men arrested face extradition to the United States.

17 June 2001

COLOMBIA:

Prisoner Exchange Reported in Colombian Jungle

BOGOTA -- In what is being viewed by outside observors as an "unprecedented move," the Colombian government is believed to have released 11 FARC guerillas from a maximum security prison on Saturday, to be exchanged for twenty-nine (29) soldiers and police officers held by the insurgents. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerillas were released to a column of rebel forces in the government sanctioned FARC enclave. Goverment soldiers and police officers were said to be released to Red Cross and government troops in another area of the enclave. It is believed that this is the first time the government has released FARC prisoners in the history of Colombia's 37-year guerilla war. Few other details of the operation were immediately available...

13 June 2001

COLOMBIA:

FARC Guerrillas Kidnap Senator

Colombian lawmakers said that leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have kidnapped a senator of the opposition Liberal Party near the border with Ecuador. Senator Luis Eladio Perez was abducted on Sunday in the southwestern province of Narino along with a number of other people -- who later were freed. Perez was said to be the target of a failed kidnapping attempt two weeks ago. The FARC has not claimed responsibility for Perez's disappearance. Interior Minister Armando Estrada said security forces were investigating the kidnapping to determine if the FARC was really to blame...

02 June 2001

COLOMBIA:

Drug Kingpins Seized

The police said that in a joint operation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Colombian police on Friday arrested leaders of a key Bogotá-based drug trafficking ring believed to have shipped billions of dollars a year worth of cocaine and heroin to the United States. 

The three men arrested, nicknamed "The Doctor," "Cork" and "Old Man," allegedly moved up to 10.1 tons of cocaine and 44 pounds of heroin a month to the United States. The U.S. street value of the drug shipments was estimated at US$322 million a month, or US$3.86 billion a year.

National Police Chief Luis Ernesto Gilibert said the shipments were routed to the United States through Guatemala, Mexico, Jamaica and the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The police operation, dubbed "Blue Sky," stretched back two years and involved intelligence sharing with the U.S. DEA. It was the fifth crackdown on drug trafficking rings in Colombia this year... 

01 June 2001

COLOMBIA:

24 Villagers Reportedly Killed In New Rebel Rampage

Local officials said on Thursday that leftist guerrillas rampaged through a cluster of villages in northern Colombia over the weekend and killed at least 24 residents, hacking many of them to death with machetes and burning down homes. The death toll was not official, and based on accounts from family members of the victims who fled the massacre zone in Corboda state. Cordoba's governor's office blamed the Sunday and Monday attacks against three nearby villages on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Villagers said the victims were peasants intercepted by the guerrillas while out looking for firewood and food in the mountains. The region is also base for cultivating coca, the raw material for cocaine. Rebels and rightist paramilitary forces have been battling for months in the Tierralta region, where the attacks occurred.

30 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

U.S. Embassy Issues Warden Messages

On 25 May, U.S. Embassy Bogotá issued two separate Warden Messages. Text of first message: "Based on recent terrorist threats, all US Embassy employees are advised to avoid 'Salitre Plaza' shopping center in Bogotá. US Embassy employees are reminded to use extreme caution when visiting shopping centers and malls, particularly in major metropolitan areas, and to exercise enhanced security awareness, if it is necessary to visit these areas."

Text of second message: "In light of the recent bombings in Bogotá, the US Embassy advises all US citizens to avoid unnecessary travel within Bogotá and other metropolitan areas within Colombia. If travel is required, use extreme caution and exercise the highest security awareness possible."

26 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Bombs Explode In Bogota

Two bomb explosions in the Colombian capital of Bogota on Friday killed four people and injured about 20 more. Two of the bombs went off during the morning rush hour near the campus of the National University. Police bomb squads successfully deactivated a third device a short time later. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Authorities on Friday found and deactivated two small explosive devices near the US embassy and the attorney general's office in Bogota. Police said the two IEDs were metal tubes and hidden in a sewer near the US embassy and the offices of the attorney general by still unidentified perpetrators. Authorities declined to provide details about the bombs, saying only that they were small.

10:15CDT - 25 May 2001

Two Bombs Explode in Colombian Capital; At Least 4 Dead,  Dozens Wounded

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA (EmergencyNet News) -- Following a spate of car bombs that have been successfully disarmed (see story below in daily reports section), two bombs exploded today in Bogotá, killing at least four people and wounding dozens more. Today's explosions occurred during morning rush hour in the Colombian capital, including a device that was placed and exploded under a pedestrian walkway. That incident occurred near the campus of the National University. Few other specific details on the bombings are currently available. 

24 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Police Find Car Bombs In Barrancabermeja

In the latest in a string of car bombs to be found the South American country, police said they defused two car bombs in the violent oil refining city of Barrancabermeja on Thursday. A police spokesman said one bomb was found in a taxi parked near a school and another was detected in a car parked next to a bridge in the river port city of 250,000 people 140 miles north of the capital Bogota. So far there are no suspects. There is a heavy police and army presence in Barrancabermeja. The city was long a power base of the National Liberation Army (ELN). 

Troops To Soon Enter Cocaine Production Territory

At a ceremony attended by top U.S. military commanders and the U.S. ambassador, the last of three Colombian army anti-drug battalions to be trained by Green Berets has graduated. The battalion will soon be deployed in the jungles and coca fields of southern Colombia's Putumayo and Caqueta states, which together produce 60 percent of Colombia's cocaine and are teeming with leftist rebels and rival paramilitary forces who both earn huge profits by "taxing" cocaine producers.

23 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Police Defuse Car Bomb In Bogota

Police on Monday rendered safe a large car bomb outside the Bogota office of a communist magazine. The bomb was placed in a pick-up truck carrying oranges and bananas. Beneath the fruit, police found a U.S.-built MK-82 aviation bomb containing 50 pounds of TNT attached to a detonating device.

The truck-bomb was parked outside the office of the communist weekly magazine Voz, a traditional forum for comments and opinions by the leadership of the FARC leftist rebel group. Police were uncertain who planted the bomb, but "rightists" were suspected. On Monday, police increased security in the capital of seven million people, doubling patrols, patrolling with helicopters and increasing checks of vehicles at parking lots and entrances to shopping malls.

20 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Police Defuse Two More Car Bombs In Medellin

The police bomb squad in Medellin was kept busy with defusing two car bombs on Saturday. The bomb alerts came two days after a car bomb blast killed eight people and wounded 137 others. A police spokeswoman said the bombs were packed into a taxi and a stolen Hyundai car and parked in front of a District Attorney's office and a busy suburban metro station. Police denied local radio reports that they and army troops were searching for two more car bombs, one allegedly placed in the center of Medellin and the other in a city suburb.

On Thursday, a car bomb packed with 44 pounds of explosives went off in an upscale neighborhood in Medellin, spraying glass and debris at crowds gathered at cafes, restaurants and nightclubs bordering a park. As was reported by EmergencyNet News on Saturday, police have blamed the bombing on a feud between right-wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs (possibly linked to leftist drug organizations) in the city. It was the second bomb to explode in just 15 days in Colombia.

The revival of car bomb attacks has sparked fears of a repetition of the bombing campaign that terrorized Colombia in the late 1980s and early 1990s -- at the height of the wars against the Cali and Medellin drug cartels. In January, a powerful car bomb timed for rush hour exploded outside a shopping center in Medellin, killing one woman and injuring 50 others.

Thursday's blast, the deadliest in at least a year, came just hours after gunmen of the United Self Defenses of Colombia (AUC) -- an outlawed militia that targets leftist guerrillas -- killed execution style the leader of The Terrace, a notorious Medellin-based criminal gang. The surviving Terrace leaders threatened to turn over to the District Attorney's office evidence linking high-profile assassinations and kidnappings carried out by the gang on the orders of the AUC's leader, Carlos Castano. President Andres Pastrana has ordered 100 members of an elite police unit to Medellin to investigate the blast and prevent more attacks.

19 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Car Bombing Seen As Part Of Right-Wing Feud

A powerful car bomb that exploded in a crowded park in Medellin on Thursday, killing eight people and wounding 137, is being seen as part of a feud between right-wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs. General Tobias Duran, director of operations at the National Police, said: "All indications are that this is a retaliation stemming from a war between the AUC and criminal bands, specifically The Terrace band." Thursday's blast came hours after gunmen of the United Self Defenses of Colombia (AUC) killed execution-style the leader of The Terrace, a notorious Medellin-based criminal gang.

The 8,000-member AUC is locked in a bloody feud with The Terrace, its former ally in an unlikely alliance of drug traffickers, street criminals and anti-communist fighters, after AUC leader Carlos Castano ordered the killing of its leaders in what was believed to be a settling of scores. The surviving Terrace leaders then threatened to turn over to prosecutors evidence linking high-profile assassinations and kidnappings carried out by the gang on Castano's orders. Thursday's blast sparked fears of a repetition of the bloody bombing campaign in Colombia during the late 1980s and early 1990s -- at the height of the drug wars.

03:00CDT -18 May 2001

Car Bomb Kills Six, Fifty Wounded in Colombia

Medellin, Colombia (EmergencyNet News) -- At least six people were killed and another fifty people were wounded as a car bomb exploded in the well-to-do section of El Poblado in Medillin at about 22:00 (local time) last night, according to Medellin Police Chief Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro.  Emergency crews said many of the injured were in critical condition and local radio stations issued urgent calls for blood donors -- raising the possibility that the death toll could climb throughout the early morning hours, the Reuters news service said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack....

15 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Fighting Reportedly Leaves 44 Dead

The army said on Sunday that it had repelled a major offensive by leftist guerrillas in fighting that has left 41 rebels and three soldiers dead. The offensive in seven states, which involved more than 2,000 rebels, began on Friday, but fighting was still being reported on Sunday in Antioquia, Boyaca, and Norte de Santander states. The rebels were said to be on the retreat on those three fronts.

Most of the guerrillas killed were from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). During the fighting which had also broken out in the states of Quindio, Cesar, Casanare and Putumayo soldiers destroyed seven FARC camps, seized arms and captured 20 guerrillas.

07 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Security Forces Capture Right-Wing Leader

The armed forces have reportedly captured a right-wing paramilitary leader in a continuing crackdown on the United Self-Defense Forces of Columbia (AUC). Dumar de Jesus Guerrero - AKA as "Mochacabezas," (Head-Chopper) - was captured in the capital, Bogota, on Sunday. Guerrero is believed to be the fourth-highest ranking figure in the 8,000-member paramilitary organization. The arrest follows the capture last week of about 60 suspected paramilitary fighters of the AUC, which was branded a terrorist organization the same day by the United States.

05 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

At Least 32 Wounded By Car Bomb In Cali

Emergency officials said at least 32 people were wounded when a powerful car bomb exploded at a luxury hotel in Cali on Friday night. Police and fire department officials said there were no confirmed fatalities, but added three victims, including a hotel security guard, were hospitalized in critical condition. The bomb went off at 1900 hours local time at the Hotel Torre de Cali and shattered windows in the first 20 floors of the 41-story building -- the tallest in the city.

Hotel guests were trapped for hours in levels above the flaming ruin of the first floor. Police said the bomb was made with 110 pounds of dynamite that was loaded inside a stolen pick-up truck. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the rush-hour attack, and the entire event remains under investigation...

01 May 2001

COLOMBIA:

Clashes Kill 20 

Twenty people have been reported killed in clashes between the army and left-wing rebels in the northwestern province of Antioquia. Army officials said 15 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) lost their lives. Five soldiers were also killed in the clash. Recently, the area has seen intense fighting between leftist rebels, outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups and government troops.

Meanwhile, the United States has announced that one paramilitary group, the Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC), is likely to be listed as a terrorist organization. But, unlike left-wing rebel movements, the right-wing paramilitaries are not perceived as a threat to US national security, and Washington is not expected to take any specific measures against them. The AUC, which has about 8,000 fighters, is believed to be responsible for the majority of the escalating killings which are plaguing the country... 

22 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

Military Arrests Drug Lord

The armed forces have reportedly captured Brazil's alleged top drug trafficker, after a manhunt in a jungle region close to the Brazilian border. Luis Fernando da Costa is accused of supplying weapons to left-wing rebels in Colombia in return for cocaine. He was captured on Saturday, two days after the plane in which he was traveling was forced to make an emergency landing by the Colombian air force.

The drug trafficker allegedly once controlled much of the narcotics trade in Rio de Janeiro, but moved his operations to Colombia after he escaped from a Brazilian prison in 1996. Colombian security forces had been searching for him since February when an army operation codenamed "black cat" uncovered a massive drug complex in the Colombian jungle near the Brazilian border. Several Brazilians were arrested at the site, but da Costa managed to get away and has been on the run ever since...

19 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

U.S. State Department Issues Updated Travel Warning

On 17 April, the U.S. Department of State issued the following updated Travel Warning for Colombia: 

"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against travel to Colombia. Violence by narcotraffickers, guerrillas, illegal self-defense (paramilitary) groups and other criminal elements continues to affect all parts of the country, both urban and rural. Citizens of the United States and other countries continue to be the victims of threats, kidnappings, domestic airline hijackings and murders. Threats targeting American citizens are expected to continue and possibly increase in response to U.S. support for Colombian drug eradication programs. Colombian groups have been known to operate in the border areas of neighboring countries, creating similar dangers for travelers in those areas. U.S. citizens of all age groups and occupations, both tourists and residents, have been victimized. Bombings have occurred throughout Colombia, including in urban areas, and some foreign interests have been among the targets.

More than 3,000 people are kidnapped each year throughout Colombia, and there is a greater risk of being kidnapped in Colombia than in any other country in the world. In the past 20 years, nearly 120 American citizens have been kidnapped in both individual incidents and large group hostage situations. At least 14 American kidnapping victims have been murdered. Most kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Colombia have been committed by guerrilla groups, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), which were both designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the Secretary of State in October 1997. Since it is U.S. policy not to pay ransom or make other concessions to terrorists, the U.S. Government's ability to assist kidnapped U.S. citizens is limited."

17 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

Kidnapped Oil Workers Freed; At Least 12 Still Captive

A few hours after kidnapping them, left-wing rebels released more than 70 employees of the US oil company Occidental Petroleum. An army spokesperson said the released workers were all in good health. At least 12 others are still being held by the rebels. The release came after the army launched a hot pursuit operation.

Military officials said a convoy of eight vehicles had been intercepted by rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the east of the country. The incident happened about ten miles outside the state capital, Arauca. The ELN has carried out mass abductions before to raise ransoms and to force concessions from the government. The Cano Limon field, operated jointly by Occidental and Colombia's Ecopetrol state oil company, has been inactive since February following more than 60 pipeline bombings this year. The ELN has long targeted the oil industry.

15 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

Massacre Reported In Southwest Colombia

According to officials, right-wing paramilitaries have killed at least 25 civilians in a remote area of southwest Colombia. The massacre occurred in the town of Alto Naya, southwest of Bogota, on Thursday. The paramilitaries, grouped under the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) are fighting Colombia's two leftist rebel groups, the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).

11 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

Government Negotiator Threatened By Paramilitaries

As Colombia sends more soldiers to the north where 14 paramilitaries were killed by rebel bombs, right-wing paramilitary groups have threatened to kill the government's chief negotiator with leftist rebels. Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said late Tuesday that the president's peace commissioner Camilo Gomez had received a death threat from the Self-Defense Units of Colombia. Gomez is currently involved in peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).

Ramirez spoke after attending security council meeting called by President Pastrana in the northern port city of Cartagena to review with the country's top military brass the current climate of violence in northern Bolivar department, where paramilitary forces have been clashing with the FARC and ELN rebel groups for a week. After the meeting, 1,500 troops were dispatched to reinforce security forces in Bolivar. In one encounter on Tuesday, 14 paramilitaries were presumed killed when the truck they were riding in went over a mine field apparently set by rebels,

Government Orders Arrest Of Rebel Commander For Drugs

The government's prosecution service has for the first time ordered the arrest of a leftist rebel commander for drug trafficking in a move that apparently undercuts Colombia's line in peace talks that the guerrilla groups are not traffickers. The prosecution service ordered the detention of one Tomas Medina, a fugitive leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), based on evidence found in an army offensive against cocaine laboratories in February.

10 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

Dane Reported Kidnapped By Rebels

The Danish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that a Danish development aid worker has been held by rebels in Colombia since mid-March. News of the abduction, which occurred on March 17 or 18, had been withheld out of consideration for the victim, now identified as 46-year-old Erik Kjaersgaard Eriksen, who was working on a European Union development project. The foreign ministry gave no further details.

Danish media reported that Eriksens girlfriend had been released after being initially held along with him. There was speculation that the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) was behind the kidnapping. No details were available on where Eriksen was actually abducted.

08 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

Paramilitary Offensive Leaves 11 Dead

Authorities said on Saturday that at least 11 people were killed during an offensive by a paramilitary militia this week. Clashes between the right-wing paramilitary AUC and National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels began Tuesday when some 800 AUC fighters attacked guerrilla positions in the southern part of Bolivar State. At least seven guerrillas and four paramilitary fighters were killed in the fighting that ended on Friday.

The offensive near guerrilla base camps prevented ELN commanders from attending peace talks on Thursday with civilian negotiators. The fighting occurred just outside a 1,900 square-mile zone the government of President Andres Pastrana appears on the verge of temporarily ceding to the guerrillas to begin formal peace negotiations.

05 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

General Says Rebels Control Drug Trade

The commander of Colombia's army says there is hard proof that leftist rebels are controlling the country's massive drug trade. The announcement comes with a warning that members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could therefore face extradition to and prosecution in the United States.

General Jorge Enrique Mora told a news conference: "We know that the FARC grow coca, that they deal with chemical precursors, they own drug laboratories and airstrips, that no drug trafficker operates without their permission and that they sell to international cocaine cartels. All this has been proved. All we need now is to find these FARC bandits selling cocaine in the streets of New York City."

Analysts call the statement a "political bombshell" which may undermine President Andres Pastrana and his peace process with the FARC. Analysts say the Colombian army - which has received over $1 billion in US military aid - is allegedly trying to wreck the peace process so it can engage the rebels in a head-on fight. Pastrana, who has been conducting a two-year peace process with the FARC, has until now declined to brand it a drug cartel, and says he will never negotiate with drug dealers.

Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said: "If somebody is involved in drug trafficking, he is a drug trafficker and he faces being extradited to the US. If, as a defense, the drug trafficker says he is a guerrilla member, that is no excuse."

04 Apr 2001

COLOMBIA:

ELN Releases South Korean Hostage

The National Liberation Army (ELN) has freed a South Korean man whom they held for 56 days despite the payment of an undisclosed ransom. The former hostage, who has lived and worked in Cartagena for 12 years, was kidnapped along with 11 other people at an ELN roadblock. The ELN, like other rebel groups, uses kidnapping to finance its rebellion.

Weekend clashes between Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels and the outlawed Self-Defense Forces (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary group that targets rebels, resulted in the deaths of at least 35 people in the village of Puerto Libertador in the province of Cordoba.

28 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA:

Car Bomb Goes Off In Mariquita

Local police officials said that suspected members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) attempted to drive a car loaded with explosives to an air force base in Mariquita on Monday. Police were able to prevent the suspicious vehicle from getting to the base. The car exploded in an evacuated neighborhood, damaging numerous buildings. U.S. military personnel apparently operate at the air base, in which they train local pilots for anti-drug missions.

Authorities Confiscate Chems Used For Making Drugs

Security forces seized large amounts of chemicals used to process cocaine and heroin. Since the beginning of March, the army said it had arrested more than 300 people suspected of being linked to the illegal drug trade, and seized almost 70 vehicles. The operation has carried out with help from authorities in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela as well as the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

26 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA: 

Rightist Vrs. Leftist Clashes Continue; 16 Dead as Result

A wave of violence has left at least 16 people dead and four kidnapped. Eight people were killed in two separate attacks by right-wing paramilitaries, and another eight were killed by suspected guerrillas. Police said they captured six paramilitaries after one attack. Violent clashes between right and left-wing rebels over territorial control have increased in the wake of government plans to grant a demilitarized zone to the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group...

14 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA:

Gunmen Reportedly Assassinate Union Leaders For US Multinational Coal Firm

Authorities said on Tuesday that gunmen shot and killed two union leaders for US multinational coal mining firm Drummond Ltd. after dragging them out of a bus in northern Colombia. The execution-style killings of Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Orcasita -- the latest attacks against organized labor in Colombia -- occurred late on Monday near the town of Chiriguana, some 30 miles south of the Loma mine operated by Drummond in northern Cesar province.

Rodriguez and Orcasita were the president and vice president of Drummond's union. Police said it was not clear who was behind the assassination but said the area is thick with leftist guerrillas and outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups. Birmingham, Alabama-based Drummond has been targeted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the past. FARC have demanded extortion payments and have carried out sabotage against the firm's railway lines.

13 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA:

FARC Rebels Want Ransom For Japanese Kidnap Victim

Leftist rebels have reportedly demanded a ransom for the Japanese businessman kidnapped at gunpoint in the capital Bogota two weeks ago. Police say that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have demanded US$5 million for executive Chikao Murmatso. As was previously reported by EmergencyNet News, armed men disguised as police stopped Murmatso's four-wheel drive vehicle and took him and his chauffeur prisoner. They later released the driver but sold Murmatso to the FARC for US$250,000.

11 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA:

Infrastructure Attack; At Least Six Marines Reportedly Killed By FARC 

Rebels killed six Colombian marines during an attack on a tele-communications plant in the southwest of the country. Reports said that 23 soldiers were wounded, and another 40 are still unaccounted for, in the attack by some 300 rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The Ministry of Defense said the guerrillas destroyed towers and antenna of the plant in an assault lasting at least eight hours. 

Japanese Business Executive Kidnapped In Bogota

The Kyodo news agency was reporting on Sunday that a 52-year-old Japanese businessman was kidnapped on 22 February on the outskirts of Bogota. According to officials of major auto-parts maker Yazaki Corp, the kidnappers have demanded some US$8 million in ransom for the release of Chikao Muramatsu, vice president of Yazaki's locally based joint venture. Muramatsu, who was kidnapped with his driver north of Bogota while returning home from work. The driver wasreleased within hours of the abduction and reported the incident. 

Muramatsu's car was stopped by at least eight kidnappers disguised as policemen. They were reportedly traveling in three cars. A wire service report quoted police as saying a group of armed men handed Muramatsu over to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who in turn demanded the ransom.

The following is the U.S. State Department profile of FARC:

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)

Description: Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable, and best equipped insurgency. Established in 1964 nominally as military wing of Colombian Communist Party. Organized along military lines and includes several urban fronts. Has been anti-US since its inception.

Activities: Bombings, murders, kidnappings, extortion, hijackings, as well as armed insurgent attacks against Colombian political, military, and economic targets. In March 1999 the FARC brutally murdered three US Indian rights activists on Venezuelan territory whom they had kidnapped in Colombia. Foreign citizens often are targets of FARC kidnappings for ransom. Has well-documented ties to narcotics traffickers, principally through the provision of armed protection. During 1999 continued its bombing campaign against oil pipelines.

Strength: Approximately 8,000 to 12,000 armed combatants, and an unknown number of supporters, mostly in rural areas. [ERRI Note: Our most current estimates would suggest larger numbers of guerillas than those presented.]

Location/Area of Operation: Colombia with increasing presence and operations in Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, and Brazil. 

External Aid: Cuba has provided some medical care and political consultation in the past.

10 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA:

Red Cross To Suspend Medical Evacuations Of Rebels

After rightist paramilitary fighters dragged an injured guerrilla from an ambulance and executed him, the International Red Cross suspended evacuations of wounded fighters for the second time in six months on Friday. A Red Cross ambulance was transporting the wounded guerrilla from a clash in northern Santander State on Tuesday when they were forced to stop and hand him over. The body was found the next day by the side of the road.

Georges Comninos, head of the Red Cross delegation Colombia, said on Friday: "We will not rescue combatants nor civilians who are injured in Colombian combat. The suffering of those injured will be increased greatly, but we can no longer afford to place our officials, or the injured victims they are trying to rescue, in danger." 

Comninos said no International Red Cross official had ever been hurt or killed in a combat-area attack in Colombia, but his organization had an obligation to suspend its combat-area rescue missions "so that everyone fighting in this conflict understands how grave the situation has gotten here." He added that evacuations would not resume "until we get guarantees from all involved in this conflict that our employees and our victims will be safe."

Tuesday's attack was the fourth since September on Red Cross ambulances showing that even humanitarian workers cannot escape the fighting pitting leftist guerrillas against the Colombian army and right-wing paramilitary groups.

06 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA:

At Least 20 Dead in Clashes in N.W. Colombia

At least 20 people have been killed during clashes between leftist guerrillas and paramilitary groups in the north-west of Colombia. The fighting between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the outlawed Self-Defense Forces (AUC) took place after the rebels attacked the village of El Prodigio, 45 miles south of Medellin. A local official said the number of dead could be higher, as the continued fighting prevented emergency workers from reaching the area...

03 Mar 2001

COLOMBIA:

Infrastructure Attack: Large Areas Of Country Without Power Because Of Pylon Bombing

Officials said that a terrorist bomb destroyed a high-voltage pylon in a war-torn region of Colombia on Thursday, leaving vast areas in the country's central, western and southern regions without power for five hours. The power outage affected eight of Colombia's 32 departments, blacking out momentarily at least two major cities, including Medellin.

Colombia's Energy Minister blamed the attack on "terrorist groups." He however declined to pin blame for the attack on any one group. The leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) frequently attacks the South American nation's energy and electric infrastructure. The outage, which lasted from about 1255 until 1700 hours local time, affected the central regions of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio. There were also reports of outages in the southwestern provinces of Putumayo and Narino.

With 12,000 energy pylons and nearly 5,000 miles of high- and medium-voltage lines, Colombia's network is one of the most extensive in Latin America. But a sabotage campaign has taken its toll on the network. Since 1999, 430 towers have been blown up by rebels.

Rebels Release Hostage

Saying they were satisfied that she and her father had no links to a rival right-wing paramilitary group, leftist guerrillas freed the daughter of a powerful Colombian business leader on Friday. Juliana Villegas was abducted on 28 November near a Bogota university where she studied. She was released in southeastern Huila province. The 18-year-old young woman was said to be in good health. Her father, Luis Carlos Villegas, president of the powerful National Association of Industries, said he had paid no ransom for his daughter.

For months, leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had denied they were holding Villegas. But in a statement read Friday from a FARC-controlled southern demilitarized zone, a commander calling himself "Antonio" acknowledged the rebels had Villegas and described her release as a "humanitarian gesture" for peace. The rebel commander also denied having received any ransom from the family.

22 Feb 2001

COLOMBIA

Clashes Kill At Least 30

Officials said on Wednesday that at least 30 people have been killed in clashes between leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups in a war-torn corner of the Andes mountains. The toll from the fighting near the remote town of Santa Rita de Ituango, some 155 miles northwest of the capital Bogota, is the heaviest in the last seven months. 

A Santa Rita official said most of the dead were believed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and their bitter enemies, the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces (AUC). But he said that at least one civilian woman had been killed in the clashes, which occurred on Tuesday.

Drug War Escalates

It was being reported on Thursday that pilots supplied by the United States to support anti-drug efforts in Colombia were involved in a clash with rebels during a crop-spraying mission last Sunday. The incident began when a police helicopter supporting the US-backed aerial fumigation program was shot down by leftist guerrillas in the southern province of Caqueta.

The crew of the downed aircraft were rescued by other helicopter gunships, some piloted by American citizens contracted by the US State Department. Analysts say the incident is likely to fuel allegations by the rebels that the US is directing the anti-drug offensive in violation of Colombian sovereignty.

21 Feb 2001

COLOMBIA:

Botched Helicopter Attempt To Bomb Jail

Police said that two men attempting to bomb a prison from a helicopter on Tuesday accidentally dropped 220 pounds of TNT on a nearby residential neighborhood but the explosives did not detonate. The men were trying to drop the explosives, in two bags, on the prison of Vistahermosa in Cali, in what appeared to be an effort to free inmates. But the explosives landed some 165 feet from the prison in the southwestern neighborhood. Nobody was injured.

The men abandoned the helicopter in a field and fled in a car. EOD experts deactivated the bombs. It was not immediately known who was behind the attack but the prison is filled with leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary gangs and drug traffickers.

On Monday, rebels bombed the walls of a village prison in southern Colombia, freeing all 19 inmates, including two rebels, in an attack that left one guard injured. Colombia has 168 notoriously crowed prisons, many of them located within city limits and surrounded by residential zones.

Bogota Military Academy Attacked

Four people were wounded and some damage was reported when mortar rounds launched from pickup trucks struck Colombia's military academy on Tuesday night. The two mortars fashioned from propane gas cylinders that hit the Jose Maria Cordoba academy in northeast Bogota are typically used by leftist guerrillas battling the government. However, authorities did not immediately assign blame for the attack.

Officials said that three mortars were fired at the building from two pickup trucks parked on a nearby corner. Two of them exploded against the school's walls, and one landed harmlessly on the street. The wounded, all with minor injuries, were passers-by. The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) recently pledged to begin curtailing the use of the homemade mortars in civilian areas. Obviously, the perpetrators in Tuesday's attack didn't get the word regarding the alleged change in tactics...if it was ever issued...

20 Feb 2001

COLOMBIA:

Medellin Is Still Colombia's City Of Violence

Colombia's second city of Medellin has again been declared as the most dangerous in the Western Hemisphere. Since the city became synonymous with drugs and the trafficker, Pablo Escobar, it has consistently been the most dangerous place in the Americas.

According to a report just released by the Department of Criminal Investigations and Judicial Support, last year in the city of two million there were almost 4,000 violent deaths. While Escobar, the legendary head of the Menagin drug cartel, was killed in a hail of bullets during a shootout with police in 1993, he left a violent legacy which haunts the city today.

Escobar created an army of "sicarios" or hitmen, drawn from the poor neighborhoods in the outer reaches of the city. The sicario philosophy was that it was better to live fast and die young, and Escobar gave money to these desperate men and sent them out to do his dirty work killing rival drug dealers, politicians, judges, policemen or anyone who crossed his path. He even promised a bounty of US$2,000 for every policeman killed and his sicarios swarmed out of their strongholds and executed more than 300.

The sicarios still exist but are now guns for hire, and one of the reasons the murder rate is so high at the moment is because one of the most notorious sicario gangs, known as La Terraza (The Terrace, after a part of Medellin in which it was born), is in a fight to the death with its former paymaster, a feared right-wing paramilitary. Bombs have been going off around the city and assassinations are commonplace.

Added to this already violent mix is the battle between street gangs, paramilitaries and guerrilla militias in the city. City authorities, in an attempt to decrease the violence, have decreed that all clubs and bars must be closed by midnight on weekdays and 01:00 hours on weekends, and have prohibited the carrying of arms. Nobody is expecting the measures to make a huge impact on the murder rate, but they are unlikely to make things any worse.

22:40EST/21:40CST - 30 Jan 2001

Hijacking Ended; Perpetrator Overcome By Pilot and Passengers

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA -- According to airport officials, the hijacking of a Satena airlines plane has ended as the pilot and passengers of the plane have overcome the gunman who took them hostage. All passengers and crew are reported safe and the perpetrator has been arrested, a police spokesman said.  The identity and motive of the hijacker have still not been established, and the entire incident remains under investigation.

*****

21:15CST/22:15 EST - Tuesday, January 30, 2001

COLOMBIAN AIRLINER HIJACKED

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA -- Police in the Colombian capital of Bogotá say that a so-far unidentified gunman has hijacked a commuter aircraft carrying 32 people on a flight from a guerrilla base in southeast Colombia to Bogotá. Television news coverage showed three people being released and departing the plane after it landed in Bogotá; a woman, a girl, and a man who was carried off on a stretcher.

Authorities said that the hijacker was a "rebel defector," but the FARC rebels have denied involvement. An FARC spokesman said on Tuesday evening: "This is not an act by the FARC."

The ill-fated plane, reportedly belongs to the Colombian domestic carrier SATENA.  It was carrying  27 passengers and five crew, and was on the ground at the airport in San Vicente del Caguan, in southern jungle country, when a man pulled out a handgun and demanded the pilot fly to the capital -- its original destination. 

According to the Reuters news service, Pastrana named national security advisor Gonzalo de Francisco to negotiate via radio with the hijacker for the release of the rest of the passengers. Local media also said the man had demanded another plane to fly him out of the country, but aviation and government officials could not immediately confirm those reports. As night fell, the German-made Dornier 1165 airplane sat on the tarmac as police and rescue workers maintained a watch. 

The ERRI Watch Center continues to monitor this ongoing situation and will disseminate additional reports as needed. 

28 Jan 2001

COLOMBIA:

Ten Dead In Latest Massacre

Police said that gunmen killed at least ten people and wounded five others in a northern town on Sunday. The gunmen attacked the town of Hato Nuevo, 445 miles north of Bogota near the Venezuelan border. Details were sketchy, and it wasn't immediately clear who was responsible. The area in the state of La Guajira is swarming with paramilitary fighters and combatants from the nation's two main rebel armies.

25 Jan 2001

COLOMBIA:

Colombian Troops Reported On State Of Alert

Colombian army troops were reportedly on alert near a rebel safe haven on Wednesday and more reinforcements were sent to the area, just days before the scheduled end to the so-called "demilitarized zone." Hundreds of rebel soldiers also have been seen mobilizing in the area, a chunk of land in southern Colombia twice the size of New Jersey.

President Andres Pastrana ceded the zone to rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) two years ago to kick-start peace talks and have a site for them to take place. He must decide by 31 January whether to renew the FARC's control over the zone, as he has done several times. But the FARC suspended talks in November, and with no sign that either side will make concessions. Colombia's military is now preparing for a possible escalation of fighting in the 37-year civil war.

Light armored vehicles were seen in the streets of the town of Puerto Rico, an hour's drive from the main town in the zone, San Vicente del Caguan. The army has been building up its presence outside the borders of the zone. FARC rebels are believed to be preparing for battle as well.  Pastrana is reportedly cutting short a trip to Europe because of the crisis and was due to return to Colombia on Sunday.  The real question that remains is whether or not negotiations can pull the government and guerillas back from the brink of a real shooting war...

18 Jan 2001

COLOMBIA:

25 Men Believed Hacked To Death In Northern Colombia

Police said that 25 men were hacked to death by suspected right-wing paramilitary gunmen with machetes in northern Colombia on Wednesday before dozens of homes were burned to the ground. Survivors told police that about 50 heavily armed men dressed in military uniforms converged on the town of Chengue at about 03:00 hours local time Wednesday and rounded up 25 villagers they accused of working with leftist guerrillas. The victims, all men between the ages of 22 and 65, were removed from their homes, surrounded and killed with machete blows. The attackers apparently accused the men of working with leftist guerrilla groups. The attackers then set fire to about 30 homes in the village and took off with seven other men as hostages. Witnesses told police that the attackers were members of right-wing paramilitary groups, but police couldn't confirm those reports...

12/13 Jan 2001

INSTANT   - 09:00CST - 13 Jan 2001

ECUADOR:

Colombian Rebels, Paramilitary Battle In Ecuador

Ecuadorian defense ministry sources said on Friday that Colombian rebels and right-wing paramilitary forces battled outside a small town in Ecuador's Amazon jungle, the first clash between the two in Ecuadorean territory. The incident left two Colombians dead, but Ecuador's military did not say which side they were on.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and paramilitary fighters clashed at 1415 hours local time on Thursday. Ecuadorian troops were not involved in the clash. The military high command declined to provide details beyond a two-paragraph statement. The fighting occurred one day after Ecuadorian officers discovered an abandoned guerrilla camp about five miles over the border from Colombia, with a hut, trenches, military uniforms and backpacks, that several local officials said belonged to the FARC.

There are reportedly widespread fears among several S. American countries that Colombia's U.S.-backed plan to combat drug trafficking may push rebels and paramilitary groups, believed to finance their activities through the narcotics trade, across the various borders.  

12 Jan 2001 

ECUADOR:

Possible Colombian Rebel Camp Discovered

Ecuadorian military sources said on Thursday that it is believed that government troops found an abandoned Colombian guerrilla camp in its jungle, fueling fears leftist rebels from its northern neighbor may be operating across the border. The makeshift camp on Ecuador's side of the Putumayo region in the Amazon jungle had a hut, made in a way that indicated it was built by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

A source in the intelligence unit of the Ecuadorian military high command said: "We found a small encampment, where members of the FARC may have been." There are no Ecuadorian guerrilla groups. But there are widespread fears Colombia's U.S.-backed plan to combat drug trafficking may push rebels and paramilitary groups, who are believed to finance their fighting from the narcotics trade, across the roughly 370-mile shared border.

11 Jan 2001

COLOMBIA:

Army Rescues 56, Rebels Kidnap 13

Police and army officials said on Wednesday that helicopter-borne government troops rescued 56 hostages from leftist rebels but the rebel group struck back, kidnapping 13 other people including five policemen in another area. The National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia's second largest leftist rebel force, took 56 people prisoner at a roadblock outside the mountain town of Barbosa on Tuesday. 

But government forces, reinforced by soldiers ferried in by helicopters, attacked the rebel band a few hours later, freeing the hostages. One guerrilla was killed in the attack in the western Andean department of Antioquia. But ELN forces captured five policemen and eight civilians at a roadblock near Valledupar, in lowland cattle country in northern Colombia.

10 Jan 2000

COLOMBIA:

Continued Violence Leaves 38 Dead

At least 38 people lost their lives on Tuesday even as newspapers reported the nation's largest leftist guerrilla group was preparing a major prisoner release to revive peace talks with the government. The army and police clashed with members of the country's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), and suspected right-wing paramilitaries staged six separate attacks on rural towns, killing 25 civilians.

In a communiqué, the army said that soldiers killed ten ELN guerrillas during a firefight, in which a soldier also died, in the mountainous coffee-producing department of Caldas in central Colombia. In another clash, the ELN ambushed and shot two policemen outside the town of Valdivia, further north in the Andean region of Antioquia.

Suspected right-wing paramilitary fighters shot a total of 25 civilians in six separate attacks on rural towns in different arts of the country. The paramilitaries often kill people they suspect of collaborating with leftist rebels.

Car Bomb Explodes In Colombian Mall

One person was killed and 50 others were wounded when a car bomb went off in a parking lot of a busy shopping mall in Medellin on Wednesday. General Tobias Duran, national police operations director said that investigators did not know who was responsible for the blast. The injured included a 9-month old baby and a pregnant woman. Several people were in serious condition.

The bomb exploded at 1940 hours local time, a busy time at the northwestern city's new El Tesoro mall. A fire service official said: "This was a terrorist attack in the car park ... there were a lot of explosives."

While the country's guerrilla groups always come under immediate suspicion in acts of violence, Colombian criminals are also notorious for their violent methods of extorting protection money.

06 Jan 2001

COLOMBIA: 

Twelve Dead In Second Massacre In Two Days

According to police, gunmen killed at least 12 people on Friday in a mountainous region of northwestern Colombia where leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries are fighting for territorial control. The killing, the second in the area in two days, happened between the towns of El Penol and Guatape in the department of Antioquia. Police blamed paramilitaries for killing 11 people on Wednesday near the town of Yolombo but did not know who was responsible for Friday's attack. Several shotgun-toting men in combat uniforms went from house to house killing suspected collaborators with rival groups. 

05 Jan 2001

COLOMBIA:

Eleven Killed In Alleged Massacre

Police said on Thursday that suspected far-right paramilitaries killed 11 people in a northwestern Colombian region in the first massacre of the new year. Police in Bogota said the victims were fatally shot in Wednesday's attack in a rural area near the town of Yolombo, in the department of Antioquia, which is the scene of frequent battles between paramilitaries and leftist guerrillas for territorial control.

The secretary of the Yolombo government blamed the massacre on paramilitaries. Police said there were unconfirmed reports that the killing  was the result of a clash with guerrillas from the main leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group.

Infrastructure Attacks...

Some ten municipalities in Antioquia remained without power on Thursday after attacks by the FARC on electricity pylons which have cut off power to around 14 towns in the past two weeks. Local officials say the worst affected area is Uraba, the country's main banana-producing area. 

30 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA:

Congressman Assassinated, FARC Blamed

In an apparent ambush that police blamed on the country's biggest rebel group, the FARC, the president of the peace commission of Colombia's lower house of Congress and five other people were killed on Friday. The murder -- the most high profile in more than a year in Colombia -- was expected to deal a blow to the stuttering peace process under way with the leftist guerrilla group.

Diego Turbay, age 47, a member of the opposition Liberal party, his mother, three bodyguards and a journalist were killed as they were traveling to the swearing-in of a local mayor in a southern jungle area where attacks by guerrillas and far-right paramilitary death squads are frequent.

Turbay and his companions were traveling in a green armored vehicle from the town of Florencia, capital of the department of Caqueta, to the village of Puerto Rico on Friday morning. One witness to the attack said: "They got them out of the car, made them lie face down on the ground and delivered a 'coup de grace' in the head."

Turbay headed the peace commission in the Chamber of Representatives that seeks to foster dialogue between the government and rebels, working in parallel to a government department that conducts actual peace negotiations. Turbay's brother was taken hostage by the FARC in 1996 and later drowned when the rebel group was transporting him across a flooded river.

Colombia Reportedly Breaks Its Own World Kidnapping Record

According to a report from a private monitoring group, Colombia, already known as the kidnapping capital of the world, set a new record this year with more than 3,000 abductions. The South American country has an average of more than nine reported abductions each day, mainly by leftist guerrillas and criminals seeking ransoms. The report, issued on Wednesday by the private Free Country foundation, said at least 3,029 people were kidnapped through November, compared to 2,757 during all of 1999. Many cases are never reported to monitoring groups or authorities.

The total was brought up by mass abductions -- such as a September raid by the National Liberation Army (ELN) which seized about 80 people from a strip of roadside restaurants near Cali. According to Free Country, the ELN was responsible for 27 percent of the year's reported abductions. The nation's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was responsible for 24 percent. The rightist paramilitary militias of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) was accused of eight percent of abductions.

David Buitrago, an analyst with Free Country, said that kidnappings are on the rise partly because of the enormous ransoms the armed groups have gotten for their victims. Most of those kidnapped were Colombian, although at least 36 foreigners were snatched...

29 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA:

Gunmen Abduct Eight People

Gunmen placed a roadblock on a bridge in northern Colombia on Wednesday and kidnapped eight people from their vehicles, including a small town mayor. National Police General Alfredo Salgado blamed the mass abduction in Bosconia, a town in Cesar State located 320 miles from Bogota, on a guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

But police anti-kidnapping chief Colonel Leonardo Gallego said it was not yet clear whether the ELN was involved. He said some eyewitnesses had accused the rebels. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the ELN. The group reportedly has a strong presence in Cesar...

23 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Free 45 Hostages For Christmas

In what is being considered a Christmas goodwill gesture that government officials said was a concrete step toward full-scale peace talks, Colombia's second-largest leftist guerrilla group freed 42 policemen and soldiers on Saturday. The presidential press service ANCOL said the first group of released officers had been handed over to President Andres Pastrana's peace commissioner, Camilo Gomez, in a remote jungle hamlet northeast of the capital, Bogota.

The National Liberation Army (ELN) had promised to release 45 policemen and soldiers it captured in combat two years ago. It was not immediately clear when the others would be freed. The rebels' show of seasonal goodwill -- with no strings attached -- has been widely welcomed. The move is thought to be part of a ELN ploy to obtain their own exclusive "enclave" similar to that granted to the FARC organization...

22 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA:

Gunmen Kill Ten People

Ten people were reported killed when gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying a hit list entered a village in southwestern Colombia on Thursday. Witnesses said they believed the killers were members of a right-wing paramilitary squad.

Four of the victims were in a billiard hall when they were grabbed by the gunmen and then shot execution style. Five others were killed elsewhere in San Pedro, a community of 25 families located 200 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota. Three other people were wounded, including a woman who died while being taken to the nearby town of Santander de Quilachao.

Rebels Reportedly To Free 45 Hostages For Christmas

In what is seen by many as a sign of Christmas goodwill, Colombia's leftist rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) said on Thursday it would in the next few days free 45 soldiers and policemen being held hostage. The 45 officers were captured in combat or clashes in ELN-controlled areas, and are expected to be freed in good health.

The ELN made no demands in exchange for their release -- a gesture analysts said could help foster the start of peace talks with the government. The two sides have held informal contacts for about a year. Government sources said the hostages had been held for almost two years.

21 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA:

Kidnap Ordeal Ends For Two British Nationals

Officials said on Wednesday that two British nationals who were kidnapped in March while hunting for wild orchids in a tense jungle area have been released unhurt. A spokesman for the British embassy said a park ranger near the Panamanian border had telephoned to say Paul Winder, age 29, and 24-year-old Tom Hart Dyke had been found.

The two were reported missing in early March while trekking in the jungle area where left-wing guerrillas and ultra-right paramilitaries are active. The zone is on a major drug and weapons trafficking route and is considered very dangerous. The embassy had no details of whether a ransom was paid for the two victims.

16 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA:

Top Labor Leader Shot

Authorities said that suspected right-wing gunmen shot and wounded one of Colombia's top labor leaders on Friday in a botched assassination attempt in which at least two people were killed. The high-profile attack against Wilson Borja, head of Colombia's 700,000-strong public sector workers' union Fenaltrase, was the latest targeting organized labor in Colombia.

Police said three assailants brandishing automatic assault rifles opened fire on Borja -- a member of the central committee of Colombia's small Communist Party -- as he left his home in a district of Bogota in an all-terrain vehicle. One of Borja's bodyguards, who was shot in the face, managed to return the gunmen's fire and a woman street vendor was killed in the shootout.

Police said the car the gunmen fired from was found abandoned about six blocks from the scene of the attack, with a corpse lying alongside it. It was not immediately clear if the dead man was one of the trio of would-be assassins or a passerby killed so they could avoid being identified. Borja, who was shot in the right leg, collarbone and nicked by a bullet that grazed his scalp, was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was listed in stable condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Borja, who has led six strikes against government economic policy since President Andres Pastrana took office in 1998, had complained to the authorities of receiving a series of death threats since September. The Communist Party is loosely allied to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

09 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA: 

Rebel Attack Leaves 29 Dead

In what is seen as yet another escalation in an on-going guerilla war, a rebel bomb attack destroyed several blocks in a town in western Colombia. At least 29 people were reported killed by the blast. The death toll from the Wednesday night attack by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the town of Granada, 125 miles northwest of Bogota was expected to rise after officials search through the rubble. Fifteen other people were wounded in the attack which lasted for 18 hours into Thursday.

Some 400 FARC guerrillas entered the town during the attack and set off a car bomb and other explosives, destroying 200 homes and damaging 120 others in the town of 20,000 inhabitants. The attack focused on the local police and at least three officers were among the dead. Survivors said the FARC's attack appeared to be motivated by the presence in Granada of members of the right-wing paramilitary United Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

06 Dec 2000

COLOMBIA: It was reported that one of President Pastrana's former ministers, Fernando Perdomo, was kidnapped in Cartagena on Monday night. Perdomo was in a tourist section of town when he was abducted by five men who forced him into a green van. Police are not yet certain who is responsible for the kidnapping. Perdomo served as the Economic Development Minister between 1998 and 1999.

16:00CST - 01 Dec 2000

State Department Official Says Bombs Were Not An Attempt on U.S. Diplomats

WASHINGTON, DC (Emergencynet News) -- In apparent contradiction to earlier reports, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker today told the Associated Press that there was not an assassination attempt on the Sen. Wellstone and Amb. Patterson and implied that the party never came within a mile of the area where the device was found. "There was not _ I repeat, not _ an assassination attempt made against Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and our ambassador to Colombia, Anne Patterson," Reeker reportedly said. Colombian police, however, said that it was not immediately clear how U.S. diplomatic authorities had reached the conclusion that the U.S. delegation was not a target. A suspect, Bernardo Alvarez Duarte, who was arrested at the scene where two bombs were found, has so far refused to cooperate with authorities. The entire situation remains under investigation...

*****

11:00CST - 01 Dec 2000

Assassination Attempt on U.S. Senator and Ambassador

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA (EmergencyNet News) -- Sketchy information is coming in that Colombian police units have thwarted what appeared to be an attempted assassination attempt on the lives of Paul Wellstone, D-MN, and U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, Anne Patterson.  According to emergency services sources, police discovered two roadside explosive devices on the road between the airport and the town of Barrancabermeja, where the U.S. personnel were scheduled to visit today.  The devices were described as "anti-personnel" in nature, packed with shrapnel for maximum effect. 

A suspected member of the rebel National Liberation Army, or ELN, was also reportedly arrested at the ambush site. Police sources say that the attack was not successful because the U.S. delegation was flown into the city by helicopter, rather than by traveling on the booby-trapped road. Few other official details were immediately available and an investigation of the entire matters continues at the time of this report...

30 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA: 

Mayor Assassinated In Drug-Producing Region; Violence Seen To Be Escalating

Only an hour after he described the terror afflicting his town in a national radio interview, a mayor in Colombia's major coca-growing region was shot to death on Wednesday by gunmen riding on a motorcycle. The murder of Carlos Rosas, mayor of Orito, comes at the same time that U.S.-backed Colombian forces are preparing a major counter-narcotics offensive in the southern region.

The gunmen shot Rosas four times at point-blank range as he walked out of his home. The gunmen escaped and their identities were unknown. The daylight assassination comes just a day after the mayor-elect of another Putumayo state town, Sibundoy, was shot and wounded, and two weeks after a bomb in a main town, Puerto Asis, exploded, killing two people and wounding 17.

State officials on Wednesday were holding an emergency security council meeting to discuss ways to dampen spiraling violence in the region, which lies about 320 miles southwest of the capital, Bogotá. The army is largely in control of Orito, Puerto Asis and other towns and says it is battling to retake control of outlying areas from leftist rebels who have imposed a road blockade in Putumayo. Most of the world's coca, from which cocaine is made, is grown in the southern state.

28 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA:

Migration of Drug Cartels Worries U.S.

The United States is preparing for the possibility that success in its efforts to help Colombia clamp down on drug traffickers could force the drug cartels to move operations to neighboring countries. The U.S. State Department's third ranking official, Thomas Pickering, said Monday attention to this issue will be a "centerpiece" of the U.S. government's counter-narcotics assistance requests next year.

Pickering told a news conference that bipartisan support for the existing $1.3 billion program, directed mainly at Colombia, ensures that the counter-drug effort will continue regardless of who ends up in the White House. Pickering said drug operations have poured into Colombia because highly effective counter-drug operations in Peru and Bolivia forced traffickers to relocate there. As a result, drug production in Colombia has soared.

The U.S. goal, he added, is to strengthen countries where traffickers already operate or that may be future targets. Among those are Venezuela, Brazil and Panama.

26 Nov 2000 - From http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Gunmen Reportedly Kidnap Hyundai Manager

Authorities said that heavily armed gunmen abducted the manager of Korean car and truck manufacturer Hyundai late Saturday at a weekend country retreat outside the capital Bogotá. The kidnappers snatched Lazaro Montes, the Colombian manager for Hyundai Motor Co at around 19:00 hours local time from a small farm near the town of Silvania around 40 miles southwest of Bogotá.

Police said that they could not confirm who was responsible for the kidnapping. Authorities were also unable to confirm the number of men involved in the abduction, but confirmed that no ransom demand had been received.

Local RCN radio news, meanwhile, reported that 15 heavily armed men took part in the seizure, identifying themselves as members of the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas 42nd brigade.

ERRI analysts said that given historical patterns, it is probably only a matter of time before a ransom request will be received by Hyundai officials. Kidnapping for ransom is a traditional fund-raising scheme of a number of Colombian terrorist organizations. 

25 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA: 

Hooded Gunmen Kill 12 In Bar

Authorities said on Friday that hooded gunmen killed 12 people in a gangland-style slaying in a bar in southern Colombia. Police said the attack was carried out by suspected urban commandos of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) late Thursday evening in Santander de Quilichao, a town in southwest Valle del Cauca province.

Witnesses told police the gunmen, who arrived in two all-terrain vehicles wearing ski masks and armed with automatic assault rifles, forced their victims to lie face down on the barroom floor before shooting them. Police sources said they suspected the FARC was responsible for the killing because at least some of the victims -- 11 men and a woman -- were linked to a local right-wing paramilitary group. Two women were wounded in the massacre in the bar called "El Recuerdo" and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

In a separate development, police and military officials said FARC rebels killed nine people on Thursday in a rural area of northwest Antioquia province, after accusing them of collaborating with paramilitary gunmen.

Rebels Kidnap 20 People

Authorities said that 20 people were abducted by an obscure rebel faction on Friday from a highway in northern Colombia. Four of the people were kidnapped at a roadblock by the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) were freed as troops pursued the kidnappers into the mountains. The other 16 remain in captivity. 

The small rebel group, considered by many to be a gang of common criminals operating under a political banner, laid the roadblock along a road in Sucre state, about 350 miles northeast of Bogota. Many of the victims were pulled from taxis. Colombian guerrillas routinely set up roadblocks on rural highways and stop cars, randomly seeking kidnap victims for ransom. The strategy is known mockingly as "fishing for miracles."

19 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA: 

Renewed Violence Leaves 28 Dead...

Leftist rebels reportedly killed unarmed townspeople and clashed with soldiers on Saturday in widespread violence that is said to have left at least 28 people dead. Also, a bomb planted onto a motorcycle exploded in a town in the heart of Colombia's cocaine-producing region Saturday, killing one person and wounding 18, including six policemen. The bomb exploded in downtown Puerto Asis, located in Putumayo province which has been blockaded by rebels for two months. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Six of the wounded were in serious condition.

On Saturday morning in the eastern state of Antioquia, 50 FARC fighters searching for an escaped kidnap victim killed four people in the town of Florida after they refused to reveal the location of the fleeing hostage. The fate of the escaped kidnap victim, who was not identified, was not clear.

The army also alleges that FARC combatants were responsible for killing between 10 and 15 people inside a farmhouse on Saturday morning in the Antioquian town of Frontino, 215 miles from Bogota. The rebels apparently believed the victims were collaborators of a rival right-wing paramilitary group.

Some 50 paramilitary fighters killed five people in the northern state of Cesar after accusing them of siding with rebels. The army and local police could not immediately confirm the attack, which allegedly occurred in the town of La Loma, 335 miles from the capital Bogota.

Seeking to retake territory in the western state of Risaralda, soldiers on Friday began attacking FARC fighters in the town of Pueblo Rico, 160 miles from the capital Bogota. Six rebels and two soldiers have been killed in the ongoing clashes. And in clashes with troops in the southern state of Narino on Friday, fighters from the National Liberation Army (ELN) killed a lower-ranking officer and injured three soldiers. 

17 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA: 

Radio Reporter Reported Killed

In what appears to be retaliation for his reports on local vigilante squads, gunmen shot and killed a radio reporter in an attack on Wednesday. Two assailants shot the 39-year-old reporter in a marketplace Wednesday night in the northern town of Pivijay, where he works as a correspondent for Radio Galeon, a small station based in the nearby Caribbean coastal city of Santa Marta. The victim was shot ten times.

Radio station officials said that the victim had been warned not to do reports on the armed vigilante groups hired by wealthy people from the region, but he ignored the threats. The local vigilante groups are not tied to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a well-known nationwide right-wing paramilitary organization.

16 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA: 

Peace Talks Put On Hold By Guerillas

Citing the government's U.S.-supported military campaign and use of paramilitary forces against the rebels as the reason, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced on Tuesday that it will halt peace talks with the Colombian government. Also on Tuesday, two bombs exploded in a market area and in front of a police station in Cali, killing at least one person and injuring several others. Police officials have not yet named any suspects.

10 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA:

Car Bomb, Improvised Mortars, Rock Cali

Authorities said suspected leftist guerrillas detonated homemade mortars and a car bomb in an aborted attack on a military base in Colombia's second-largest city on Friday, wounding at least 11 civilians and causing extensive damage to nearby buildings. Army officials blamed the four separate blasts, which rocked the southwest city of Cali at dusk, on National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels.

Officials called the attack a botched attempt to kill soldiers lined up for a drill on the parade ground of the sprawling Canton de Napoles military base, home of the 3rd Army Division. But it was civilians, and not soldiers were injured. Three homemade mortars, made from propane gas cylinders and packed with explosives and shrapnel, were launched from the back of a pickup truck. But none of the crudely-made missiles landed any closer than about a block away from the base.

One mortar round tore through a gas station while another wrecked a Renault car dealership. The third exploded in midair over a psychiatric hospital. The small pickup truck, also packed with explosives, blew up moments after the gas cylinders. Of the 11 men and women injured, two were fighting for their lives in area hospitals, including a gas station attendant who was badly hurt.

07 Nov 2000

COLOMBIA:

U.S. State Department Issues Warden Message

On 2 November, the U.S. Department of State issued the following Warden Message regarding guerilla groups targeting U.S. citizens in the "Mid-Magdalena" region: 

"The United States Government has learned that Colombian guerrilla groups may be conducting surveillance of American citizens in Bucaramanga, Santander department, as well as other parts of the "Mid-Magdalena" region (including areas in the Bolivar and Antioquia departments). The Information collected from this surveillance could be used to target U.S. citizens for extortion, kidnapping or murder. All U.S. citizens in these areas are advised to review their security posture and take such additional measures as they deem appropriate."

22 Oct 2000

COLOMBIA:

Two Politicians Kidnapped

Authorities said that suspected paramilitary gunmen kidnapped a member of a parliamentary peace commission while a senator was abducted in a separate incident. In addition, a candidate for mayor of Bogota in the upcoming 29 October elections, was detained for several hours on Sunday by leftist rebels as he campaigned south of the capital. He was then released. 

The abductions underscored the increasingly lawlessness in Colombia, with the state unable to provide security in vast areas as leftist rebels and a rival right-wing paramilitary group fight for control of many parts of the South American nation. 

Congresswoman Zulema Jattin, who until one month ago was president of parliament's peace commission and is currently one of its members, was traveling with her father in her native province of Cordoba on Saturday night when gunmen stopped the car and abducted her. Rightist paramilitaries are suspected in the kidnapping of Jattin, which occurred near the provincial capital, Monteria, 300 miles from Bogota. Jattin's father, ex-senator Francisco Jose Jattin, told police the kidnappers said they would release the congresswoman along with a message for the government.

21 Oct 2000

COLOMBIA

At Least 56 Killed In Latest Fighting

Authorities said on Friday that at least 56 soldiers and police have been killed in two days of fighting with leftist guerrillas in northern Colombia, including 22 aboard a helicopter gunship that came under fire and crashed in a remote war zone. It was the heaviest blow to the armed forces since a battle with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels in the country's southern jungle that left at least 60 soldiers dead in March 1998.

Army officials said the latest casualties included four crew members and all 18 soldiers on board a U.S.-made Black Hawk attack helicopter that crashed on Thursday while ferrying troops into a town besieged by a 500-strong column of FARC rebels since late Wednesday. Air Force commander General Hector Fabio Velasco acknowledged that the helicopter was hit by gunfire as it was disembarking troops outside the embattled township of Dabeiba but insisted that the cause of the crash was accidental.

Another 32 soldiers and two policemen were killed in what an army spokesman described as intense fighting since late Wednesday in and around Dabeiba, which is located in northwest Antioquia province in a notoriously violent corridor for arms and drug smuggling near Colombia's border with Panama.

General Gabriel Eduardo Contreras, commander of the first army division, said the military had retaken control of Dabeiba on Friday, after fighting in which just three FARC members were killed. Rebels reportedly used homemade mortars comprised of propane gas tanks packed with explosives to level an entire block in Dabeiba's town center. No civilian deaths were reported.

The fate of 17 policemen was still unknown late Friday, after a separate attack by the FARC on a town in the province of Choco.

09 Oct 2000

COLOMBIA

Rebels Kill Six Civilians In Attack

Officials said on Sunday that leftist guerrillas killed at least six civilians in a rural Colombian town in an apparent retaliation for the resistance of its residents to allow the rebels to forcibly recruit youngsters there. 

Officials found six bodies in the hamlet of El Eden in southwestern Cauca province but residents say another seven are missing are are believed to have died in the Saturday attack by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Several homes in the village were also destroyed. It was not immediately clear if the killings were selective or if the the victims died in an all-out assault on the village.

A police spokesman said the FARC rebels had entered the town about two months ago to forcibly recruit the young men there. Residents resisted the rebels, driving them from the town. There were reports that the rebels made another recruiting mission to El Eden last week but again were repelled by the townspeople.

Explosions Kill Three, Injure 13 More

Police said on Sunday that three people were killed and 13 others were wounded in two bomb attacks over the weekend. A grenade exploded Saturday in the town of La Tebaida in Colombia's coffee-growing region, about 110 miles south of the capital Bogota. Three people were killed and six others were injured. Police did not know who was responsible for throwing the grenade.

The National Liberation Army (ELN) is suspected in the other bombing, which occurred on Saturday night in Cali. The bomb, attached to a car, exploded at 21:45 hours local time, wounding seven people. Cali is Colombia's third-largest city.

05 Oct 2000

COLOMBIA: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas reportedly killed a businessman whom they had held hostage last year. The rebels killed him because he criticized the ransom which his two daughters had to pay for his release. On 23 December 1999, his daughters agreed to pay FARC rebels US$270,000 for their father's release. They were then kidnapped themselves, although the father was released. The victim spoke out against FARC to local media, telling his story. On 3 October, FARC rebels killed him in his office. The whereabouts of his daughters is not known.

02 Oct 2000

COLOMBIA:

Two Mayors, Six Others Abducted

State security police reported on Sunday that two mayors returning home from a conference on human rights were among eight people kidnapped by leftist rebels in Colombia. The two mayors and two political associates were freed hours later. Their abductions follow a series of kidnappings and killings apparently linked to local elections later this month.

The four were abducted late Saturday in Santander state by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Jose Gregoria, mayor of Matanza, and Hernando Lizcano, mayor of Surata, and two political associates were abducted after attending a human rights conference. All four were freed on Sunday.

Meanwhile, armed fighters of the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) abducted four people Saturday in Rionegro, also in northeastern Santander state. Among the ELN's captives were Jaime Rodriguez Ballesteros, the former mayor of the city of Bucaramanga and president of the Santander assembly. He was still being held on Sunday.

30 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

FARC Guerrillas Said to Target U.S. Troops

Leftist guerrillas issued a warning on Friday to U.S. soldiers based in Colombia, saying they will be declared a "military target" if they take any front-line combat role in the nation's long-running war. In an Internet statement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said: "All Colombian or foreign military personnel in combat zones will be a military target of the FARC. At the moment FARC guerrillas do not wish to reveal if there are concrete plans to attack United States military bases in the country."

It added that several such bases, where U.S. military personnel are located, were "very close to regions where guerrillas recently staged intense combat that caused government forces important casualties." U.S. and Colombian officials have said repeatedly that U.S. troops will not be involved directly in the Andean nation's escalating war against the drug trade and the leftist guerrillas they accuse of protecting and profiting from the trafficking.

In Miami, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command -- which oversees U.S. military operations across most of Latin America -- reiterated that U.S. forces were "limited strictly to counter-drug and training activities" in Colombia. But the spokesman, acknowledged U.S. troops were in "an inherently dangerous business" in Colombia and said the FARC threat would not be ignored.

The Southern Command spokesman added: "We try to take the security and protection of our people very seriously, try to ensure that they are doing their training activities and other support activities in only the safe regions. But the entire nation of Colombia and its border regions have become the most dangerous places in the Western Hemisphere if not the world, because of the actions of these extralegal organizations so we're sharing the risks."

19 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Abduct At Least 30 People

In an operation blamed on leftist rebels outside of Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, gunmen abducted at least 30 people Sunday from two restaurants. About 50 armed men, many wearing military-style uniforms and bulletproof vests, rushed into the restaurants in the highlands outside Cali. Gunmen also seized a couple from a nearby farm.

Police said that the mass kidnapping may had been carried out by the National Liberation Army (ELN) working with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The hostages were taken from the Cabana Restaurant and the Embajada de Ginebra restaurant, ten miles outside Cali. There were no immediate demands for ransom or claims of responsibility.

As we have mentioned many times in the past, Colombia has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world. According to a private group called the Free Country Foundation, 1,750 people were kidnapped in the first half of this year. The group said that the FARC was responsible for 477 and the ELN 381 of the kidnappings. 

18 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Clashes Leave 26 Dead

Authorities said on Sunday that the latest round of fighting in Colombia has left at least 19 soldiers and seven leftist guerrillas dead. General Nestor Ramirez, the army's second-in-command, said the fighting began on Thursday in a rugged mountain corridor of Antioquia province, where up to 400 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels staged an aborted attempt to seize control of the main highway linking the northwest city of Medellin with the region of Uraba.

Uraba, which stretches from the Caribbean coast to Colombia's jungle-covered border with Panama, is the site of frequent clashes between rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups. The recent fighting was said to be centered in the Andes mountain corridor known as La Llorona. Ramirez said that operations were still ongoing with the support of the air force. Ramirez said only seven rebel bodies had been counted so far, however.

Instant -- 11:00CDT - 18 Sep 2000

15 of 40 Kidnap Victims Reported Released...

Guerilla gunmen have reportedly released 15 captives on Monday from a group of at least 40 people who were kidnapped on Sunday. Police and Colombian press sources are blaming the National Liberation Army, or ELN, for the kidnapping. At least 25 additional captives remain in rebel hands, according to police sources.

16 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Three Italian Nationals Kidnapped

Authorities said that kidnappers posing as law enforcement officers abducted three Italians on Friday. It was the second  abduction targeting foreigners in Colombia this week. The Italians, mechanical and electrical engineers, were snatched from a taxi on a highway near Medellin's international airport by five gunmen wearing vests and armbands that identified them as agents of the federal prosecutor-general's office.

It was not immediately clear if the kidnappers were common criminals or members of one of Colombia's leftist rebel groups, which have a long history of using ransom to bankroll their war against the state. The Italians, identified as Claudio Sellario, Pietro Bocchiola and Vitiano Izzia, had been in Colombia for two weeks and were working on the construction of a new plant for a Medellin-based processed food company.

Gunmen from the National Liberation Army (ELN) allegedly kidnapped two Russian engineers on Wednesday. The men had been contracted to help build a hydroelectric power plant in northern Antioquia province, Medellin is the capital of Antioquia, which has a well- deserved reputation as one of the most dangerous places in Colombia.

A travel warning issued by the U.S. State Department last year said: "there is a greater risk of being kidnapped in Colombia than in any other country in the world..." 

09 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Hijacked Plane Sets Down In Rebel Enclave

Police said a suspected leftist guerrilla arrested for killing a policeman hijacked a commuter airliner as he was being transferred between prisons on Friday and forced it to land in a rebel enclave in southeast Colombia. 

Arnobio Ramos, age 26, identified as a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel, pulled a pistol midway through the flight and threatened his three guards and the plane's crew. He forced the Canadian-built DASH 300 airplane, which belonged to the domestic carrier AIRES and was carrying some 22 people, to land in San Vicente, which is at the heart of a Switzerland-sized region that was ceded to the FARC almost two years ago.

A FARC spokesman denied the hijacker was a rebel and said he had been taken into guerrilla custody on arrival. But a man of the same name, also known by the alias "Gizzards," appears on a FARC list of more than 400 jailed rebels that it is looking to exchange for more than 500 members of the security forces captured in combat over the last two years.

Speaking to local media by phone from the demilitarized peace zone on Friday, FARC commander Paris said none of the guerrillas guarding the small airport in San Vicente recognized the hijacker. He said: "We cannot confirm that this man is a member of the FARC. This is not a guerrilla action nor an action of the FARC." Paris declined to say whether the rebels would hand over the hijacker to state authorities...

"Narco-Sub" Points To U.S., Russia Drug Ties

Authorities said on Friday that a partially built submarine found on the outskirts of Bogota, some 220 miles from the nearest ocean, may point to a shadowy and sophisticated alliance between Russian mobsters and drug traffickers from the United States and Colombia.

Police announced the discovery of the orange- colored, 100-foot steel submarine on Thursday, saying it apparently was designed by Russians and intended to smuggle vast quantities of cocaine or heroin out of Colombia.

The discovery of the vessel, called a "narco-sub" in the local media, prompted the local head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), to say: "I've never seen anything like this in 32 years of police work."

Colombian National Police chief, General Luis Ernesto Gilibert, conferred on Friday with the DEA station chief, Leo Arreguin, and Russia's military attache in Bogota to discuss what one senior police source described as "irrefutable proof of the presence of the Russian mafia" in Colombia.

Emerging from the talks, Gilibert told said one strong hypothesis about the sub was that drug gangs from the United States, Russia and Colombia had made a three-way deal to get it built and start running drugs off Colombia's Caribbean or Pacific coasts...

05 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Rebels And Soldiers Clash

Fierce clashes between the Colombian army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) raged on Monday, one day after the government and the FARC announced they had agreed to begin ceasefire talks later this month. A radio station said that eight soldiers and 20 guerrillas were killed in fighting in western Choco and Risaralda departments on Monday.

Elsewhere in the country, army troops killed five members of right-wing paramilitaries in the town of Genova in the central-western department of Quindio. Seven suspected members of a small rebel group, the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), were captured in the northern city of Barranquilla on Monday.

04 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Rebel Attack Leaves Seven Police Dead

Police said on Sunday that a leftist guerrilla attack with homemade mortars and dynamite on a small town in northeastern Colombia left seven policemen dead. Four policemen posted in the village of Tomarrazon in Guajira province were killed when rebels dynamited the small police station late Saturday.

Later, a police patrol clashed with rebels and three more policemen were killed. The body of one rebel fighter was discovered near the town. Police also said that rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) also destroyed the telephone company offices, leaving the area without phone service.

03 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Army Says 77 Dead In Clashes

The armed forces said on Saturday that leftist guerrillas attacked a military base in western Colombia leaving at least 77 people dead. Defense Minister Luis Ramirez said 15 army troops were killed and at least 62 rebels in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) offensive that began on Saturday on Montezuma hill, 645 miles northwest of the capital. Ramirez said the Colombian armed forces were able to regain control of the area on Saturday morning.

The Colombian Air Force reported that it lost another three officials and four technical support team members when the AC-47 aircraft they were traveling in crashed in fog near Mount Montezuma, which is 11,200 feet above sea level. Ramirez insisted that the crash was not caused by rebel fire.

01 Sep 2000

COLOMBIA:

Analysis: How Colombia Prepares To Deal With The Rebels

According to POTUS, U.S. military aid to the South American nation of Colombia will be used to fight the drug cartels, not fight the country's war against guerrillas. The U.S. President told Colombian President Andres Pastrana that military aid does not signal intervention in Colombia and that there is no military solution to the country's problem.

The three U.S.-trained and equipped anti-narcotics battalions, once operational, will total almost 3,000 men, with 60 U.S.-supplied helicopters also coming as part of the package. These forces are due to be deployed in Putumayo, the coca-growing heartland of Colombia and the stronghold of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Their mission is to protect an aerial eradication program and raid drug labs in the jungle. However, 3,000 men and 60 helicopters might sound a bit like overkill for such a simple task -- except that it is not a simple task. The war against drugs in Putumayo is synonymous with the war against guerrillas. The two issues may prove inseparable. Putumayo is home to at least 3,000 guerrillas of the FARC.

The rebels have already made it clear they are not going to roll over and let the drug crops be fumigated and their territory taken over by the Colombian army. So the Colombian government has two choices. Either they could avoid any confrontation with the guerrillas, who protect many of the fields and drug labs, and therefore -- not fully complete their mission. Or they could engage in a full-scale war in the southern jungles of Putumayo and attempt to destroy or drive the guerrillas out.

The latter is said to be a very difficult, if not impossible, task, because Putumayo is perfect guerrilla territory, with thick jungle and high mountains. Besides, conventional military thinking would suggest that numerical supremacy with a ratio of at least three Columbian soldiers to one rebel is necessary for a reasonable chance of success.

So, the results will be yet another Colombian compromise. Due to pressure to show results, there will probably be a series of high-profile operations which will seek to destroy some labs and eradicate some fields. But, with the guerrillas still on the ground, new labs will be built and more jungles cleared for drug fields.

Some S. American counter-drug analysts say that in two years, they fear that the situation in Colombia is likely to be much the same as it is today. Drug supplies to the U.S. will not have diminished, the guerrillas will not be weakened, and the 36-year civil war will still be going on. One ERRI analysts said that the time has come to re-think the overall strategy of "incremental escalation" of military force in Colombia and use the recently added funding from the U.S. in an attempt obtain a greater solution. 

31 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA

Police Deactivate Bomb Close To POTUS Route

Police in the port city of Cartagena deactivated a 4.4-pound bomb on Wednesday a short distance from a building where POTUS was due to visit later in the day. A police spokesman said the device was planted by rebels and designed to "cause panic but not huge damage". He said two men, believed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had been arrested.

Police arrested two armed, suspected leftist rebels with 2.2 pounds of dynamite and a grenade near the Justice Building POTUS was scheduled to visit.

On Tuesday, government investigators arrested one man and seized three automatic assault rifles and 280 rounds of ammunition in a raid on an apartment in the tourist quarter of Cartagena.

More than 5,000 soldiers and police, 350 U.S. Secret Service agents, helicopter gunships and navy patrol boats were used for the security detail of the U.S. President in Cartagena, located on the Caribbean coast.

Policeman Killed In Anti-POTUS Protest In Bogota

One policeman was killed during protests in which thousands of leftist workers and students threw rocks at police and burned effigies of POTUS and Colombia's president Pastrana on Wednesday. In a protest at Bogotá's National University, hooded students who opposed the U.S. President's one-day visit to Colombia on Wednesday clashed with baton-wielding security forces in Bogotá. The violence left an 18-year-old policeman dead and left three others injured. Students also set fire to a city bus.

The policeman died almost instantly when masked students threw a bomb made of gunpowder and ball- bearings wrapped in aluminum foil at his head during a skirmish at the school's main gates.

A demonstration at the U.S. embassy got under way almost as soon Air Force One touched down in the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, where the U.S. leader held day-long talks with Colombian President Andres Pastrana. As many as 5,000 protesters wearing "Uncle Sam" hats and skeleton masks shouted: "Yankee, Go Home!" and "Imperialism Out Of Colombia" as they marched outside the heavily fortified embassy building. No serious injuries were reported at the embassy protest.

30 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Colombia Ready For POTUS Trip Amid Rebel Attacks

All was said to be ready in the heavily guarded colonial port city of Cartagena on Wednesday for the visit of POTUS. But even as the U.S. President was en route to the South American country, leftist guerrillas pressed ahead with a wave of attacks across Colombia timed to protest the trip and rising U.S. military aid.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) launched an offensive on Tuesday. By early Wednesday insurgent forces had bombed three banks, blockaded a major highway just east of Bogota and clashed with security forces in at least six of Colombia's 32 provinces. No dead were reported but army sources said at least seven soldiers had been injured and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was clamped on a handful of roads in rural regions close to the capital.

29 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Port City On High Alert For POTUS Visit

Colombian army snipers, helicopter gunships and warships have already been deployed two days before the arrival of POTUS in the port city of Cartagena. At least 5,000 Colombian soldiers, police and marines, along with 350 U.S. Secret Service, FBI, CIA and DoS Diplomatic Security agents have been sent into Cartagena ahead of the U.S. President's 30 August visit.

The day-long trip will be the first by a POTUS to Colombia in ten years. In a communiqué issued on Monday entitled "Clinton Go Home!", FARC, the country's main guerrilla force declared the U.S. President "persona non grata" while the largest labor union laid final plans for a series of anti-American demonstrations.

Despite the threats, Colombian authorities say they are confident about security in the city. Admiral Humberto Cubillos, commander of the Colombian Navy Atlantic Command, said: "President Clinton's security is totally guaranteed. We have total control on land, in the air and on the sea. We're working hand-in-hand with U.S. authorities..."

28 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Presumed Paramilitary Gangs Kill 22

Police and local media reported on Sunday that suspected members of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary gangs killed 22 people in two separate incidents over the weekend. Some 150 heavily armed men killed ten people in the town of Cienega near Colombia's Caribbean coast in a predawn attack on Sunday after pulling their victims from their beds and from a dance hall.

Separately, another paramilitary death squad killed 12 people overnight Saturday in three towns near the Pacific port of Buenaventura after announcing they would act against suspected leftist rebel collaborators. Ultra- right paramilitary gangs are loosely organized under an umbrella group known as the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) that battles leftist rebels and often selectively kills guerrilla sympathizers.

23 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA: 

Governor Admits Protecting Officials "Could Prove Difficult"

A regional governor in Colombia has admitted that the authorities cannot provide individual protection for all local officials who are at risk of being kidnapped by left-wing rebels. The governor of Caqueta province, Luis Antonio Serrano, said that the government didn't have the resources, but he said security would be increased for those considered in most danger. On Saturday, the mayor of a town in Caqueta was abducted by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

22 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Say No Attacks During POTUS Visit

Leftist guerrillas promised on Monday not to stage attacks to disrupt the upcoming visit of POTUS to the South American country. A spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said: "We will not impede (the 30 August visit) with guerrilla actions." However, FARC has also been "calling on the Colombian people -- the labor unions, student groups, organizations of the unemployed and others -- to protest Clinton's visit." Security is expected to be extremely tight for the brief visit of the U.S. President in Cartagena, a Caribbean port city. POTUS is only scheduled to stay a few hours and will not spend the night in Colombia, often considered one of the world's most violent countries.

18 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Police Hostages Found With Throats Cut

Authorities said on Thursday that the bodies of three policemen who had been taken captive by leftist guerrillas 18 months ago were found with their throats cut and dumped in a mountain region of northeast Colombia. The corpses were discovered late Wednesday near the town of Chita, in Boyaca province, after a clash between the army and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels in which two rebels and a soldier were killed.

The policemen had been seized in fighting in Boyaca in 1998 and were among more than 350 security force members who the FARC have captured in combat over the last two years. The prisoners have been held in rebel camps scattered across Colombia while FARC chieftains try to pressure the government into exchanging them for some 450 jailed guerrillas -- a demand authorities have so far rejected.

12 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Reportedly Release American

The Colombian army said that leftist guerrillas freed 26 members of a scientific expedition, including an American, early Saturday, after holding them captive for more than two days. The National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels released the captives into the hands of local human rights, church and justice leaders in the highlands of western Colombia, where the group had been snatched midweek. They were freed at about 00:10 hours (local time). ELN guerrilla commander Nicolas Rodriguez said on Friday that his band had "detained" the scientists in Antioquia province to "investigate" their reason for being in the area. The researchers had been missing since Wednesday.

11 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Suspected Rebels Kidnap Researchers

The army said on Thursday that a group of 25 environmental researchers and an American professor were kidnapped by suspected leftist rebels as they studied wildlife in a war-torn corner of northwest Colombia. A U.S. citizen, identified as John Lynch, a reptile expert who teaches at Bogota's National University, was among the group that included other professors and students. They disappeared near the town of La Union, in Antioquia province, on Wednesday.

An officer of the army's Fourth Brigade blamed the abductions on the National Liberation Army (ELN). Reports said that armed individuals arrived at the group's campsite on Wednesday afternoon and took the party away at gunpoint. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. Last year there were almost 3,000 reported abductions in Colombia.

07 Aug 200

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Kill 16 In Attack And At Roadblock

Officials and local media reported on Sunday that at least 16 people were killed in a leftist rebel attack on a police outpost and at a guerrilla roadblock. Three policemen, three soldiers and two civilians lost their lives in an attack on the town of Carmen de Atrato in northwestern Choco province by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). 

Local media also reported that eight people were killed in the northeastern province of Norte de Santander at a roadblock set up on Saturday by the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The FARC attack on Carmen de Atrato began late on Saturday, when the rebels fired homemade mortars at the police station and a bank. Troops arrived in the area early on Sunday and clashed with an estimated 300 rebels. The army retook control of the town by early afternoon. The army said there were no official reports of rebel casualties but they expected the number to be more than 30.

In the same time frame, much of eastern Colombia was left without electricity after presumed ELN rebels bombed two power pylons. Power distributor ISA said service would be re-established in three days.

Medellin: According to police on Sunday, four men were killed and eight others were wounded in a pool hall shootout between suspected hit men. An unidentified number of gunmen opened fire late Saturday at the Los Alpes pool hall in Medellin, Colombia's third-largest city. A spokesman for the Medellin police said the shootout was believed to be gang-related.

03 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Thirty Arrested In Major Drug Bust

Colombian police backed by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested 30 suspected cocaine and heroin traffickers in cities along Colombia's Caribbean coast on Wednesday in a series of raids dubbed "Operation High Tide." 

A police spokesman said that Libardo Parra, alleged leader of the powerful Caribbean Coast Cartel, was among those arrested in the pre-dawn bust carried out in tandem with the U.S. DEA. Police were not immediately able to say how much cocaine and heroin the gang had shipped but said cargoes had been sent to Europe and the U.S. The operation centered on the three main Caribbean coast ports of Barranquilla, Cartagena and Santa Marta.

01 Aug 2000

COLOMBIA:

Leftist Rebels Kill At Least 17

Police said on Monday that leftist guerrillas killed at least 13 policemen and four civilians, burning and beheading some, as they attacked a Colombian mountain town with homemade missiles and car bombs over the weekend. By Monday evening some 300 army and police reinforcements had regained control of Arboleda, the Andean town in the western province of Caldas.

An estimated 600 FARC insurgents rained gas cylinders packed with explosives on Arboleda and detonated at least two car bombs in the attack, which raged through the weekend. One woman, the wife of a policeman, was burned to death in her home and at least six policemen were decapitated. No independent confirmation was available. Another five policemen were wounded and eight were missing.

The weekend battle in Arboleda was the third major clash between FARC guerrillas and police in the last two weeks. At least 24 policemen were killed and 17 injured in the two previous clashes, in Tolima Province in the center of the country and Narino Province in the south.

Many police stations in the Colombian countryside are little more than isolated outposts that are easy prey for the guerrillas. An army spokesman said the town of Arboleda had no strategic importance but the raid was probably designed as "a show of strength."

31 July 2000

COLOMBIA:

Up To 27 Police Missing In Rebel Attack

A police spokesman said that hundreds of leftist guerrillas fired home-made missiles on a mountain town in western Colombia on Sunday and may have killed up to 27 policemen. Two units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) launched the attack before dawn on Arboleda, a town located in the Andes mountains in Caldas province.

A police spokesman in Bogota said all radio contact had been lost with the police station in Arboleda and that bad weather had prevented reinforcements being flown in. In a separate clash on Sunday, the army said it had killed four FARC rebels in eastern Meta province.

30 July 2000

COLOMBIA:

Medical Volunteer Kidnapped By Obscure Rebel Group

A French volunteer for the organization "Doctors Without Borders" has reportedly been kidnapped in Colombia by leftist rebels. The volunteer, a laboratory technician for an aid project, was abducted on Tuesday at a rural roadblock in northern Colombia. The guerrillas also took the man's jeep, which bore the insignia of the organization. They stopped dozens of other motorists, but only abducted the volunteer. The rebels freed the man's driver, telling him they would be in communication with Doctors Without Borders on condition that it publicize the abduction and ask the Colombian government not to attempt a rescue. The kidnappers have yet to issue any demands. Local residents said the kidnappers are from the Guevara Revolutionary Army, an obscure dissident faction of the National Liberation Army (ELN).

28 July 2000

COLOMBIA:

Authorities Rescue Kidnap Victims In Separate Operations

Officials said on Thursday that police and army personnel rescued two kidnap victims and arrested ten of the kidnappers in two separate operations in the central Colombian provinces of Boyaca and Cundinamarca. The kidnap victims were identified as Andres Caicedo Paez, a business manager, and Jorge Martinez, a rancher.

Caicedo Paez was kidnapped on Wednesday while traveling on the highway between Sibate and Fusagasuga, near Bogota. Witnesses alerted authorities, and police rescued the business manager and arrested six of his abductors.

Martinez was freed unharmed by troops in Boyaca. In that rescue operation, carried out in the La Raya region, near Chiquinquira, four kidnappers were arrested and one was wounded.

26 July 2000

COLOMBIA:

FARC Attack Leaves 17 Police Dead

The Colombian government announced on Tuesday that 17 policemen were killed in an ambush by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in a rural area of southwestern Colombia. After the ambush, several skirmishes between police and FARC rebels took place in a rural area of the municipality of La Cruz.

Officials said that the latest police figures showed 17 dead, 16 wounded and two officers missing. The guerrillas initially attacked police who guarded oil facilities in the region, some 620 miles from Bogota, near the Ecuadorian border. Authorities said that numerous rebels were also killed, however, it was uncertain how many because the guerrillas remove their dead and take the wounded fighters with them.

21/22 July 2000

COLOMBIA:

Two Battles Kill Up To 100

Authorities said on Friday that up to 100 people have been killed this week in clashes between leftist rebels and Colombia's main right-wing paramilitary force in two remote areas of the country's Andes mountains. The fighting, confirmed by paramilitary warlord Carlos Castano and among the bloodiest yet this year, included a battle for control of a region in northern Bolivar Province long known as a stronghold of the Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army (ELN).

Military sources have described intense combat since Wednesday around the San Lucas mountain range, where commanders of the ELN, Colombia's second-largest guerrilla army, are thought to have their main base camp. Police in the region said that as many as 60 guerrillas and 15 members of Castano's outlawed United Self-Defense Forces (AUC), an umbrella organization of ultra-right militias, were thought to have been killed in the fighting. Police said the death toll was unofficial and based only on accounts from people fleeing the area.

The other battle this week also began on Wednesday. The FARC raided one of Castano's strongholds in a rugged mountain area of northwest Antioquia Province, killing at least 28 paramilitary gunmen. The death toll was the highest reported this year involving gunmen from the AUC.

20 July 2000

COLOMBIA:

Clash Between FARC And Paramilitary Leave 22 Dead

Local officials reported that clashes between leftist rebels and rival militias left at least 22 people dead on Thursday, most of them rightist paramilitary fighters. The fighting occurred in Santa Rita, a village in northwest Antioquia State. The bodies of 19 militia members and two civilians were found. The mayor of the nearby town of Ituango said that the number of dead could be much higher.

In a communique, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said its fighters had killed at least 32 militia members as well as destroyed a cocaine processing laboratory run by the rightists. The mountainside clashes were reported 200 miles from the capital, Bogota. The area is a stronghold of the landowner-backed paramilitary groups. 

Kidnap Victim Rescued By Authorities

Officials said that authorities on Thursday rescued Alicia Sanchez Henao, a soft-drink factory owner, and arrested her six kidnappers in Bogota. Sanchez Henao, owner of a soft-drink factory in Neiva, capital of the southwestern province of Huila, had been kidnapped in Neiva on 26 May. The kidnappers had demanded a US$150,000 ransom from her family. Sanchez Henao was abducted near her factory by several kidnappers in a car and on two motorcycles when they stopped her car posing as judicial officials. 

08 July 2000

COLOMBIA:

29 Killed In Latest Insurgent Violence

Officials said on Saturday that a three-day battle in Colombia's ranching and coca-growing Caqueta province left 25 leftist rebels dead this week, and at least four died in other fighting. The four died in a separate battle on Saturday in Meta province.

Police reported on Saturday that seven people were murdered in the banana-growing region of Uraba, northwestern Colombia, by leftist guerrillas and rightist paramilitary forces. Three people, including a 78-year old man, were killed by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in the district of Dabeiba.

Meanwhile in Apartado, the main municipality of the Colombian banana-growing region, police found the body of a man kidnapped a few days ago presumably by paramilitary fighters, as well as that of a woman. The police also blamed anti-FARC militiamen for the slaying of a man and a woman in the municipality of Turbo. 

04 July 2000

02 July 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Missile Attack On Police HQ In Cali

One innocent passer-by was killed and at least 11 other people were wounded when crude missiles were launched at a police station in the Colombian city of Cali on Saturday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which was similar to ones previously carried out by the country's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Four explosive devices were fired from the back of a pickup truck parked next to the police headquarters in downtown Cali. One landed on a car passing by on the street, exploded and killed the driver. Another landed on the street and blew up, injuring pedestrians. The other two missiles did not detonate upon landing.

The missiles were made up of explosives wrapped around a gas cylinder. They are launched by a primary explosion and are difficult to aim. The FARC has used such missiles in previous attacks. None of the missiles landed inside the police compound, and no police officers were hurt.

28 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

FARC Rebels Attack Small Southern Town

Officials said on Tuesday that leftist rebels firing homemade missiles destroyed a church and a police station and killed two policemen in an overnight attack on a small southern town. Two other policemen were wounded, and a bank and several homes were destroyed in the 12-hour siege of Algeciras, 160 miles from the capital, Bogota. The military said that guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) retreated early Tuesday after air force fighters were called in to repel the attack.

25 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Cocaine Cowboys; Man Kills 11 in Bogotá Disco

Police said a man shot and killed 11 people in a Bogotá discotheque with an Uzi sub-machine gun early Saturday after a young woman refused his offer to dance. Five other people were wounded in the shooting at the Remicencias dance club located in a tough, south Bogotá neighborhood. The assailant was still at large.

The killer, a young man in his 20s, left the bar in anger after exchanging words with the male friends of the woman who turned him down. He then returned with two friends, pulled out the Uzi, and opened fire on the club. Nine of the dead were men, and two were women. Their ages ranged from 19 to 35.

23 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA: Police sources said nine people were killed on Thursday by alleged paramilitary troops in two incidents that occurred in Colombia's north and southwest. The first act happened in Valencia de Jesus, near Valledupar, capital of northern Cesar department, where five men were killed. The second incident took place in Suarez municipality, Valle del Cauca, where members of the United Auto Defenses of Colombia killed four people.

22 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

AUC Claims Responsibility For Kidnapping; Demands Entry Into Peace Talks

In what was said to be part of a bid to halt the government's "progressive surrender" to leftist rebels, Colombia's main right-wing paramilitary force claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a high-profile political kidnapping this week. Carlos Castano, the ultra-rightist paramilitary warlord who heads the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), claimed responsibility for the abduction in a communiqué read over local radio.

Castano said the seizure on Monday of Guillermo Leon Valencia Cossio, a regional lawmaker and brother of one of the government's chief representatives in peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was aimed at forcing President Andres Pastrana into adopting a much tougher stance in negotiations with the leftist rebel army.

Castano, who unified Colombia's outlawed paramilitary groups under the umbrella of the 5,000-strong AUC in 1997, has offered to scale back attacks on suspected rebel sympathizers if he were included in talks to end Colombia's three-decade-old conflict...

21 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Explosives Go Up Prematurely In Bogota

Police said that two alleged rebel urban militia members were injured in Bogota on Tuesday when explosives they were transporting in an automobile prematurely detonated. The blast occurred less than 650 feet from the Bosa Police inspection post, in the southwestern portion of the capital. Police did not rule out that the two individuals may have been on a mission to plant the bomb somewhere when the preemptive blast occurred. The presumed terrorists were carrying about 66 pounds of explosives, 26 pounds of which detonated. The car in which the pair were riding was a stolen vehicle.

19 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Shooting At Military Roadblock Wounds Ten

A military official said that ten people were wounded when government soldiers opened fire on civilians who drove through a roadblock in the northeast of the country early on Sunday. The soldiers reportedly fired a warning shot in the air before opening fire on the pickup truck and motorcycle near the town of Saravena in Arauca province at around 01:30 hours local time.

A military spokesman said that the army patrol was forced to open fire, thinking that the civilians were bandits that operate in the area. The army uses roadblocks to prevent the movements of rebels from the leftist groups fighting Colombia's internal war. Guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups also set up their own roadblocks to kidnap travelers or search for enemy collaborators.

16 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Heavy Security For "Rio Group" In Cartagena

Latin American presidents arrived on Thursday for a two-day summit of the Rio Group in the Caribbean coast city of Cartagena. Security was said to be extremely tight. More than 3,300 heavily armed police and Marines made up the security detail.

Admiral Humberto Cubillos, commander of the Colombian Navy's Atlantic Fleet and joint security coordinator, said: "It's difficult to say what exactly the level of potential risk is to each president." He added that there were no specific threats against the summit and declined to speculate on sources of potential risk.

Venezuela's leftist-leaning President Hugo Chavez has received threats from Colombia's right-wing paramilitary gangs for his perceived support of guerrilla groups. And Peru's President Alberto Fujimori, recently re-elected despite allegations of election fraud, is hated by Latin America's radical left for wiping out Peru's rebel groups. Colombia's President Andres Pastrana, presiding over a shaky peace process with the country's largest guerrilla force, appears to have created staunch enemies on both the left and right, thus suggesting that threats or actual attacks could come from either end of the political spectrum... 

Police Kill Three FARC Rebels In Attack

Officials said that three FARC guerrillas were killed on Thursday when a rebel unit attacked a police station in La Cruz, in the southern province of Narino. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas arrived in several vehicles. La Cruz police were able to repulse the guerrilla attack and killed three of the rebels...

14 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

FARC Blamed In Killing Of 14 People

In what officials said on Tuesday was a revenge attack by suspected leftist rebels on supporters of a rival ultra-right paramilitary gang, at least 14 people were killed and 15 others were wounded in northwest Colombia. The killings occurred overnight Monday in a village close to the town of Frontino in Antioquia province. Villagers blamed the attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). FARC has reportedly been trying to regain control of the area, considered a strategic transit route, after paramilitary gunmen recently moved into the area.

In a separate incident, police said they found the bodies of eight people on Tuesday who had apparently been murdered by a paramilitary gang last Friday. The motive for the murders was not immediately clear but the right-wing gunmen traditionally target civilians they suspect of collaborating with the guerrillas.

Gen. Serrano Announces Retirement

Saying he's "tired of seeing his policemen die," Colombia's top police official and an important U.S ally in the war on drugs announced Tuesday that he was resigning. Five years after making history by dismantling the Cali cocaine cartel, General Rosso Jose Serrano said Colombia's battle against drugs, kidnapping and guerrilla violence has claimed too many lives.

Serrano's retirement was widely expected. Late last year, he published his memoirs, which became a best seller in Latin America. The 40-year police veteran -- whose reputation for valor and honesty have made him Colombia's most revered public official. Serrano is highly regarded by U.S. officials for his close cooperation in the drug war and for cleaning up a police force riddled with corruption. About 8,000 officers were fired or retired during his six-year tenure. Serrano's replacement has not been named. 

13 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA: 

900 Women and Children Taken Hostage at Prison?? 

A local official said on Monday that at least 900 women and children who visited the Popayan National Penitentiary this weekend to see relatives incarcerated there were taken hostage by a group of rioting prisoners and remain in their power. A team of representatives from the local Ombudsman's office and Popayan city officials said the inmates at the penitentiary in Cauca province, southwest Colombia, were holding 480 women and 420 children against their will...

03 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA

FARC Issues "Laws"

In the latest in a series of controversial rebel "laws," the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group announced on Friday it would arrest "corrupt officials and businessmen." The announcement follows previous rebel threats including one vowing to kidnap millionaires who refuse to pay rebel "peace taxes." The guerrillas have long kidnapped the wealthy for ransom and executed or subjected local officials to "revolutionary trials" for alleged corruption.

But by issuing "laws" formalizing these practices, the FARC is apparently trying to legitimize their claim for status as a parallel government. Officials found to have stolen public funds or facilitated their theft may be arrested, fined, and forced to return the money -- with interest. Those offering bribes will face the same punishment those who pocket them...

01 June 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA: 

Rightists Blamed For Murders

Seven people including a high-ranking official of a provincial assembly were killed on Wednesday by unidentified gunmen in Colombia. Humbero Agudelo Gutierrez, age 41, vice president of the Assembly of Colombia's western Province of Risaralda, was shot and killed while he was driving his car in Pereira, capital of Risaralda.

Just three blocks away from the place where the assassination occurred, three young people were killed on the same day. Another three people were killed in Minas de Iraca, a small village of the northern city of Valledupar. Police suspected the killers are members of the rightist Colombian United Self-Defenses (AUC), the country's main paramilitary organization.

17 May 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Collar Bomb Kills Woman

A woman was killed and a bomb technician and three soldiers were wounded when a bomb placed around the woman's neck by men demanding money went off on Monday as bomb techs attempted to deactivate it. The 53-year-old woman was practically decapitated when a 3-inch-thick circular tube containing explosives went off around her neck.

The explosion occurred by a rural highway outside the town of Chiquinquira in central Boyaca State. Just before dawn, four men burst into her home on a farm outside the town, placed the collar around her neck, and told her they would detonate it at 15:00 hours local time if she failed to pay them US$7,500. The four men then left. Police were called, drove the woman to the side of a nearby highway and began trying to deactivate the bomb. A bomb technician was working on the explosive-packed collar when the device went off at about 13:00 hours. 

18 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Police Arrest ELN Commander

The state security police, DAS, said the leftist guerrilla chieftain who masterminded last year's dramatic kidnapping of some 160 people during a Mass in a church in southwest Colombia was arrested on Monday. Antonio Parra, AKA "Julian" and a field commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN), was captured by DAS agents as he rode on a motorcycle near the southwest town of Cajibio.

Guns For Drugs Plot Foiled...

Military authorities said that the Colombian air force destroyed two light aircraft, reportedly with Brazilian registration, that entered the country with weapons that leftist guerrillas were allegedly going to pay for with cocaine. The Brazilian airplanes were destroyed while they were carrying out illegal flights in Colombian territory. The action happened in Guainia department jungles, bordering Brazil and Venezuela.

15 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

14 Guerrillas killed In Clash With Army

Authorities said that 14 leftist rebels were killed by government troops in a clash on Friday. The guerrillas were killed in fighting in Genova, a town in Colombia's mountainous central region. The rebels killed on Friday -- 12 men and two women -- were identified as members of Jaime Bateman Cayon, a dissident faction of the former M-19 guerrilla force that operates in a loose alliance with the FARC.

U.N. Says Security Situation In Colombia Has Deteriorated Greatly In Past Year

According to United Nations human rights chief Mary Robinson, the security situation in Colombia has deteriorated greatly in the past year, with killings, including massacres, and kidnappings on the rise. In a speech to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights on Friday, she said the majority of alleged extra-judicial executions, torture and death threats were attributed to right-wing paramilitary groups. 

Robinson's annual report on Colombia called on the government to "dismantle" para-militarism and prosecute its leaders "including public servants who have links to it." It cited "reports indicating that members of the military forces participate directly in organizing new paramilitary groups and in disseminating threats. In some cases, victims recognized members of the military forces who formed part of the paramilitary groups that committed the massacres..."

14 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

ELN Says It Will Release Some Hostages

Left-wing rebels in Colombia say they will release the crew of a plane they hijacked a year ago. A statement from the National Liberation Army (ELN) said the crew members, who are believed to number about four, would be freed in just over a week's time, on Thursday or Good Friday, as a goodwill gesture for Easter. The aircraft was seized during a domestic flight and diverted to a remote airstrip in the north of the country. Most of the forty-one passengers and crew were later released, but fourteen people are still being held. Colombia has the world's highest rate of kidnappings. The rebels also announced a ceasefire starting at midnight Thursday night and lasting until 23 April.

13 Apr 2000 - From: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Thursday, April 13, 2000-Vol. 6. No. 104 

Major Heroin Drug Ring Broken Up

With the assistance of U.S. drug agents, Colombian police said they arrested 46 people and dismantled the dominant heroin ring in the Latin American nation on Wednesday. Police conducted a series of early morning raids in four cities in their operation. The sweep was dubbed "Operation Millennium II." A national police spokesman said: "Beginning at 3 a.m. helicopters and planes have been carrying out this operation with the participation of about 1,500 police officers."

Authorities said that the drug gang was capable of shipping 100 pounds of heroin monthly, which would represent about a tenth of Colombia's six-ton annual production. The ring shipped heroin to the United States, Spain, Holland and Italy. The gang was led by Nicolas Urquijo Gaviria, a cousin of the late cocaine lord Pablo Escobar Gaviria. Urquijo was arrested outside the western city of Medellin. Others arrested ranged from watchmen to drug couriers to specialists in trafficking heroin-processing chemicals and laundering drug profits.

Wednesday's arrests in Cali, Medellin, Popayan and Cucuta highlight the expansion of Colombia's heroin industry alongside its longstanding dominance in the world's cocaine market. Colombia is a major heroin supplier to the U.S. market and now ranks fourth in the world in overall production.

Police identified other leaders of the heroin ring as Juan Carlos Segura, Eduardo Alfonso Cifuentes and Diego Emigdio Martinez. None appear in a recent U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration briefing book listing Colombia's major drug traffickers. But the October report notes that "the Colombian heroin trade is currently dominated by independent trafficking groups that operate outside the control of the major cocaine crime syndicates."

12 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

ELN Rebels Attack Mormon Temples In Cali

Officials said one man was killed and 20 people were wounded in an explosion. Separately, four Mormon temples were damaged by leftist guerrilla bombs in southwestern Colombia on Tuesday. Police blamed the National Liberation Army (ELN), for targeting the Mormons in Cali, Nobody was hurt in the explosions at the temples. It is thought the ELN, allegedly heavily influenced by "radical Roman Catholic priests," attacked the Mormons in a protest against what they see as excessive U.S. involvement in Colombia.

In a separate attack in southwest Cauca province on Monday, one man was killed and 20 people were wounded when ELN fighters blew up a bridge near an illegal roadblock the rebels had set up across the Pan-American Highway.

07 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

LEAD FOCUS

Suspected Right-Wing Gunmen Execute 21 People

Officials said that 21 residents of a small town located near the Venezuelan border were executed by suspected paramilitary gunmen on Thursday. The shootings by men in camouflage uniforms occurred in two poor barrios of Tibu. Witnesses said the attackers came and dragged the victims from their homes and shot them.

Witnesses said there were nine assailants, eight of them in camouflage uniforms and one in civilian clothes. The victims were shot repeatedly, 19 of them dying immediately and two in hospitals. Five people were seriously wounded. The killings bore the trademark style of right-wing paramilitary groups, who routinely massacre unarmed villagers they accuse of collaborating with leftist rebels.

Increased FARC Activity In Cundinamarca And Meta Departments

Colombian authorities and international media reported that FARC activity has increased in Meta and Cudinamarca Departments under the direction of 53rd Front commader Henry Garzon Castellanos, AKA Comandante Romana. The Colombian armed forces spokesmen said on 30 March that Romana appears to be following through with his threat to attack 55 municipalities in Cundinamarca whose mayors refuse to pay "protection money." As a result of the increased FARC activity, the Colombian army has launched a series of new offensives against five FARC fronts operating in the region.

FARC Shoots Down Police Helicopter

Officials said on Thursday that leftist guerrillas shot down a U.S.-made police helicopter in southwest Colombia but the fate of the seven men on board -- including a regional police intelligence chief -- was not clear. The Huey UH-1H helicopter was hit with assault rifle and light machinegun fire as it flew over the Andes mountains near the town of Barragan in Valle del Cauca province late Monday. 

Among those on board was Major Rafael Rojas, provincial head of police intelligence, and Lt. Colonel Alvaro Acosta, police chief in the southwest city of Palmira. Media reports said three of the occupants were killed and the four others were kidnapped by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. 

1999 Kidnapping Statistics Indicate Rise

The BBC reported that the Colombian Armed Forces have officially released their kidnapping statistics for 1999. According to the report, 2,787 people were kidnapped in Colombia during 1999, surpassing last year's record high figure of 2,600. The military estimates that insurgent groups, who are responsible for the majority of the incidents, have grossed US$625 million in ransom payments over the last five years.

More tellingly, the report recounts the emergence of mass kidnappings on behalf of the National Liberation Army (ELN). The ELN staged three mass kidnapping incidents last year: the Church abductions in Cali, the abduction of a fishing club in Buenaventura and the hijacking of a domestic airline.

05 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

17 FARC Rebels Killed In Clash With Army

The Colombian army said that at least 17 leftist rebels were killed in a clash with an army patrol in the mountains of central Colombia on Tuesday. Troops attacked the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) unit during a routine search-and-destroy operation in the Andes mountains in Boyaca province.

U.S. State Department Issues Supplemental Travel Warning

On 31 March, the U.S. Department of State issued the following supplment to its Travel Warning for Colombia: "The Department of State reminds U.S. citizens who might be planning to travel in Colombia that there are significant dangers associated with travel in that country. U.S. citizens are warned against travel to Colombia at any time, but are advised that due to a recent increase in random terrorist activity, U.S. travelers who might consider a visit to Colombia present additional opportunities for criminal and terrorist elements to take actions against U.S. citizens and U.S. interests. The risk of being kidnapped in Colombia is greater than in any other country in the world. Bombings also continue throughout Colombia, including in urban areas, with foreign interests among the potential targets..."

04 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

ELN Rebels Reportedly Kidnap 23 Motorists From Their Cars

Authorities said that 23 motorists were kidnapped and at least ten vehicles were set on fire after leftist guerrillas bombed and blocked four of Colombia's main highways on Monday. The actions, known as an "armed strike", were carried out by the National Liberation Army (ELN) across parts of northern Colombia.

The first attack came shortly after dawn. An ELN unit blew up two bridges along the main route between Bogota and the northwest industrial city of Medellin. Later, the ELN threw up a road-block on a highway that links northern Cesar with the Caribbean coast, kidnapping 23 people and setting fire to ten trucks.

Prosecutor Assassinated In Medellin

A federal prosecutor was shot and killed by a gunman on motorcycle as she stepped outside of her home in Medellin on Monday. The motorcycle driven by an accomplice sped away and there were no arrests made. Police, didn't specify a possible motive. The slain 32-year-old attorney belonged to a corps of special prosecutors working on sensitive drug trafficking and terrorism cases.

03 Apr 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Free 74 Prisoners In Jailbreak

Officials said on Sunday that leftist guerrillas attacked a provincial jail, detonating a powerful car bomb to rip a hole in the prison wall and freed 74 prisoners. Rebels from the National Liberation Army and the People's Liberation Army opened fire on Saturday night against guards at the Modelo jail in Cucuta near the Venezuelan border. Prisoners inside the jail joined in the onslaught and fighting continued in the streets for more than an hour....

28 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

FARC Guerrillas Attack Two Towns

Authorities said on Monday that rebels stormed two neighboring jungle towns over the weekend at left at least 31 people, including policemen, a mayor and a mother and her three children, dead. Hundreds of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas used home-made missiles and machine-gun fire in the attack on Bellavista, in northwest Choco province, and Vigia del Fuerte, in neighboring Antioquia province, in simultaneous strikes that began Saturday and lasted through Sunday. The two towns face each other across the Atrato River, one of the largest in Colombia, in the country's northwest region.

The rebels appear to have been trying to break the stranglehold their ultra-right paramilitary rivals have established on the river. At least 21 policemen were killed in Vigia La Fuerte, together with the mayor of the town  and six other civilians including a mother and her three children, the youngest of whom was just 2 years old. The town hall, the church and at least ten homes were leveled in the onslaught, during which rebels fired gas cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel...

27 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Car Bomb Explodes In Girardot; One Dead, 20 Injured

Police said on Sunday that a car bomb exploded in a popular vacation town 55 miles southwest of the capital Bogota. One policeman was killed and 20 other people were wounded by the blast. The device was detonated shortly after dawn outside a police post in Girardot. No group claimed responsibility for the explosion which destroyed 12 vehicles and damaged buildings in a 200 yard radius. But the attack bore the hallmarks of a leftist guerrilla operation. Four policemen and 16 civilians were among the injured. The dead policeman was a young school graduate fulfilling national service.

19 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

The FARC's So-Far Unpublicized Extortion Racket

Often left out of the headlines because the headlines report the daily toll of violence in Colombia's guerrilla war, are the crimes that allow the rebels to build their war chests. Almost daily, businessmen in Colombia receive phone calls from guerrillas. The rebels often call via a stolen cellular phone from mountains just outside the capital of Bogota.

The guerrillas call the businessmen wanting a "contribution" to the cause. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of businessmen in  Bogota are now believed to be discreetly make regular extortion payments to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Juan Mesa, who runs Pais Libre, an independent citizen rights group that keeps track of extortions and kidnappings, said: "It's a hush-hush problem, of incalculable criminal proportions."

Despite living in a country distinguished since the mid-1980s by the world's highest kidnapping rate, Bogota's businessmen had always lived relatively free from the rebel extortion that has long afflicted ranchers and oilmen in the countryside. That changed roughly two years ago. No longer a refuge, the capital became fertile ground for rebel "tax collectors" demanding payments known as "la vacuna," or vaccine...

15 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

FARC Attack In Medellin Causes Damage To Neighborhood

Authorities said at least two civilians were killed and 14 others were seriously wounded on Tuesday when leftist rebels attempted to fire three homemade missiles from a truck into an army barracks in the northwest city of Medellin. The devices, made of propane gas cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel, appear to have exploded before they could be launched at the Army's Fourth Brigade about 100 yards away in the middle of a residential district.

There was extensive damage reported to houses in a two-block radius around the blast site. The pickup truck, that was intended as the launch pad, was completely destroyed. An army spokesman said the attack was most likely carried out by urban guerrilla fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). FARC rebels have regularly tried to attack the Fourth Brigade headquarters...

14 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

FARC Rebels Reportedly Kidnap Mayor And Seven Others

Authorities said on Monday that leftist rebels kidnapped at least eight people, including a town mayor, at a roadblock on a mountain highway 30 miles northwest of Bogota. Police said that guerrillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) seized the mayor of Ubala, his driver and six others on Sunday night between the towns of Choconta and Macheta in central Cundinamarca province. The FARC regularly set up roadblocks, confiscate vehicles and abduct drivers, sometimes releasing them for a hefty ransom.

13 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

11 Men Killed By Right-Wing Paramilitary Group

In the latest bloodshed in Colombia's north, 11 men suspected of being leftist sympathizers were said to be killed by a right-wing paramilitary group. About 50 gunmen arrived Friday night at a series of farms outside San Juan Nepomuceno and Maria La Baja in Bolivar state and shot to death the men, all aged 25 to 35. Witnesses said a paramilitary officer in a camouflage uniform called the victims by name, accusing them of being members of the leftist rebel National Liberation Army (ELN).

Medellin: A gunman shot and killed Arturo Bustamante, a Colombian soccer executive, as he left a restaurant on Sunday with his wife. Bustamante was shot three times in the attack just south of Medellin. Police have no motive for the murder. Colombian soccer has been plagued in recent years by several violent deaths.

05 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Kidnap Cycling Hero

A national cycling hero was reportedly abducted by suspected leftist guerrillas on Saturday. The victim was the second national cyclist to be kidnapped this year. Luis Alberto Herrera, the 1987 Vuelta de Espana champion, was grabbed by seven heavily armed men from his parents' farm near the town of Fusagasuga. The abduction came a month after rebels from the National Liberation Army freed cyclist Oliverio Rincon after keeping him for two weeks. Herrera competed several times in the Tour de France and the Gira de Italia before retiring from cycling.

The gunmen claimed they were guerrillas, but didn't say which faction they belonged to. Rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) maintain a strong presence in the Andean mountains south of Bogota, and often carry out abductions for ransom. 

04 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Rebels Kidnap 25 Workers; Bomb Attack Kills Two

The Colombian military said that at least 25 workers from a company that repairs electrical towers were kidnapped by guerrillas in the western portion of the country on Friday. The workers were en route to repair a tower knocked down by rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Guatape, 125 miles northwest of Bogota.

Separately, in Barrancamermeja, 165 miles north-east of Bogota, a mother and her 12-year-old son were killed in a bomb attack on Friday that authorities blamed on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Seven other people were wounded. Authorities said three bombs were fired at a military facility, but they hit nearby houses instead...

01 Mar 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA

FARC Leader Declares "War" On The U.S.

A top leftist guerrilla leader "declared war" on the United States on Tuesday, vowing to fight against foreign "intervention" and a proposed U.S. package of $1.6 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) warlord Raul Reyes made the tough remarks less than a week after returning from a month-long tour of Europe to rally support for year-old negotiations to end Colombia's long-running conflict.

Reyes said: "The role of the FARC is to fight alongside the Colombian people and we have the task of helping them defend ... against intervention by a foreign power. This is a declaration of war against the United States." Reyes did not spell out what means the FARC would employ to fight the United States.

The United States has about 250 personnel, including military, in Colombia at any given time. About 28,000 U.S. citizens reside in the Latin American country.

Seven Killed In Internal Right-Wing Attack

Police said that right-wing gunmen killed eight people, including a reputed rival paramilitary chieftain, his wife and teenage son, in a revenge attack in an oil-rich farming region of eastern Colombia on Tuesday. A group of 15 heavily armed paramilitary fighters dragged Victor Feliciano, his family, a cook and four bodyguards out of their homes on a sprawling cattle ranch near the town of Monterrey in Casanare province before dawn. Their bullet-ridden corpses were found by police later in two trucks.  

Casanare police chief Col. Luis Alberto Guevara said: "It seems that this was a retaliation attack due to problems and internal disputes these paramilitary groups have." Feliciano was the alleged leader of the right-wing Self- Defense Forces of Southern Casanare.

28 Feb 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Retired Army General Assassinated

Police said a retired Colombian army general was shot and killed by two unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle on Sunday in a town some 50 miles west of Bogota. Killed was General Crispiniano Quinones, the former head of Bogota's 13th Army Brigade, a founding commander of Colombia's first mobile counterinsurgency brigade and current head of further education at Bogota's Nueva Granada military university. 

A police spokesman said the gunmen fired a number of shots into Quinones' head from close range in the town of La Vega. Police gave no motive for the attack and were not immediately able to say who may have been responsible....

25 Feb 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Focus Article

Five Small Bombs Explode In Bogotá

Bogotá, Colombia -- According to police, two passers-by were injured and widespread damage was reported after five bombs packed with up to 2.2 pounds of dynamite exploded almost simultaneously on Thursday night outside banks and a supermarket across Bogotá. No group claimed immediate responsibility for the blasts that occurred in the north, northwest and south of the capital.

Two bombs detonated outside branches of Bancafe, Colombia's second largest bank, and two more went off outside Granahorrar, a state-run savings and loan. Two pedestrians were injured in the Granahorrar blast. A fifth explosion rocked a supermarket and a branch of Las Villas, a private sector savings and loan. Local media reported the total number of injured was 12.

Bombs, ranging from small devices such as those used in Thursday night's attacks to huge car bombs, are not uncommon in Bogotá. The attacks are usually blamed on urban cells of leftist rebel groups or on drug traffickers.

21 Feb 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Up To 20 Dead In Clashes With Rebels

Military sources said on Sunday that up to 20 people have been killed in a four-day clash between leftist guerrillas and their ultra-right paramilitary rivals in northern Colombia. The latest fighting around the village of El Salado in Bolivar province appeared to be part of a fresh upsurge in paramilitary attacks against the rebels and their suspected sympathizers. A regional Marine commander said the final death toll was not yet confirmed and it was not clear how many of the dead were Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, paramilitary fighters or civilians.

Summary Execution; Right-Wing Paramilitaries Kill Hijack Suspect

Authorities said on Sunday that right-wing gunmen killed a convicted murderer who had hijacked a domestic flight at knifepoint and forced it to land. The body of the man convicted of five murders and serving a 50-year jail sentence was found with several gunshot wounds. 

As was reported by EmergencyNet News on Sunday, the incident began Saturday as two armed guards escorted the convict aboard a plane at Bucaramanga airport in northwestern Colombia, with plans to transfer him to a prison in Cucuta. The convict drew a knife eight minutes into the flight, held the guards at bay and forced the pilot to land at a remote airstrip near El Tornillo, 240 miles north of Bogota. He took one of his guards hostage as he fled on foot. 

But a right-wing paramilitary squad spotted the plane as it landed, and quickly caught the convict. The militiamen handed over the prison guard to authorities and said they killed the convict.

20 Feb 2000 - From http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:  

Convict Hijacks Domestic Plane in Colombia

Police and local media reports said that a knife-wielding convict hijacked a commuter plane as he was being transferred between jails in Colombia on Saturday and escaped after forcing the aircraft to land on a clandestine airstrip.

The twin-engine Aerotaca commercial plane, with 19 passengers aboard, was about eight minutes into a flight between the northern cities of Bucaramanga and Cucuta when the convict pulled out a homemade knife, which he used to overpower his guards and take control of the aircraft. The 26-year-old convict somehow convinced guards to remove his handcuffs before boarding the plane, arguing that his hands had to be free to comply with domestic air safety regulations. 

The convict is an alleged member of a right-wing paramilitary death squad, convicted to 60 years in prison for killing at least ten people. He escaped after forcing the Beechcraft plane to land on a dirt airstrip in a rural area of northern Cesar province and taking one of his guards hostage...

19 Feb 2000 - From http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Massacres Reported In North

Police said on Friday that at least nine people -- possibly many more -- were killed by suspected right-wing gunmen (paramilitaries) who rampaged through an isolated northern region this past week. Local civilians reported 11 additional bodies found. But police in Sucre state, could not confirm those accounts.

Authorities recovered nine bodies after as many as 20 people had been dragged from their homes and executed by men in camouflage uniforms. Some victims had been stabbed, and others had their throats slit. The killings reportedly began Wednesday and ended early Friday in several mountain hamlets outside the town of Ovejas, 330 miles northeast of the capital, Bogota. Both paramilitary groups and rival leftist guerrillas are active in the area.

18 Feb 2000 - From http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Colombian Government to Capitulate to ELN??

The Colombian government appeared to bow to a campaign of hijacking, mass kidnapping and sabotage and said Thursday that it was ready to grant safe haven to the country's second-largest rebel group to kick-start peace talks. The National Liberation Army (ELN), with about 5,000 fighters, insisted on the move after the government pulled troops out of a Switzerland-sized region of southeast Colombia in late 1998, as it launched peace talks with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

U.S. Navy Intercept Ship With Six Tons Of Cocaine

Officials said on Thursday that a U.S. Navy ship intercepted a fishing boat in the Pacific that was carrying six tons of cocaine. Colombian Navy chief Admiral Sergio Garcia said the Colombian-flagged vessel named "Rebel" was seized in international waters on Wednesday, 1,530 miles northwest of the South American country's port of Buenaventura. The cocaine was hidden stashed in the ship's fuel compartment.

17 Feb 2000 - From http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

FARC Guerrillas Attack Airstrip; Kill Five Police

In a trouble-torn region of northwest Colombia on Wednesday, leftist guerrillas killed five policemen and bombed a small commercial air-strip. Police said Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels ambushed the police patrol near the airport in the town of Urrao, in Antioquia province. The rebels then used explosives on the runway and control tower, forcing a plane to turn back.

In a separate incident in northeast Norte de Santander province, two soldiers and five National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels were killed in the latest of what are almost daily clashes close to the Venezuelan border.

Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI) analysts say that they have increasing fears that the situation in Colombia may be worse than is being portrayed in open sources. At least one senior analysts said that the development of "counter-drug battalions," or larger scale units, may be a failed strategy when countering insurgents, and he pointed to the Viet Nam conflict as a place for study of "lessons learned." 

From: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Monday, February 14, 2000-Vol. 6 - 045

COLOMBIA

Heavy Rebel Activity Reported Over Weekend

Authorities said on Sunday that at least 12 people were killed and about the same number were kidnapped as leftist guerrillas staged a series of hit-and-run attacks across Colombia over the weekend. Two policemen and a woman were killed when rebels ambushed two police trucks near the town of La Paz in northern Cesar province on Sunday morning. An army spokesman blamed the attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

In a separate incident on Saturday afternoon, a FARC unit killed three policemen and wounded six others when it ambushed a police truck on the main highway leading from Bogota to the eastern plains region. The attack occurred shortly after the guerrillas set up a road-block and kidnapped seven civilians.

Three FARC rebels were killed in a clash with counterinsurgency troops in southern Caqueta province early on Sunday. Authorities said three civilians died in two other guerrilla attacks, by the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) and the People's Liberation Army (EPL), in northern Bolivar province and the northeast oil town of Barrancabermeja on Saturday and Sunday.

The ELN struck again on Saturday on a highway between Medellin and the central province of Caldas, blocking traffic and kidnapping at least five people, including four local government officials.

05 Feb 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Car Bomb Kills Two In Puerto Asis

A car bomb exploded on Friday in a southwestern Colombian region where leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary squads are fighting for control. At least two people including a 6-year-old boy were killed by the blast. Police said the bomb went off at 0635 hours local time (1135GMT) on a street outside the main hotel in Puerto Asis, a riverfront town in Putumayo province near Colombia's border with Ecuador. 

Officials said that the bomb, thought to have contained some 90 pounds of dynamite, killed the boy and an adult passerby instantly and wounded ten people. Putumayo's deputy police commander blamed the blast on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)...

29 Jan 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Right-Wing Death Squad Kills 11 Villagers

Authorities said that at least 11 people were shot and killed by gunman in northern Colombia on Friday. It was said to be the latest multiple killing carried out by one of the country's right-wing death squads. Police said the killings occurred in Santa Cecilia, a village in a rural area of Cesar province where leftist rebels and ultra-right paramilitary gangs have fought a long-running battle for territorial control. The gunmen were clad in army combat fatigues and dragged their 11 victims from their homes before dawn, killing them execution-style after checking to make sure their names were included on a list of suspected leftists or rebel sympathizers. Villagers also said the gunmen had identified themselves as members of a loose alliance of paramilitary groups, known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

Colombia Breaks Its Own Record For Kidnappings In A Year

A private watchdog group reported on Friday that Colombia broke its own world record for kidnappings last year with nearly 3,000 reported abductions. According to the Pais Libre foundation, mass abductions by leftist guerrillas contributed to a 33 percent increase in kidnappings. The 2,945 cases in 1999 compares to 2,216 the year before. Half of the year's kidnappings were carried out by leftist rebels. Common criminal gangs were the second biggest culprits. The highest number of rebel abductions were attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). But the year's most spectacular kidnappings were carried out by the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN).

21 Jan 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

ELN Rebels Vow More Infrastructure Attacks

Bogotá, Colombia -- Nicolas Rodriguez, a spokesman for the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) announced in a radio broadcast on Thursday that unless the government of Colombia accepts their "peace demands," the ELN will continue their attacks on infrastructure targets. Rodriguez was apparently referring to attacks last week on electrical transmission pylons, that have caused severe electricity shortages and rationing in a number of towns in Colombia. 

The city of Medellin is one of the places badly hit. According to media reports emanating from there, many homes and businesses are without power and the city's schools have been closed indefinitely, depriving more than 1/2 million children of their education...

20 Jan 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Right-Wing Death Squads Strike In Rebel Strongholds

Officials said that suspected right-wing death squads, striking after three days of violence by their leftist rebel rivals, killed at least 26 peasants in two raids in northern Colombia on Tuesday. In the village of La Loma, in northwest Antioquia province, some 50 heavily armed paramilitary gunmen in combat fatigues dragged 19 people from their homes, bound their hands behind their backs and shot them in front of other villagers. Authorities gave no immediate motive for the attack. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) have a strong presence in the region around La Loma...

LATIN AMERICA:

Colombian Cocaine Production Goes Up; Peru And Bolivia Production Go Down

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said on Tuesday that Bolivia and Peru are significantly cutting down on cocaine production, but output of the illicit drug is increasing in Colombia. According to a written report prepared by DEA agents in Bolivia, Colombia is expected to produce 330 to 440 tons of pure cocaine this year, compared to 220 tons last year. Increased cocaine production is directly linked to greater acreage devoted to growing coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine. ERRI analysts said that it is also likely that Colombian production of heroin can also be expected to rise in the coming year..

16 Jan 2000 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

50 Reported Killed In Rebel Fighting

In what was being called some of the worst fighting in months, clashes between leftist guerrillas and government security forces near Bogota left 50 people dead on Saturday. Rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) conducted an early morning attack on Guayabetal, 30 miles southeast of Bogota, Colombia's capital. Fighting in the region continued throughout the day, and was still going on Saturday night. 

As is often the case in Colombian guerilla engagements, there was disagreement between government and rebel accounts of the number of dead and wounded. Casualty figures could not be independently confirmed.

ERRI analysts said that it appeared that the two days of guerilla engagements and attacks on police outposts were purposefully set to coincide with the visit of Sec. of State Albright, who was visiting Colombia on a working tour of the region.

18 Dec 99 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Car Bomb Kills Five In Southern Colombia

Authorities said that five people were killed and 27 others were wounded by a car bomb that exploded in front of a hotel in southern Colombia on Friday. It appears the bomb's intended target was a military patrol and two of the injured were soldiers, including one declared brain dead. The blast in the town of La Hormiga occurred at 10:00 hours (local time) and severely damaged the hotel as well as businesses and some homes. La Hormiga is a key center of the cocaine trade, where coca farmers sell their product to drug-trafficking's middlemen. Authorities said it was not clear who was responsible for the attack.

18 Nov 99 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

More Violence Reported In Colombia

Officials said that at least eight policmen were killed by leftist rebels who attacked nine towns overnight on Tuesday. Four police were also wounded in the raids, which lasted into Wednesday morning. Military intelligence officials have said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) plans to stage attacks in and around Bogota in the lead-up to Christmas.

The most serious incident was in Prado, a small town in central Tolima province. Six policemen were killed and three were reported missing. Another policeman was killed in fighting in Baraya, in neighboring Huila province. Other attacks were reported in central Colombia and in an oil-rich corner of the northeast....

17 Nov 99 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:

Bomb Goes Off Prematurely In Medellin

In the fourth blast to rock a major urban center in Colombia in the past week, a powerful bomb exploded in Colombia's northwest city of Medellin on Tuesday, causing damage but no serious injuries. Military officials said the blast in Colombia's third largest city was triggered by members of the urban guerrilla network of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Officials said pamphlets were found at the bomb site in which the FARC claimed responsibility for the blast and indicated its intended target was an army brigade headquarters. The bomb, which exploded at the entrance to a road leading to the Fourth Brigade, a regional police headquarters and the offices of a local newspaper, was made from at least 110 pounds of explosives packed into a propane gas cylinder. Such weapons have become a trademark of the FARC...

COLOMBIA:

12 Nov 99 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

Bogota Car Bomb Leaves Eight Dead

At least eight people were killed and 45 others were wounded when a car bomb exploded in a Bogota commercial district on Thursday. Drug lords were suspected of showing their displeasure over an extradition agreement with the United States. Within hours of the blast, President Andres Pastrana defiantly signed extradition orders for three suspected drug traffickers.

The shrapnel-packed bomb, placed in a red Mazda sedan and believed detonated by remote control, destroyed a two-story house and a restaurant on a wide avenue and blew out the windows of banks, stores and apartment buildings nearly a quarter mile away. It was the Colombian capital's worst blast since the wave of terror by the Medellin cocaine cartel in the late 1980s and early 1990s aimed at stopping the extradition of its members to the United States. The campaign only ended with the cartel's 1993 demise.

Thursday's attack came a day after the Supreme Court approved the second handover in a week of a major drug trafficker to the United States -- and Colombians feared it was a blunt warning to the government not to go ahead with more than three dozen planned extraditions...

04 Nov 99 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

PANAMA:

FARC Hijacks Two Helicopters?

Police and news reports said that suspected rebels hijacked two helicopters in Panama Tuesday, freeing the passengers and pilots before flying away. Police confirmed that the two privately operated tourist helicopters were seized in the Rio de Jesus area near Panama's southern border. National Police Director Carlos Bares said "preliminary information appears to indicate that" leftist guerrillas from Colombia carried out the hijacking. Local news reports said the passengers, two Ecuadorean women and four Colombian women, and the two pilots were freed unharmed. A Panamanian radio station reported that the three armed assailants had identified themselves to the passengers as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)...

COLOMBIA:

05 Oct 99 - From: http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

Rebel Group Takes Hostages

Leftist rebels erected a roadblock in rural northeastern Colombia on Monday. they pulled at least 40 people out of cars and buses and took them hostage. The People's Liberation Army guerillas released their hostages, 20 of them schoolchildren, following a clash with government troops.

About 16 armed guerrillas stopped the motorists on a mountain highway outside Ocana, a town in Norte de Santander state. The rebels fled into the countryside in a caravan of commandeered buses, trucks, cars and motorcycles, but some 300 soldiers gave chase. After a shootout that killed one guerrilla and wounded two hostages, the rebels released their captives. Government officials speculated that the EPL, an offshoot of FARC, was hoping a show of force could get them included in peace talks with the government.

Army Says It Killed More Than 50 FARC Rebels

Authorities said on Wednesday that more than 50 leftist rebels were killed in a bungled attack on a town in an oil-rich corner of eastern Colombia, in the country's heaviest combat since a rebel offensive in early July. A statement from army headquarters in Bogota said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels were killed by troops backed by helicopter gunships after launching an overnight attack on the town of Hato Corozal in Casanare province. Soldiers say they gunned down 47 of the FARC rebels as they sought to flee Hato Corozal aboard two trucks at dawn. The army statement added that the rebel death toll could surpass 50. There was no independent confirmation of the death toll.

07/30/99

From http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

Medellin, Colombia (22:00CDT): Rescue workers in Colombia continue to comb through the rubble of destroyed buildings after a car bomb exploded in a residential neighborhood of the north-western city of Medellin. Reportedly, a truck packed with at least 200 pounds of explosives, went off at about 3:15 p.m. (local time).  It is said to have leveled approximately four square blocks. Local emergency medical workers say that at least ten people have been killed and another 35 wounded in the blast. Gen. Eduardo Herrera, commander of the army's 4th Brigade,  blamed Colombia's largest rebel army, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, (FARC) for the bombing.

12 July 99

COLOMBIA:

Military Reeling In Face Of Latest Offensive?

In story that was barely covered by the major media this past weekend, left-wing guerrillas in Colombia have continued a nationwide offensive with home-made tanks and rockets. The Colombian government says it has struck back, killing as many as 200 rebel soldiers. One government official called it the "largest rebel offensive of the past 40 years."  Appealing for calm on national television, the armed forces chief, General Fernando Tapias, promised that his men would "neutralize" the rebel threat. Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez has meanwhile admitted that the government knew that a huge "safe haven" it granted the guerrillas last year was being used as a training and staging ground for further attacks. This evening, experts say that both government and guerilla forces are claiming "victory" and that accurate casualty figures and battle reports are difficult to come by...

10 July 99 

COLOMBIA: As predicted here on Friday by Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI) analysts, terrorist acts are said to be sweeping across Colombia. According to scattered news reports from a variety of sources, rebels reportedly bombed banks, blew up bridges and electricity facilities, blocked roads and assaulted police barracks. Military sources say that it appears that Marxist rebels have launched a nationwide offensive on Saturday, attacking at least 15 towns across Colombia. Attacks have reportedly taken place in at least  10 different departments (states) throughout the country. Police in Bogotá say that they fear that the guerillas may be preparing to carry out attacks on the capital.  EmergencyNet News is  monitoring events in Colombia closely and will provide updates as circumstances warrant. 

02 July 99

COLOMBIA:

GAO REPORT SAYS US IS LOSING DRUG WAR IN COLOMBIA

By Steve Macko, ERRI Risk Analyst

According to a report from the US General Accounting Office (GAO), the United States is losing its battle to stop the flow of illegal drugs from Colombia. The report said that Colombia's cocaine and heroin production is set to rise by as much as 50 percent as the US-backed drug war flounders, due largely to the growing strength of leftist guerrillas. The GAO report said: "The cocaine threat from Colombia has worsened since 1996 and could deteriorate even further within the next two years but also Colombia is now the primary provider of heroin to the eastern United States." 

24 June 99 - 09:30CDT

From Daily News Briefs http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA:  Authorities said on Wednesday that at least 68 people have been killed in fighting between leftist guerrillas and the army after rebels attempted to storm the mountain hide-out of a rightist death squad chieftain. The Colombian army's second-in-command General Nestor Ramirez said 35 soldiers were killed and six missing -- the military's worst casualty toll since the government began peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in January. Nineteen FARC guerrillas, at least four right-wing paramilitary gunmen and ten civilians were also reported dead in the battle which began Monday but was still raging on Wednesday in northern Cordoba province. General Victor Julio Alvarez, head of the Colombian army's 1st Division said: "This is a total and absolute war. Things are very complicated. We're fighting the guerrillas with planes and armored helicopters."

23 June 99 - 09:330CDT

From Daily News Briefs http://www.emergency.com/ennday.htm

COLOMBIA: Authorities said late on Tuesday that leftist guerrillas killed at least 40 soldiers and ten civilians in a new bid to storm the mountain stronghold of Colombia's top right-wing death squad chieftain. About 500 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas attacked four hamlets in northern Cordoba province Monday, killing ten people and destroying a number of homes near Puerto Libertad. The heaviest clashes occurred late Tuesday when army troops poured into the area to hunt down the rebel unit. A spokesman for the army's 11th Brigade said at least 40 soldiers were feared to have died in a FARC ambush. FARC and ELN rebels are thought to control between 40-50% of Colombia's countryside.

Excerpt from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Saturday, March 28, 1998 Vol. 4 - 087

DoS Travel Advisory

BOGOTA (EmergencyNet News) - An American and two British oil engineers were wounded Thursday in a bomb attack on their sleeping quarters in Colombia's eastern oil fields. The 56-year-old American was reported to be in critical but stable condition after surgery. The other two men were not seriously hurt.

Excerpt from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services- Wednesday, March 25, 1998 Vol. 4 - 084

WILD INCIDENT ON COLOMBIAN HIGHWAY

In another incident, rebels fatally shot the newly elected mayor of Coloso in northern Sucre department. Police blamed the murder, which also occurred late Thursday, on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

From: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Thursday, December 4, 1997 Vol. 3 - 338

LATIN AMERCIA AND CARIBBEAN  

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA (EmergencyNet News) - Police in the northwest Colombian city of Medellin defused a 29-pound car bomb left close to the regional prosecutor's office on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear who had planted the device, which consisted of two milk churns packed with dynamite.

The attempted bombing comes less than a week after suspected drug gangs set off two bombs in Medellin and Cartagena in what is thought to have been a reprisal for Congress's recent decision to lift Colombia's 6-year- old ban on extraditing narco-traffickers and other criminals.

Colombia Warning

"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the dangers of travel to Colombia. Violence by narcotraffickers, guerrillas, paramilitary groups and other criminal elements continues to affect all parts of the country. U.S. citizens have been the victims of recent threats, kidnappings and murders. Since it is U.S. policy not to pay ransom or make other concessions to terrorists, the U.S. government's ability to assist kidnapped American citizens in Colombia is limited."

Source: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE - Office of the Spokesman

ENN SPECIAL REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Saturday, May 17, 1997

COLOMBIAN OFFICIALS UNCOVER DRUG CARTEL COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

By Steve Macko, ERRI Crime Analyst

BOGOTA (ENN) - Police in Bogota on Friday uncovered a highly sophisticated telecommunications center that allowed drug cartels to coordinate their business activities around the globe. The clandestine communications office reportedly operated out of a warehouse located on the west side of Bogota.

The center was said to be equipped with an estimated US$10 million worth of high-tech communications equipment, including satellite telephone equipment. It is believed that all of Colombia's top drug cartels were using this communications center to coordinate worldwide smuggling and money laundering operations.

The satellite phone system allows drug traffickers to stay in touch with ships and planes smuggling drugs. The warehouse was said to be owned by Efrain Hernandez, a drug lord who was known as "Don Efra." He was reportedly gunned down in a shopping mall in northern Bogota in 1996.

ERRI analysts have been aware of these communications and intelligence centers of drug cartels for quite a while. ERRI has collected intelligence regarding highly-sophisticated intelligenc-gathering operations by the drug cartels. It is known that they spy on federal drug agencies, using only the best of equipment. The cartel intelligence centers collect photographs and other personal information of U.S. drug agents.

The communications center in Bogota is by no means the only such center. There are intelligence-gathering centers in Mexico and elsewhere. We offer a report that was published by ENN on 7 January 1996 below. ENN will continue to monitor these reports and will offer future reports.

DEA SAYS MIAMI IS NORTH AMERICAN HEADQUARTERS OF CALI CARTEL...

JIM TEEPLE - MIAMI

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says the city of Miami has emerged as the North American headquarters for the Cali cocaine cartel.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration the Cali cocaine cartel supplies about 80-percent of the cocaine coming into the United States. The illicit trade is estimated at eight-billion dollars a year.

James Milford, the DEA's special agent in charge of the Miami field division, says even though much of the cocaine coming into the United States is smuggled through the southwest border states of Texas, Arizona and California, Miami has emerged as the cartel's command and control center in North America: "They still use Miami to really control the transportation and importation into the United States of the cocaine, the wholesale distribution, and also the collection of money and return to their trafficking organizations."

Mr. Milford says cartel operatives working out of Miami control the supply and distribution of cocaine for virtually all of the big drug markets in the United States and even Mexico.

The DEA official says the easy availability of advanced telecommunications equipment in south Florida helps the cartel operate. Fax machines, cell phones and even public telephones have enabled drug traffickers to establish Miami as a global communications hub says James Milford: "You can go to most pay phones here, anywhere in the city and with a telephone debit card all anywhere in the United States or anywhere in the world. And what this means is there is instant communication with anonymous locations, and while we are able to investigate it does take time and it causes problems and provides tremendous and timely communication for the traffickers."

James Milford says drug traffickers have learned from their past mistakes and now keep a low profile when operating in the Miami area. Many, he says, use established companies as fronts for their drug trafficking and money laundering operations.

The DEA official warns that their assimilation into the community and the easy availability of high-tech communications equipment makes it increasingly difficult to target and apprehend drug traffickers, who he says have made Miami, Florida, the command and control center for their illicit operations.

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