Category Archives: News

BOGOTA—The yellow pages here in the Colombian capital show hundreds of transnational companies. Some are marketing products, some are taking advantage of the country’s varied climates, and others seem to be capitalizing on its minimum wage, about $140 a month. They’ve invested billions of dollars into the Colombian economy and are providing thousands of jobs. But many of the firms don’t seem to protect their employees from attacks in Colombia’s decades-old armed conflict. Last year 184 of the world’s 213 confirmed killings of union members occurred in Colombia, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. And many of the companies, including at least 17 U.S. military contractors, profit from the war. A look at four transnational firms shows their complex role here.

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A beleaguered democracy beset by continual terrorist attacks by ruthless, depraved, and highly imaginative terrorists managed to foil a terrorist plot yesterday. By taking swift, decisive police action, a terrorist training camp full of foreign fighters and outside agitators were apprehended. Despite the depraved nature of the terrorist threat against democracy, the democratic country continues to hold itself up to higher standards of human rights and democratic process.

Some 88 Colombian paramilitaries were apprehended on Sunday May 9 at a ranch, El Hatillo, near Caracas, in Venezuela. These 88 were part of a larger group of 130 who had entered the country. According to the testimony of one of these captured Colombians, the group was training and preparing for yet another operation to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

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On the 27 of February, 1997, the people of Bijao del Cacarica, a population no longer found in Northeastern Colombia, were invited to a soccer match.

Those who called the match made it clear that attendance was obligatory. There were no posters, nor publicity of any kind because in places like these, of such small size, all that was unnecessary. Word of mouth was sufficient.

One of the teams, the one composed of members Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (1), was announced in advance as the winner. The other team, the one composed of soldiers from the Colombian Army, searched for some way to exit from its commitment. In the midst of the sepuchral silence provoked by the events of the previous three days, the neighbors gathered, slowly, under the shade of the trees at the town square. Then the teams came out on to the field. Someone asked how to tell the teams apart, since they all wore the same uniform and all had the same ferocious expressions and had identical rifles slung over their shoulders. “You have to look at the patch on the right arm,” responded another. “Those that have the patch are AUC. The rest are from the Army.”

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