For most Americans, Colombia is a country of drugs, guerrillas and war. Those who are a little more intimate with the situation know Colombia is a complex country where guerrillas, paramilitaries and narco-traffickers are fighting for control of the drug trade and its corresponding corridors. It also goes beyond a doubt that the military and paramilitaries have been connected for years, killing and massacring all over the country. The same is true for the two main guerrilla groups. The FARC and ELN have worked together on and off in all parts of the country in order to take on the military, paramilitaries and kill and massacre the civilian population. But this has changed in the last year or so. The FARC declared war against the ELN first in Arauca and more recently in the southwestern portion of the country...
The war has left hundreds dead, the 300 in the article is probably quite accurate for the last 5 months. Also because of this war, in August of 2006, I had to change my itinerary (well was convinced to do so) to not go to Arauca (I had planned on it) because of the intensity of the war between the two guerrilla groups. I plan on going to Arauca this summer, regardless of the situation, either with an international observation organiation or on my own, to check out the situation. The only news that comes out of the area is of continued violence, mainly assassinations. So while the FARC/ELN war is not as big a topic in the international news on Colombia, lately the Colombian press has picked up the story more aggressively as of late. Here is a good overall story I translated about the war-inside-the-war in Colombia from the weekly magazine Cambio.
Extermination of the ELN
In five months, the FARC has assassinated more than 300 fighters and sympathizers of the ELN in Arauca, Nariño and Cauca.
On Christmas Even in 2006, Monsignor Carlos Germán Mesa Ruiz, Bishop of Arauca, arrived with a walking stick and adornments to a place at the foot of a mountain bordering the plains to share a site with the head commanders of the Northeastern Block of the ELN. Before sitting down at the table ready for the meeting, the prelate put himself on his stool (el prelado se puso su estola), started a prayer for the peace and cried out for the bloody offensive that this guerrilla group has been unleashing against the FARC for the last 10 months to stop.
The Priests Teodoro González Bustacara and Deyson Mariño, parish priests of Arauca and of the small town of Panamá de Arauquita, assisted him with lectures in the middle of the silence from their speakers. When the brief ceremony ended, the members of the ELN commission anounced that they would present some proposals to favor an agreement with the FARC, but before they launched into a proclamation in which they accused their adversaries [the FARC] of having adopted an attidue of power and "a concept of hegemony, that makes them believe they are the only owners of the revolutionary fight in Colombia."
"In any event, we spoke more of Marx than of Christ," Monsignor Mesa told Cambio, who explained that this was one of five meetings realized since August of last year by a Pastoral dialogue commission from the Church with representatives of the ELN, [who] insisted in defending with blood and fire a territory where they made themselves strong in the epochs of the oil boom and in confronting the military offensive of the FARC in order to annihilate them. It is treated as a war to the death that, although it has gone unnoticed by the majority of Colombians, has already left about 300 dead and has had grave consequences for the civilian population, as it is confirmed by human rights groups.
During the same time period, another commission from the Church, headed by Father Dario Echeverri, Secretary of the Episcopal Conference and member of the Facilitory Commssion that promotes a humanitarian exchange with the FARC (a process where people kidnapped by the guerrillas are released in exchanged for jailed guerrillas), gestioned their contacts with this suversive group in search of mitigating the impact of the confrontation with the ELN not only in Arauca, but also in Cauca and Nariño.
The Commission has looked for support from well-known social directors and of the left, like Carlos Lozano, director of the Voz (Voice) periodical, but the access of the areas of influence of Grannobles, the younger brother of Mono Jojoy (a FARC leader in the FARC's seven person secretariat) and the head of the Oriental Block - the 10th and 45th fronts and a mobil column - has not been easy given the radical posture of the FARC. Until now, one meeting has onnly been possible in which without previous Biblical lectures nor religious ceremonies, the commissioners of the good jobs listened to the version that the bosses of the FARC gave on the vase of Llorente that, they say, forced them to go to war.
The FARC sustain that in March of 2006, an ELN guerrilla known as La Ñeca, responsible for the mortar work in Arauca (trabajo de masas), stained with blood the intention of a visit of emissaries of the FARC led by El Che, who was assassinated that day. After these events, the Northeastern Block of the ELN denied handing over the body to the FARC, nor permitted his widow to see him and neither wanted to handover La Ñeca to be judged at trail [by the FARC].
In accordance with the same version, although the ELN agreed to punish the killer, contacts in the FARC saw him (La Ñeca) first in Venezuela and later in Bucaramanga (a city in eastern Colombia), where he moved with plain liberty and because of this, they decided to "give him justice." But the ELN says that this death was an error of those engaged [in the meetings with the church], who opted to discuss differences while some drinks were shared.
Between Two Fires
Independently of which may be the truth about the death of El Che from the FARC and La Ñeca from the ELN, the reality is that the confrontation between the FARC and ELN goes beyond, and is related to, territorial control, use of strategic corridors for narco-trafficking, and the proximity of the campaign for the election of governors and mayors.
According to calculations of the two bands and verifications made by the Public Defender and organisms of human rights, the number of deaths in this war that is going on in Arauca, Cauca and Nariño, arrived to 280 on December 31. Nevertheless, investigators that are managing human rights processes warn that that could be a high "under-register" (subregistro) because it is common that the guerrillas conceal the number of their deaths.
For their part, workers from the judicial support structure que works in the 18th Brigade of the Army assure that this "under-register" would be able to explain the recent finding of common graves in rural zones of Arauquita [in Arauca]. "A week ago, for example, we found a grave in the Dios Verá farm, in San José de Arauquita," an investigator told Cambio, "It contained the bodies of three men dressed in uniforms and armor of campaigns, they had bracelets or something else distinct, but they showed the characteristics of a classic execution."
In Arauca there is much worry because of the war between FARC and ELN, as each group has amongst their military objectives professors, campesino leaders, presidents of communal action committees and representatives of NGOs. Germán Samudio Puerto, regional attorney from Arauca, says that the "pistol (pistoleo and the hitman" are frequent and painful expressions of selective assassinations, that go along with threates of dozens and uprooting of campesinos, and is lamented by the indifference of the authorities. "I can vouch for the disposition with which high public servors look at the problem," he said to Cambio, "During a Electoral Following Council [meeting], held for the days when this war started, I heard one of them say that one much leave it so the groups kill themselves. As if it were easy to isolate the defenseless civilians from the conflict..."
According to Giomara Gómez, from the Social Action program (the government organization in charge of social work, for example, aiding displaced, etc) of the Presidential Office of Colombia, during the second-half of 2006, displacement as a result of this cause increased 80%, a phenomenon that Alicia Castillo, spokeswoman for displaced women, confirms and explains that the numbers started to grow since last august (of 2006), when the FARC traveled to various villages in Tame and Fortul, in Arauca, announcing a massive recruitement (see side article about this here) of children older than 10, as part of the reprisal against ELN militiamen. "What some fathers did was send their children to the municipal centers in search of protection," said an employee from the Family Wellbeing Institute to Cambio.
For his part, Pedro Julio Quintero Quintero, representative for Arauca before the National Association of Displaced, will anounce for February 15 a march of 4,000 people to protest because, according to him, the government has qualified the displaced as guerrillas and because the only tangible aid that they have received in material of labor training has been courses for the making of cloth puppets, with any possibility of comercialization.
The Letters Arrive
Monsignor Mesa and Fathers González and Mariño have in their hands letters and declarations from the FARC and ELN in which mutual accusations are made of "crimes of war" and of assassinations of members of communities that gave them social support.
According to the [ELN's] Domingo Laín front, historically the most powerful front of the ELN and, until a little while ago, the most armed in Arauca, the 45th front of the FARC massacred on October 28th of last year a commission of 15 militia fighters of the ELN's Northeastern front in the upper San Joaquín, and three days later met the indigneous people of upper San Miguel and threatened to submit them to summary trials as collaborators of the ELN. "How far will the running over of the indigenous go, including them in the conflict?" asks the ELN front in one of the letters. On December 29th [of 2006] there was another massacre of their militia fighters in the rural zone of Betoyes.
In other letters, the FARC counter-attack and accuse the ELN of assassinating, without any formula of justice or trial, unarmed civilians in the regions of Delicias, Mordisco and Alto Caranal, an denunciation which the emissaries of the ELN responded to in the meeting in December with Monsignor Mesa, saying that the "unarmed civilians" that the FARC mention were, in reality, militia fighters that were robbing, blackmailing and kidnapping people on the road between Saravena and Tame. "All of our military actions are explained within the appeal to legitimate defense," the ELN stated.
Monsignor Mesa says that the possibility of a arrangement that might put the confrontation between the two subversive groups to an end and may stop what he considers a "humanitarian tragedy" depends in good measure that the FARC send a dialogue table or friendly negotiators (setters - componedores) to the people with the ability to decide. "The middle command live plagued by a radical and sectarian discourse that does not include the word 'concession'" stated the Bishop.
The ELN bosses speak of a "solution without submission" that would require both parties to respect the physical and moral integrity of the civilian population and be responsible for the economic damage and injuries caused. On top of this, they declare themselves ready to accept the presence witnesses from the international community to guarantee the agreements. Nevertheless, Grannobles, from the FARC, has told the commissioners that there will not be any possible agreements while the ELN look for support from the paramilitaries and accept the "infiltration of the Army in their rank and files" with the intention of conserving dominance and influence in zones where their members have been annihilated.
For the time being, the possibilities of a solution seem diffuse and the rivals are not sparing any efforts to stigmitize inclusively to the dead and social organizations (estigmatizar inclusive a muertos...). For example, the FARC spread the notion that the president of the Council of Arauquita, José Manuel Roa, assassinated last november, had connections to a political sector of the ELN called the Association of Young, Revolutionary Enterprenuers. And [the FARC] have put the same on top of the NGO the Joel Sierra Human Rights Group, one of the organizations that has paid a high price of sacrifice.
The ELN has made a target of their attacks the Campesino Association of Arauca, which the point at being an appendice of the FARC and has put on their members the title of "military target." And in front of the assassination of at least four presidents of community action boards, some of these boards, the same thing as small cooperatives of workers, have had to dissolve themselves in order to protect the life of their members.
Analysts consulted by Cambio believe that the FARC's offensive against the ELN, that at the start of the 90s was their ally within the guerrilla coordinator called Simón Bolívar, has, as the only possible explination, the intention of consolidating themselves in terrirtories that offer new and better perspectives for the financing of their military apparatus. In Arauca, [the FARC] have found new reserves of oil, and in Cauca and Nariño, contrary to what the official discourse says, the eradication of illegal crops is left behind in the completion of their goals.
Notwithstanding the discrete panorama, General José Rafael González Villamil, commander of the 18th Brigade of the Army, sees the situation as less dramatic. According to him, the fronts of the two guerrilla groups - above all the front of the FARC - are looking for better positions along the 420 kilometer border with Venezuela and this fight for the border territory is the only spot in matter of public order that is present in Arauca. In order to prove it, he appeals to the numbers and says that January 31 completes 636 days without any attack on the oil pipeline and more than 400 without blowing up the energy towers. And he adds, "The fact that during 2006, 56 guerrillas have been dejected, 258 captured and 22 have demobilized, makes it that in Arauca, a nuevo climate is in the air."
Armed Two-Party System
Notwithstanding the positive outlook of the Commander of the Army's 18th Brigade, the governor Julio César Acosta and Mosignor Mesa coincide in that the confrontation between the two guerrilla organizations put an end to "two party" scheme of power distribution, that started to be disputed by allies of these groups.
The governor Acosta, representative from the Radical Change [political party], explains it like this: "Here, there was a day in which the ELN seized the public administration and the Liberal Party, and the FARC lent a hand to the conservatism, the agricultural border and to coca."
For Monsignor Mesa, the two groups today are like two parties and demand the people define themselves and not appear ready to admit that there may be neutrals. "The phenomenon has reached such a magnitude, that inclusively the Church has been seen affected by the polarization," the Bishop recognized, "The appropriate groups say that there are priests that support them or that are more than sympathizers, and I, with frankness, am not in the position to deny it. This is another factor that explains the urgency of the pastoral dialogue."
For the time being, there aren't indicators that some may be ready to cede: the FARC are insistant on their project of expansion and the ELN, although military debilitated, are resisting the loss of the last of their bastions, that in the times of priest Pérez, was their most powerful.
But it is a fact that in order to consolidate their power in oil zones and control strategic corridors for the narcotrafficking business, the FARC are looking to annihilate the redoubts of the ELN, not only in Arauca, but in Cauca and Nariño. And in this situation, of an open military disadvantage for the ELN, permits one to ask if the group would not be more suited to accelerate the beginning of a formal peace process with which they could get them political advantages.
Revista Cambio