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Terrorists,
Their Friends and the Bogota 3
by
Toni Solo
September
3, 2003
When
President Bush attends fundraisers in Miami he certainly needs to watch out for
terrorists. But no worries - they're likely to be on the invited guest
list. Orlando Bosch and Virgilio Paz
are just two prominent Miami Cubans who were members of a US sponsored
terrorist gang active when Bush Sr was their boss as head of the CIA. (1) Like his father and brother Jeb, George W. Bush too is
politically associated with these unrepentant terrorists. (2)
Two other members of the gang, Luis Posada Carriles and Guillermo Novo, are
currently on trial on terrorist charges in Panama.
Rather
than strengthen the rule of law President Bush has systematically trashed the
very norms and institutions that uphold it. "Our terrorists" - the
imperial variety - are all right. No need to target them in the "war on
terror" which only applies to "foreign terrorists". "Our
terrorists" harass the current convenient enemy - formerly in Nicaragua or
Angola, always Cuba, now Venezuela - deal in drugs to pay for the networks, and
serve as enforcers when the populations in other imperial
"democracies" get out of hand. (3)
In
the summer of 2001, three Irishmen were arrested in Colombia and accused of
terrorism as they left a zone controlled by the FARC armed opposition group
during a truce period. A look at the
background to their plight exposes the US-UK coalition's hypocrisy on
terrorism. Every sign is that the three men, now in prison in Bogota, are
victims of a crude frame-up. They insist they were on a fact-finding visit
carrying video equipment so as to record material for use with organizations
promoting peace back in Ireland.
The
men - Niall Connolly, Martin MacAuley and James Monaghan - are all republicans
who support the Good Friday peace agreement in Ireland. MacAuley and Monaghan
are ex-political prisoners. Both have promoted conflict resolution work since
their release from prison. Niall Connolly is a carpenter who has worked in
community development and solidarity activities in Latin America since the early
1990s.
Before
they were arrested, Sinn Fein was making steady electoral progress throughout
Ireland, and the Unionist leadership in Belfast was in trouble. At the time,
the Ulster Unionists and British government were using the issue of disarmament
to stall full implementation of the Good Friday peace agreement. In that
context, the men's arrest was timely and convenient.
For
death squad and drugs kingpins - the velvet touch
Contrast
the treatment of these three Irish solidarity tourists with that accorded to
Carlos Castaño, Salvatore Mancuso and Juan Carlos Sierra, leaders of the United
Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), notorious paramilitary allies of the
Colombian military. In 1997, the US
Attorney General accused them of arranging to ship 17 tons of cocaine to the US
and Europe. But no practical steps have been taken to arrest the three.
In
November 2002 it was revealed that the Colombian government under President
Uribe was in "ceasefire" negotiations with Castaño and the AUC. Uribe
has close links to these narcotics dealing murderers. (4)
Opposition Colombian politicians see the talks with the AUC as a preliminary to
the formal integration of the death squads into the Colombian military. This
move has the blessing of the Bush regime.
Uribe
is just the latest corrupt and repressive Colombian leader to receive US
support since the 1960s. With an uncooperative popular government in oil-rich
Venezuela and a voracious need to control oil resources for its profligate world-polluting
economy, the US government has destined $98 million to help protect a Colombian
oil pipeline. A total of US$1.5 billion in military aid has been scheduled for
the period 2002-2004. Colombia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. military
aid after Israel and Egypt.
In
Colombia, poverty indicators are among the worst in Latin America. One per cent
of the elite owns 55% of the land. 15.7 million of Colombia's 44 million
inhabitants are children, 39% of them in poverty. The latest figures from
UNICEF conclude that 67% of the total population live below the poverty line
(80% in rural areas). 11 million people live in extreme poverty, unable even to
feed themselves properly.
While
the country goes hungry, President Uribe plays the "war on terrorism"
card, tricking billions of dollars of aid from United States taxpayers to
attack his domestic opponents. Similarly, as part of the equally bogus
"war on drugs" the US has waged widespread chemical and biological
warfare against hapless rural populations - to no avail. Drug production in
Colombia has actually increased. (5) Here, as in Iraq, oil
industry insiders like Vice-President
Dick Cheney, President Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice
unscrupulously use US military muscle and aid to promote private business
interests. Drugs and terrorism are convenient pretexts.
Leading
US politicians are aware of the manipulation. In March 2002, US Representative
Ron Paul member of the House International Relations Committee and the
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere spoke against a bill authorizing
expansion of US intervention in Colombia, "I was only made aware of the
existence of this legislation this morning, just a couple of hours before I was
expected to vote on it. There was no committee markup of the legislation, nor
was there any notice that this legislation would appear on today's suspension
calendar.... This legislation represents a very serious and significant shift
in United States policy toward Colombia. It sets us on a slippery slope toward
unwise military intervention in a foreign civil war that has nothing to do with
the United States."
After
September 11th 2001, the case against Connolly, McAuley and Monaghan became a
small but significant component of the US-UK spinning of "the war on
terrorism". The facts of their case are simple. They are accused of
traveling using false identity papers and training anti-government FARC
guerrillas. They admit the first accusation but vehemently deny the second. The
three insist they used false documents because they feared being harassed had
they used their real identities to travel.
The
main charge is that of training FARC members in explosives and mortar
technology. Soon after their arrest, US embassy personnel tested them and their
belongings for explosive traces. The tests used equipment requiring special
care with both calibration and with anti-contamination procedures to produce
trustworthy results. These procedures were not followed and the tests showed
positive. Subsequent tests carried out by the Colombian authorities using
correct procedures produced opposite results.
The
only other evidence presented against the three is witness testimony from two
young men alleged to be former FARC members and who were under Colombian army
"protection". Both so-called witnesses testified earlier this year
that at different times between 1998 and 2001 they witnessed explosives and
mortar training by the three men. But all three defendants have solid,
respectable alibi evidence that places them outside Colombia on those dates.
No
technical evidence was presented in the case to justify claims of "skills
transfer" of arms technology. There is no hard evidence against the three
to contradict their explanation of their visit to the FARC zone at a time when
the ceasefire with the government was still in place. But they are still in prison
in Bogotá and face long sentences if convicted. They are victims of "war
on terrorism" political theatre orchestrated through a lazy, complacent
news media.
The
"war on terrorism" is the US government's justification for
pre-emptive military attacks it deems necessary to promote US business and
economic interests. Some governments collaborate out of arrogance as supporting
bit-players, like the administrations of Tony Blair in the UK and Jose Maria
Aznar in Spain. Others cave in to US pressure, like the Irish government. This
deep cynicism and hypocrisy are nothing new.
Grotesque
inequality in Colombia has caused forty years of bitter, miserable conflict - a
catastrophe with lessons for everyone. The three Irishmen under arrest in
Bogota took an interest in Colombia before the "war on terrorism"
confidence trick really began. Tony Blair's government has used the men's
predicament to deceive people about British policy in Ireland just as he, Aznar
and George Bush have lied about Iraq. Connolly, MacAuley and Monaghan risk
becoming forgotten pawns in this cynical geo-political propaganda war.
Toni Solo is an activist
based in Central America and can be reached at: tonisolo57@yahoo.com
*
Neo-liberal
Nicaragua: Neo Banana Republic
1.
Hernando Calvo Ospina, "Pinochet, la CIA y los terroristas cubanos",
23 de agosto del 2003, www.rebelion.org.
Ospina's essay summarises evidence from many reliable sources that Bosch, Novo,
Paz, Posada and others were part of the US/Chilean supported terrorist gang -
at one time authorised by Vernon Walters, later US representative to the UN -
responsible for the following crimes among many others:
*
In 1974, the murder of Chilean General Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos
Aires
*
In February 1975 an attack on Chilean exiles Carlos Altamirano and Volodia
Teitelboim in Mexico.
*
October 1975, in Rome, an attack against Bernardo Leighton a Chilean dissident
politician.
*
March 1976. Failed murder attempt in Costa Rica against Chilean dissident
Pascal Allende.
*
August 1976 after failing in a kidnap attempt on the Cuban ambassador on Buenos
Aires, the gang kidnapped and disappeared two other Cuban diplomats.
*
In September 1976, the murder of ex-Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier
and his American assistant, Ronni Moffit in Washington.
*
In October 1976 the gang bombed a civilian Cuban airliner causing over 70
deaths.
2.
Orlando Bosch was about to be deported from the US in 1988. George Bush Sr.
blocked it. His son George W. Bush had Virgilio Paz freed from deportation
custody just before September 11th 2001.
Florida governor Jeb Bush relies on organizations that have harboured
and supported these terrorists - such
as the National Cuban American Foundation - to fund his re-election campaigns.
For the Posada Carriles connection see the report by Ann Bardach. July 12-13, 1998.
New York Times.
3.Contractors
playing increasing role in U.S. drug war. Tod Robberson DALLAS MORNING NEWS.
Sunday, 27 February 2000.
4.
“Doing the United States Dirty Work. Israel and the Colombian paramilitaries.”
Jeremy Bigwood. August 15, 2003, www.rebelion.org
5.
US Biological Terrorism in Colombia: How Dr. Mengele Might Wage the Drug War.
Jeffrey St. Clair. Counterpunch, 2003 www.counterpunch.com