Peace Timeline: 2002

U.S. Military and Police Aid - Focus on Arauca and Putumayo:Timeline of Current Events Arauca:
May 2003

May 26, 2003

Town council member Alvaro Salinas was killed in his house in Saravena. The same day in the capital city of Arauca, gunmen assassinated César Benavides, who worked for the Arauca Office of Infrastructure and Public Works. So far this year, three public employees have been killed. [El Tiempo]

May 20, 2003

More than 8,000 people in Arauca are attended by health brigades carried out by the U.S. and Colombian militaries. The U.S. army has donated US$120,000 worth of health and medical equipment. [Colprensa, Bogota]

May 19, 2003

The FARC attack the Caño Limón pipeline near Arauquita. According to the 18th

Photo: Marc Becker

Brigade of the Colombian Army, so far this year there have been eight attacks against the pipeline and more than 20 have been prevented. [El Tiempo]

According to Human Rights Ombudsman Eduardo Cifuentes, five indigenous people were killed in Arauca during combat between the guerrilla and paramilitary groups. Human rights and indigenous groups blame the paramilitaries for the massive displacement of indigenous communities that have occurred in the region since early May. The Ombudsman's office voices concerns about displacement of Arauca indigenous communities and asks the government "to take the appropriate measures to ensure their protection." [El Tiempo]
o So far this year more than 150 indigenous people have been displaced in Arauca.

Reports released by Inspector-General Edgardo Maya and Human Rights Ombudsman Eduardo Cifuentes found that violence is increasing in Arauca. So far this year 13 bombing have occurred in Saravena, one of three towns covered by the Uribe government's Arauca security zone. [Cesar Garcia, Associated Press]

The report also noted that while the presence of military reinforcements has reduced the death rate in the area, many municipal officials live in fear for their lives and death threats have forced journalists to flee. Cifuentes and Maya say Arauca needs more public investment as well as troops and better protection for officials working to build institutions. (Reuters)

Link to report (in Spanish): http://www.defensoria.org.co/espanol/informes/pdfs/informe_94.pdf

May 16, 2003

· As a result of a paramilitary incursion in the area, more than 327 members of the Guahibo indigenous group have taken over Saravena's church hoping to pressure the government to guarantee a safe return to their homes. [El Tiempo]

37 presumed paramilitaries are captured in Tame and are now in the hands of the Attorney-General's office (Fiscalía). It is thought that the captured paramilitaries are members of the paramilitaries' Centauros Block, which arrived into Arauca from Casanare. [Enviado Especial de El Tiempo Saravena]

May 9, 2003

· President Uribe orders the extradition of alias 'El Marrano', the first member of a guerrilla group to be tried in the United States. Resolution 70 authorized the handover of Nelson Vargas Rueda to a U.S court, where he will stand trial for killing three U.S. indigenous-rights activists in 1999. According to the U.S. court, between February 25 and March 4, 1999 Rueda and other members of the FARC's 10th and 45th fronts kidnapped and murdered Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Laheenae Gay, who were on a humanitarian mission with the U'wa indigenous group in Arauca. [El Tiempo]

May 6, 2003

· Colombian authorities seized a number of light aircraft and cars belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The military said the four aircraft and 23 cars were found during raids in Arauca. [BBC World Service]

May 1, 2003

The Constitutional Court threw out most of the Uribe government's "state of internal commotion" security measures, among them the two so-called Zones of Rehabilitation and Consolidation. These Zones - one in Arauca, and one in Bolívar and Sucre departments - granted the military special powers to tap phones, search homes without warrants and arrest suspected guerrillas and paramilitaries. The ruling, the court says, owes to flaws in the state-of-emergency declaration, which was scheduled to expire in early June. While the Uribe government accepted the ruling, it insisted on seeking legislation to make the emergency provisions permanent. [Reuters]

After the Constitutional Court ruling, Minister of Defense Marta Lucía Ramírez stated that Arauca will continue to be a priority for the government "Arauca is an absolute priority, because we not only need to establish a stronger presence of the Armed Forces, but we must also establish absolute control over the use of the oil royalties, in order to keep them from benefiting and strengthening the illegal armed actors."