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Last Updated:3/12/02 |
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U.S.
Military and Police Aid
- Focus on Arauca and Putumayo:
Timeline of Current Events Putumayo: April 30
May
2004
The 27th Jungle Brigade incorporated 252 peasant soldiers as part of the governments Democratic Security
strategy. The men were selected in coordination with the mayor,
family members and local leaders. Upon completing their training
these soldiers will be deployed to the municipalities of Orito,
La Hormiga, Puerto Caicedo, Puerto Guzman, and Puerto Asis. May 28
May
23 The
government has determined that the municipalities of Puerto Leguizamo,
Puerto Asis, San Miguel and Valle del Guamez will receive social
and economic aid from Plan Colombia funds. These funds will be
used to improve and create highway, electrical and health infrastructure.
Due
to the increase in displaced population from Colombia arriving
into Ecuador employees of the Institute of the Child and Family
warned of the potential of overcrowding in their shelters. Doreidis
Rodriguez, the coordinator of the program in the border city of
Lago Agrio stated that the institute does not receive sufficient
economic aid from the government and added that the shelters are
filled to capacity and can no longer accommodate the hundreds
of displaced arriving daily.
May
3 During
a debate in the Second Commission of the House of Representatives
the High Commissioner for Social Action, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, said
that Putumayo had received more than 360 million dollars in aid
from Plan Colombia over the last 5 years. Adding, that 222 million
had been earmarked for alternative development policies. However,
many of the local leaders, who were present at the debate, denounced
that many of those crops had been fumigated by the government.
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Over
the weekend the "Guardabosques Program" (Forest Protector
Families) of Orito will celebrate their first year anniversary.
This government-sponsored program signed the first collective
pacts in April 2003. At that time approximately 3,400 families
committed themselves to keeping the area free from illegal crops
and preserving the environment. 
A
police officer that had been kidnapped by the paramilitaries as
he drove from Orito to Mocoa was released to members of the Red
Cross. The officer identified as Luis Edison Betoncourt Ramirez,
was immediately transferred to the local hospital and later take
to Tulua (Valle) where is originally from. 
Members
of the Governments' Guardabosques program in Putumayo denounced
the recent fumigations and criticized the government for not keeping
its promises. According to government sources 50 of the 120 small
veredas in Orito signed on to the Guardabosques program. Today,
3,406 families receive funds from the program, in exchange for
keeping their land coca free. However, many of the families and
have had their legal crops fumigated. The peasants participating
in the pacts stress that if the fumigation stops they will continue
to abide by the pact. |
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