Geneva

False Positive

‘My investigations found that members of Colombia’s security forces committed a significant number of unlawful killings in a pattern that was repeated around the country. Although these killings were not committed as part of an official policy, I found that many military units engaged in so-called ‘false positives’ or falsos positivos in which victims were murdered by the military, often for soldiers’ personal benefit or profit. Victims were generally lured under false pretenses by a “recruiter” to a remote location and then killed by soldiers who report that there was a “death in combat”, and takes steps to manipulate and cover-up the crime scene,’ Mr. Alston reported. ‘Within the military, success was equated with “kill counts” of guerillas, and promoted by an environment in which there was little or no accountability. Soldiers simply knew that they could get away with murder.’

Mr. Alston noted steps Colombia has taken to reduce the killings, including dismissing senior military officers and permitting UN and International Committee of the Red Cross monitoring, but expressed concern about continuing impunity. “The current rate of impunity for alleged killings by the security forces, up to 98.5 per cent by some credible estimates, is way too high,” the expert said. “Unless the Government ensures effective investigation and prosecution of killings by security forces, it will not be able to turn the page on the falsos positivos scandal. Victims and family members deserve justice. Colombian society and the international community need to know that security operations are lawful, or they will not be considered legitimate.”

Impunity for former paramilitaries

The Special Rapporteur also found ‘an alarming level of impunity for former paramilitaries.’ According to Mr. Alston, “Colombia’s effort to end and provide accountability for paramilitary violence is floundering. The vast majority of paramilitaries responsible for human rights violations were demobilized without investigation, and many were effectively granted amnesties. Today, the failure in accountability is clear from the dramatic rise in killings by illegal armed groups composed largely of former paramilitaries.”

Mr. Alston added that, “The Justice and Peace Law that was intended to provide accountability for paramilitary crimes has not been an effective tool for justice or truth. In order for the Government to provide accountability, there must be significant substantive and procedural changes to the law. But given Colombia’s record so far, a focus on this law alone is not enough. There is no substitute for prosecution of human rights abuses, but the Government should also consider establishing an independent truth commission to conduct a systematic investigation into the abuses committed by all sides during Colombia’s armed conflict.”

FARC and ELN guerrillas

Mr. Alston emphasized that “The FARC and ELN both carry out unlawful killings and often target or victimize the very populations on whose behalf they claim to fight. Guerilla groups cause instability in many parts of the country. The Government’s strategy has focused on military defeat of the guerillas, but it should also consider humanitarian accords and negotiation to end the conflict once and for all.”

The expert called attention to groups that are especially vulnerable to violence in Colombia. “Historically and continuing through today, all parties to Colombia’s conflict have targeted indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, human rights defenders, trade unionists, and other rights activists. Colombia must vigorously investigate and prosecute violence and threats against these groups.” Mr. Alston also emphasized that, “Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in conflict zones are especially vulnerable to massacres and other abuses, and Colombia must ensure its security policies and military operations prioritize their protection.”

Alston recommendations to the Colombian government

Mr. Alston commended the Colombia Government for the high level of cooperation he received during his mission, “The Colombian Government’s willingness to open itself to international scrutiny of its security policies sets an example for other states. Government officials repeatedly told me they welcomed suggestions for reform. As Colombia addresses its security challenges, continued transparency about the content and effect of its policies and a focus on accountability for wrongdoing will benefit victims, family members and society at large, and will also have a strongly positive effect on the legitimacy of the Government and its policies.”

Professor Alston was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions in 2004 and reports to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. He has had extensive experience in the human rights field, including eight years as Chairperson of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, principal legal adviser to UNICEF in the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Special Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He is Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law.

Related links

• The Special Rapporteur’s full report on Colombia is available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/14session/A.HRC.14.24.Add.2_en.pdf
• For further information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, please visit the website:http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/executions/index.htm
• For more information or and media requests, please call Ms. Pasipau Wadonda-Chirwa (Tel: +41 917 9252 / email: pwadonda-chirwa@ohchr.org) or Mr. Ugo Cedrangolo (Tel +41 917 9286/ emailucedrangolo@ohchr.org )

For use of the information media; not an official record | The source of this article is the News & Media room of UN.

The government of Álvaro Uribe is committed to hold on the position that there are camps and leaders of FARC and EPL, the Colombian communist guerrillas, in Venezuelan territory and proves were presented before the Organization of American States. The Maoist guerrillas are considered by the European Community, US, Mexico, Colombia and others as terrorist organizations associated with drug trafficking, while Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other governments do not refer to them under such terms. Accusations of direct contacts with the Colombian guerrillas by governments like Caracas and Quito have been always denied by their top leaders, however the resent accusation of Colombia has been the most direct and strong of the last years, just few weeks of the end of the government of Uribe.

President Hugo Chávez opted for a strong answer to Uribe denying strictly the accusations as an ambush of Bogotá to his revolutionary process in Venezuela and a treat of invasion with the support of the United States, while showing a expectancy for the next presidential period with Juan Manuel Santos. By his part, the new elected president, who comes from the Uribe side, has avoid any declaration to the crisis that was worsen with a diplomatic breakdown by Caracas. President Chávez militarized the border with Colombia under the consideration that there is a possible Colombian attack on his country before August 7.

The Venezuelan chancellor, Nicolás Maduro, visited some South American government, especially those supposedly aligned with Caracas like Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay and proposing a regional peace process for Colombia that was refused by Bogotá as an intention of distract the attention over the main problem. For Colombia, the real regional commitment with the peace of Colombia is not allowing the presence of terrorist groups like Farc and EPL. A peace dialog is a strategy of the guerrillas to strengthen, avoiding the confrontation with the authorities, manifested president Álvaro Uribe recently. President Álvaro Uribe refused also a declaration of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that suggested in an interview to Prensa Latina that the Colombian – Venezuelan crisis was rather a personal interchange of words.

While Maduro was touring South America to prepare the UNASUR chancellors’ summit in Quito, his Colombian counterpart Jaime Bermúdez was preparing to bring what Bogotá says are more evidences of the presence of guerrilla troops and leaders camping in Venezuela.

The results of the summit were expected: both governments hold their positions.

President Álvaro Uribe proposed recently that the guerrilla troops in Venezuela should demobilize in that country with the presence of Colombian prosecutors and they must return to their country under the guarantees of the Justice and Peace Law, a legal frame created during the first presidential period of Uribe to promote the demobilization of armed groups in Colombia like the communist guerrillas and the rightist paramilitary troops.

Nicolás Maduro denied once more that there are guerrilla troops and leaders hiding in the Venezuelan territory and he said that everything is a lie and attack of the government of President Uribe against the Venezuelan government. He insisted that president Uribe is planning a military intervention in Venezuela before the end of his government on August 7.

We enter by sure an interregnum now: not any diplomatic action from any part will be effective after August 7, when Colombia will see the upcoming of a new president, after 8 years of a strong leader like Uribe. The first declarations of Juan Manuel Santos as president of the Colombians will be strictly a guide to predict how the relations of Colombian with its South American neighbors will evolve.

The event comes in a very sensitive moment when the Colombian government denounced before OAS the presence of allegedly guerrilla camps in the Venezuelan territory. This coming Thursday, there is a summit of UNASUR chancellors to look for a resolution to the diplomatic crisis between both South American nations. Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan chancellor, did a a quick visit to some South American governments as the one of Lugo in order to promote what he calls a peace plan for the Colombian political conflict, something that was refused by Jaime Bermúdez, the Colombian chancellor, as a not fundamental solution.

Maduro asked from Argentina this week that the next Colombian government of Juan Manuel Santos should withdraw the accusations, something that was refused again by Bermúdez as impossible.

ABC, one of the most popular newspaper of Paraguay, said that the photographs were found by the authorities in one of the camps of EPP in Kurusu de Hierro after the murder of two policemen, Lilio Ramón Giménez and Carlos César Cardozo on last June 17 in that region. The Paraguayan government did not give explanations to this fact, said the paper.

The newspaper said also that there are possible evidences of connections between the members of the logistics wing with high authorities of the Chávez and Lugo governments.

Nicolás Maduro, who has done strong declarations against the government of Álvaro Uribe for the denounce of Farc and EPL camps in Venezuela, visited last week president Fernando Lugo to introduce the position of his country in the coming chancellors summit in Quito.

ABC says that Adriano Muñoz is a ‘young militant of the Farmer Organization of the North that was created by fugitive Alejandro Ramos‘ that is considered one of the top leaders of EPP. Muñoz has a ’scholarship’ in the Latin American Agroecological Institute of Barinas (Venezuela) that is 155 miles far from the Colombian border in a region that is pointed by Colombian authorities as influenced by Farc guerrillas. The Paraguayan prosecutor says that EPP is trained by Farc in kidnapping methods.

Bermúdez said that a true plan of peace is the not intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries. The chancellor added that a compromise for peace is that no place in the world must become a shelter for criminal groups like the Farc guerrillas. ‘The true plan of peace is arrest those criminals wherever they could be,‘ he concluded. Bermúdez said also that there is not plans to attack Venezuela with the support of US, as Caracas insists. ‘Our enemies are the drug traffickers and terrorism. It is unthinkable an aggression or confrontation against a brother country,‘ he insisted. He concluded that Colombia will look in the UNASUR summit for the ways to verify and prevent the presence of Farc guerrillas in Venezuela.

Venezuela asks ‘rectification’ from Colombia

By his part, the Venezuela chancellor Nicolás Maduro said in Buenos Aires that his country needs a due ‘rectification’ from the next Colombian government of Juan Manuel Santos in order to forward a relation based in an ‘absolute respect.’

He insisted also that the South American nations should promote a plan of peace for the region. ‘The solution is going to the peace of Colombia and build the peace; the solution must be built by South America,‘ he said in a press conference in the Argentinian capital.

The words of Maduro were answered by chancellor Bermúdez, who said that Colombia cannot give any kind of ‘rectification’ to its denounces of Farc and ELN presence in the Venezuelan territory. ‘What to be rectified? Do you think we are going to rectify? Do you think that Colombia will go back in what it is said? Do you think it is a story? Absolutely no! he said and concluded that Colombia has proves of the guerrilla presence in Venezuela and its locations.

Farc tries to promote a peace process in order to strength

President Álvaro Uribe said that Farc is trying to promote a peace process in the international arena in order to gain strength. ‘It is a trap in order to get strength and avoid confrontation with the authorities,’ he said. He asks the fulfillment of international law in the war on terrorism by not sheltering its members. Uribe recommended to the next government of Juan Manuel Santos, who will take possession on August 7, to keep up the offensive against illegal groups. He concluded that his government fought guerrillas and paramilitary groups alike and there were not the temptation to think that some were heroes and other villains. He asked also to the Colombian army a deep compromise with the human rights.

Social emergency in the border with Venezuela

The Colombian government decreed a social emergency status in the border region with Venezuela for the collapse of commerce after the conflict with Caracas. In the measures the traders of the region (16% of the towns of border with the neighboring country) were temporary exonerated from VAT  from several products like food, clothing, shoes, textile and material for construction.

There is also the possibility to create economic zones in municipalities at the Venezuelan border until December 31, 2011.

Geneva

Photo Philip Alston by David Shankbone

The Positive False is one of the most serious human rights scandals in Colombia, said the report. Even if it is not linked as an official policy of the government, several high military officials and soldiers are incriminated.

The report says that innocent victims were attracted by a person, who attracted them under false promises and gave them to their killers. The bodies were dressed in guerrilla uniforms and there was a manipulation of the scenario to portray a false battle camp. Although high military officials have been dismissed, most of the criminals remained unpunished. The Colombian government has allowed also the monitoring of international bodies like Red Cross and UN, an action that has been as positive by the report.

However, only by bringing the perpetrators of the crimes to lawful tribunals, the scandal can be considered as overcome, advises the expert.

The guerrilla is not out of the analysis: they have made victims among the population they argue are defending, said Alston. He concluded also that the government has centralized in a military defeat of the guerrilla, while it should concentrate also in dialogues and humanitarian processes to end the conflict.

Photo

Marco Suárez in ‘Freedom for Farc hostages’

The Ombudsman with its ‘System of Previous Alert’ has the mission to prevent terrorist attacks in important events for the national life as the elections. According to the office in a public declarations to the media, the guerrillas are the most likely threaten actor to the coming elections. However, other unlawful organizations from small criminal gangs to professional terrorists from left and right organizations, are enlisted as possible attackers in sensitive areas of Colombia.

In the report, Farc appears as the main violent actor in 78 municipalities, ELN in 29 and the new Paramilitary groups in 52.

The states of Meta, Guaviare, Cauca, Nariño, Caquetá, Antioquia, Chocó, Tolima, Huila, Arauca, Norte de Santander, Cundinamarca, Caquetá, Putumayo, Valle del Cauca and La Guajira have been identified as risky regions for the development of normal elections.

The guerrilla used to attack electrical infrastructures, systems of telecommunications, blocking roads and organizing armed manifestations in towns under their influence, points out the report.

‘In recent years, improvised explosive devices and explosive remnants of war near settlements and farmland have posed an increasing threat to thousands of people, causing death, serious injury and economic hardship,’ said the report.

ICRC points out the Colombian Pacific region and the south as the current scenarios of the conflict. In the last years, Nariño, Cauca, Valle and Chocó became the ambition of armed groups like Paramilitaries, guerrillas, organized crime and the same security bodies of the State.

The high concern for organizations like ICRC are, of course the victims. Those territories at the south-west of Colombia, are inhabited by several indigenous, Afro-Colombian and farm communities living under a deep line of poverty. They become the most common victims of violent events like war battles on their territories, intimidation, extortion, land theft, kidnappings and threats to their leaders and human rights organizations.

‘Over the past year, ICRC delegates have recorded some 800 alleged violations of international humanitarian law, including 28 cases of homicide, 61 direct attacks against civilians, and 84 instances of people disappearing in connection with the armed conflict. Death threats are among the reasons people have been forced to flee their homes. Last year, the ICRC paid transport costs for some 400 individuals who had received such threats to enable them to reach safer areas,’ points out the report.

Making evident the existence of victims must be an important step toward their real protection. If the victims pass as invisible before the national and international community, little can to be done in their favor and they will continue at the mercy of the armed groups.

The Colombian mass media in its main nets, is rather indifferent to the seriousness of the conflict and its victims, even if Colombia is the second world nation with more internal displaced people by a conflict after Sudan in Africa.

The Colombian government was most concern to answer to the claim of Cristophe Beney, the chief of the ICRC delegation for Colombia, who concludes that the Farc guerrillas have been strengthened in the last year.

Beney said it at the presentation of the report in a press conference in Geneva. He said that currently is possible to see that Farc and other guerrilla groups have adapted in a dynamic way. Farc and other guerrillas ‘(…) have new capacities, as we can see in the last two or three months, to continue as an important actor in the armed conflict.’

President Mujica is called Pepe by his friends and his election to govern Uruguay has great implications for the history of our brother country: the second leftist president in the Republican history of Montevideo. He talks about challenges for the future without forgetting the guerrilla past and the old dream of freedom and regional integration. He was convicted for 13 years for his revolutionary activities in what was known as the Tumaro movement.

Álvaro Uribe was the first South American president in arrive for the possession of Mujica. They met for 20 minutes and then Mujica received the Secretary of State of US, Hillary Clinton. He gave a speech calling the entrepreneurs to help in the national growing and the reduction of poverty.

Lucía Topolansky, his wife, was in charge to take the vow to the new president and he went through the streets of Montevideo in what was called already the Pepemovil in a parody of the Papamovil (the car of the Pope in Rome).

Thousands of Uruguayans came to greet their new president. As the car could not continue the march toward the Independence Plaza, Mojica went out of the car and walked to the Tribune where now former president Tabaré Vásquez was waiting for him.

The greeting to the Army was other special moment. It was the greeting of an old enemy that now became their boss, showing the results of a mature democracy.

He exposed his government program in a very near language to the people, saying that he will sweep the indigence, reduce poverty, boost the economical growing, give more education and culture for Uruguay.

‘Hay que ensayar todos los caminos y fórmulas posibles que sirvan para enriquecer la sociedad y para enriquecernos nosotros mismos como seres humanos’

It is needed to try all the ways and possible formulas in order to enrich the society and to enrich ourselves as human beings, he said to the crowd.

Art by Luis Haro

The current Peruvian government disregarded article 32 of the declaration, which stated that “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine…the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources”, so did the Colombian government. Although the declaration is not legally binding, the UN High Commission for Refugees believes that its support acknowledges the “State’s commitment to abide to its spirit and respect its principles”.

Recently Peru has been in the headlines due to a bloodshed triggered by security forces who were attempting to break off a peaceful protest by indigenous peoples. The confrontation left 22 police officers and upwards of 40 indigenous dead. About 5,000 indigenous were protesting laws passed enable international oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies to exploit the rainforest. Wide popular support for the indigenous peoples’ pleas led unpopular Peruvian president, Alan Garcia, to suspend for 90 days the land laws that infringed the rights of the natives and Congress recently revoked them.

These recent developments in Peru would have been unthinkable in Colombia. Although it can be argued that the situation in Colombia is more complex, the indigenous pleas seldom receive much sympathy from the general population, nor from the media.

The violence that 1.4 million Colombian indigenous peoples are facing takes two forms. On the one hand, the guerrilla, the paramilitaries and the army directly kill indians because they defend the right to stay in their land. According to the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia (ONIC), from 2002 to 2008 there have been 1,007 political killings; 115 directly perpetrated by the government, 402 by paramilitaries, and 223 by the guerrilla. On the other hand, they are also victims of the intensification of the war, which have resulted in 70,000 internally displaced indigenous peoples in the last six years.

The indigenous people are not only at the mercy of Multinational Corportations’ voracity for natural resources and the most profitable business ventures that seldom benefited the native population, but also subjugated to the will of Colombian business enterprises. Recently,  the UN and NGOs denounced the government initiative to turn Colombia into a world leading producer of African palm oil.

The government’s original idea was to incentive farmers to desist from growing illicit crops. The problem, however, is that harvesting African palm oil needs heavy initial investment since it takes three years before a yield can be obtained. Therefore, the effects have been more catastrophic because agribusiness allied with the paramilitaries have been forcing indigenous peoples, among others, off their lands.

The indigenous people have been actively expressing their grievances through different peaceful ways but to no avail. Instead, the leaders were prosecuted. This utter neglect and disregard for their neutrality have led the indigenous peoples to plan the formation of a 100,000 strong police force. These types of auto-defense forces have always been detrimental for the country, regardless of their benevolent intentions. It is important to remember that the guerrilla forces in 1960’s were also set up as auto-defense groups. And the paramilitary forces evolved from a presidential decree in the early 1990’s allowing the formation of private armed groups by landowners to counter-act the negative effects of insurgents.

Moreover, the government, not content with assassinating (or attempting to) indigenous leaders, has also tried to divide the indigenous community by creating a parallel organization that conveniently supports government’s policies. This is despite the ONIC’s policy of being completely neutral in the Colombian conflict. This neutrality is what the government is trying to eradicate in order to gain popular support for their war policies. Recently Marco Romero, President of CODHES - a Colombian NGO focused on human rights and displacement – recently questioned the government initiative of creating a net of “civilian informants” to help combating the insurgency. This is effectively directly involving the civilian population in the conflict.

Colombia is not Peru. The land of the Incas does not have guerrilla and paramilitary movements that thrive on the cocaine trade and also maintain the president’s approval rating at over 60 per cent. Meanwhile the indigenous people suffer the consequences of FTAs signed by Colombia that no one is questioning.

The International Center of Fairs and Conventions of San Salvador on October 2008, the place of the 18th Ibero-American Summit. Photo Wikimedia Commons.

In October, the Spanish-speaking nations gathered in El Salvador for the 18th Ibero-American Summit to discuss subjects like the formation and protection of the Ibero-American youth, the strategies to face the global financial crisis of 2008, the American economical bloc to Cuba and a mediated solution to the controversy among Argentina and United Kingdom for the sovereignty of the Malvina Islands or Falklands.

The Andean Crisis was other of the main issues in Latin America this year. It began when troops of the Colombian Army attacked a camp of the Farc guerrilla that was in the Colombian-Ecuadorian border in March. In the attack was killed the second strongest man of that guerrilla and was involved the Ecuadorian sovereignty. Ecuador followed a strong protest against Colombia and was joined by Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Mexico

The country suffered a strong rise in violence during 2008 due to criminal organizations related with drug trafficking. According with BBC News, 1,400 persons were killed during the first five months and 4,000 since President Calderon took office declaring war against mafias.

The situation is very similar of what Colombia endured during the 1990´s when the government of César Gaviria declared war against the drug carters of Medellín and Cali. At the same level, Mexican cartels killed policemen, soldiers, prosecutors and politicians who could put at risk their illegal business. Kidnapping became also a Mexican problem in 2008, making that thousand of persons protested in August. It is said that about 300 persons are kidnapped by criminal organizations.

A great discussion among the government of Felipe Calderón and Washington rose due to the problems of illegal Mexican migrants in US. Mexico denounced the bad treatment of migrants in the American territory.

A proposal of reform the national oil company, Pemex, confronted the different political groups of the country. In November 28th the government published seven statements of energy reforms to the most important company of the nation.

Relations between Colombia and Mexico remained good through the year. Presidents Álvaro Uribe and Rafael Calderón signed agreements in November to join forces in the fight against drug cartels. Mexico was positive in its position to the actions of the Colombian government against guerrillas, even if a Mexican lady, Lucía Morett, under political asylum in Nicaragua, was pointed out by Colombia as a member of the Farc guerrilla, because she was in the camp of Raul Reyes during the Colombian army attack in the Colombian-Ecuadorian border in 1rst March.

Nicaragua

The government of Daniel Ortega joined Quito and Caracas in condemning Colombia for the action of its army in the attack of the camp of Raul Reyes in the Colombian-Ecuadorian border in March 2008. The relations with Colombia were already difficult since Nicaragua demanded the South American country to the International Tribunal of Justice of The Hague demanding the revision of sovereignty on the San Andrés and Providencia Archipelago. The Court concluded that the sovereignty of Colombia over the islands is legal, but it let opened the revision for some cays. The conclusion was finished in November 2007.

Nicaragua gave political asylum to three women who survived the military attack of the Colombian army to the Raul Reyes camp at the Ecuadorian border. The three women, one of them from Mexico, were accused by Colombia as terrorists and then, Bogotá considered that such asylum is a violation of international rules.

In May conveyor activists organized a national strike. Clashes among activists and police.

The elections of majorships of November were won by the ruling Sandinista Party of Ortega. The elections were demanded by the opposition as fraudulent. The US government said that it would freeze USD 64 million in anti-poverty aid. President Ortega announced that President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela has offered USD 100 million in aid if US and Europe cut the funding over disputed elections.

Venezuela

In November 2007 President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia canceled the mediation of President Hugo Chávez with the Farc guerrilla for a humanitarian interchange in the hostages issue. The action of the Colombian government would create distance and diplomatic crushes among the two countries during 2008.

President Chávez claimed success after the Farc guerrilla gave to him two of the top hostages and asked the international community to remove the Farc from the list of terrorist organizations. Such request was refused especially by US and Colombia.

In March the Colombian Army attacked a camp of Farc in the border with Ecuador. In that action is killed the second strongest leader of Farc, Raul Reyes and 15 other guerrillas. Ecuador protested for the evident violation of its territory. President Chávez prevented Colombia that if the Army tries to do the same in the Venezuelan border, there will be a war among the two countries. Chávez said that the national army would move to the Colombian border, but this fact was never proven.

Relations with Colombia improved since July after the release of Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and a visit of Álvaro Uribe to Caracas.

President Chávez said that he was planning to nationalize several private and international companies in Venezuela. Some of the most important companies were concern, for example Cemex of Mexico, and there were big discussions with the Venezuelan government.

Venezuela looked for links to countries like Russia, China and South Africa to expand its markets. With Russia, Venezuela signed an agreement of cooperation.

The opposition could rise its positions in the regional elections of November.

Ecuador

The Colombian army attack on a camp of the Farc guerrilla that was located in Ecuadorian territory, damaged the diplomatic relations among both countries.

President Rafael Correa made an international campaign of condemnation against Colombia. By its part, Colombia accused Ecuador of being a host for the Colombian guerrilla. The Defense Minister Wellington Sandoval and other top military commanders, have to resign due to the problem with Colombia. The relations with the neighbor country are partially reestablished in June.

President Rafael Correa got a positive balance in the constitutional referendum of September.

In October, Ecuador faced a dispute with Brazil when Quito expelled the Brazilian constructor company Odebrecht due to an increase in its credit of USD 242 million. Ecuador demanded the original contract and refused to pay the credit.

Bolivia

In 2007 President Evo Morales announced a new constitution for the country with a more socialist bases in order to promote a better distribution of the country’s wealth and give more participation to the indigenous majorities. The new constitution created disputes among other political tendencies. However, by the beginning of 2008 president Morales obtained the 67% of votes in a referendum to confirm his leadership.

September was a very difficult month for Bolivia with strong protests against the government of president Morales by his political opponents in the east and north provinces of the country. Talks among government and oppositions contributed to sore the crisis.

After the crisis with the opponents, President Morales expelled the US ambassador saying that he supported the civil unrest. By his part, president Hugo Chávez of Venezuela made the same in Caracas as a support to the Bolivian decision. Washington expelled by its part the ambassadors of Bolivia and Venezuela from Washington.

President Morales suspended operations of DEA in Bolivia saying that this American Department was supporting the opposition manifestations.

In October the Congress approved the new constitution to rule from January 2009.

Although Bolivia has been an ally of Venezuela and Ecuador, its relations with the government of Álvaro Uribe has been moderated and prudent in its statements related to the Colombian problematic. President Morales has called the Farc guerrilla to stop their armed operations and look a more political role in the Colombian society. He has said that the continuation of guerrilla in Colombia has only empowered the right wind ideologies and weakened more popular options.

Peru

Although Peru has made a good performance in economics, the second term government of President Alán García is one of the less popular in Latin America. By October his cabinet had to resign because his party was involved in corruption scandals for oil contracts.

A leftist governor, Yehuda Simon, was appointed by President García as the new prime minister in order to overcome the political crisis.

In January, Peru demanded a revision of the maritime delimitation with Chile before the International Tribunal of The Hague. Peru is demanding the sovereignty of 200 maritime miles, which are under Chile since the Pacific War.

Peru is one of the strongest ally of Colombia in Latin America. Both countries have been together in the intention of sign agreements with economical markets like Europe, USA and Asia.

Chile

The country continues to hold the fame as the most stable democracy in the Hemisphere this year. It is the second in the Americas in transparency according to the studies of International Transparency by 2008: the first is Canada and the third is USA.

The demand on maritime sovereignty by Peru created tensions with Lima in January.

Argentina

The government of Cristina Fernández suspended taxes on agricultural exports by July and ended a crisis with farmers who were protesting for that reason. The controversy with Uruguay over the construction of pulp mills on the Uruguay River was rather calm through the year, after the agreement of November 2007 when Uruguay approved the production of eucalyptus pulp at Botnia’s mill in Fray Bentos and it was tested by environmental authorities as fair.

The government of Fernández has kept a prudent relation with the Colombian conflict. Argentina played a key role in the international arena for the release of the Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

Argentina has reopened the case of the Falkland Islands or Malvina in a dispute with the United Kingdom. The case was discussed also in the 18th Ibero-American Summit in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Paraguay

The right wind Colorado Party that ruled the country for 61 years, was defeated by a socialist candidate, the former Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo in April. By September, President Lugo said that Nicanor Duarte, his predecessor, and a former military commander, General Lino Oviedo, wanted to defeat his government.

Brazil

A controversy with US opened the year in Brazil when Washington stopped imports of Brazilian beef saying that the disease check are not acceptable.

As urban violence is one of the main Brazilian problems, the government offered by August rewards to those who give up illegal weapons.

Brazil rejected an offering from Iran to join the international oil cartel, Opec. In November, the country is punished by heavy rains that caused floods.

In its relations with Colombia, the government of president Inazio Lula da Silva has been friendly. In July both presidents, Lula and Uribe, met in the Colombian Amazon city of Leticia, borders among Colombia, Peru and Brazil, to promote fraternity in the relations of the three nations and compromises for peace and development. Brazil has been prudent in calling the Farc guerrillas as a terrorist group, but denounces the kidnapping as a criminal and unacceptable behavior.

Dominican Republic

In May, Leonel Fernández was elected for a second period as president of the country. When he assumed the presidency in August, before different chief of states, President Fernández made an important statement on problems of energy for countries that depend on imports of oil like Dominican Republic. The proposal of Fernández to create a compensatory fund for those countries by the producers, was considered of great importance by the international community.

President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia promised that his country will support Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico with energy. This generates the idea of a mega project to join the continental platform with the Caribbean islands with a huge cable of energy that could be ready by 2012. In December, Bogotá confirmed the study of the mega project between the three nations.

Cuba

La Habana was the other big character of 2008 in Latin America. It was the first year that former President Fidel Castro was not in charge of the country. The aged long-term leader of the Cuban revolution stepped down and his brother, Raúl Castro, took over the presidency of the country in February.

Some movements in domestic policies like the lift of bans on private ownership of mobile phones and computers, showed some changes in the island. By June there were announcements that the country will abandon salary equality.

Different countries, especially of Latin American, pressed during the year over the American economical sanctions on Cuba. Expectations after the election of Barac Obama as president of the USA predicted a gradual reestablishing of relations between the two countries.