October 7 2007, El Tiempo
Read original in Spanish here

Air Force Command, Melgar, Colombia

On Saturday, August 25, Second Sergeant Michael J. Coen and his personal security officer, Cásar Ruiz, who are serving with Colombian forces based in Tolemaida and appointed under Plan Colombia, evaded security protocols of the main Colombian Air Force bunker in the municipality of Tolima.

According to testimonies collected by the local authorities - in which military intelligence also have participated - at 4 am on Saturday, August 25, the soldiers arrived at the Air Force Combat Center 4 (Cacom-4) checkpoint, and without getting out of their white truck, Ruiz, known as "The Mexican", lowered his window a few centimeters, identified himself and they continued on their way.

The latest in a series of break-ins in Bogotá occurred September 6, with the theft of two computers - and nothing else - from the home Gloria Cuartas, the former mayor of Apartadó and a long-time supporter of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.

The theft follows targeted burglaries in June of computers with human rights files from FOR, Justapaz (Mennonite peace group that works with communities at risk) and Corporación Yira Castro (an organization of women human rights attorneys). In response to these and earlier thefts of computers from human rights organizations, 36 Members of Congress wrote to President Uribe, urging support for the groups, public denunciation of the crimes, and a thorough investigation.

On September 11, 2007, the Peace Community was awarded the "Testimony di Pace" in Ovala, Italy. The annual prize rewards the efforts of groups or individuals who have contributed to enhance peace and non-violence. Just days earlier, the community also received the Aquisgran Peace Prize, given each year in Germany, on behalf of all Colombian peace communities.

These prizes, the Community says, give them strength as they continue to face violence from the armed groups active in the area. On the afternoon of August 31, 19-year-old campesino Alfonso de Jesús Bedoya left for work, and he was reported killed two days later.

September 2007

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the foreign aid bill for Plan Colombia on September 6. The Senate approved substantially more military aid than the House version ($359.5 million vs. $289.8 million), and nearly $40 million less in non-military aid. When combined with the estimated $150 million in military aid administered directly from the Pentagon, if the Senate version prevails, then the United States will provide more than $500 million in assistance to the Colombian military and police in the coming year. The average amount of such assistance from 2000 through 2006 was $542 million.

Guardian (UK) and other sources

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing demands from his own Labor Party and the Trade Union Council to distance himself from George Bush in Colombia policy – by blocking arms sales and withdrawing all military aid to the US president’s staunchest Latin American ally, Colombia.

More than 200 leaders of the Party published a statement on the eve of the Party’s national conference this week to “end military aid to Colombia” until its government implements the recommendations of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights. Britain is the second largest supplier of military aid to Colombia, after the United States.

Mon Oct 1, 2007 4:55pm EDT

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, dogged throughout his career by rumors of cozy relationships with drug lords and right-wing paramilitaries, said on Monday that he was never a friend of the late cocaine king Pablo Escobar.

The statement came in response to a book published last month by Escobar's one-time lover saying that Uribe helped the former head of the Medellin cartel secure licenses for planes and landing strips used to transport cocaine.

The book, "Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar" by ex-Colombian model and news presenter Virginia Vallejo, goes on to say she heard Uribe refer affectionately to the feared drug baron as "El Patron", or "The Boss" in English.

By John Lindsay-Poland
September 2007

The Colombian Army’s Third Brigade, based in Cali, was deeply penetrated by drug trafficking mafia, according to a recent criminal investigation. “What the prosecutors’ investigation has shown as it progresses,” reported Semana magazine, “is that ‘Don Diego’ [a drug mafia kingpin] didn’t just buy these officers in exchange for one-time favors, but that many of them belonged to his organization. They were part of the mafia and put their jobs in the Army at its service.” Brigade commander Leonardo Gómez Vergara resigned August 16 as a result of the investigation, and a dozen other officers have been arrested or are under investigation.

Paramilitary gunmen killed Dairo Torres, a leader of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community, on Friday, July 13, shortly after 12 noon, according to the community. Torres was a passenger on one of the jeeps that serve as the only public transport between the city of Apartadó and San José, when it was intercepted by two paramilitaries - the same men who detained the jeep the previous day and made threats against the Peace Community. The community said that gunmen told Torres to get off the jeep, which he did; they told the driver to continue, and then they killed Torres on the spot.

The killing occurred only two minutes from a police checkpoint, where earlier in the day witnesses saw the gunmen sitting and conversing with police.