Colombian death squads in Panama Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source:pmanews@panama.c-com.net (Panama News) Colombian paramilitary paralyzes Darien by Jon Mitchell With their M-16 assault rifles slung casually over their shoulders and sweating in their green fatigues, the policemen brace themselves from the dusty wind whipped up by the helicopters landing on the outskirts of this town at the end of the Pan-American Highway. But outside of this small jungle market town, in the communities on the banks of the muddy brown Chico, Tupisa and Tuira rivers, there is hardly a police patrol to be seen. In the few communities that have a police post, residents are sceptical that the boys-in-khaki can provide any protection against attack from right-wing Colombian ACCU (Farmers' Self-Defense of Cordoba and Uraba) paramilitary, whose offensive against leftist Colombian FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) guerrillas has brought both terror and economic strangulation to Darien and Kuna Yala. "They don't do anything," says Isiais, a resident of Yaviza, watching the helicopters take off from a makeshift helipad on the town's soccer field and disappear over the dense rainforest canopy, he asks for his surname not to be used for fear of retribution by the paramilitary. In September, Panamanian police were ordered not to engage any armed group in the Darien, after a number of shootouts with the irregular Colombian forces, which left one policeman dead and several others wounded. So far, the conflict has left 8 dead, several injured and hundreds of refugees. It appears to be escalating. Robberies have become commonplace and many of the indigenous Embera, immigrant Colombian farmers and colonos are afraid to navigate the rivers-the only transport link with the outside world. Crops go unplanted or unharvested because farmers fear straying outside the fragile security of their villages. Health workers have stopped traveling in the area. Agricultural development projects are at a standstill. Although officially described by the National Police as "bandoleros," human rights groups, the Catholic Church and other analysts are convinced the attacks are part of a strategy by the ACCU to destabilize the region in order to gain a strategic advantage over FARC. In recent months, the attackers have stopped spaying red graffiti when attacking towns or identifying themselves as ACCU paramilitary, leading to confusion among Darien residents as to the identity of the groups. This paramilitary tactic is widely used in Colombia, where authorities often describe paramilitary units as "criminal gangs" operating in "lawless zones." Analysts say that it would be strange for FARC-which makes millions each year from kidnapping and guarding drug crops-to attack Darien civilians for a few thousand dollars. The possibility that the large, well-armed and well-organized invading forces are ordinary criminal gangs also seems unlikely. In over 30 years of occasionally hiding out and buying supplies in the Darien, the FARC has rarely attacked communities or engaged Panamanian police, although the rebel group has kidnapped several people on this side of the border. Police sources in Yaviza said that around 300-400 ACCU paramilitary are operating in the region and are advancing in a southwesterly direction towards the Pacific coast, closing in on the FARC in a pincer operation. Across the border in the Choco region of northwestern Colombia, 5,000 regular army troops make up the other arm of the pincer. One flaw in the plan, according to police sources, is that the Colombian army expected Panamanian police to push FARC back towards Colombia, which does not appear to be happening. Meanwhile, with the region's economy in tatters, malnutrition is becoming widespread and the social and Darien's economic fabric is being torn apart. In the Kuna village of Armila, on Panama's Atlantic coast, children now sport tell-tale swollen bellies. This is largely because Colombian trading boats, thought by the Kunas to be have been scared off by the ACCU, have ceased buying coconuts-the main export product-from Kuna villages close to the frontier and now rarely deliver basic foodstuffs like sugar, flour and rice. Fidel Martinez, the village saila-whom the ACCU attempted to kidnap in 1996-says that the Colombian army and its paramilitary allies believe that he and other residents in Armila are providing logistical assistance to the FARC. He denies it, and faults Panama's government for lack of protection. "What is the government doing?" Martinez asks. Jesus Alemancia, a Kuna sociologist, says that without international intervention, the Darien and Kuna Yala will become "a lawless land" like Venezuelan-Colombian frontier. But unlike Venezuela, Panama has no army. "Panama does not have the military capacity to provide security... or indeed, a clear security policy," Alemancia said. Since the ACCU offensive began in August 1996, Panama has been silent on the diplomatic front, with no formal protests lodged with Colombia. This leads to further questions about Panama's relationship with Colombia. One reason for the Panamanian government's inertia, analysts say, could be the political sensitivity of asking for US military support as Panama and the US try to hammer out a deal on the use of Howard Air Force Base as a multilateral anti-drug center. Civic groups in Yaviza and El Real are calling for a "total eradication" of invading armed Colombian groups, and some communities are asking for arms to establish their own militias. Others, including Jesus Alemancia, want international intervention. "UN peacekeepers could be a way out," he said. As food runs low, fear has become the new staple across the region. Recently a Catholic nun in Yaviza tuned into what sounded like gibberish on the church CB radio. After identifying herself as being in Yaviza, Panama, a Colombian voice warned her that, "you're not in Panama, you're in Yaviza." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-10.26.97-10:42:37-14646