Dokument #1051802
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
1) Information on the situation of Mormons
in Colombia could not be found among the sources currently
available to the IRBDC.
2) The Ejército de Liberación
Nacional (National Liberation Army - ELN) is a guerrilla group
operating in Colombia. For general information on the group, please
refer to the attached copy of Revolutionary and Dissident
Movements, (London: Longman Publishing Group, 1988), page 62.
Also attached, please see page 4 of the July 1989 issue and page 5
of the August 1989 issue of Andean Newsletter,(Lima, Andean
Commission of Jurists).
The ELN has reportedly fought continuously
since its creation in the early 1960s "consistently refusing to
accept a political solution", [ The Killings in Colombia,
(Washington: Americas Watch, April 1989), p. 29.] and grew both in
size, resources and power from the early-1980s to at least 1988,
being able to increase its attacks on oil pipelines and towns, as
well as extorting oil companies and landowners. [ Latin American
Weekly Report, 28 July 1988, p. 8.] Revolutionary and
Dissident Movements mentions a number of departments
(equivalent of provinces) where the group has been active, although
it currently operates mostly in the oil-rich areas of the
Northeast. [ The Killings in Colombia, p. 29.]
Among its guerrilla actions, the ELN has
reportedly resorted to the killing of civilian authorities,
suspected informers, business leaders and bosses, as well as
kidnapping, murder and attacks on foreign oil-company employees, in
at least one occasion including their family members. [
Ibid, pp. 29, 32-33.] The ELN has also repeatedly attacked
petroleum installations, including oil-wells and pipelines. The
book The Killings in Colombia (pages 31-33), reports the
following examples of ELN actions:
-28 September 1988, a Texas Petroleum Co. executive and his wife
escaped from a car-bomb attack. Around that date, an American
employee of the same company and an Italian worker of American Pipe
are kidnapped, the latter's charred body being found in the trunk
of a car abandoned in a highway.
-17 October 1988, a bridge is blown up while a bus carrying
passengers passed over it, killing four civilians including an
Australian tourist and a child.
In August 1989, the Colombian army launched
a major offensive against the ELN in Arauquito and other areas
called "Operation Jupiter". The offensive was criticized with
accusations of abuses against the civilian population, including
the bombing of villages. [ Andean Newsletter, August 1989,
p. 3.] For details of these accusations, please refer to the first
paragraphs of page 4 of the August 1989 Andean Newsletter
(attached).
In mid-November 1989 the army announced the
capture of 28 alleged members of the ELN, claiming they carried out
terrorist acts together with drug traffickers. [ The Globe and
Mail, 16 September 1989, p. A11.] Although the ELN has been a
member of the Coordinadora Nacional Guerrillera Simón
Bolivar (Simon Bolivar National Guerrilla Coordinating Body), [
Revolutionary and Dissident Movements, p. 61.] the M-19 was
the only guerrilla group that signed a peace agreement with the
Colombian government on 2 November 1989. [ The Globe and
Mail, 3 November 1989, p. A8.]
3) For general information on the situation
of labour unions in Colombia, please consult at your regional
documentation centre the following sources: Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: U.S. Department
of State, 1989), chapter on Colombia, section 6 on Labour Rights;
Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: Human Rights
Watch, July 1989), chapter on Colombia; Europa Year Book
1989, (London: Europa Publications, 1989), chapter on Colombia,
section on Trade Associations.
Other reports indicate the existence of
strong union activity and the killing of union activists. The
Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (Unitarian Workers' Central -
CUT), the largest labour confederation in Colombia and formed in
1986, claims that 270 of its members have been killed since its
creation. [ The Killings in Colombia, p. 46.] Some of the
members of the CUT and other important unions are also members of
the "Frente Popular" (Popular Front) party, which the Army
Intelligence claims is a "legal "arm" of the Ejército
Popular de Liberación (EPL). [ Ibid, p. 47.]
The Association of Colombian Educators
(FECODE) reportedly gathered in 1988 to study ways to counter the
victimizing of its members, approximately 88 killed and 800
threatened from 1986 to 1988. [ Ibid, p. 69.] The Antioquia
Teachers Association (ADIDA) has reported the murder of at least 30
of its members since late 1987. [ Ibid.] Please refer to the
next question for more information on the subject. The most recent
report currently available to the IRBDC states that the CUT
condemned in late-November 1989 an agreement between employers and
the government on projected reforms to the labour code, on whose
discussion the unions did not participate. [ Latin American
Weekly Report, 7 December 1989, p. 12.] The changes agreed to
included extension of trial periods in which employees could be
laid off without compensation and modification of pay
procedures.
4) An update of the IRBDC Country
Profile on Colombia has not been distributed to the public yet.
However, please find attached a copy of a draft of an update
to the Profile's chronology, covering the period from late-December
1988 to July 1989. For more recent events, particularly those
stemming from the "war" declared by the Medellín cartel of
drug traffickers against the government, please consult Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, chapter on
Colombia, and its corresponding Critique, as well as the
articles in the magazines and country files, all of them available
at your regional Documentation Centre. Country Reports for
1988 contains a section on Freedom of Religion. Also, please
find attached copies of the following documents which focus on the
latest events concerning human rights and union activity:
-Andean Newsletter: July 1989, p. 4; August 1989, pp. 4-5;
September 1989, p. 4;
-Latin American Weekly Report: 26 October 1989, pp. 4-5; 16
November 1989, p. 4; 23 November 1989, pp. 10-11;
-Latin American Regional Reports - Andean Group: "Colombia's
extreme right forms party", 31 August 1989, pp. 4-5; 9 November
1989, pp. 2-3.
-Section on Freedom of Expression and Association from The
Killings in Colombia, pages 80-84.
(COM) Comoros / Comores