Forwarded from Anthony (Colombia, part 1)

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Colombia Update

October 16, 2002

Part 1

Sorry I have not written much about Colombia since the elections.

The new President, Alvaro Uribe Velez is trying to simultanesouly ram
through a major centralization and streamlining of the government; impose
drastic martial law regimes in the "Rehabilitation Zones'- aimed at
terrorizing and killing union leaders, leftists, and supporters of the
guerrilla; organize a one hundred thousand person network of paid
informers; purge the army of its most inept officers and reform the
military; and launch a military offensive against the ELN and FARC in the
poor neighborhoods of Medellin.

Uribe Velez is already in trouble on all fronts.

He is running the country under constitutional provisions for temporary
periods of rule by Presidential decree - but time is running out. His
constitutional emergency powers will end in one month. Uribe's top priority
is to extend his emergency powers by revamping the Colombian constitution -
and in the process reorganizing virtually all of Colombia's state
institutions.

The referendum.

Uribe Velez's "vision" was to make Colombia even less democratic than it
is, more centralized than it is, and 'more efficient'. The referendum will
be a grab bag of reactionary 'reforms'. First place goes to the downsizing
of Congress.

The final shape of the plan will reduce the number of members of Congress
and the Senate, and eliminate many of their percs and benefits. In theory
it eliminate executive functions from the Congress, and thus eliminate
opportunities for corruption. In theory it will drastically reduce
government administrative expenditures. It will increase Presidential power.

Uribe Velez's original plan was to create a unicameral body, elected by
geographically drawn districts without regard to population, and
eliminating 75% of the current seats in the combined Senate and Congress-
it would have been a landowners Congress.

This ultrareactionary proposal did not even fly with Uribe's own
Congressional faction. (Possibly it was just an extreme bargaining position
to press for a less drastic anti-democratic reform).

Second place goes to increasing the powers of the military and police -
which are already considerable. The exact measures are yet to be announced,
but the main idea is to get rid of the necessity for things like search
warrants - which in practice have already been practically eliminated.

The working class is targetted in the referendum through a government
hiring freeze (already in effect through state of emergency decrees), a
wage freeze (also already in effect), and the elimination of many of the
legal provisions requiring the government to bargain with unions and prvent
real wages from being erroded by inflation. (Colombia's historic inflation
rate is about 10% annually. Currently, the government is required by the
Constitution to raise the minimum monthly salary, and wages of government
employees, at the beginning of each year to maintain real wages.)

The referendum would also eliminate, combine, and/or reduce various
government regulatory agencies - which might win the referendum some votes
since those agencies are not popular due to the public perception of them
as being corrupt and inefficient. Whether or not they are, the net effect
of the reform will be a huge step in the deregulation of the economy, to
the benefit mostly of large multinational primary products companies - oil,
natural gas, and minerals.

Next is the elimination of various courts, and limitations on lawsuits and
other civil legal actions. The net effect of this reform will also be a
huge step in the deregulation of the economy, to the benefit mostly of
large multinational primary products companies - oil, natural gas, and
minerals. Eliminating courts and limiting their jurisdiction is a key
clause in virtually every type of trade negotiation with the United States,
and is also present in almost every contract proposal from US companies to
Colombian companies and government agencies. (Contract clauses which are,
until now, unconstitutional.)

These last measures are part of Uribe Velez's strategy for entering the
American Free Trade Area on terms most beneficial to the United States.

The Colombian bourgeoisie - which is very wealthy,  and relatively numerous
- does not unanimously support Uribe Velez's package. The referendum has
been delayed a dozen times because of the opposition of one faction or
another, or one interest group or another - with endless backroom
negotiations leading finally to a presidential ultimatum - an ultimatum
backed by nothing more than the threat of withdrawing the referendum.

The Colombian bourgeoisie in theory wants a strong authoritarian government
and a major - and reactionary - reform. But in practice they are too
divided to agree on any particular plan.

One major problem for all of them, and Uribe Velez in particular, is the
armed forces - which are not mentioned in the referendum.

While Hugo Chaves never would have made colonel in the Colombian army - at
least not in the last 65 years - he might have made major. On the other
hand, from the colonels on up, the Colombian armed forces seem to be some
sort of cross between the ARVN and the HMS Pinafore. Trying to figure out
this beast is not that easy, especially since the military here has learned
disinformation better than any of the other arts of modern warfare.

In part two I will try to explain as much as I have figured out about the
beast in question.

All the best, Anthony


Louis Proyect
www.marxmail.org


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