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Speaking from the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, where he welcomed his Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Chavez recalled that Posada Carriles masterminded the 1976 mid-air bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 people on board and that he also practiced torture and killings in Venezuela.

Chavez added that the infamous terrorist escaped from Venezuela in 1985 while awaiting a court’s verdict for his participation in the 1976 attack against the Cuban airliner.

“Why doesn’t the Obama administration comply with the extradition of the father of all terrorists in this continent?” the Venezuelan leader asked in reference to an extradition request filed by Caracas more than four years ago in virtue of a bilateral treaty signed with Washington in 1920. (more…)

Official US Air Force Document Reveals the True Intentions Behind the US-Colombia Military Agreement

By Eva Golinger

An official document from the Department of the US Air Force reveals that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon with “…an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America…” This information contradicts the explainations offered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the US State Department regarding the military agreement signed between the two nations this past October 30th. Both governments have publicly stated that the military agreement refers only to counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations within Colombian territory. President Uribe has reiterated numerous times that the military agreement with the US will not affect Colombia’s neighbors, despite constant concern in the region regarding the true objetives of the agreement. But the US Air Force document, dated May 2009, confirms that the concerns of South American nations have been right on target. The document exposes that the true intentions behind the agreement are to enable the US to engage in “full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies…and anti-US governments…” (more…)

Since assuming responsibility as head of the UNHCR in March this year, Christian Salazar has been charged with promoting and seeking to protect the rights of all Colombians.

In an interview with El Espectador, Salazar denounced serious problems such as the blocking of investigations into cases of extrajudicial killings in the prosecution, the growing threats against human rights defenders and judicial sector, the violence committed by groups and post-conflict, what more it reveals, assassinations duplication of leaders and members of indigenous people.

How has enforced disappearance changed in recent years in Colombia?

It (enforced disappearance) is fairly old, the UN recorded the first case in Colombia in 1973.

The office handles about three different phases. The first, in the 90s, when selective disappearances were committed against the opposition, NGOs and alleged guerrilla sympathizers. Many of these disappearances were committed by members of the security forces. The second was at the end of the decade and early this, when the paramilitaries were the main actors and the forced disappearance was combined with mass atrocity. In recent years, we are concerned that the missing are more and more young and live in marginal areas of the country. This practice has to do with the misnomer of “false positives”. Post demobilisation paramilitary groups also perform more and more disappearances. (more…)