The unit operates in the banana-growing north of the country. Such squads, organized and financed by wealthy landowners and businessmen, have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of unionists, peasants, and other civilians. The government has failed to prosecute most of those involved in the killings.

The demobilization of the rightist unit is part of the overall course of the government of President Alvaro Uribe, which is seeking to crush antigovernment guerrilla organizations that operate in large parts of the Colombian countryside. The government wants to reach an agreement with the ultrarightist terror groups that would lead to disarming some while effectively granting amnesty to their leaders for their brutal actions.

During a brief stopover in Cartagena, Colombia, on November 22, on his return from regional “free trade” talks in Chile, U.S. president George Bush made a demonstrative show of support for the Uribe government. “This man’s plan is working,” Bush said, adding that he would press the U.S. Congress to add more to the billions it has already given the regime since 2000.

Bogotá is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid outside the Middle East.

Some 450 members of the Banana Bloc turned in assault rifles, mortars, and other weapons in a soccer stadium in the town of Turbo, near the Panamanian border.

The Banana Bloc is part of the 15,000-strong United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the main ultrarightist military organization, which along with the army has been used by Colombia’s ruling landlords and capitalists in a 40-year-long war with the country’s main guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). The paramilitary groups have been involved in the deaths of thousands of trade unionists in this South American country—2,100 since 1991.

Washington has indicted and is seeking the extradition of at least 10 leaders of the death squads on drug-trafficking charges. On November 24, Colombia’s Supreme Court approved the extradition of Salvatore Mancuso, a high-ranking leader of the rightist AUC. Mancuso was so unconcerned about the extradition order that he even made an appearance at the government’s disarmament ceremony for the Banana Bloc. “Today, we offer a major gesture, which will lead to the re-incorporation of combatants of the Self-Defense Forces into civilian life,” he told reporters. Mancuso holds a government-issued “safe-conduct” pass that shields him from arrest.

The Uribe administration has expressed concern over the moves by a group of legislators in the Colombian congress to enact a law that would call for jail terms of at least eight years for the top AUC leaders. While the law would include some judicial benefits for the rightist thugs, the government opposes the measure because it would also require leaders of the death squads to ensure the full dismantling their forces, provide information on its members, assist with investigations, and pay reparations to their victims, the Financial Times reported.

In sharp contrast to the leniency shown toward the death squads, the Uribe government has launched “Plan Patriota” (Patriot Plan), the largest counterinsurgency offensive against the FARC in many years.

On December 3 the Uribe administration said it would release 23 imprisoned members of FARC in order to get the guerrilla group to free Colombian and U.S. hostages being held in its camps. The FARC did not immediately respond. Last month, the FARC rejected a government offer to release 50 guerrillas in exchange for 22 Colombian politicians, 34 soldiers and cops, and three U.S. military “contractors,” according to the December 3 New York Times. The FARC has insisted that the government grant it two demilitarized zones in rural areas before prisoner swap discussions take place, a demand the government has rejected.

The U.S. government has sent $3.3 billion to the Colombian regime since 2000 under Plan Colombia. The program, initiated by the Clinton White House, was expanded by the Bush administration into the 2002 Andean Regional Initiative. Under the cover of fighting “terrorism” and drug trafficking, Washington has used Plan Colombia to step up its military intervention throughout the region in anticipation of sharper resistance by workers and farmers to the economic and social catastrophe that is gripping Latin America.

On October 9 the U.S. Congress voted to double the cap on Washington’s military presence in Colombia to back the regime’s counterinsurgency war. The number of U.S. soldiers who could be stationed in Colombia was raised from 400 to 800. In addition, the number of “private contractors” the Pentagon is allowed to hire for military operations in the country was raised from 400 to 600.

On November 30 the Colombian congress approved an amendment to the country’s constitution that would allow Uribe to run for re-election in 2006. Colombia’s Supreme Court is expected to approve the amendment’s legality. The move has the tacit support of the U.S. government, which regards the Uribe government as its closest ally in Latin America.  
 
 
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