The year 1960 was a very important one for Latin America. This was the year when the Cuban revolution led the beginning of a change, and those winds swept the continent. The United States reacted angrily to the Cuban challenge and used the Organization of American States (OAS) as their political arm, making the beloved leader Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara rename the OAS as the ‘colonies department’ of the United States.

This issue comes to mind when I read the Colombian press. On Saturday January 24, the leading Colombian newspaper El Tiempo from Bogota, reported that the General Secretary of the OAS, former Colombian president Cesar Gaviria, decided to sign an agreement with the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez according to which, the OAS commits itself to support the ‘peace process’ of president Uribe. The OAS will supervise the cease-fire, the cease of hostilities,the disarmament, and the return to society of the paramilitary groups. The agreement was signed at night and behind closed doors, without the approval of the OAS member countries, particularly those who specifically support the Colombian peace process in the hemisphere: Argentina, Mexico, Brasil and Canada. The agreement was not discussed either with the other members of the OAS.

A very serious step, because it legitimizes a process that no respected international organization (neither the EU nor the UN, for example) has wanted to support. This loneliness is explained because Uribe’s ‘peace process’ gives total freedom to individuals who have committed horrendous crimes in exchange for — nothing. The truth of what happened will never be known, justice is not served and the victims are not compensated.

Even worse, the umbrella paramilitary group called Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) had long been declared a terrorist organization by the US State Department, which requested the extradition of its leaders on drug-trafficking charges. The process in place is one that is dictated by the paramilitary leaders themselves, who set the conditions and constantly make threats to leave the negotiations if their conditions are not met.

Cesar Gaviria, the OAS General Secretary handpicked by the Clinton administration in a notorious election that generated a lot of controversy from the member states, has shown no respect for the fragile inter-American organization and has further weakened it . The great mystery here is what is the point of view of the United States? The US has kept a suspicious silence in all of this. Could it be possible that Mr. Gaviria is following orders from Washington? Meanwhile, the AUC keeps busy at their work of spreading death and destruction in the Colombian countryside. Human Rights NGOs in Colombia keep reporting assassinations, disappearances, massacres and criminal abuses from the members of the AUC throughout Colombia. And all of these in the middle of a ‘peace process’ with the Uribe administration with the blessing of the OAS. There is not the slightest sign of shame on the part of the Colombian government before the international community.

The newspaper ‘El Independiente’ from Mexico reports that the Mexican government was not informed about the mentioned agreement. This is not surprising: what does Gaviria care about Mexico?  The function of a Secretary of Colonies is to keep its metropolis happy. It would not surprising that the US would be sending this intriguing message to the rest of its colonies in the hemisphere: when it comes to defending its interests such as the expansion of FTAA, they need a hemisphere at peace. Small little things such as truth, justice and reparations, are not important. What is important is to have obedient and cynical Secretaries such as Cesar Gaviria. The rest are bagatelles.

Cecilia Zarate is Co-founder and Program Director of the Colombia Support Network in Madison, Wisconsin

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