Up a flight of stairs, behind double-enforced bulletproof glass and a large, silent bodyguard sits the office of Francisco Ramírez, a mining-policy researcher and president of Sintraminercol, Colombia’s state mineworkers’ union. Mining policy really isn’t sexy stuff and researching it usually isn’t a dangerous occupation, but some of Mr. Ramírez’s conclusions can mean life or death, both literally and figuratively. “Once they tried to kill me right here in this office,” said the researcher, who has survived seven assassination attempts.
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New protection tactics for palm oil and logging company interests.
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African palm plantation companies are playing a growing role in helping paramilitaries consolidate their control of the Uraba region of Choco and Antioquia in Colombia. Indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and peace communities have long stood in the way of corporate projects in Uraba.
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THE UNDERSIGNED TRADE UNIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ORGANISATIONS REJECT THE SUSPENSION OF THE SECURITY MEASURES AGREED WITH THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CAUTIONARY MEASURES DECREED BY THE INTER-AMERICAN COMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE PHYSICAL INTEGRITY AND LIFE OF THE PRESIDENT OF SINTRAMINERCOL.
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Ground report 75 Recalling that since the 8th of April 2006 the families of Curvarado, accompanied by Jusictia y Paz and PASC have been building a new Humanitarian Zone on land owned by Don Enrique Petro, member of the collective territory of Curvarado. A land which had been illegally sown with palm since the forced displacement. Recalling also that this fact is no longer in legal dispute, the Columbian government having recognized (in response to an urgent action) that this land legally and legitimately belongs to Enrique Petro.
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To understand paramilitarism and how it functions in Colombia, it is useful to look at the root meanings of the term. Crisostomo Eseverri Hualde, the author of an erudite Dictionary of Etymology of Spanish Helenisms, published in Spain in 1944, notes the significance of the Greek preposition “para,” used as a prefix in numerous Spanish language words. According to him, there are three meanings of this preposition: 1) approximation; 2) transposition; and 3) adeviation or irregularity.
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On march 12,1999, THE ÍNTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS of the Organization of the American States published its Third Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia. In the fifth chapter, it states:
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Alternative information in english and spanish WEB : - Pueblos en Camino - Weaving Autonomies - En Camino - Comité de Integración Social del Catatumbo – CISCA CISCA - Noticias Independientes Colombia[Noticias Independientes Colombia->www.noticol.org]
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