By Andy McInerney

23 Aug 2000 --The U.S.-backed Colombian military opened fire on a group of schoolchildren on Aug. 15 in the northern town of Pueblo Rico.

Four children were killed outright. Two others died on the way to the hospital.

Four other children were wounded but survived the massacre.

The Colombian Army at first claimed that the children were caught in the crossfire of a gun battle between government troops and the National Liberation Army, one of the revolutionary insurgencies fighting the Colombian government. But the true story quickly emerged.

"There were no guerrillas," one girl told USA Today on Aug. 17. "All around us, it was the army that was shooting at us."

Maria Girlesa Villegas, a government human-rights official, described the macabre scene. "According to firsthand accounts, [the soldiers] were shooting at them for 45 minutes."

Hernando Higuita, a local official in Pueblo Rico, arrived at the scene soon after the shootings began. "When I shouted to the army not to shoot because these were children, they shot even more."

The leftist Notipaco news agency wrote that the six would "be recorded as the first victims of the Plan Colombia."

The killings come at a critical time. U.S. President Bill Clinton is set to visit Cartegena, Colombia, on Aug. 30.

Clinton is travelling to Colombia to show his backing for the Plan Colombia, a $7.5 billion program designed to shore up the battered government of Colombian President Andres Pastrana. At the core of the package is a $1.3 billion U.S. military-aid package that Clinton signed in July.

Colombia is already the third-biggest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world.

The U.S. military aid consists of 60 combat helicopters, Special Forces troops to train the Colombian military in counterinsurgency tactics, and defoliation chemicals designed to destroy coca crops.

The package is described as part of the "war on drugs." But scores of Colombian human rights, labor and community groups have called the Plan Colombia an "act of war."

Part of the legislation granting the $1.3 billion requires the U.S. government to ensure that the aid will not go to units accused of "human-rights violations." But on Aug. 22, Clinton signed a "waiver" and allowed the aid to go through-- even though the tears of the six child victims' families are not yet dry.

PROTESTS CHALLENGE CLINTON'S TRIP

Across Colombia, scores of groups are preparing to unleash a wave of protests during Clinton's six-hour visit Aug. 30.

On Aug. 17, Julio Roberto Gómez, president of the General Confederation of Democratic Workers (CGTD), announced that the main labor-union federations would stage protests against the Plan Colombia.

Protests and strikes are set for Cartegena, Bogotá, and other major cities across Colombia.

According to the Colombian Communist Party weekly newspaper Voz, over 30 social, labor, political, community, peasant, student and Indigenous groups agreed to spearhead the protests at an Aug. 10 meeting presided over by the FECODE teachers' union. Anti-imperialist actions will build up to the day and continue through a national day of action called for Oct. 12.

The Aug. 30 protests have generated solidarity all over the world. Demonstrations are planned in Stockholm, London, Montreal, Toronto, Buenos Aires and other cities in Latin America and Europe.

In the United States, groups are planning Aug. 30 actions against Clinton's trip. As of Aug. 22, events were scheduled in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta. A coordinated protest organized by the Colombia Solidarity Committee in Chicago will be held on Aug. 31.

On Aug. 16 the International Action Center issued a call to U.S. activists to participate in the protests. "The people of the U.S. have nothing to gain from the escalation of war in Colombia," the statement said. "We will not sit by while the U.S. government prepares another Vietnam-style war."

"In New York, we will be joining with the Colombia Action Committee, the Haiti Support Network, Casa de las Americas, and other groups to protest the Plan Colombia," reported IAC leader Teresa Gutierrez. "We are looking forward to sending a strong message that activists are preparing to confront this latest U.S. war.

"We have received messages of support from around the world," Gutierrez said. "As Clinton's visit approaches, support is continuing to grow."

She urged anti-war and progressive activists to contact the IAC at (212) 633-6646 or iacenter@iacenter.org   if they are planning coordinated actions or want to join already scheduled actions.

 

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