Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-26-Speech-2-140"
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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour for me to appear before you, the representatives of a Europe which promotes optimism, which is the most successful example of a genuine political integration this century and which demonstrates that it is indeed possible to return from death to life, from disrespect for human beings to the veneration of their rights, from pessimism to hope: which also demonstrates that peace is possible wherever development, social justice, the defence of the weakest, solidarity and coexistence are established. These are the things that determine culture, give meaning to liberty and open up the path leading to the achievement of shared goals.
The Colombian conflict, under its own steam, has undergone serious changes and, without doubt, the force with which drug-trafficking exploded in Colombia in the Eighties has been the element which has led to the greatest increase in violence. This has not only permeated the guerrilla movement, whose finance increasingly comes from charges imposed on coca leaf, but it has also extended the circle of violence to other armed groups and organised criminal groups.
Faced with this escalation of violence, the Colombian population has said NO MORE. Mass demonstrations have taken to the streets, reminding us of the response of the Spanish people to terrorism, to demand NO MORE VIOLENCE. Today the people of my country, like never before in their history, are united in the demand for a cessation of the violation of human rights, especially kidnap which should cease to be used as a source of finance by the guerrilla movement and other violent groups.
In Colombia, there is no civil war. Less than 4% of Colombians support the guerrillas. During the last two decades, the conflict has changed substantially. While the military capability of the violent groups is increasing, largely thanks to drug money, the civil population is asking to be freed from the conflict, since they have realised that it is they who suffer as a result and it is their fundamental rights which are violated day after day.
Ladies and gentlemen, ours is a unique type of conflict which requires a unique type of solution, and my government is determined and committed to finding this solution.
The guerrilla conflict has concerned our people for 40 years. During this time, several insurgent groups have participated in the conflict. But there are also several who have now understood that the best alternative for our country is to abandon violence through a process of political dialogue. Six armed groups comprising around 8,000 rebels, have, during the last ten years, laid down their arms in favour of the power of argument.
Today we are treading the path of negotiating the armed conflict with the FARC, the oldest of the guerrilla groups. In little more than a year, through dialogue, we have already agreed an agenda for negotiation which consists of twelve points and last Sunday, in a historic moment for our country, we embarked upon a negotiation process which must lead our country along the path to the construction of a lasting and genuine peace.
There has also been a lot of speculation about the so-called “zone of peace”. The truth is that this is an instrument created by Colombian Law to generate security conditions to assist the dialogue. This zone covers only 3% of the national territory and a quarter of 1% of the Colombian population lives there. We have not given up our national integrity there and the State is represented by democratically elected Mayors and Councillors.
We are also moving forward in the search for a solution with the National Liberation Army, the ELN. Last week preliminary contacts were started, aimed at reactivating the discussions and I am optimistic that we will soon see significant advances which will allow us to initiate negotiations with this rebel group as well.
The whole of Colombia and the international community believes in the progress that is possible through a political solution. I know that it will not be an easy path to follow and we will certainly continue to encounter difficulties, but we will always remain steadfast in the effort to overcome them. Peace processes take time and require patience, a lot of patience. Let us remember the cases of El Salvador or Guatemala. Let us observe the peace processes in the Middle East and Ireland. Neither of them happened overnight, but a negotiated political solution will be seen to have obvious benefits.
I would like to repeat that I will do everything possible to achieve this peace which is essential to all of us. But, as I said a few days ago before the United Nations General Assembly, I do not want peace at any price, but rather a peace which genuinely strengthens democracy, which preserves the territory and allows all of the citizens to enjoy full rights and liberties.
At this moment, and from this hemicycle within the new European Parliament complex, my country has the great privilege of addressing Europe, through the elected representatives of the people of the fifteen countries which currently make up the European Union.
I believe that a decent and democratic future is not possible without a culture of respect for fundamental rights. I know that in the course of the protracted internal conflict in Colombia these rights have suffered serious violations, and this must not continue.
I am totally committed to the defence of human rights. My convictions, my background and the mandate of my people testify to this. To this end, I have implemented a broad State policy to combat, within the framework of the law, those armed groups which operate outside that law, to guarantee security, protection, support and freedom of action for the defenders of human rights; to assist people who have been displaced by violence; to adopt legal instruments which protect human rights and strengthen our judicial apparatus. To sum up, a group of specific measures aimed at guaranteeing compliance with international humanitarian law.
The results of the application of this policy are reflected in the notable decrease in the complaints of human rights violations emanating from the public, as recognised in the reports from the intergovernmental bodies and NGOs which operate in this field.
We have worked hard to bring our legislation up to date. Congress is currently debating a law to define and punish enforced abduction, genocide and massacres. Furthermore, my government supported the approval of a new Military Penal Code which includes significant advances with regard to the competence of the civil courts to judge the military with regard to crimes such as genocide, enforced abduction and torture and we have signed up to the Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In addition, a Presidential Decree has been issued to promote respect for non-governmental organisations which operate in the field of human rights. I also hope that those organisations can carry out their noble activities for strictly humanitarian purposes, without any political interference.
Ladies and gentlemen, my government is taking decisive action with regard to the protection of human rights, and in this task we need the support of the international community. If the guerrillas or the
(vigilantes) violate human rights, this fact must be reported and they must be punished. If any agent of the State does the same, this is also a crime and must not go unpunished. That is to say, any human rights violation must be rejected and the perpetrators punished in accordance with the law. Over the “State motive” or the justifications bandied about by the perpetrators of violence, the “human motive” must always prevail.
It is also important for Colombia that both Europe and the United States understand the correlation between drug trafficking and violence in Colombia.
There is no nation in the world which has offered up as many martyrs as Colombia in the fight against drug trafficking. This disastrous trade has been and continues to be the principal cause of the worst tragedies of our recent history. The economic power of these organisations led to corruption in many areas of our lives. Drug trafficking has been the great creator of violence and has led to assassinations of the highest possible human cost to our country.
Currently, it contributes to the maintenance of the wave of violence which we are suffering by financing the various perpetrators of violence. I have said, and I would like to repeat to you today, that drug-trafficking is the foremost and the worst enemy of peace, and peace will not be achieved totally without the eradication of the organisations which carry out this accursed drug trade or without finding alternatives and solutions which are economically and socially sustainable.
My country, like no other, has carried on its shoulders the burden of the fight against drug trafficking. Therefore, I would like to take this exceptional opportunity to invite all the countries of the world community to fully implement the principle of what has been called “shared responsibility”, in order to combat the global problem of drugs.
Colombia, the country which I govern by democratic consent, is struggling with a difficult quest for peace, employment, development and, above all, social justice. The sovereign population of Colombia, in the highest vote in history, expressed itself clearly and delivered to me an emphatic mandate. A mandate to search for peace in our country.
This principle requires us to confront together the serious global problem of drugs, at every link in the chain; that is to say, production, distribution, consumption, money laundering, the diversion of chemical ingredients and arms sales. It also requires us to contribute to lasting solutions in accordance with our own individual capacities.
We have significant agreements with the European Union which recognise the shared responsibility in this area. We have made advances in the promotion of cooperation mechanisms between Europe and the Andean countries, as in the case of the tariff concessions of the Andean GSP, the expansion of which is vital to my country.
Whilst on this subject, I must also express my satisfaction with the recent conclusion of the Presidency of the European Council at Tampere with regard to the laundering of capital, which mentions the Council decision to “ensure that specific steps are taken to trace, freeze, seize and confiscate the proceeds of crime”.
We must confiscate the money and property of the drug-traffickers, and their associates, which results from this murderous trade and deny them any possibility of buying chemical ingredients and arms and we must pursue the underworld which launders the money which they obtain.
Together we must continue to make advances towards complete solutions which cover all the links in the chain. And together we will have to give priority to those education and prevention programmes which will bring about a reduction in demand. In this struggle, ladies and gentlemen, we need you as partners and allies.
My country is not asking for much: simply that each member of the world community plays its part in the task, in accordance with the principle of shared responsibility, and that we can all meet the costs of lasting solutions within the bounds of the available possibilities and resources.
It should also be of great concern to all of us that drug trafficking is causing more and more ecological damage. In our country, which is one of the eight richest nations in terms of biodiversity, the illegal cultivation of coca and poppies have destroyed more than a million hectares of jungle, rain forests and mountain areas. The pillage of nature is so out of hand that five hectares of forest are destroyed in order to cultivate one hectare of coca or poppy and every year 200,000 gallons of herbicide, 16,000 tonnes of chemical fertiliser and 100,000 gallons of poisons used on these crops contaminate Colombian waters and soil.
I want to repeat today that there is no doubt that the activities associated with illegal cultivation are spoiling the earth’s natural heritage. It is therefore the duty of all of our countries to stop this destruction in order to defend at all costs the human right of future generations to a habitable planet.
We share Europe’s concerns about global warming, deforestation and the essential conservation of tropical forests. We also understand that we must tackle the problem of polluting emissions. For this reason we want to propose to Europe an Environmental Alliance between the countries of Europe and Colombia so that we may move forward together in this noble purpose.
Faced with Colombia’s real situation it is clear that in order to advance in the arduous task of building peace it is necessary to go beyond dialogue and negotiations with rebels. It is necessary to find fundamental solutions to our problems. We need to construct a new nation where respect for human rights, the application of justice and the reconstruction of our social fabric are the solid foundations which will allow us to build a society in which the factors which create violence are eradicated for good.
It is not my custom to block out the sun with my hands nor to cover my eyes with bandages. The international community is discerning and is watching us attentively. We, who are also discerning, also see what is happening in the countries of the world and we know that it is necessary to act now, that there is no time to lose. We know that this is the time for cooperation, not for confrontation nor for intervention.
It is for this reason that I am here before those of you who share these ideals, to propose that you deepen your commitments with us and that we strengthen this alliance which is useful to all of us. Appropriate cooperation is one of the most effective ways of protecting human rights; cooperation means preventing the preventable; cooperation means opening up the roads to hope.
To this end I have drawn up the Colombia Plan for peace, prosperity and the strengthening of the State. It is not a military plan. It is a comprehensive and unified plan aimed at strengthening such basic issues for our country as the search for peace, the reactivation of our economy and the generation of employment, the protection of human rights, the strengthening of justice and the increase in social participation. The final result will be the strengthening of our State, as the essential requirement for the achievement of peace and progress.
We need your participation on all these fronts but principally we need you, your nations and the whole of Europe to invest in peace for the sake of peace, and to open up your markets so that we can create employment for the sake of peace.
For this reason, Colombia is presenting the international community with an alternative policy for the eradication of illegal crops based on an alternative development which offers the rural population, which is currently involved in illegal cultivation, a permanent escape from their economic and social problems, replacing illegal crops with commercial, mining, agricultural, agro-industrial and service companies, and with the necessary infrastructure so that they may compete adequately in the world’s globalised economy.
Colombia hopes to finance, jointly with those countries which are in some way involved in the drug chain, the infrastructure of the project and also hopes to involve private capital, both national and foreign, in the economically productive companies so that they may incorporate advances in technology and new capital.
Madam President, honourable Members of the European Parliament: I wish you, on behalf of the Colombian people, the greatest success in the enlargement and deepening of European democracy. You represent people who have opted for life, peace and the defence of human rights, you constitute the means of expression of those who believe in democracy, freedom and a healthy environment for future generations. You are largely responsible for leading the
with those countries which are building hope for themselves and which are eager for the third millennium to bring genuine successes.
I am here before the representatives of European democracy, to tell you unequivocally that I have opted for peace, I have offered the guerrilla movement peace with dignity and security. In order to live in peace we need a national agreement supported by the international community.
As a democrat and before democrats I ask you here today: support peace in Colombia. To do this would be to invest in humanity and in a vision of a future which brings about development, well-being and social justice.
Thank you very much.
Many of our neighbours in Latin America, over the course of time, have found solutions to their conflicts. In these processes the European Union has always been present to a significant degree, as a mediator and as a bridge between the various political and social sectors. In the negotiation processes in Guatemala and El Salvador, the role of the European Union was fundamental.
The traditional concern of Europe for peace and human rights, and its marked tradition with regard to negotiation processes provide my country with absolutely essential support: this support is vital. And it is also vital that Europe understands the background to the Colombian conflict.
We cannot allow the discussion of Colombia to be based on words but no action, on the idealisation of conflicts belonging to past decades and even less on press reports which are more concerned with the spectacular nature of the news rather than the reality behind it.
I can tell this from your questions concerning our conflict and the peace process: “Why are there still guerrillas in Colombia when they have disappeared from the rest of the continent?” “Is there a civil war in Colombia?” “What does the “zone of peace mean?” “Who violates human rights in Colombia and what is the commitment of the government to human rights?” “Is the Colombian Plan a military plan?”
I have come here today to explain our real situation to you, without denying the brutality of the violence we suffer. Nobody could be unaware of the reality of my country. Violence has plagued our country for years. Many Colombians have died for their cause and many, through kidnap, have lost their liberty."@en1
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