Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-04-Speech-4-157"
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"en.20011004.6.4-157"2
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"Mr President, the political violence in Colombia is a crucial obstacle to peace and development in the country. No other country in the world has as many murders of active trade unionists as Colombia. The Colombian Left has been, and continues to be, subject to a terror campaign without parallel. Unfortunately, there is a clear risk that the violence will be further stepped up ahead of the presidential election.
The resolution criticises both the guerrillas and the paramilitaries for the violence. Criticism can fairly be levelled at the guerrillas for kidnappings and violence against the native population. However, it is quite clear that the paramilitaries are responsible for the majority of the political violence. At least 90 percent of the political murders are carried out by the paramilitaries or the military. The paramilitaries would not be able to conduct their campaign of terror without indirect support from, and acceptance by, the regular police and military. Therefore, Colombia’s government also has direct responsibility for stopping the paramilitaries’ campaign of terror in the country.
The EU’s role must be to uphold human rights, support the peace process and oppose the military escalation of the conflict inherent in Plan Colombia. The demilitarised zone must therefore, also continue as an important precondition for dialogue between the government and the FARC guerrillas.
Colombia can only achieve peace and real democracy if human rights are respected. If it is not possible for Colombia’s Left to operate openly and legally, without having its representatives murdered, the guerrillas will not lay down their weapons. It is therefore crucial that the terror campaign against the Colombian left is recognised and combated. This applies especially to the Unión Patriótica, to which the murdered Member of Parliament Octavio Sarmiento belonged. The Unión Patriótica has had at least 4 000 of its members shot by the paramilitaries.
Criticism of this could have been expressed even more clearly in this resolution which we are about to adopt. Despite this, we in the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left believe that the text of this resolution is sound, and it is vital that, in the future, we carefully monitor and react to developments in Colombia."@en1
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