Nearly three thousand civilians intentionally killed by army soldiersseeking to beef up their body counts and score days off. A massive illegal wiretapping operation targeting Supreme Court judges, journalists, opposition politicians and human rights defenders. Seven human rights defenders and leaders of displaced communities killed in one recent month alone, in a nation where threats against defenders are rarely effectively investigated. In which authoritarian country opposed to the United States did these abuses take place? In none other than Colombia, often called "the United States' best ally in the Western Hemisphere." And we, the U.S. taxpayers, bankrolled this friendship to the tune of more than $6 billion.
These brutal tactics are often overshadowed by the praise heaped on AlvaroUribe, who leaves office on August 7th, for making impressive militarygains against Colombia's vicious, decades-old left-wing guerrillainsurgency. As the new Colombian president takes office, the ObamaAdministration should challenge its Colombian partner to demonstrate thatsecurity need not come at the expense of the right to life, as well asprecious freedoms of expression and assembly.
The incoming president, former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos, has toanswer for his own role in these scandals-yet his track record also showspotential for change. As Uribe's defense minister, Santos presided over amassive increase in "false positives," in which soldiers detained and killedcivilians, then dressed them up in guerrilla clothing to inflate their bodycounts. In response to concerns raised by the United Nations and the UnitedStates, Mr. Santos instituted reforms that helped bring down the number ofnew killings. But this agenda is unfinished. "Estimates of the current rateof impunity for alleged killings by the security forces are as high as 98.5per cent. Soldiers simply knew that they could get away with murder," the UNSpecial Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions declared. Seeking to placate the military high command, Mr. Santos could try to strike a deal that lets homicides by soldiers return to militarycourts, where they will never be solved. Or, he could stand on the side ofjustice, and allow these cases to be fairly investigated and prosecuted incivilian courts.
President Santos has a chance to retire Mr. Uribe's worst practices. Hecould so easily choose not to call the nation's human rights defenders andinvestigative journalists "terrorists," a label that President Uribe usedknowing full well that death threats and worse followed in its wake. Hecould so easily choose not to bully and threaten the Supreme Court and otherjudges and prosecutors, recognizing that an independent judiciary is part ofa flourishing democracy. He could allow investigations of Colombia'sWatergate scandal to go to the top of the chain of command, and protect thefreedoms of the nation's human rights defenders, judges and journalists.
Mr. Santos should also address the renewed power of paramilitary orsuccessor armed groups, protecting the citizenry not only from guerrillagroups but from all predatory criminals. He should return land to Colombia'smillions of displaced persons-and his new agricultural minister'swillingness to begin talking about this offers a small ray of hope. And thenew president should set a more open style that allows for dialogue with allsectors of Colombian society.
Our best friends don't just support us right or wrong; they help us becomeour better selves. If the Obama Administration wants to be a true friend toColombia, U.S. support-both aid and trade-must be conditioned upon real andlasting human rights improvements. This includes an end to killings ofcivilians by the army, an end illegal wiretapping, efforts to fullydismantle the nation's illegal armed groups on the right as well as theleft, and a commitment to establish a climate in which human rightsdefenders, union leaders, prosecutors and judges can carry out theirimportant work. Military progress achieved at the expense of basic rightsand freedoms offers but a false and transitory sense of security.
Lisa Haugaard is executive director of the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, based in Washington, DC.