World

of the violence and civil war which has torn Colombia for40 years and how the civil crisis caused by the earthquakecould destabilise the political status quo or affectparamilitary groups who have been fighting a guerrillawar for 35 years. According to newspapers at the time,some of these had used the drama of the earthquake totheir own advantage, to distract attention from theiractivities. For example:As the world’s attention is focused on the Colombianearthquake, the country’s paramilitary death squadshave taken advantage of the distraction provided by thecatastrophe to step up their activities. Fears are growingfor the safety of four Colombian human rights workersabducted by a paramilitary group on Thursday in thecity of Medellin, known as the center of the country’sdrugs trade...The paramilitary death squads are believedto be financed by Colombia’s drugs traffickers and tooperate with the consent of the Colombian army. Theysay they have a mission to combat Colombia’s left-wingguerrillas, but they are accused by human rights groupsof conducting a campaign of terror against the civilianpopulation that has driven hundreds of thousands ofColombians from their homes in the past five years... Lastweek’s abduction is a major embarrassment forColombia’s president, Andreas Pastrana, who has beentrying to open peace talks with the main guerrilla armiesin Colombia, but who has been widely criticized forfailing to curb the death squad activities. The mainguerrilla army, the FARC, has demanded thedismantling of the paramilitary groups as a condition ofany peace negotiations and they accuse the Colombianarmy of supporting paramilitary activities. (TheIndependent on Sunday 31.1.99)The earthquake struck a region in Central WesternColombia, previously vulnerable to earthquakes. In1995, for example, The Financial Times reported howPereira suffered an earthquake and that throughout theregion many of the buildings that collapsed were thosere-built after the last disaster (The Financial Times26.1.99). There were only eight references to the longtermreconstruction of the country. On several occasionsthroughout the news coverage, Humberto De La Calle,the Colombian Ambassador is featured calling for aidand long term financial assistance, but these commentsare not pursued by the text which follows. Repeatedly,the discussion flows back to short term solutions ofcharitable giving and medical aid.There are one-off statements by reporters on rebuilding,for example on ITN we hear ‘they can rebuildagain but the task is overwhelming’ (29.1.99 ITN 1230-1330) and on BBC1:Reporter: It will take years for Akindo Province torecover from a disaster which struck a nation in themiddle of a government-directed austerity drive. (BBC12100-2130)There is no discussion of what this term actuallyrefers to, or how it relates to the report that precedes it,which deals with ‘outbreaks of looting by armed gangs.’We are told that ‘the town of Kodova, the poorest in thiscoffee-growing region, was at the epicentre of theearthquake,’ that:Reporter: Usually, these soldiers would be fighting theprivate armies and drug lords who’ve made Colombia theworld’s kingdom of cocaine.......Outbreaks of looting arestill going on. Hunger is the motivation for most of thesedesperate people. The authorities are clamping down witharmed police and soldiers deployed and a curfew orderedfor yet another night in the largest towns. Because of abottleneck in distribution, the president of Colombia hascome to the region to command and cajole, but there’swidespread public cynicism that even in this instance ofdisaster, local political bosses will rise above the corruptionthat plagues their country. (BBC1 2100-2130)There is no discussion of the impact of theearthquake on Colombia’s ‘coffee growing region.’Nowhere is it said for example, that coffee is the mainexport and that Armenia produces 50% of the country’sannual coffee harvest. The way in which damage on thisscale affects the lives of ordinary people beyond theimmediate civil disorder and looting, how homes andlivelihoods may have to be rebuilt at their own expense,without government assistance, is not discussed. Neitherare the long term economic repercussions onunemployment and investment referred to. As TheGuardian newspaper noted:But victims in the poor neighbourhood of Santander werenot convinced. ‘We had to build this place without statehelp, and no doubt we will have to rebuild it ourselvestoo,’ said a group of men huddled round their campfire.‘They will only invest their money where they can get adecent return.’ (The Guardian 1.2.99)The cost of re-building Colombia’s coffee growingregion could cost $1.5 billion, a cost which thisdeveloping country could ill-afford. Yet, there is littlediscussion of how the money will be raised, as TheFinancial Times noted:Juan Camilo Restrepo, finance minister, said the packageto help restore normality would total 60bn pesos (aboutDollars 38m)…Mr. Restrepo said the package would beavailable to affected coffee producers by Monday. Headded that the package would consist of “long-term, softDFID – July 2000 59