"Non-traditional" -- is that like innovative?

(photo: USSOUTHCOM)

The Center for International Policy's Adam Isacson, back from a two-day conference at Southern Command, describes in today's Plan Colombia and Beyond post bravely standing before a room full of Latin American military brass, and telling them that Costa Rica, which renounced its standing army in 1948, has got it right.

He deserves some kind of NGO Purple Heart -- the Purple Barbed-wire-wrapped Candle?

As usual, a thoughtful presentation of a serious, and overlooked, problem in South America: cash-strapped governments sending their militaries out to do traditionally civilian duties, anything from heavy-gunned police and anti-narcotics work to environmental protection in understaffed parks to Chavez's outright use of military for "teaching in schools, building housing, and running neighborhood food kitchens ."

The lines too easily blur, Isacson says, when the military, whose exceptional and definitive task is the obliteration of an enemy, takes over the role of civilian police.

A number of realities are at play:

-- the threat of foreign aggression has all but disappeared, making armies irrelevant, as Costa Rica eloquently demonstrates,
-- internal insecurity and civil disorder make police, on the other hand, supremely relevant,
-- the civil societies in question (for a variety of reasons) are not meeting other civil needs (besides security) through civil government,
-- the easy and short-sighted solution is to fuse all of these, dumping civil jobs on a military that can't say no, and police jobs on a military that doesn't have to answer to civil judges.

Sound like a familiar Latin American two-step toward military rule? Isacson concludes:

The Costa Rican delegation to the conference was clearly proud of, and satisfied with, the choice their country had made back in 1948. As governments throughout the region become ever more worried about internal crime, and defense from foreign aggression becomes ever less a compelling mission, the Costa Rican model seems to make more and more sense. Why not focus all security resources on improving the police - the institution designed to deal with the crime threat that worries citizens the most?

Needless to say, none of the other militaries present, much less Southern Command, voiced enthusiasm for the Costa Rican model. As far as possible alternatives go, it's still a bit too “non-traditional.”

Making it clear to the world the kind of people you are

The caption from iJET's website: "iJET's Intelligence Operations and Response Center provides clients with 24x7 threat assessments and intelligence for more than 180 countries and 280 cities worldwide."


Most people don't know that three Americans have been held hostage in Colombia for over four years. Here's how the AP reminded us of the contract workers' existence prior to Bush's trip south. The article quotes Bush:

"I'm deeply concerned about their fate," President Bush said in an interview with RCN TV of Colombia on Wednesday, before leaving on a five-nation trip to Latin America.

Addressing FARC, Bush said: "Give up these hostages. You're making it clear to the world the kind of people you are when you take innocent life and hold them hostage. And it's very sad for the families here in America."

You may understand then, perhaps, the existence of such firms as iJET: Intelligent Risk Systems.

iJET is the intelligence wing of the modern mercenary industry. Got big-wigs (or even just "assets" like employees) to send overseas to places like Colombia? iJET will help you keep track of them, warn them about when and where to go, tell them what to do when they get stuck. iJET markets this as MONITOR, PROTECT and RESPOND. (Another "security firm," Osen-Hunter, prefers ACCOUNTABILITY, INTEGRITY, DISCRETION.)

We are truly a commercial intelligence agency supporting you and your employees – "Watching the World, Anticipating the Future".

Sign up for the WPM (right), a Daily Intelligence Briefing, and a Monthly Intelligence Forecast. Save money by consolidating your security. As the website puts it:

The escalation of terrorism, infectious diseases, and unforeseen natural disasters has forced multinational organizations and their employees to re-evaluate their perception of risk.

Want to work for them? Some "Desired Attributes:"

• International travel and expatriate living experience with an understanding of how world events affect international organizations and businesses
• Knowledge of business continuity, emergency management, incident support or corporate security programs
• Familiarity with transportation systems

It's hardly a new idea. One of my favorite used-book finds in Colombia was a little white handbook, one of several in a series called "Executive Crisis Management," written by former British Police from Northern Ireland. This one was called, "Kidnap!" and it had several no-nonsense bullet point lists of things to do and not to do when, as the executive that you are, you are being taken hostage. Suggestion: keep track of your time by making marks on anything you have handy, but not on the wall -- you might be moved at any time.

Together with Osen-Hunter, iJET runs something they call the Alert Traveler Program:

The Alert Traveler Program (ATP) educates individuals through comprehensive and experiential exercises regarding the risks associated with foreign and domestic travel, and provide the knowledge, skills and abilities to reduce these risks.

One of their suggested targets is "Individuals traveling on vacation that seek to increase their travel confidence" -- and I truly wonder: What does the world look like to a person like that?

Bush in Bogota III

So, how did the visit go?


Photo: Héctor Fabio Zamora, El Tiempo

And another summing up, from the voice of the president himself.

See that sharp drop?

click to enlarge

Adam Isacson, of the Center for International Policy, reminds us today in his truly wonderful Plan Colombia and Beyond blog, not to believe reports that US aid to Latin America has doubled under Dubya.

Bush in Bogota II

click on the image while you still can.

Meanwhile, the Colombian foreign office has its knickers all in a twist about a caricature Amnesty International put out just ahead of Bush's visit.

Watch it, and see for yourself if it warrants this response from Minister of Foreign Relations, Fernando Araujo Perdomo:

Deseo expresar mi más profundo rechazo y enérgica protesta por el contenido y publicación de ese video clip, toda vez que constituye un irrespeto a los esfuerzos, sufrimiento y lucha del Gobierno y del pueblo colombianos en su aspiración legítima de alcanzar la paz.

I wish to express my deepest rejection and most energetic protest for the contents and publication of this video clip, which is disrespectful of the efforts, suffering and struggle of our Government and the Colombian people in their legitimate desire for peace.

Amnesty's response a day later.

Bush in Bogota

The sign top right says "Welcome to Bogota"

Dubya is headed south, and Colombian counterpart Uribe does not want anything bad to happen to the man who signs $4 billion cheques each year. Hence the tank roll out, swinging two elite troops up from the guerrilla-controlled southern plains, and preparing 22,000 military police to patrol not just the caravan route, but every corner of this city of 8 million.

Man is this embarrassing.

Leaving nothing to chance (after, say, yesterday's rock-throwing party at the National University: bring a balaklava and some spray paint and a few anti-imperialist slogans), Bogota's government has also decreed several other measures:

• "dry law," usually reserved for election weekends, is already in effect: no alcohol for sale until after W is gone -- then you can celebrate. The supermarkets tend to stretch ticker-tape across the refrigerator with "ley seca" scribbled on it to keep from having to restock. Wouldn't want anyone to be so drunk they accidentally let a bomb go, now would we?
• no back-seat motorcycle driving. Yes, this caught on first in Cali, where assassins were riding so often on the back of motorcycles (in the parrillero position) that a law was passed limiting two-wheeled machines to only one person. (Originally, the law said no two men on the motorcycles, but assassins started to wear wigs and dresses -- nothing better than a skirt for hiding a submachine gun.)
• no ciclovia. Bogota's famed 121 km of closed roadways, celebrated every Sunday and holiday, will not be open this weekend, because America is coming to visit. As a lot of comments on El Tiempo's website point out: what a shame that "Mr. Bush" won't get to be pleasantly surprised by a peaceful city free of car traffic, with hundreds of thousands of people riding their bikes.
• interrupted cell phone service. Some of the 1,086 gringos who requested visas for this trip have been down in Bogota already for several weeks, checking the sewer grates along the airport road (and installing satellite surveillance devices on each), hanging FBI cameras on light posts all along the caravan route, and spotting sniper positions. They are also bringing cell phone jamming technology, which, the government has warned Colombians, is going to make phone calls spotty on Sunday -- too bad for you! Bombers can't just phone it in.
  

National police have confirmed tapping alleged guerrilla communications with "orders for acts that alter the order." A number of workers syndicates are calling for demonstrations on Sunday morning to oppose Bush's presence in Colombia. As long as they aren't riding a bicycle, drinking, trying to call or sitting shotgun on a motorcycle, they don't see why not.

Jamming the shipment

I suppose by now drug seizures in Colombia are so routine they don't even warrant a wire report. After all, yesterday's was a good 500 lbs. short of a ton, and, being camouflaged in a boxes of jam jars, was hardly the world-class deception that resourceful Colombians have dreamed up in the past: a submarine in the Andes, pure-bred puppies, specially-welded steel coils, to name just a few.

Ever since Escobar "crowned" his first trip to the U.S. in the tiny plane he promptly placed over the entrance to his 7,000 acre estate, Hacienda Napoles, it has been catch-as-catch-can on both sides of the misnamed drug war.

What I like about the report in El Tiempo is that the irony spreading thick, if you will, is not lost on the comment-writers.

Hola hola si Amsterdam?? imaginense que tenemos un retardito con la entrega, nos cojieron un cuarto de la merca en puerto pero ya negociamos re-comprar la mitad y lo que falte se lo metemos en el de la proxima semana! PD; gracias por el contacto en Belgica... que gente pa gueler ala!

Hello Amsterdam? There's been a bit of delay on this delivery, they got a quarter of the merch in port but we've already dealt for a buy-back of half and what's missing we'll make it up to you next week! PS thanks for the Belgian contact... they really know how to sniff!

Another comment points out the irony of the coffeeshop-country destination, and adds, "LONG LIVE MARMALADE." This shipment was to go out in a container from Cartagena. One comment asks how many more have already gone , while another simply hurrumphs about the narcotics division of the national police: "WHO BELIEVES THEM?"

In their tone is the explanation of why no U.S. paper will pick up this news item.

The Vatican goes 全球性

Catholic World News reports that the Vatican will be providing Chinese translations of important documents out of the Holy See, as it continues to repair rifts with China.

Fine, but check out the Holy See website! Vatican never had reason to pinch pennies (oh, wait: there's Peter's Pence) and someone splurged on some servers in some room with frescoes, so the Vatican can have flashy intros and virtual tours. Libraries and museums well worth the cyber-visit.

Why hasn't the New Yorker sent Alexander Stille to stalk Antonio Cappella, Superintendent of the data processing and applied technologies section? The Vatican always had one of the original global visions -- fascinating to see how they come slouching toward the web.