concerned
8th August 2002, 03:07
Bombs Rock Colombian Capital; At Least 12 Killed
BOGOTA, Colombia — Huge explosions rocked the area around Colombia's parliament and presidential palace Wednesday as hard-liner Alvaro Uribe was sworn in as president of this troubled country. At least 12 people were killed and 28 wounded, police said.
Three blasts went off several blocks from parliament as Uribe entered the building to take the oath of office from Senate leader Luis Alfredo Ramos. Uribe has vowed to wipe out rebels who have been fighting Colombian governments for 38 years.
At least one explosion also went off adjacent to the nearby presidential palace, wounding a policeman, who staggered bloodied from the scene. The blast chipped the stone wall of the palace and blew out windows.
Police said 12 people were killed and 28 wounded in a total of six explosions. But Alfonso Cuevas, chief of the pathologist's office, said 16 people died, including several children. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the numbers.
Uribe did not mention the explosions in his inaugural address.
"The world must understand that this conflict needs unconventional, transparent and imaginative solutions," the new president said.
Ramos said Uribe was "serene" when informed of the attacks.
Government warplanes were seen streaking above the capital after the blasts.
Witnesses reported seeing 10 dead bodies in the street and in a demolished shack in the poor Cartucho neighborhood, five blocks from parliament. The attorney general's office also said at least two other people died in the explosion closer to parliament.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts. However, members of the country's main rebel group, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, often use inaccurate homemade mortars in their attacks.
"The FARC did this, but Uribe is going to make them sorry. They will pay," said Maria Luz Valenzuela, whose home was rattled by the blasts.
Concerned about a rebel assassination attempt, Uribe had forgone the traditional outdoor ceremony in Bogota's colonial central plaza and moved the swearing in to the parliament building.
Army troops quickly sealed off the Cartucho neighborhood after the explosions. The government has been tearing down shanties in Cartucho in recent months as part of an urban renewal program, and resentment against authorities has been running high. Some residents threw rocks at the soldiers, while others wept.
"There's no escaping poverty or violence," said a man who identified himself only as Jose. A woman standing next to him sobbed, saying her husband had died in the blasts.
Troops had patrolled the streets and combat helicopters thundered overhead during the inauguration.
Hours earlier, small bombs exploded in several neighborhoods of the capital, slightly injuring six people and blowing out windows and chunks of sidewalk. No one immediately claimed responsibility.
In the countryside, suspected rebels fired homemade mortars at a military base, but instead hit 20 houses and a school, which were heavily damaged, the army said. There was no immediate word of casualties in the attack near Yopal, 130 miles northeast of Bogota.
Amid unconfirmed police reports that rebels had planned to crash a plane into parliament, Bogota's airspace was closed and an American P3 plane staffed with U.S. Customs Service and Colombian air force personnel patrolled overhead.
The White House had no immediate comment on the explosions, but spokesman Sean McCormack said members of the U.S. delegation at the inauguration were not harmed.
The presidents of Panama, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and Honduras also attended and were not hurt, officials said.
Hopes were high that Uribe can end the war that has sapped the potential of Colombia, a gateway between Central and South America that is a three-hour flight from Miami.
At 50, Uribe has worked in government for half his life. A lawyer with degrees from Harvard and Oxford, he served two terms in the Senate, was mayor of his native Medellin, director of Colombia's civil aviation authority and governor of violence-ravaged Antioquia state.
Uribe inherits the decades-old war with rebels, violence that kills some 3,500 people every year. The war pits the leftist FARC against an outlawed right-wing paramilitary group and the government.
Uribe's father was shot to death during an apparent rebel kidnapping attempt in 1983. The new president has been the target of more than a half dozen assassination attempts, including a deadly attack on his motorcade during the election campaign.
But he insists that his stance against the rebels is not motivated by revenge, and pledges to be equally tough against right-wing militias and drug traffickers. He's also promised to take on government corruption and reform the tax code.
Uribe, a workaholic and teetotaler, warned in a radio interview Wednesday that he cannot perform miracles.
"To the Colombians I say: Expect action every day, but not miraculous results."
Uribe had planned immediately after being sworn in to propose a referendum to almost halve the number of lawmakers and merge the two houses of parliament .
The frontal attack on the entrenched political class could provoke a pitched battle with the same congress he needs to support his other reforms.
Uribe says the reforms will cut back on government waste and allow more money to be diverted to fighting the war. He's also hoping to secure more funding from the United States, which in the past two years gave Colombia $1.7 billion, mostly in military aid.
His term in Medellin coincided with the reign of drug king Pablo Escobar, and Uribe has been dogged by allegations he was tied to drug traffickers. He denies it, saying his family's ties to the Ochoa family, many of whom were important lieutenants in Escobar's Medellin Cartel, are based on a love of expensive horses, not drug running.
Uribe enjoys broad support from the White House, which sent a delegation that included Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and U.S. drug czar John Walters.
"He understands that security means eliminating the extremes on the left and the right and eliminating the drugs that fund those organizations," Walters said.
Uribe's predecessor, Andres Pastrana, tried for three years to negotiate a peace with the FARC. The talks broke down in February without achieving substantial results.
From:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,59845,00.html
BOGOTA, Colombia — Huge explosions rocked the area around Colombia's parliament and presidential palace Wednesday as hard-liner Alvaro Uribe was sworn in as president of this troubled country. At least 12 people were killed and 28 wounded, police said.
Three blasts went off several blocks from parliament as Uribe entered the building to take the oath of office from Senate leader Luis Alfredo Ramos. Uribe has vowed to wipe out rebels who have been fighting Colombian governments for 38 years.
At least one explosion also went off adjacent to the nearby presidential palace, wounding a policeman, who staggered bloodied from the scene. The blast chipped the stone wall of the palace and blew out windows.
Police said 12 people were killed and 28 wounded in a total of six explosions. But Alfonso Cuevas, chief of the pathologist's office, said 16 people died, including several children. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the numbers.
Uribe did not mention the explosions in his inaugural address.
"The world must understand that this conflict needs unconventional, transparent and imaginative solutions," the new president said.
Ramos said Uribe was "serene" when informed of the attacks.
Government warplanes were seen streaking above the capital after the blasts.
Witnesses reported seeing 10 dead bodies in the street and in a demolished shack in the poor Cartucho neighborhood, five blocks from parliament. The attorney general's office also said at least two other people died in the explosion closer to parliament.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts. However, members of the country's main rebel group, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, often use inaccurate homemade mortars in their attacks.
"The FARC did this, but Uribe is going to make them sorry. They will pay," said Maria Luz Valenzuela, whose home was rattled by the blasts.
Concerned about a rebel assassination attempt, Uribe had forgone the traditional outdoor ceremony in Bogota's colonial central plaza and moved the swearing in to the parliament building.
Army troops quickly sealed off the Cartucho neighborhood after the explosions. The government has been tearing down shanties in Cartucho in recent months as part of an urban renewal program, and resentment against authorities has been running high. Some residents threw rocks at the soldiers, while others wept.
"There's no escaping poverty or violence," said a man who identified himself only as Jose. A woman standing next to him sobbed, saying her husband had died in the blasts.
Troops had patrolled the streets and combat helicopters thundered overhead during the inauguration.
Hours earlier, small bombs exploded in several neighborhoods of the capital, slightly injuring six people and blowing out windows and chunks of sidewalk. No one immediately claimed responsibility.
In the countryside, suspected rebels fired homemade mortars at a military base, but instead hit 20 houses and a school, which were heavily damaged, the army said. There was no immediate word of casualties in the attack near Yopal, 130 miles northeast of Bogota.
Amid unconfirmed police reports that rebels had planned to crash a plane into parliament, Bogota's airspace was closed and an American P3 plane staffed with U.S. Customs Service and Colombian air force personnel patrolled overhead.
The White House had no immediate comment on the explosions, but spokesman Sean McCormack said members of the U.S. delegation at the inauguration were not harmed.
The presidents of Panama, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and Honduras also attended and were not hurt, officials said.
Hopes were high that Uribe can end the war that has sapped the potential of Colombia, a gateway between Central and South America that is a three-hour flight from Miami.
At 50, Uribe has worked in government for half his life. A lawyer with degrees from Harvard and Oxford, he served two terms in the Senate, was mayor of his native Medellin, director of Colombia's civil aviation authority and governor of violence-ravaged Antioquia state.
Uribe inherits the decades-old war with rebels, violence that kills some 3,500 people every year. The war pits the leftist FARC against an outlawed right-wing paramilitary group and the government.
Uribe's father was shot to death during an apparent rebel kidnapping attempt in 1983. The new president has been the target of more than a half dozen assassination attempts, including a deadly attack on his motorcade during the election campaign.
But he insists that his stance against the rebels is not motivated by revenge, and pledges to be equally tough against right-wing militias and drug traffickers. He's also promised to take on government corruption and reform the tax code.
Uribe, a workaholic and teetotaler, warned in a radio interview Wednesday that he cannot perform miracles.
"To the Colombians I say: Expect action every day, but not miraculous results."
Uribe had planned immediately after being sworn in to propose a referendum to almost halve the number of lawmakers and merge the two houses of parliament .
The frontal attack on the entrenched political class could provoke a pitched battle with the same congress he needs to support his other reforms.
Uribe says the reforms will cut back on government waste and allow more money to be diverted to fighting the war. He's also hoping to secure more funding from the United States, which in the past two years gave Colombia $1.7 billion, mostly in military aid.
His term in Medellin coincided with the reign of drug king Pablo Escobar, and Uribe has been dogged by allegations he was tied to drug traffickers. He denies it, saying his family's ties to the Ochoa family, many of whom were important lieutenants in Escobar's Medellin Cartel, are based on a love of expensive horses, not drug running.
Uribe enjoys broad support from the White House, which sent a delegation that included Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and U.S. drug czar John Walters.
"He understands that security means eliminating the extremes on the left and the right and eliminating the drugs that fund those organizations," Walters said.
Uribe's predecessor, Andres Pastrana, tried for three years to negotiate a peace with the FARC. The talks broke down in February without achieving substantial results.
From:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,59845,00.html