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Adam Isacson Profile picture
@adam_wola
Jun 29, 2022 • 8 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
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After about 2 1/2 years, the commander of #Colombia’s army, Gen. Eduardo Zapateiro, is leaving. This is not a bad thing.

elespectador.com/judicial/me-de…

His exit is long overdue. A 7-tweet thread:
Why overdue? I can't speak to the corruption allegations @petrogustavo hints at here, in a recent interview with @estoescambio.

Rather, Gen. Zapateiro has been most problematic because of his public messaging on human rights and civil-military relations.

cambiocolombia.com/articulo/poder…
The General posted this charming tweet, a video of slithering snakes, the day after #Colombia’s transitional justice tribunal concluded that the military killed 6,402 civilians between 2002-2008. Those denouncing “false positives,” you see, were reptiles.

Here’s the General, at one of the most intense moments of #Colombia’s 2021 National Strike, calling the feared ESMAD riot police “heroes in black,” urging them to “keep working as you have been.” The ESMAD were killing and maiming dozens of protesters.

Following a March 2022 raid (colombiapeace.org/what-we-know-a…) in which soldiers likely killed at least 4 non-combatants, the General said, “This isn’t the first operation in which pregnant women and minors get killed.”

When candidate Petro, on Twitter, accused officers of colluding w/ the neo-paramilitary Gulf Clan, the General made a highly irregular foray into electoral politics, reviving an accusation that Petro had taken a cash bribe (charges were dropped in 2021).

Gen. Eduardo Zapateiro sent damaging messages on human rights. His public statements made the armed forces appear improperly aligned with a specific political ideology.

Meanwhile, #Colombia’s insecurity measures worsened, and armed groups proliferated. So no, I won’t miss him.
This thread, as a blog post: adamisacson.com/the-wrong-man-…

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More from @adam_wola

Adam Isacson Profile picture
Sep 2
Lethal force against a civilian vessel in international waters is a war crime if not in self-defense, which this video does not show. Only non-lethal actions, like warning shots or disabling fire, are allowed.

“Being suspected of carrying drugs” doesn't carry a death sentence.
The US military's own standards for these situations are frustratingly vague due to the Standing Rules of Engagement / Use of Force being partially classified.

See Enclosure H here: esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Doc…i. (U) Force will only be used in self-defense unless otherwise directed by the SecDef. The following general guidelines apply: (1) (U) Unit Self-Defense. Unit commanders retain the inherent right and obligation of unit self-defense from a hostile act or demonstrated hostile intent, including defense of other DOD personnel and US LEAs in the vicinity. (2) (U) Use of Force in Self-Defense. The right to use force in self-defense may not be used to justify the substitution of DOD personnel for US or HN law enforcement personnel or for HN military forces on CDrelated deployments acting in a law...
In 2001 Peruvian forces, acting on US-provided intelligence, shot down a planeload of US missionaries over the Amazon.

Bad things happen, often, when forces kill civilians aboard vessels or aircraft without a clear self-defense justification.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Peru…
Read 4 tweets
Adam Isacson Profile picture
Jun 11
What happened at Fort Bragg yesterday is very grave.

Boos and catcalls from uniformed Army personnel responding to Trump's goading have almost no precedent in US history and would be unusual in most of Latin America. (1/9)
Listen to the troops boo the free press as Trump calls reporters “the fake news.” (2/9)
Listen to the soldiers booing former president Joe Biden. (3/9)
Read 9 tweets
Adam Isacson Profile picture
Dec 13, 2024
I'm not a big Biden defender either. But we need to address this notion that Biden somehow swung the door open to migrants.

He kept in place the harshest ban on asylum ever: Title 42. It just didn't deter a migrant population that changed dramatically. 1/15
During Donald Trump’s term, 90+% of migrants were from Mexico and Central America (blue, green, brown, yellow). If you were a migrant from those countries, your probability of being released into the US after apprehension didn’t change much after Biden’s inauguration. 2/15 Image
(An exception is unaccompanied children from Central America: Biden stopped Trump’s practice of expelling them, alone, back into their countries regardless of protection needs. The moral argument for doing that is self-evident, and it didn’t move the needle much overall.) 3/15
Read 17 tweets
Adam Isacson Profile picture
Aug 6, 2024
Tim Walz, not a foreign policy guy, didn't have a deep record on Latin America as a member of Congress. But he voted against the #Colombia and #Peru free trade agreements, and co-sponsored a 2009 resolution condemning the coup in #Honduras.
Colombia vote:

Peru vote:

Honduras sponsors: clerk.house.gov/Votes/2011781?…
congress.gov/congressional-…
congress.gov/bill/111th-con…
Walz was also a co-sponsor of the Latin America Military Training Review Act (H.R. 2567, 2009 - )congress.gov/bill/111th-con…
Read 4 tweets
Adam Isacson Profile picture
Dec 19, 2022
It's so perplexing that people are convinced that Title 42 slowed migration, and that its lifting will be a major change.

Here's what happened to single-adult migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border after Title 42 went into effect.
Title 42 did not similarly increase child and family migration over what came before. But it didn't reduce it, either.
The 4 countries whose citizens could be expelled across the land border into Mexico? Title 42 slowed growth in their migration, though it remained high. But citizens of all other countries surpassed them since last summer.
Read 9 tweets
Adam Isacson Profile picture
Jun 29, 2022
In the Cancún #Mexico airport, @INAMI_mx agents pulled prominent #Colombia journalist @SebastianForerr aside and prevented him from entering the country.

A plainclothes US @CBP officer was right there with the Mexican agents. He canceled Forero’s valid US visa with black marker:
So next time you hear @lopezobrador_ go on about #Mexico's sovereignty and US imperialism, recall that his government has invited US agents into Mexico's international airports to screen passengers.
This part 1/2:

"The curious thing is that, alongside the INM agents was another official, of US origin, dressed in civilian clothes, who also reviewed documents, asked questions, and checked travelers' cell phones: their WhatsApp, their Facebook profiles, their photo albums."
Read 4 tweets

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