While the press marvels at the success by the Colombian authorities in freeing Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages last week, a lesser event in Colombia goes barely noticed.
As noted on the IPS site on Saturday:
At the same time that Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was welcoming U.S. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain in the north of the country, the Supreme Court issued a communiqué calling on the government to “respect and obey the decisions” of the courts.
It was the Supreme Court’s response to Uribe’s frontal attack on Jun. 26, when he announced a referendum to settle the Court’s legal challenge to the constitutional reform that allowed Uribe to be reelected to a second consecutive term in 2006.
“Any undue interference fractures and unhinges the democratic rule of law in society,” said the Supreme Court judges, who made no reference in their message to the referendum.
The verdict that upset Uribe had ruled that “the initiative to amend the constitution was flawed by criminal acts,” and therefore the Constitutional Court would have to review the decision by which it was approved.the 2006 reelection of Uribe invalid, he and Vice President Francisco Santos would have to resign, and the government of Colombia would be headed temporarily by the president of the Senate, renewed at the end of June, analysts concur. If it reverses its previous decision and declares the 2006 reelection of Uribe invalid, he and Vice President Francisco Santos would have to resign, and the government of Colombia would be headed temporarily by the president of the Senate, renewed at the end of June, analysts concur.
If it reverses its previous decision and declares the 2006 reelection of Uribe invalid, he and Vice President Francisco Santos would have to resign, and the government of Colombia would be headed temporarily by the president of the Senate, renewed at the end of June, analysts concur.
“A repetition of the elections could not be called, but rather new elections without the possibility of consecutive reelection would be held, which would preclude Uribe from standing,” according to former minister Camilo Gonzalez Posso, the head of the Institute of Development and Peace Studies (INDEPAZ).
Like too many other governments around the world, Uribe and his coherts believe that they are above the law. All things great will be placed in jeopardy if they are no longer in control. Only by forcing fundamental changes in the country’s constitution can they maintain some measure of legitimacy. The world is watching and they have to make sure that the deck chairs are in their proper place.
In the mean time, the death toll for trade unionists in Colombia continue to climb in 2008. The number killed is now at 28 murdered.
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