Uribe

The Sudan? No.

The Congo. Wrong again.

How about . . . Colombia.

As a result of more than 40 years of conflict, it is estimated that as many as 3.9 million people – mostly indigenous men, women and children – have been displaced by the conflict in Colombia.  As has been noted on this blog on many previous occasions, the conflicts between the government and its paramilitary supporters, rebel groups and the drug cartels have resulted in a dramatic impact on this nation of 45 million people.

The disparity between the U.S. response to Colombia and the Sudan couldn’t be greater. With respect to the Sudan, the Bush Administration has imposed sanctions on the country, banned investment by U.S. companies and has been critical of the Khartoum government and its treatment of its citizens in the Darfur region.

In Colombia, the U.S. government has pumped billions of dollars in the form of aid to fight cocaine production and exportation into the U.S. The U.S. military and the CIA have provided support to the Colombian government and its military in order to stem the flow of drugs. This has occurred at a time when other countries in Latin America have taken anti-U.S. positions on a range of issues. The surrounding nations of Venezuela, Brazil and Bolivia have all been critical of American foreign policy. Colombia stands as a shining example of what money can buy in the region.

Unfortunately, this comes with a price for the U.S. The Bush Administration continues to overlook the humanitarian crisis, the mass murder of union officials and workers, and an ultra conservative Colombian government in league with paramilitaries committing atrocities almost daily.

The problems facing Colombia’s citizens are noted in one local news site today:

Colombia’s security forces are still violating human rights, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos admitted Monday, “but we are in the process of improving and resolving,” he told United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay.

Remains of nine of the cafeteria workers at the Palace of Justice drama that disappeared after the army stormed the building to end a guerrilla occupation are in a laboratory of the National University in Bogotá, retired army colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega said Monday.

Colombian president Álvaro Uribe said Friday the scandal involving an intelligence investigation into an opposition senator may be a set up to harm the government’s ‘Democratic Security’ policy.

One person died and three were left injured after a grenade exploded Monday inside a warehouse in Cali. Police arrested a 17-year old suspect.

The U.S. led war on drugs has proven to be ineffective at best. However, like many government programs, admitting failure to the tune of billions of dollars is unpalatable for elected officials. Instead the U.S. government continues to put “lipstick on the pig” by suggesting that this is all part of the war on terror, something that the American people can accept.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that  “Colombian authorities said on Tuesday that they had broken up a drug and money-laundering ring in an international operation that included the capture of three people suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah guerrillas.” Their proof? The arrest of three men with Arab names.  As recently as July of this year, John McCain has stated to the Times that “[w]e have a long way to go to stem the flow of drugs into the United States of America,” but “the progress that I’ve seen since previous visits here has been substantial and positive.”

In the meantime, almost 1 in 10 Colombians are displaced refugees in their own country and not a person inside the Bush Administration has said a word.

Popularity: 10% [?]

As noted in a previous post, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will be visiting Washington DC next week for a media and Congressional blitz in a last ditch effort to gain approval of the Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. It is unclear if he will succeed in his efforts. However, I believe that it is useful for readers of this blog to learn about some of the facts and myths associated with this important debate.

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Popularity: 14% [?]

It has been reported that Colombia President Alvaro Uribe will be in Washington DC on September 9th to do a tour of Congress and meet with the media to make his case for the Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This will then be followed by a visit in New York for a meeting of the United nations later in the month.

According to Colombia Reports, this will be a last ditch effort by the Colombian President to secure Congressional support for the deal. However, this comes on the tail of yet another trade unionist killing in Colombia in recent days.

Labor leaders in both the U.S. and Colombia continue to resist efforts to secure the bi-lateral trade deal between the countries, believing that a completed deal will open up the flood gates of paramilitary killings of labor officials and workers attempting to seek collective bargaining rights in the workplace in the Latin American country. In addition, critics of the proposed trade deal point to the failure of the Uribe administration to bring paramilitary leaders and soldiers to justice for the decades long killing sprees.

On a related note, Dan Kovalik, writing for the Huffington Post noted what the Colombian press has been reporting that the Uribe administration has falsely claimed that former President Jimmy Carter has endorsed the FTA.

“PC [President Carter] has not yet adopted a public position. Uribe met with him during his recent visit to Atlanta. The media made its own interpretation. The Carter Center information office issued a clarification but it has not have [sic.] the same impact.”

This suggests that the Uribe administration’s apparently despirate attempts to gain passage of the FTA are unbound.   

Popularity: 12% [?]

It’s August here in Washington during a presidential election year. Not much is getting accomplished. Zip, nada.

However, quivering in the empty halls of Congress is the Colombia-U.S. Free trade Agreement, full of hope for passage, its anxious parents in Bogota and Washington twisting arms like an angry mom at a kids soccer game. “Let him play coach. Let him play!” But Johnny, or perhaps we should call him Juanito, has been a very bad boy. Like the kid who plays too rough on the field, tripping other players, going out of bounds and denying any foul, Colombia wants to play but certainly doesn’t deserve the opportunity. [click to continue...]

Popularity: 11% [?]

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.

Popularity: 8% [?]