Third Colombian Cabinet Minister Resigns

[DUreader]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3376876,00.html

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's housing and
environment minister stepped down Tuesday,
becoming the third member of President Alvaro
Uribe's Cabinet forced out in a week.

Cecilia Rodriguez announced her resignation in a
brief letter to Uribe. ``I am proud to have
belonged to your government, which is giving
Colombia hope,'' she wrote. Rodriguez gave no
explanation for her departure.

Her decision came just days after Uribe replaced
the interior and justice minister and the defense
minister in an abrupt Cabinet shake-up as he
struggles to build support in congress for
sweeping reforms.

The president's office said Uribe accepted
Rodriguez's resignation, and named Sandra
Suarez, who used to run the U.S.-sponsored Plan
Colombia to fight drug trafficking and the illegal
armed groups that control the trade, to take her
place.


snip

[Say_What]

1. Replaced with the person who used to run Plan Colombia!

Guess that doesn't surprise me. The other two replacement have very little experience and my guess is that they're nothing more than US shills. We had a little discussion about what's been happening down there earlier today.

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=213079>

[Say_What]

2. Colombia's Police Commander Resigns

Someone from Colombia who posts to another board said a few days ago that, though he thought it was gossip, there were rumors in Colombia of a coup a few weeks ago. All these resignations makes one curious about just what *is* going on down there.


<clips>

BOGOTA, Colombia, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The commander of Colombia's U.S.-backed police force, which spearheads the country's war on cocaine and has been rocked by corruption scandals, resigned on Tuesday amid an anti-corruption shake-up, the government said.

Four other top generals of the National Police, which has been a principal beneficiary of more than $2 billion in U.S. military aid in recent years, were removed from their posts. "The message the president wants to send is that he is not going to tolerate corruption in any state institution," a senior government spokesman said.

President Alvaro Uribe, a strong supporter of Washington's war on drugs, accepted the resignation of Gen. Teodoro Campo as head of the police force. In his place, Uribe named Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro, the former police commander of the capital Bogota, government spokesman Ricardo Galan said.

The shake-up comes after Colombia's Defense Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez, who oversaw a military buildup against leftist rebels, resigned on Sunday amid mounting pressure from top generals angry at her management style and efforts to root out corruption.

<http://www.borsaitalia.it/fwa-cgi-bin/news.pl?id=1068597583nN11378527&tit=UPDATE%201-Colombia>

[DUreader]

3. Thanks for the update

interesting times