Democrats cool to Colombian President Uribe

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Fri, May. 04, 2007
Democrats cool to Colombian President Uribe
By PABLO BACHELET
[e-mail]

~snip~
At one event on Tuesday, Uribe faced street protests against the massive displacement of Afro-Colombians by Colombia's civil war, the killings by paramilitary groups and especially the slaying of hundreds of union activists.

Later that day, witnesses said, Uribe unleashed a tirade against José Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director for Human Rights Watch, at a dinner hosted by Sens. Mel Martinez, the Florida Republican, and Ken Salazar, the Colorado Democrat.

At the event, Vivanco disputed some indicators used by the Colombian government to point to the success of Uribe policies, said several witnesses who did not want to be named because the event was off-the-record.

As Vivanco spoke, Uribe became visibly upset and fidgety, the witnesses said. Uribe then unleashed a long and emotional rebuttal, accusing the Chilean-born activist of failing to recognize his government's achievements, like putting more paramilitary leaders in jail than any of his predecessors.

One witness said Uribe called Vivanco ''a liar'' and said: ''In my country, many view you as close to the FARC,'' referring to the country's largest leftist guerrilla group.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/96492.html

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Uribe's visit to _Bush ranch.

[mitchtv]

1. I notice *'s butt boy walking 3 paces behind

like a good boy

[Judi Lynn]

2. Gotta give him credit for knowing his place! He may have already seen this evidence

of what happens to someone who tries to walk IN FRONT of our fine pResident!

[Judi Lynn]

3. Colombia's Uribe ends Washington visit with fate of free trade agreement still uncertain

Colombia's Uribe ends Washington visit with fate of free trade agreement still uncertain
The Associated Press
Published: May 4, 2007

WASHINGTON: Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ended a three-day visit Friday still uncertain whether he can overcome U.S. congressional opposition to a proposed free trade agreement his government negotiated with the Bush administration.

His visit included talks with the speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and members of the committee responsible for dealing with trade legislation. Democrats on the committee, including the chairman, Rep. Charles Rangel, questioned Uribe closely about continuing violence in Colombia and the overall human rights situation there.

The president also met with Sen. Harry Reid, leader of the Senate's Democratic majority, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Democratic Appropriations Committee chairman, Patrick Leahy. Uribe met Wednesday with President George W. Bush.

Leahy, displeased by reports of continuing collaboration between the Colombian military and rightist paramilitary groups, has blocked the release of $55 million (€40.6 million) in military aid for Colombia.

Uribe wound up his visit with a news conference Friday but brushed aside questions about his discussions in Congress. He is expected to make a return visit to Washington in June to continue his campaign for approval of the free trade agreement.

More:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/04/america/NA-GEN-US-Colombia.php

[MasonJar]

4. Is that really a picture of Bush's ranch? In Kentucky we have bluegrass

covering the soil. I guess he is what's known as a "dirt farmer."

[Judi Lynn]

5. Mr Uribe goes to Washington

Mr Uribe goes to Washington
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe visits Bush, but doesn't say anything meaningful about the paramilitary murderers that terrorise his country.
Daniel Bland

May 4, 2007 9:15 PM |
When Colombian President Alvaro Uribe sat down with President Bush on May 2 in Washington, he reiterated his resolve to cut the flow of illegal drugs from Colombia and spoke of his generosity to members of the AUC, the Colombian rightwing paramilitary groups that are negotiating their demobilization with his government.

What Uribe did not say was that the AUC - an umbrella group of a dozen regional paramilitary armies that has been on the US list of foreign terrorist organizations since 2001 - has complied with none of the preconditions he set for engaging them in negotiations. Colombia's worst human rights abusers have continued to murder and 'disappear' unarmed civilians by the thousands since beginning peace talks in July, 2003.

Nor did he comment on the April 24 front page headline in El Tiempo, Colombia's largest newspaper: "Colombia searches for 10,000 bodies". The paper ran a six-page special feature that day on the search for paramilitary victims and the kind of individuals Uribe's generosity is intended to benefit. The testimony of one paramilitary soldier, Francisco Villalba, shocked even veteran forensic investigators. Recruited into paramilitary ranks when he was 16, Villalba says he was sent to a clandestine training camp on a farm in northern Colombia in 1994. There, he received special training in how to decapitate and dismember victims. "They were older peasants mostly, men and women we'd pick up in different villages." After several days shut in windowless rooms on the farm, they would be taken out, hands tied behind their backs, and the training would commence. "They told us to cut off their arms and heads first and cut them into pieces alive," Villalba told reporters last month in Bogotá. Villalba says paramilitaries buried more than 400 bodies on that one farm. Human rights monitor groups believe there are between 10,000 and 30,000 bodies buried in unmarked graves throughout the Colombian countryside. Villalba surrendered to authorities in 2003, saying the faces of his victims haunt him at night and have made his life unbearable.
(snip)

The paramilitary negotiation process in Colombia is a sham. None of those responsible for crimes against humanity have been convicted of any crimes, not even those like Villalba who have confessed to horrendous atrocities. Paramilitaries continue to control over half of Colombia's $3.5bn drug trade. During the past eighteen months, demobilized paras have begun to re-arm and continue to strengthen regional alliances with the most ruthless sectors of Colombia's drug mafias. They have committed thousands of atrocities and crimes against humanity and are now laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug profits. Uribe and Bush might not have touched on these points during their meeting last week. But the rest of us have the right to know what is really going on in Colombia.

More:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/daniel_bland/2007/05/mr_uribe_goes_to_washington.html

[Judi Lynn]

6. Colombian Paramilitaries’ Power Threatens Democracy

Saturday, May 05 2007 @ 06:27 PM EDT
Colombian Paramilitaries’ Power Threatens Democracy
Wednesday, May 02 2007 @ 09:15 PM EDT

Compiled by Kandy Ringer
Paramilitaries Pose Grave Threat to Rule of Law in Columbia

HRW via BBSNews - New York, May 2, 2007 -- Colombian paramilitaries pose a grave threat to Colombia’s democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today to Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, wrote in reply to a letter from Uribe expressing concern over Human Rights Watch’s April 24 testimony before the US Congress on the human rights situation in Colombia.

Uribe is currently in the United States seeking congressional support for a Free Trade Agreement and extension of military assistance through Plan Colombia. His administration is embroiled in major scandals concerning the influence of drug-running paramilitaries at some of the highest levels of government.

Human Rights Watch called on Uribe to ensure that communications between imprisoned paramilitary leaders and their mafias were blocked, and to extradite to the United States those commanders who fail to turn over assets and cease their criminal activities.

http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20070502211507178