Investigation to open against Colombia's ambassador to Peru for 'parapolitics'

[Judi Lynn]

Investigation to open against Colombia's ambassador to Peru for 'parapolitics'
Monday, 18 April 2011 15:47
Ben Hockman

The Prosecutor General's Office is to investigate Jorge Visbal Martelo, Colombia's ambassador to Peru, for his alleged ties to paramilitary groups, El Espectador newspaper reported Monday.

The investigation is to be launched following the testimony of demobilized paramilitary John Jairo Sanchez, alias "Centella," who claimed that Visbal was involved in a 2004 meeting with paramilitaries in which he attempted to enlist their support for the re-election of then President Alvaro Uribe to his second term in office.

According to Centella, Visbal, who was a senator at the time, organized a meeting with now extradited paramilitary commander Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias "Jorge 40," in an attempt to secure the support of the AUC's Northern Bloc for Uribe's re-election.

~snip~
El Espectador also reports that statements made by another demobilized paramilitary, Rodolfo Useda Castaño, alias "Julio Castano," allege a number of other similar meetings took place in the southwest department of Nariño, in which politicians sought political collaboration from paramilitary groups.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15679-investigation-to-open-against-colombias-ambassador-to-peru-for-parapolitics.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. We've got to wonder, also, what this death squad-tied Colombian ambassador was doing in PERU.

Peru is now at a cross-roads, with the emergence of leftist Ollanta Humala as the front-runner in Peru's presidential race. Peru's poor majority has been ravaged by Bushwhack-designed U.S. "free trade for the rich." Peru's resources are being plundered by transglobal corporations. And it has been run by the very corrupt, U.S.-(corporate)-friendly Alan Garcia crowd for too long.

In addition, Peru now has countries with leftist governments on most of its borders, most notably, Bolivia, where the Indigenous majority is now in political ascendance--what must be quite an inspiration to Peru's Indigenous and to its poor majority as a whole. The leftist-run countries of South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil--on Peru's borders--as well as Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) are allied with each other in very strong ways, with common goals of social justice and national and regional sovereignty. It's time for Peru to join this alliance. This will benefit the majority of Peruvians and greatly strengthen Peru as a country and as a society.

South American unity is something that the U.S. desperately wants to sabotage and destroy, because what it means is a "level playing field" which does not favor U.S. transglobal corporations, and it means the region using its collective clout to fend off U.S. meddling, as well as collaborating with each other on social justice and development goals. So holding on to a U.S. client state--Peru--in the midst of this leftist tide is a high U.S. priority.

We have seen U.S. client states--and particularly Colombia--used to try to disturb the peace and unity of the region. And we saw the Bushwhacks ally with violent white separatists in Bolivia. The Bushwhacks were organizing and funding fascist elements throughout the region--and the Obama administration may still be doing so (if their policy in Honduras is any guide). It would surprise me not at all if this death squad-tied Colombian ambassador were collaborating with the CIA in Peru--on spying, on disruptive activities, on propaganda and on coup planning (should Humala win and not bend over enough for U.S. corporate interests).

U.S. war profiteers' interest in the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs" is also at risk if Humala wins and this interest is quite directly tied to Colombia--the recipient of $7 BILLION in U.S. military aid--allegedly to stop cocaine trafficking, which miraculously survives and thrives despite all this militarism and death and U.S. taxpayer money. Peru's fascists and militarists also get lots of bucks from U.S. taxpayers for this phony war--minus the chunks taken by U.S. war profiteers (arms and military/police hardware manufacturers, chemical corps that make pesticides and private contractors of every kind). Bolivia threw the DEA out of Bolivia (along with the U.S. ambassador) for collaborating with the white separatists (the DEA! --think about it). Ecuador threw a U.S. embassy attache out of Ecuador for trying to meddle with the police force, using the "war on drugs" as the excuse, and has had to do a couple of purges of U.S. agents from the Ecuadoran police and military. They also just threw the U.S. ambassador out for slandering a police chief (probably because he wasn't cooperating with U.S. infiltration of the police) in a Wikileaks cable.

These leftist governments are not friendly toward the U.S. militarization of their societies and are strongly resisting the kind of U.S. meddling that the U.S. "war on drugs" was designed to facilitate. A Colombian operative in Peru--such as this death squad-tied ambassador--could well be involved with the U.S. in this way as well--attending to U.S. war profiteer interests in Peru and on the take from the favored drug barons, as the fascists are in Colombia--in fact, they ARE the drug barons. And of course one of their top priorities in 2004 was to see that one of their mafia bosses--Alvaro Uribe--became president and thus gained control over the security apparatus of the Colombian government and its military. Imagine their joy at getting $7 BILLION and U.S. assistance in spying on judges, prosecutors, trade unionists, human rights groups, political leftists, peasant farmers and others, being able to blow unfavored and rival drug operations away with U.S. weaponry, intelligence and cooperation, having a "license to kill" anybody in their way and being quite free to rob 5 MILLION peasant farmers of their lands!

As I said, Peru is at a crossroads. Is it going to become Colombia? Or is it going to create a progressive, democratic future, in alliance with the larger leftist movement in South America?

The Colombian prosecutors' investigation of Jorge Visbal Martelo is right in the middle of this swiftly changing political scene in Peru, and right in the middle of questions about Bush Junta crimes in Colombia with Alvaro Uribe and his criminal government as their tool. These include how Uribe got installed as president, how he got his second term, possible U.S. collusion with his illegal domestic spying, possible U.S. military or U.S. military 'contractor' involvement in death squad activity and Bush Cartel and/or CIA involvement in cocaine trafficking--and also the Obama administration's protection of Uribe and cover up of quite probable Bush Junta crimes.

I applaud the Colombian prosecutors for persisting, in spite of all the obstacles that the Obama administration has thrown in their way, and in spite of they themselves being the victims of fascist death threats. The Obama administration has actively blockaded several of their paths to an investigation of Uribe himself. Their investigation of Jorge Visbal Martelo might open a new path to that end. And it's possible that this may be what's behind the hints, of late, that the Obama administration may be trying to get some distance from Uribe. Including Uribe in whatever "deal" they made with the Bush Junta, about prosecution for war crimes, may be costing them too much in their relations with South America.

One of the hints is that their guy, Manuel Santos, in Colombia, is quite dramatically distancing himself from Uribe--recently, in a public spat about Uribe's crazy accusations against Chavez/Venezuela on "harboring" FARC guerrillas. Santos flatly contradicted him. This likely could not have happened without U.S. agreement (unless it's all kabuki theater--a possibility). Also, Santos/Chavez cooperation on border security has unearthed the evidence of Uribe-tied Colombian death squads operating in Venezuelan border states. Uribe's accusations were likely just flak, to cover this up. These "Black Eagles" with ties to Uribe (and his spying apparatus) could well, in turn, have ties to the U.S., and if such ties emerge, then the Obama administration had better not be perceived as Uribe's protector and coddler. Similarly, what Jorge Visbal Martelo knows about Uribe's stolen elections and other crimes may put the Obama administration in a very bad light, as Uribe's protector. Uribe is so filthy that they can't stamp out every fire. And Uribe leads to Bush & co.

[Judi Lynn]

2. While reading your comments, I remembered that Operation Condor, which spanned S. America

and reached far beyond, although seeming to operate from Pinochet's Chile was supervised from Washington, and that was during the time _{George H. W. Bush} was at the head of the C.I.A.

It would stand to reason that incredible power would NEVER be relinguished, even after it was discovered, and globally condemned.

It IS amazing there are people in Colombia left who dare to take on the force of their right-wing in investigations, considering the unbelievable threat posed by their right-wing underworld, which has tentacles throughout the government and dthe military, not to mention the professional brutally vicious criminal class notorious for its unfathomable, sadistic torture of helpless people, and mass murders.