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McCain wants Obama to Visit Columbia. Ok, Let's talk about Columbia (and John McCain)
Author: Raine    Date: 07/28/2008 07:34:36

In the Beginning of July , John McCain traveled to Columbia (the country). His purpose, according to reports, was to talk about illegal drugs and the promotion of CAFTA. While he was there, he met with cabinet members and business leaders... Most importantly, he met with President Uribe, (who came to power in 2002) allegedly to talk about the country's Human Rights record. Source

I mention this because yesterday, capt, a member of our blog, brought to light an interesting snippet from HuffPo. It was a CNN segment where a McCain representative suggested that Obama should visit other places that McCain has been, in particular, Columbia, South America. I quote "In fact, [Obama's] never met with President Uribe in Colombia, as John McCain has." This caught my eye. Many people focused a lot on Columbia that week early in July because John McCain's visit coincided with the release of 5 hostages (3 of which were Americans) after five years of FARC captivity. I will preface the rest of this with an opinion: FARC is not a nice group. This is not about FARC. FARC has been been trying to overthrow Columbia for quite some time. However... President Uribe is not someone we should be associating with, in my opinion. I hope you follow me here, because this gets interesting. Let's focus on the President of Columbia, the man that John McCain traveled to see, the man he wants to do business with, the man he NOW thinks Barack Obama should go visit. From Justice For Columbia, A human rights group based in London:
Uribe has worked for the Medellin Cartel and is a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar. He has participated in Escobar's political campaign…."

Perhaps unsurprisingly due to the links between the drugs traffickers and the paramilitaries Uribe also grew closer to those involved in the AUC paramilitary alliance. During his period as Governor of Antioquia, Uribe openly supported and financed local vigilante groups known as CONVIVIR. According to Human Rights Watch many CONVIVIR groups "were directed by known paramilitaries" whilst others "threatened to assassinate Colombians that were considered as guerrilla sympathizers of which rejected joining the [CONVIVIR]".
There is far more at the link, and I know Pablo is dead... however it's the paramiliatary aspect, more so than the drugs, that are disturbing me.

While Uribe and Washington would have the world believe that they are getting these paramilitary groups under control through *demobilization*, Columbia is actually in the process of "normalizing" these paramilitaristic death squads. Under Uribe leadership, thousands of citizens, activists and Union leaders have been murdered. They near the top of the worst of the worst when it comes to human rights....AmnestyUSA is concerned as well:
Since 2003, paramilitary groups, responsible for the vast majority of human rights violations in Colombia for over a decade, have been involved in a government-sponsored "demobilization" process. More than 25,000 paramilitaries have supposedly demobilized under a process which has been criticized by AI and other Colombian and international human rights groups, as well as by the OHCHR and the IACHR. The process is lacking in effective mechanisms for justice and in its inability to ensure that paramilitary members actually cease violent activities.

In fact, paramilitarism has not been dismantled, it has simply been "re-engineered." Many demobilized combatants are being encouraged to join "civilian informer networks," to provide military intelligence to the security forces, and to become "civic guards". Since many areas of Colombia have now been wrested from guerrilla control, and paramilitary control established in many of these areas, they no longer see a need to have large numbers of heavily-armed uniformed paramilitaries.

However, evidence suggests that many paramilitary structures remain virtually intact and that paramilitaries continue to kill. Amnesty International continues to document human rights violations committed by paramilitary groups, sometimes operating under new names, and often in collusion with the security forces.
All the talk of disbanding these paramiltiaries is NOT happening. From a 2005 Press Release, Amnesty International:
The government began demobilization talks with the paramilitary umbrella organization, the Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC), soon after the AUC announced a ceasefire in December 2002. Under the Santa Fe de Ralito agreement, signed in July 2003, the AUC agreed to demobilize all its combatants by the end of 2005. More than 8,000 paramilitaries have so far reportedly demobilized.

However, the latest figures suggest that the paramilitaries have been responsible for at least 2,300 killings and “disappearances” since they declared their unilateral ceasefire.

You can google and find stories like this, As recently as March of this year, people have been killed, and this:
People are not being held accountable for the atrocities that are occuring NOW in Columbia.
Colombian government officials and the Bush Administration argue that Colombia is making strides in protecting unionists and prosecuting human rights violators. But despite the work of a courageous few, Colombia has failed to prosecute those responsible for murder, torture, and other abuses during the country's ongoing civil war. The country remains the most dangerous place in the world for trade unionists, with 98 percent of unionist murders going unpunished. Colombia's atrocious human rights record has led members of Congress to block a proposed U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement.
And John McCain WANTS to have CAFTA with these people. He wants normal relations with this country. A country that still traffics drugs, and kills it own citizens out of pure suspicion.

So, now we have McCain trying to push Obama to visit Columbia. For politics. It is telling (at the very least) that while he accuses Barack Obama of making the Iraq war political, McCain himself would make a country strife in Civil war with a murderous government a pawn in his political campaign. It should be obvious that Senator Obama sould not go to Columbia, and Senator John McCain should not have either... But we know WHY he did... it wasn't because he cares about Human Rights... if he REALLY cared about Human Rights, HE would NEVER have hired Charlie Black:
Since 1998, the lobbying firm headed until recently by Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain’s closest confidants, has earned more than $1.8 million representing the Occidental Petroleum Corporation, the leading foreign producer of gas and oil in Colombia. The lobbying firm, BKSH & Associates, has also represented Colombian textile and apparel manufacturers and a former foreign minister and presidential candidate who is also a prominent businesswoman.
NOTE... He represented COMPANIES... the same companies that are having union leaders murdered by paramilitaries. John McCain did not go to Columbia for human rights, he didn't go out of a concern for drugs, or FARC.

Like I said earlier, FARC is no angel, but this isn't about them, this is about the kind of foriegn policy we will get with John McCain and this is about a country that lives in fear of the government, and the leader of that government. John McCain, a man who was tortured, should know better. Well, if he were anything but a neo-con, he would... but he is what he is, he is a man that is no better than Uribe, *ush, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Rove... the list goes on.

Here are a few extra Monday *cookies*, if you are still reading this:

In Case you were wondering... Who trained those paramilitaries? The United States of America did. We have been for a long time.

And -- those Hostages that were released while Senator McCain was visiting? Here is something else the media didn't follow up on. This was posted on our message board, April 28:
The governor state of New Mexico met on Saturday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an effort to restart talks with neighboring Colombia to secure the release of hostages held by leftist rebels.

Chavez this year helped free six hostages held for years by the Marxist FARC rebels in Colombia's four-decade old civil war, but talks have sputtered amid continued bickering between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

"I've had a good meeting with President Chavez ... (he) has told me that he is willing to help in this situation," Gov. Bill Richardson told reporters after the meeting.

"Many times in a conflict like this we forget the human side, that human beings are being held hostage."

High-profile hostages held by the FARC include French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. anti-drugs contractors kidnapped after their helicopter crashed in the jungle in 2003.

Richardson, who was a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and has helped release Americans held in Sudan, Iraq, North Korea and Cuba, was asked by the hostages' families to help seek their release. His mother is Mexican and he speaks fluent Spanish.

The leftist Chavez and right-wing Uribe have exchanged bitter accusations throughout the year, even during the hostage release negotiations.
Yes, that Bill Richardson.

I know it is a lot for a Monday morning. Really, I just thought you should know.

:peace: and :heart:
Raine

 

221 comments (Latest Comment: 07/29/2008 00:26:41 by Raine)
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