Bush To Host Colombian Death Squad President

On September 20, President Bush will be hosting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the White House. This meeting comes as the "para-political scandal" -- which has already implicated around 60 political allies of President Uribe in aiding and abetting the right-wing paramilitaries -- mounts in Colombia. This also comes as the body count of the victims of the paramilitaries, also known as "death squards," continues to mount.

As Juan Forero reported in an August 27 Washington Post article entitled, "Unearthing Secrets of Colombia's Long War - Forensic Teams Track Victims 'Disappeared' by Death Squads," the number of those "disappeared" by the right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia appears to be far greater than originally expected. Citing Colombia's Attorney General, Mario Iguaran, Forero related that 1,500 bodies of the "disappeared" have already been recovered, and "authorities think more than 10,000 bodies might still be scattered across the country" - "three times as high as estimates made by human rights groups in 2005."

Forero reported what many of us have been painfully aware of for years, and what the U.S. State Department itself has acknowledged in its annual country report on Colombia - that "illegal paramilitary gunmen, often working closely with army units, killed thousands of people" in their ostensible war against leftist guerrillas. I say, "ostensible," because, in fact, the paramilitaries have rarely fought guerrillas themselves, but rather, have targeted civilians struggling peacefully for social change - for example, trade unionists, peasant leaders, teachers and Catholic priests advocating for the poor.

As for trade unionists, forty-two (42) have been killed in Colombia so far this year, already exceeding the 39 killed in all of 2007. In all, over 2599 unionists have been killed in Colombia since 1986, making Colombia by far the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. And, as the U.S. State Department has reported, those responsible for the vast majority of these killings are right-wing paramilitaries which receive ammunition, weapons and logistical support from the official Colombian military - a military which the U.S. has sponsored with over $4 billion in aid since 2000. This military assistance continues to this day.

In addition, the Colombian military's own share of atrocities has actually increased since President Uribe - a friend of Bush as well as a number of U.S. Congressional representatives - was elected in May of 2002. This fact was highlighted in an August 21 L.A. Times article by Chris Kraul who explained that, while Colombian President Alvaro Uribe "has become the United States' No. 1 Latin American ally in its war on terrorism and drugs," Colombia is actually the greatest purveyor of terror against its own population in the region. To wit, as the article notes, the Colombian military has been credibly accused of murdering 329 civilians in cold blood in 2007 - a 48% increase from the 223 reported in 2006. This brings to 997 the total number of civilians murdered by the Colombian military since President Uribe took office in the spring of 2002. No other country in the Hemisphere even comes close to this horrendous record of state-sponsored violence against its own people.

Meanwhile, just as the U.S. supported the death squad governments of El Salvador and Guatemala during the 1980's - regimes which murdered upwards of 200,000 of their own people - the White House is preparing to roll out the red carpet for Latin America's latest death squad President. It is no wonder then that the rest of the world is incredulous about the U.S.'s claims to be promoting global democracy and human rights.

If the U.S. government were really serious about such goals, it would be shunning President Uribe, ceasing all military assistance to his regime, and rejecting his current lobbying of the U.S. Congress to pass the Colombian Free Trade Agreement (FTA) - an agreement which would give trade preferences to Colombia, thereby rewarding it for continuing to be the most dangerous country in the world for trade union leaders and the country with the worst human rights record in the Western Hemisphere. Let us hope that the Democratic Congress will see the wisdom of continuing to block the FTA over these human and labor rights concerns, and that it will take the further step of ending aid to Colombia's brutal military regime.

Comments

[colombia forobama]

Dan,
You should take a second look at my country. As a Colombian who has lived the conflict, I can tell you that Uribe's government has reduced violence in almost every measure since he took power. His relations with paramiltary groups have never been proved. Actually, the peace process with those groups is bringing some measure of justice, because the ties of politicians and military officials are been judicialized. This is not to say that there are no signs of corruption in his goverment, but to argue that he's a death squads president is simply not true. Much of the info that politicians and commentators in the US receive of Colombia comes from groups that just want to block the FTA and therefore are pushing some false claims of Uribe. Remember also that the Colombian military rescued three american hostages that were in the jungle for 6 years, prisoners of the FARC.

[VXW]

As an American of Colombian descend and that still has family throughout the country I can ascertain that Colombia under Uribe has improved tremendously. Before Uribe, Colombia was in the abysm, FARC communist terrorism/kidnapping/violence was running rampant., foreign investors were leaving in droves, tourism has practically disappeared, economy was in shambles, unemployment was over 20%, poverty level was over 60% and nobody dared to travel the roads. Under Uribe, kidnapping/ violence has been reduced by over 60%, foreign investors brought in $10 billion last year, unemployment is now about 11%, number of annual displaced has been reduced from a high of 420,000 under Pastrana to about 100,000 last year, foreign tourism is now about 1.5 million, 2007 GNP growth was 7.5% among the highest in Latin america. In addition and taking into account HRW data the number of union leaders killed annually has been reduced significantly from about 127 annual per year to about 75 per year. Even HRW acknowledges, that over 50% of union leaders are killed by their own or by the FARC so that they could blame the government. It is incredible that Uribe enjoys the highest percentage popularity among the leaders of the world with over 84% approval rating even after six years of governing. Colombians gave Uribe a mandate and that is to get rid of the FARC and that is the reason he got a 91% approval for his actions against FARC leader Reyes in Ecuador.

[Pdsatx]

Sure Dan, just name me ONE free trade pact your Big Labor buddies support and I'll believe you. The Colombian people overwhelmingly support the trade pact, perhaps they don't think they should be resigned to being poor farmers and might even benefit from both cheaper food and foreign investment.

"Moreover, a huge surge in extra-judicial killings by the official Colombian military under Uribe -- which this commentator does not challenge -- is no small matter."

And the huge DROP in overall killings(including unionists)under Uribe--which you do not challenge---is no small matter either. Neither is the momentum against the FARC, whom you strangely never seem to mention.

"No other country in the region has nearly the level of such killings as Colombia. "

And no other country in the region has had to fight a decades long struggle against vicious Marxist terrorists who kill and kidnap innocent Colombians. This surely cannot be ignored in formulating trade policy.

[Pdsatx]

Once again, Kovalik tells us we should not "reward Colombia" (in other words, let's keep them poor) by passing the FTA. On the other hand, he will tell you the FTA in practice will be disastrous for the Colombian people. I still don't understand how you can reward someone with disaster, but Kovalik is a Big Labor attorney, he doesn't need to be logical - he just needs to kill a trade pact.

He also neglects to chart the amazing overall reduction in homicides, kidnappings, unionist assasinations(more than 2/3 overall drop) since Uribe came to power in 2002. At the same time, the economy has boomed, unemployment reduced, and foreign investment more than doubled. Explains why Uribe's popularity is around 80% approval among the Colombian people.

Since Uribe's election, there has been a massive shift in momenetum in the war against FARC terrorists who kill and kidnap the Colombian people. The extra-judicial killings are a tragedy, and should be addressed, but they must be taken in consideration with the larger picture. Uribe's policies have led to much less overall misery and death. That's the part Kovalik doesn't want you to know.

[Dan Kovalik - Huffpost Blogger]

First, it is NOT true that those of us opposing the FTA want Colombia to stay poor as this commentator would suggest. Indeed, one of the reasons we oppose the FTA is that it will flood Colombia with cheap, subsidized farm goods from the U.S. which will put small farmers (which make up 23% of the Colombian population) out of business, and actually displace these farmers. This will lead to a swelling of the already large internally displaced population in Colombia which is already at 3.8 million -- the second largest in the world. This is exactly what happened to small farmers in Mexico, 1.3 million of whom were displaced as a result of NAFTA. The fact is that while President Uribe wants the FTA to benefit large corporations and rich, large land owners in Colombia -- many of whom themselves have collaborated with right-wing death squads -- the FTA will NOT benefit average Colombians. Rather, the FTA will lead to the further emiseration of the Colombian poor and to a deepening of the civil conflict. Moreover, a huge surge in extra-judicial killings by the official Colombian military under Uribe -- which this commentator does not challenge -- is no small matter. No other country in the region has nearly the level of such killings as Colombia. This surely cannot be ignored in formulating trade policy.

[mjc]

President Uribe can expect strong support for his state sponsored terrorism from another advocate of state sponsored terrorism, George Bush. After all we know the perils of having death squads on our payroll as we did in Guatamala and El Salvador plus those groups in Iraq who fly the flag of Haliburton. While Uribe won't get much flack from the phony representative institutions in his country, George Bush won't either. To expect the Democrats in Congress to oppose brutal military regimes, even those with known crimes against humanity, will not happen as long as the internal and external security considerations of our nation are played to the tune of "Fear". Doubt if even a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress will make the slightest bit of difference. Besides, Columbia continues to enjoy world-wide objection to cutting down its trade in drugs.