McCain and Obama Ignore Abuses in Colombia and Mexico

In the jubilation around the sensational release of Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages from the FARC guerillas in Colombia, it's easy to ignore Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba. But with her reddened brown eyes bubbling with tears she tries to contain, Cordoba provides a unique view into the effects of U.S. military policy in Latin America. But it's not clear if either John McCain fresh from his Colombia tour or Barack Obama are listening.

During one of several public events she participated in during her visit to New York, Cordoba, an outspoken critic of the administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, did not, unlike Senator McCain, laud the effects of U.S. military aid to her country. "The (U.S.) aid is being given to a corrupt democracy, a democracy that governs through fear and terror," said Cordoba, a former president of both the Colombian Human Rights Commission and Congress. She was herself kidnapped by 12 heavily-armed paramilitary operatives as she left a medical clinic in 2004. "The (Colombian) government uses the money and arms from Plan Colombia (PC) not just to combat drug traffickers," she said, adding, "It's also used to silence those of us who speak out against the government. They try to silence us by kidnapping, disappearing and even killing many of us."

In a hemisphere that, with increasing frequency, rejects Washington's free-trade and drug war policies, Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama would do well to listen to denunciations by Cordoba and other critics of U.S.-backed governments like those of Colombia and Mexico, where McCain just voiced his support for that country's equivalent of the drug war, Plan Merida, also known as "Plan Mexico."

Candidates McCain and Obama's failure to denounce the exponential increase in atrocities committed by the governments of Colombia's Uribe and of Mexico's Felipe Calderon may signal that neither will be the "change" candidate when it comes to U.S. policy in Latin America. For example, though McCain did discuss human rights during his meeting with Uribe, he did so in soft tones that lacked the stridency and urgency heard with regard to other human rights abuses discussed on the "straight talk express," where the candidate regularly references his imprisonment and torture. For his part though, he opposes the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia (FTA). Senator Obama has been generally supportive of Plan Colombia, a policy that has yielded little to inspire "hope" in the hemisphere.

In the past seven years, the more than $700 million that Colombia, which has one of the worst human rights records in the Americas, receives in mostly military aid each year under PC, has done little to deter drug flows and lots to foment fear and terror. According to the Washington Office on Latin America, at least 28 trade unionists have been killed so far this year in Colombia, making it the country with the world's highest rate of killings of trade unionists and increases in extra judicial executions. Four million Colombians have been internally displaced since the commencement of PC, and most of the four million Colombians living outside their country migrated during that period also.

In a letter sent to McCain earlier this week, Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, reminded the Senator that "more than 60 members of President Álvaro Uribe's coalition in the Colombian Congress -- representing approximately 20 percent of the Congress -- are under investigation for rigging elections or collaborating with paramilitaries, considered terrorists by the United States." Neither candidate has raised the alarm on the atrocities of the Uribe government.

As he toured Mexico, McCain said nothing about the fact that U.S. military aid under Plan Merida contributed to the record 468 civilians that were killed in Mexico because of drug wars between the government and cartels in the month of June. That month saw 509 civilians killed in Iraq. Neither McCain nor Obama --both of whom support Plan Mexico -- discuss publicly how our southern neighbor, a country with no previous history of the militarization seen in the rest of the hemisphere, has witnessed what some are calling "Colombianization": 25,000 troops and police deployed throughout the country; illegal detentions and unlawful searches; corruption linked from local officials to the highest levels of government; increased internal displacement and migration out of conflicted areas.

Ninety-six members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter to the governor of the State of Mexico and the country's Attorney General calling for an investigation into the case of 26 female detainees who were physically, sexually and psychologically abused in San Salvador Atenco. In the first five months of this year there were 300 human rights claims - double the rate from the previous year, according to Mexico's National Human Rights Commission. And as McCain toured Mexico, he acted as if he was blind to the most recent scandal in the country: revelations of a "training" video showing police officers in the city of Leon forcing a fellow officer to crawl through vomit and injecting carbonated water into the nose of another. An instructor identified by Mexican officials as the employee of a U.S. security firm yells out commands in English.

Should they continue to support deadly military policies, hiding under cover of anti-drug policy, McCain and Obama threaten to continue policies that increase migration flows and repression against civilians, something no candidate who is about being a "maverick" or a "change" agent should be silent about.

Comments

[BLib]

Senator Obama did address this in his speech to Cuban American National Foundation on 5/23/08. He should have personally called you to let you know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrhWTZoBP8

http://www.narconews.com/Issue53/article3110.html

[S1m0n]

The "You gotta denounce my enemies and if you don't it means you SUPPORT them!" argument is always specious.

The fact that McCain and Obama have so far "failed to denounce" the Columbian president says absolutely nothing about whether each is the candidate of change in this election. That's silly.

[shelobo]

The Three Amigos have increased to the FOUR Amigos ,McCains trip to Mexico and Columbia were planned so McCain could continue the corruption connections that Bush Administration has maintained in BOTH countries for years by maintaining the advancement of the SPP .....it's all about MONEY ,The chief executives of Wal-Mart, Chevron, and 28 other large corporations were in on the closed-door negotiations, while members of Congress, journalists, and ordinary citizens are excluded. The Corrupted President of the United States has devised a new tactic for deepening the current scope of NAFTA without resort to public or legislative scrutiny. They have aptly labeled this the Security and Prosperity Partnership(SPP) http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5152 . Unfortunately, it appears to be focused on security and prosperity for the same corporate interests which were behind NAFTA in the first place. They have carefully crafted a structure of secret committees, which are meeting, inventing and changing policies that will impact all of our lives. But none of their deliberations are of public record. http://www.art-us.org/FTAs/NAFTA

[SMP]

AND....that has nothing to do with Obama and EVERYTHING to do with McCain..........PERIOD!!!

[arvay]

The "drug war" waged both domestically and in other countries is a manufactured crisis that feeds money to the growing US "security forces" such as the DEA and BATF, which has become a little internal army. Like the military units of the USSR's KGB. All ready for some future W to "deputize" to suppress internal dissent.

American drug use fuels the world's drug trade. The solution is simple. De-criminalize all these illegal drugs. Quickly, the drug cartels will shrivel. Afghan farmers will cease growing the stuff on any large scale.

We'll save billions, some of which can be diverted to rehabilitation that stands a change.

And end a lot of corruption. There's the rub, of course. So many American law enforcement and political people are bought off, and treasure their payoffs. That's why the military refused to do drug interdiction.
And of course, the "intelligence community" would like to preserve a source of cash that Congress needn't approve or know about.

Any politician who opposes de-criminalization ought to be suspected of and investigated for drug payoff. The press can have a field day with this.

[vernonbc]

Why in the world are you putting Obama's name in the headline? He wasn't the one traveling to Mexico and Columbia this week and getting positive press from all the McCain't loving media. Your story is about McCain't. Why are you throwing 'and Obama' in to many of your statements of criticism. You haven't even done any research on what Obama's policies are towards Mexico and Columbia. It sure as he!! isn't the same as Rethug McCain't.

[shelobo]

I did a little research on why McCain would travel to two countries that are riddled with corruption ,abuse of human rights and have a LOT of Oil.The summit meeting of the Three Amigos is a interesting subject :Three Amigos Summit ,read it and the answer to why McCain went to two corrupted countries will be understood....http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5152 .Then some have wondered why the Govenor of Lousiana has became the fourth Amigo by endorseing the very party that ignored the people of La. deaths when Katrina hit.....La. Govenor is far closer to McCain and Bush than the people of that state think.The SPP ( Security and Prosperity Partnership Sumitt) which was held in N/O ,it was closed to members of Congress,the media and the public.....http://www.art-us.org/FTAs/NAFTA. The PLAN MEXICO http://www.art-us.org/newsfeed/merida/en is another very interesting subject :Washington has announced a $500 million aid package for the country in 2008 (part of an overall three-year program, all-told to be budgeted at $1.4 billion). Titled "Merida Initiative,"http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/3020.cfm .Read these articles then decide for yourself WHY Bush HAS to get McCain into the White house.Even most civilian republican voters are not aware of these corrupted 'meetings'such as the SPP sumitt.http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5152

[Maury66]

I noticed the same thing immediately. Skim thru and you see Obama mentioned about three times and its more in the context of "and Obama". Why not try asking him what his thoughts are on these matters?

[joebiz]

Good post.

In an unpublished post, I criticized McCain and Lieberman, yes, both were down there, hand in hand, traveling Mexico and Colombia only to pick up indirect "campaign donations" from governements and corporations. Rpublicans are vociferous on the "Free-Trade" issue.

Mexico does not want to renogotiate NAFTA. Renegotiating would actually help working American families and make it more difficult for corporations to run south and open shop, and shamelessly, creating in the process, "the giant sucking sound."

Mexico with the tacit support of US agri-companies, wants it's poor and huddled masses, to go north in search of work, even if it mean doing it illegally. Two primary reasons: Mexico gets "rid" of a huge population that is generally under-educated and underemployed.

The second reason is that illegal immigrants in the US send billions of dollars in "economic aid" remmitance to families back home through Western Union and other proto-banking methods. These billions "prop" the economy and inject much needed dollars into the economy. But, these dollars do not solve the poltical and economic reasons why the majority of Mexicans and Latin America continue to swill in poverty.

The Republicans and their Mexican counter-cronies know that changes in the status quo would mean losses to multinationals in the form of cheap and compliant labor. Keep Mexicans employed in US corporations in Mexico or have them work illegally in meat packing companies, in agricultural and agri-labor positions---illegally in the US.

[arvay]

Mexico is paying a heavy price for its incompetent socialist economy and Mestizo-dominated political system, which discriminates against the Indian population. Many of its dynamic people go north, where we in the US get the benefits of their energy and ambition. Just the kind of people Mexico needs, and we get them.

So for openers, these immigrants are a plus for us.

Whatever flaws NAFTA has, nothing short of global catastrophe will stop globalization. So we need to stop whining about "giant sucking sounds" and focus on education and especially re-education here. Rather than pouring a trillion dollars into a senseless and illegal war, for example.

When multinationals open factories in poor countries, they add needed money and help to build domestic industries. Lots of small companies spring up to serve the big firms. So there's an upside to this "exploitation." Downsides are also numerous -- exporting pollution, suppression of labor rights, chid labor, for example.

But global trade 's benefits can be exploited and we can encourage these countries to fix their problems.

Back to Mexico's bad leadership. The government disastrously owns and operates the oil industry. The result is a lack of investment that's dooming their oil fields, and things will get worse when this source of revenue thins out.

The Mexicans need to figure this out, and without our meddling.

[shelobo]

he reasons are many ,read http://www.art-us.org/newsfeed/merida/en (Paln Mexico) and read http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2008/01/23/mexico_rights_official_says_army_tortured_raped/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news

[Beachchick]

I view the Columbian government the same way I view the U.S. government. Both are like the school bus driver who looks the other way while the roving bullies beat up kids and steal their lunch money. Who is more to blame, the driver or the bully?

[swanie]

I wish John would just try to apply some of the integrity, ethics, and morality he supposedly learned at the USNA, or maybe he didn't. He did graduate in the BOTTOM 5% of his class. Therefore distortions, misstatements, "senior moments" and flat out lying are OK for him.

Enough said - tyr integrity and ethics - it works.

.

[PollyAtomic]

I love this guy. Notice the entire structure of the criticism towards Uribe's government.

"at least 28 trade unionists have been killed so far this year in Colombia,"

" Four million Colombians have been internally displaced since the commencement of PC"

And, of course, the not-so-subtle insinuaion that Uribe ordered Piedad Cordoba's Kidnapping.

Lovato, this is a country sunk in an ideological wa. Right-wing paramilitary terrosists have killed and will kill trade unioniss because that is what they do, they kill. The fact that Uribe is in power and also adheres to an idelogy tha is right-of center does not in any way imply that Plan Colombia or the Colombian Government have had any part in their acions, and to insinuate so is ignorant at best and intentionally disingenuous at worst. Just like with your sympathy with the FARC, whose methods may be less brutal but their results much moe so, you have proven an inabilit or unwillingness to see wha's obvious to just about everyone else. Please consider that it just might be possible that somewhere a group of criminals that coincidentialy adhere to a right-wing agenda might not be linked to an international far-right conspiracy.

[vippy]

One thing at a time. I did not see Obama travel down south. McCain and Jeb Bush and I take a guess why, it is so obvious. But to blame Obama, he can't do everything what has been done now for 10 years.

[guajiro]

Please educate yourself of some basic facts.
http://the3lb.com/2008/01/14/plan-colombia-by-noam-chomsky/

It is PUBLIC FACT that the Uribe administration supports the military excursions to assassinate those peasants who won't give up their lands. Isn't private ownership of property the basic tenant of capitalism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia
http://www.spike.com/video/plan-colombia/2677564

[Bobrobert]

Bad.

Very bad.

We need Rambo.

:-)

[DeWayne]

Have the "Presidential Candidates" made concessions that will guarantee not upsetting the US Corp-Gov enslavement in Columbia and Mexico, you can be absolutely certain of this from recent comments.

US-Media has censored out all CONGRESSIONAL these will be the only Candidates pledging to bring back the America of Constitutional-Gov of Law. This is true because, only a (NEW) Congress, cleaned of Upper-Hierarchy will fight to remove this "Pork/Perk/PAC/Payola" that sell out American citizens to Fascists now in control of the government.

The American citizen must drain the Congressional-Swamp, electing in upper-level all new Congressional-representatives that wil serve the PEOPLE. So despite Corp-Media censoring OUT Congressional-Candidates, concentrate and find these people that will remove the criminals now in power. America in global affairs and advancing calamities will not escape disaster's coming, but at least we can start and perhaps rebuild on sound principles.

[Pocho]

Something is seldom noted among Americans. That is the single source of every dollar drug gangs fight over in quest of riches. It is located neither Columbia nor Mexico, where effects are devastating among decent people. Look instead in the United States. Money may pass in distribution along dreary ghetto streets of desperate people but is not generated from them. Those cannot afford chemical recreation but rather opt for hard found meals. Look instead in the pretty houses of curved suburban avenues where the well off play. Search for source those who exit from executive offices. Seek it in the dormatories of ritzy colleges. Check the original purchase receipts of American gun nuts extolling rights to bear and do anything they damn well please with weaponry. Read US arm manufacturers profit statements to discover from where originate weapons that slaughter people south of the border. Perhaps "Yes we can" might better get your sticky mits off Columbia and Mexico and deal instead with insatiable American greed and propensity for living in dreamy land.

[rudyacuna]

It is good to see a writer who knows Latina America and the Latino in the United States appear on any liberal or conservative sight. I have never known an American administration that knows squuat about Latin America or Latinos here. Lovatos comments are welcomed.

[LeeScho]

How do you know that they have ignored these abuses? Because they have not said anything to you or in public?

Are candidates now required to conduct everything in full view of the public, the media and the pundits? Is it just possible that both candidates have an awareness and an agenda for every possible issue that we can conceive, but prudence requires that they not expose it?