Colombia President Allies Submit Petitions For 3rd Term Referendum

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Dow Jones

Colombia President Allies Submit Petitions For 3rd Term Referendum
3-12-08 7:59 PM EDT


BOGOTA -(Dow Jones)- A Colombian political party allied with President Alvaro Uribe, 55, has submitted to the election authority a petition with about 260,000 signatures supporting a referendum to change the constitution and allow the president to run for a third consecutive term in 2010.

Luis Guillermo Giraldo, the secretary of the Party for National Unity, started gathering the signatures in November as part of a private initiative, but his party decided to join him in February.

The law requires only 140,000 valid signatures, or 0.5% of all the country's voters, to start the long process for a referendum.

After the election authority verifies all the signatures, the party will have to collect 1.4 million new signatures in favor of the referendum. The Congress and the Constitutional Court will have approve the move before the referendum is placed on the ballot.

Uribe allies control both houses of Colombia's Congress.






Read more: http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200803121959DOWJONESDJONLINE001060_univ.xml

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[Warren Stupidity]

1. So then Uribe is a dictator, right?

And of course we should immediately withdraw the funding we provide (6,000,000,000 or so since 2001) to support the regime.

[bemildred]

2. Yeah, right. Definitely has "dictatorial tendencies".

"Consolidation his hold on power" etc. etc.

[gratuitous]

4. No, only Chavez is a dictator

The enabling Justice Department opinion is classified, naturally, but Uribe is the democratically-elected popular leader while Chavez is a ruthless dictator. It'll be in all the papers.

[EFerrari]

3. DICTATOR!

lol

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. Ya beat mem to it!

As soon as I saw the headline, that's whatI thought to myself. :hi:

Bush crony Uribe 3rd term = Good

Chavez 3rd term = DICTATOR!

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

7. Hey there. It's going to be fun watching this

because BushCo went so over the top with propaganda against Venezuela during their referendum.

I'm getting my spoon out. :hi:

[ReformedChris]

6. OK RePukes: Lets see the same "rage" over a potential dictatorship with Uribe that you showed Chavez

I get the funny feeling all we are going to hear are crickets. Its funny how Washington "supports" democracies yet our best friends have some of the most dictatorial tendencies (ie Saudi Oilabia, UAE). This is clearly a power grab by Uribe and it could destabilize the situation over there.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. The silence from the usual suspects is deafening.

And if you think I'm talking about you, you crypto-rightist -- I probably am. Bite me.

[Bacchus39]

9. more from the article

In late 2007, Uribe said he might seek a third term when his current four-year term ends, if a "disaster" happens. He didn't specify what kind of disaster would justify his running. Since then, Uribe has dodged the issue in public appearances.

Uribe, who was first elected in 2002, had the constitution changed in 2005 to be able to seek and then win a second four-year term in 2006. The widely popular Uribe was reelected in 2006 with 62% of the vote.

Since he took office, Colombian economic growth has accelerated significantly each year he has been in office to reach 6.8% in 2006, the highest pace registered in almost three decades.

Growth was spurred by private investment and consumer demand as a dramatic reduction of crime and violence in a once war-torn country encouraged foreign and local companies to invest in the country and families to spend.

Uribe's supporters attributed those successes to the president's policies.

The economic results of the past years made Uribe popular among investors and the business community.

According to a recent poll made by Invamer Gallup pollster, Uribe's popularity stood at 80% in January.

Politicians from opposition parties and some prominent allies of Uribe oppose any change in the constitution, according to press reports.

---------------------------------------

I would be among those that would urge him not to seek a third term, not that I would have any influence. I believe a better alternative would be to leave office and if possible run again after the next president is elected. if that is what he and most Colombians would want AND its possible.

and by the way, Chavez was shot down by the Venezuelan people but I would bet he will try again. he won't give up he reigns of power. the Colombian proposal would likely be affirmed overwhelmingly. I wonder who president Obama will meet with first Raul, Hugo, or Alvaro??? any guesses?

[IggyReed]

10. Some Colombian election facts...

During the 2006 election about 30 politicians on the left in Colombia were murdered. More union leaders were killed in that country than the rest of the world combined. During the 80's the left, including the FARC, were asked to take part in the elections and over 3,000 of its leading candidates were killed (presidential candidates, mayors, lawyers, teachers, human rights workers, etc). Only about 25% of Colombia actually voted in the 2006 election and there were multiple cases of voter fraud that were uncovered. Uribe has a decades long connection to the drug cartels and the paramilitary, which was & is used to intimidate his opponents. His cousin and a number of people in his party are under investigation for ties to the death squads. His former campaign manager was arrested in the US with hundreds of pounds of drug making materials in the 90's. He was listed as the 81st or 82nd worse drug offender in the early 90's by the State Department. It was recently uncovered that the death squads used his ranch to plan attacks against Colombian citizens, and many of them were NOT involved with the FARC, although that is what is claimed.

THIS is who Bush is alligning himself, and all of us as a result, with. THIS is what he is saying is a model for freedom and democracy in the region. THIS is what our tax dollars supports. If we had a functioning democracy this would cause an outrage here. It instead passes for mainstream opinion by the corporate press.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Ridiculous, isn't it? Like a nightmare. What decent people would even speak to this clown?

U.S. INTELLIGENCE LISTED COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT URIBE AMONG
"IMPORTANT COLOMBIAN NARCO-TRAFFICKERS" IN 1991

Then-Senator "Dedicated to Collaboration with the Medellín Cartel at High Government Levels"

Confidential DIA Report Had Uribe Alongside Pablo Escobar, Narco-Assassins

Uribe "Worked for the Medellín Cartel" and was a "Close Personal Friend of Pablo Escobar"

Washington, D.C., 1 August 2004 - Then-Senator and now President Álvaro Uribe Vélez of Colombia was a "close personal friend of Pablo Escobar" who was "dedicated to collaboration with the Medellín cartel at high government levels," according to a 1991 intelligence report from U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials in Colombia. The document was posted today on the website of the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research group based at George Washington University.

Uribe's inclusion on the list raises new questions about allegations that surfaced during Colombia's 2002 presidential campaign. Candidate Uribe bristled and abruptly terminated an interview in March 2002 when asked by Newsweek reporter Joseph Contreras about his alleged ties to Escobar and his associations with others involved in the drug trade. Uribe accused Contreras of trying to smear his reputation, saying that, "as a politician, I have been honorable and accountable."

The newly-declassified report, dated 23 September 1991, is a numbered list of "the more important Colombian narco-traffickers contracted by the Colombian narcotic cartels for security, transportation, distribution, collection and enforcement of narcotics operations." The document was released by DIA in May 2004 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the Archive in August 2000.

The source of the report was removed by DIA censors, but the detailed, investigative nature of the report -- the list corresponds with a numbered set of photographs that were apparently provided with the original -- suggests it was probably obtained from Colombian or U.S. counternarcotics personnel. The document notes that some of the information in the report was verified "via interfaces with other agencies."

President Uribe -- now a key U.S. partner in the drug war -- "was linked to a business involved in narcotics activities in the United States" and "has worked for the Medellín cartel," the narcotics trafficking organization led by Escobar until he was killed by Colombian government forces in 1993. The report adds that Uribe participated in Escobar's parliamentary campaign and that as senator he had "attacked all forms of the extradition treaty" with the U.S.More:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB131/index.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Concerning the fascist right-wing control of elections:

March 13, 2006

U.S. Silent on Colombia’s Election Irregularities

by Garry Leech

How would Washington have reacted if left-wing paramilitary death squads in Venezuela supportive of President Hugo Chávez had claimed to control 35 percent of that country’s National Assembly following elections four years ago? What would President George W. Bush have said about the man in the red beret if that political control had been achieved through massacres of the political opposition? What would Condoleezza Rice be saying today if those same left-wing militias had used violence and coercion during recent election campaigns to gain a majority in the National Assembly? Do we believe for a minute that the Bush administration would respond with silence?

If we were to transplant the aforementioned hypothetical scenario to Colombia it would constitute a clear representation of that country’s electoral process. The principal difference in the Colombian version is that President Alvaro Uribe and the paramilitary death squads are firmly entrenched on the right side of the political spectrum rather than the left.

Pro-Uribe parties proved victorious in the March 12 congressional elections, gaining a majority in Colombia’s Congress. Many of the pro-Uribe candidates had violence and intimidation perpetrated by right-wing paramilitaries to thank for their victory. As German Espejo, an analyst with the Bogotá-based Security and Democracy Foundation, noted, “The paramilitaries played a decisive role in this election, particularly in the northern part of the country.” The Bush administration, however, has decided to ignore the massive electoral irregularities in Colombia.

In the March 12 congressional elections, as has been the case in most of Colombia’s recent elections, the technical act of voting and vote counting were generally considered to be free and fair. It is in the process of campaigning, however, that irregularities are most evident in Colombia. While the country’s leftist guerrilla groups often attempt to disrupt elections, they have mostly remained outside the electoral process. The role of the paramilitaries, on the other hand, has proven particularly troubling in recent years as they have sought to actively participate in elections in order to directly increase their influence over the country’s governing institutions.

Colombia’s electoral process is undermined by paramilitiaries who use violence and intimidation to determine which candidates can and cannot run in regions under their control and to ensure that their chosen candidates are elected. As the Associated Press noted only two days before the March 12 congressional elections, paramilitary leader Rodrigo Tovar, “who’s accused of several massacres against civilians as well as being a major drug-trafficker, reigned over much of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, deciding who could and could not run for public office.”

More:
http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia231.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's information connected to DAS head Jorge Noguera, and elections:

Colombian judges say paramilitary fighters forced vote fraud
Lecturas | Justicia | English 19.05.06

www.centredaily.com

BY GERARDO REYES AND STEVEN DUDLEY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

EL DIFICIL, Colombia – Amid the biggest Colombian scandal since drug traffickers helped finance a presidential election, electoral judges and voters in this remote town are backing allegations of vote fraud in 2002 that favored President Alvaro Uribe.

Right-wing paramilitary fighters forced election judges to fill in uncast votes for the conservative Uribe and discard votes for his rival, Liberal Party candidate Horacio Serpa, three of the judges here told The Miami Herald.

The judges’ comments support recent accusations by Rafael Garcia, a former official at the security agency known as DAS, similar to the FBI. Colombia’s media and several non-government organizations have regularly made parallel allegations in recent weeks, and the Attorney General’s office opened an investigation into the fraud charges last week.

Coming ahead of balloting May 28 in which Uribe is expected to win a second term, the allegations have unleashed the country’s biggest scandal since the 1994 presidential race, when drug lords contributed $6 million to former President Ernesto Samper’s campaign.

The scandal also has highlighted Uribe’s strong support among the illegal and notoriously brutal paramilitary groups fighting against leftist guerrillas. More than 30,000 paramilitaries have put down their guns since 2004 as part of peace talks with the government, and Uribe has promised not to extradite some of their leaders – wanted on U.S. drug charges – if they stay with the peace process.
(snip)

Most of Garcia’s allegations concern former DAS director Jorge Noguera’s relations with the paramilitaries and DAS involvement in the killings of union leaders. But other accusations are related to the 2002 elections.

Noguera headed Uribe’s campaign in the Atlantic coastline province of Magdalena at the time, and got help from his then friend Garcia. Uribe appointed Noguera head of DAS after his election, and Noguera in turn appointed Garcia director of information systems. Garcia was arrested last year, and Noguera resigned amid allegations that paramilitaries had infiltrated the DAS under his watch.
(snip)

Garcia says he and Osorio passed the lists to local paramilitaries, who then made the rounds of voting places on election days and forced election judges to cast ballots in the names of people who had not yet voted, and to mark the ballots for the fighters’ favorites candidates. In the presidential elections, that was Uribe.

“There was one candidate . . . Everyone knew what they had to do,” one judge from El Dificil told The Miami Herald. Like the other judges and voters who spoke about the case, the judge asked for anonymity out of fear of the fighters. Colombian journalists have obtained similar complaints from the judges here.

One result of the fraud was that this region’s abstention rate, traditionally close to 60 percent, was much lower for 2002. In El Dificil alone, turnout doubled when compared to 1998. Four local voters told The Miami Herald that they arrived at the booths only to be told that the records showed they had already voted.

The judges also said they were forced to discard votes cast for Uribe’s rival and replace them with votes for Uribe; and to mark Uribe in any ballots that had no markings for the presidential race.

More:
http://www.peaceobservatory.org/index.php?id=429

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pathetic, isn't it?

Welcome to D.U., IggyReed! It's great to see you have already taken the time to be well informed on the subject. :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:

[IggyReed]

12. Thank you as well..

For the additional information and the welcome.

I became interested in Colombia the more I learned about the situation in Venezuela, about six years ago. The more I learned the more horrified I was, especially when I hear this sick bastard Bush (I refuse to show respect by calling him president) using the country as shining hope on the hill. Once you learn about the truth in Venezuela & compare it the propaganda of the press and this government, then do the same about Colombia, you get a good idea about how information is presented to the public in this country. Sometimes, as a result of the insanity, I get very angry and don't know what to do. At the very least we can correct any confusion thanks to the propaganda.

[Bacchus39]

17. you're the one who posted the article that said how popular Uribe is

and Gary Leech apparently hasn't read the HRW report on the extrajudicial killing in Venezuela. what was it 20,000???!!!

[IggyReed]

19. My god

"and Gary Leech apparently hasn't read the HRW report on the extrajudicial killing in Venezuela. what was it 20,000???!!!"

Please link the report, then prove that there is a coordinated campaign by Chavez and the government there, like in Colombia, to commit state violence. What nonsense.

The RCTV case brings to light the type of mentality people like you have, and the idiotic propaganda you use. RCTV was indirectly funded by the US, supported the coup, and was thanked by the coup plotters on national TV for their work. The military dictatorship that dissolved all branches of government and tore up the constitution, thanking RCTV in helping take out Venezuelan democracy. What would the US do if CNN did the same thing with, say, Chinese money? Do I even have to ask? What did the "killer" Chavez do? He waited five years for the station's license to run out and didn't renew it. They had to go to cable. For that people like you, by either lying or sheer ignorance, claimed the free press (ie the press in cahoots with an invading foreign power and a dictatorship that takes out its country’s democracy) is under attack there.

[Bacchus39]

22. 6068 since 2000

I'm sorry for the inflated guess.

see page 229 of the report at this link.

http://hrw.org/wr2k8/pdfs/wr2k8_web.pdf


not nonsense at all now is it?? I'll ignore your insults since you don't seem to be completely up to speed.

[Bacchus39]

14. 45% turnout according to this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Colombia

I will guarantee that our Democratic president will develop a strong relationship with Uribe.

Colombia has a long way to go, but what is so negative about the recent progress? an armed rebel group and paramilitaries do not help the situation particulary when neighboring countries are providing material support for the guerrillas who want to overthrow the goverment.

[IggyReed]

15. Progress?

What recent progress are you talking about? Also, who is funding the FARC? I know who's funding the groups that the UN and Human Rights watch says commit the majority of the massacres, the paramilitary network. I know who has a decades long connection to those thugs, while calling other people terrorists. Is THIS what you're talking about?

http://www.gregpalast.com/300-million-from-chavez-to-farc-a-fake/

What the US press did not do is look at the evidence, the email in the magic laptop. (Presumably, the FARC leader’s last words were, “Listen, my password is ….”)

I read them. (You can read them here) While you can read it all in español, here is, in translation, the one and only mention of the alleged $300 million from Chavez:

“… With relation to the 300, which from now on we will call “dossier,” efforts are now going forward at the instructions of the boss to the cojo , which I will explain in a separate note. Let’s call the boss Ángel, and the cripple Ernesto.”

Got that? Where is Hugo? Where’s 300 million? And 300 what? Indeed, in context, the note is all about the hostage exchange with the FARC that Chavez was working on at the time (December 23, 2007) at the request of the Colombian government.

Indeed, the entire remainder of the email is all about the mechanism of the hostage exchange. Here’s the next line:
“To receive the three freed ones, Chavez proposes three options: Plan A. Do it to via of a ‘humanitarian caravan’; one that will involve Venezuela, France, the Vatican, Switzerland, European Union, democrats , Argentina, Red Cross, etc.”

As to the 300, I must note that the FARC’s previous prisoner exchange involved 300 prisoners. Is that what the ‘300’ refers to? ¿Quien sabe? Unlike Uribe, Bush and the US press, I won’t guess or make up a phastasmogoric story about Chavez mailing checks to the jungle.

To bolster their case, the Colombians claim, with no evidence whatsoever, that the mysterious “Angel” is the code name for Chavez. But in the memo, Chavez goes by the code name … Chavez.

...Uribe claims he is going to bring charges against Chavez before the International Criminal Court. If Uribe goes there in person, I suggest he take a toothbrush: it was just discovered that right-wing death squads held murder-planning sessions at Uribe’s ranch. Uribe’s associates have been called before the nation’s Supreme Court and may face prison.



By the way, Colombia lied about the situation in which the people were attacked (they claimed they were under fire, turns out the people were sleeping) and the president has since taken back his charges against the funding of FARC by Chavez. The link you gave about the 45% voting is from the Colombian government itself, the same government that murders political opponents and throws journalists in jail for reporting on pesky facts regarding the whole set up.

Obama also criticized Bush's relationship with Uribe (which took guts). Specifically his comments about the people commiting the violence against innocent Colombians.

[Bacchus39]

16. you can read the first article to see for yourself

the progress that has been made. are you against reducing the amount of violence in the country and a demobilization of both the paras and the rebels?? It defies logic. A snap of the fingers will not make Colombia a utopia overnight.

I am in completely in favor of letting the hostages go. In fact, why not just do so now???

the rebels get their funds from drug trafficking, extortion (protection money) and I don't doubt for a minute that financial support from other countries who let them have bases there.

you expressed an interest in Colombia, well perhaps you could take a trip there and talk to Colombians and be your own judge of where Colombians stand with regards to the paras, rebels, Uribe, and CHavez. careful though, you might just like it there.

[IggyReed]

18. Explain a few things

Who, according the DEA even, exports the majority of drugs, the paramilitary network in the north or the FARC in the south? As of the early part of this decade the US government had no evidence at all that the FARC were involved in the transportation of cocaine, while they were funding the groups they KNEW were involved. I have quotes if you need them.

Your question is ridiculous, of coarse I'm in favor of ending the violence. What you seem to be ignoring, for whatever the hell reason, is who is committing and has committed the majority of violence. The FARC were created in response to the violence committed against them and the majority of the violence, again, is committed by the paramilitary network.

The only way the violence will end is if there are economic and social reforms and if the paramilitary network stops their slaughter of innocent people.

Do you disagree with the UN, Amnesty International and the other human rights organizations that the majority of violence is committed by the right wing there? If so, using what facts?

Do you disagree that the FARC were created in reaction the attacks against the peasants after Gaitan's assassination? If so, again, using what evidence?

Do you have ANY proof, not claims, that the FARC export nearly as many drugs as the paramilitary network in the north. If so, using what evidence?

Last question, what is the purpose of you defending the actions of the Colombian government? I can't even fathom why anyone with a functioning soul would.

[Bacchus39]

20. I don't know who exports more drugs

I note you mentioned the early part of the decade before or as Uribe was coming into office

you questioned how the FARC is funded and I gave a partial answer. I don't know the extent of their operations but I did neglect to include ransom money from kidnappings in addition to the aforementioned "protection money".

the FARC is also in the north in the Santa Marta area.

I am glad the paramilitaries are demobilizing, I hope it eventually succeeds. I wonder why the FARC won't join in the peace process.

I believe you have it backwards. the paramilitaries were actually created to counter the FARC.

I do not disagree for one moment about the Amnesty and UN or HRW reports on the paras, the FARC, or Colombia in general. In fact, I don't even try to discredit those organizations when they report on abuses in countries whose leaders I am in love with (hint to the Chavez and Castro disciples). personally I have no great affection for any politician.

there is no need to get into a discussion of "who is worse". I completely concede that both the paras and the FARC are bad for Colombia and the elimination of both groups is necessary to achieve peace.

defending the COlombian goverment. if you mean the demobilization of the paras, reduction of violence, arrest of drug traffickers, and agressive tactics against the FARC then yes. If you are talking about the original post, I already said that I do not favor a 3rd Uribe term.

[IggyReed]

21. nope

What would become the FARC were created by Liberal Party members and leftists to guard against the attacks following "La Violencia". I have to go now, I'll provide the links on Friday. The FARC were officially created in 1964, 16 years after the violence commited against them began. This is common knowledge. The paramilitary network was actually created by the right wing with the help of the US and they quickly killed not just the FARC but unionists, teachers, journalists, social workers, human rights workers, etc. It was part of the US' move to fight against any development they couldn't control and that didn't fit in with their ideological visions for the region.

You are aligning yourself with the most immoral government in the Western Hemisphere. I'm sure the ends justifiy the means though, right? You don't like Chavez, so somehow this is justified, as is backing groups in Venezuela who want to install military dictatorships. Maybe then, once they install them and commit violence like in Colombia, you can claim they too are acting defensively.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Colombia's 'Narco-Presidente' (useful info.)

Colombia's 'Narco-Presidente'
By Jerry Meldon
June 1, 2006

Across South America, voters – fed up with what many see as deep-seated economic inequality and political injustice – have rejected Washington’s preferred candidates and elected populist or center-left alternatives. But Colombia’s reelection of President Alvaro Uribe Velez has bucked that regional trend.

Winning about 60 percent of the vote on May 28, Uribe now stands as South America’s last right-wing head of state, a lonely voice siding with George W. Bush. Diminutive and thin-skinned, the 53-year-old Uribe also remains an anti-communist hard-liner fighting an insurgency dating back to the Cold War.

Uribe’s reelection sets the stage, too, for a new round of confrontation between the Bush administration and the populist government of Hugo Chavez from oil-rich Venezuela, which borders Colombia to the east and which has spearheaded the region’s drive for greater independence from the policies of Washington and the International Monetary Fund.

Tensions between Colombia and Venezuela have threatened to boil over in recent years, with Colombian officials accusing Venezuela of supporting leftist guerillas known as the FARC and Venezuelans suspecting Colombia of aiding U.S. efforts to destabilize and eliminate the Chavez government, which has withstood several coup attempts.

In the past few months, evidence has emerged to support some of those Venezuelan suspicions. Rafael Garcia, a cashiered official of Colombia’s federal police agency (DAS), alleged that the DAS plotted to assassinate Chavez.

Garcia, the former DAS chief of information systems, was accused of taking bribes to erase police files that incriminated right-wing paramilitary leaders. He then went public describing the Colombian plot to kill Chavez, as well as DAS help for narco-traffickers connected to a right-wing “death squad,” the United Self-Defense Forces, known as the AUC.

Garcia also alleged that the AUC murdered union activists and engineered voter fraud four years ago to help Uribe get elected.
(snip)

Garcia, the former DAS official, alleged that AUC thugs used intimidation and fraud to give Uribe 300,000 of his 5.3 million votes in the 2002 election. During Uribe’s first term, the AUC also appears to have increased its penetration of key government agencies, including the DAS, roughly the equivalent of Colombia’s FBI.
(snip)

Colombia’s long history of violence – the origins of which Scott lays at the doorstep of a feudalistic oligarchy that dispossessed peasants and subjugated laborers with impunity – predates the first U.S. intervention in the early 1960s. (The 15-year-long “La Violencia” period began with the 1948 assassination of a popular presidential candidate.)

Furthermore, the crystallization of what had previously been a fragmented left-wing underground into an armed revolutionary guerilla movement, occurred in response, not prior, to U.S. intervention.
(snip)

Significantly, the editorial continues, “Uribe’s administration has twice written bills that restrict the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court, which is the most important remaining check on the president’s power. Uribe may try again if he is elected to a second term on Sunday.

More:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/053106a.html