Colombians in nationwide protest

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Wednesday, 13 October, 2004, 06:50 GMT 07:50 UK



Colombians in nationwide protest

By Jeremy McDermott
BBC News, Bogota




Police fired tear gas during a demonstration in Popayan

About 700,000 Colombians have taken part in nationwide protests against President Alvaro Uribe.
Demonstrators came from trade unions, civic groups and opposition parties, all complaining about different things.

Their banners were directed against unemployment, Mr Uribe's plans to raise taxes and to change the constitution to allow for his re-election.

Hospitals in many cities were only offering emergency services and law courts were closed.

Many classes across the country were cancelled as teachers joined the protest.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3738490.stm

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U.S. to double military in Colombia
New York Times

Monday, October 11, 2004

Bogota, Colombia -- The number of U.S. military personnel in Colombia will double, to 800, in the coming months, based on a weekend vote in the U.S. Congress.

The action was welcomed by President Alvaro Uribe's government for its fight against Marxist rebels but condemned by human rights groups, who warned of a sharp escalation in the conflict.

The 2005 U.S. Defense Department authorization act, approved Saturday by Congress, also permits the Bush administration to increase the number of U.S. citizens working for private contractors in Colombia to 600 from 400.

The soldiers and many of the contractors will, among other things, develop and analyze intelligence on rebel movements and train Colombian troops in counterguerrilla operations.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/10/11/MNGST974081.DTL


Colombia's Alvaro Uribe and some guy

[FlemingsGhost]

1. Can you imagine this kind of solidarity in the U.S.?

Nah ... me either.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Bush is backing a filthy political machine in Colombia. Big surprise!

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA:
Paramilitaries Extend Their Tentacles

Constanza Vieira


BOGOTA, Oct 13 (IPS) - Local secretariats of finance, roads and health -- ”that's where the money is, that's where the show is run,” a member of a paramilitary militia in Colombia can be heard saying in the taped telephone conversation.
(snip)

The tapes, for example, reveal meetings between paramilitaries and two senators. And another of the paramilitaries says he belongs to military intelligence. Yet another says he is a victim of persecution, but that he has taken refuge in the DAS (presidential intelligence service), and quips ”They won't look for me here, ha ha.”
(snip)

In the transcript of yet another tape recorded conversation, published by the magazine Semana, Colombia's High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo can be heard promising the paramilitary chiefs in the secret negotiations in Santa Fe de Ralito that the ICC ”is not a danger. The government has introduced a draft law that will block the action” of that global judicial body, he tells them.

As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Colombia falls within the jurisdiction of the ICC, which was created to try cases involving crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, when national courts cannot or will not do so.

In September 2003, the Uribe administration signed a bilateral accord with Washington that exempts U.S. citizens in Colombia from ICC prosecution, after the U.S. government suspended five million dollars in military aid to pressure Bogota to sign.
(snip/...)

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=25838

[Judi Lynn]

3. Colombia press sees rocky road ahead

Last Updated: Wednesday, 13 October, 2004, 15:17 GMT 16:17 UK

Colombia press sees rocky road ahead


Under pressure: Alvaro Uribe
The nationwide protests against the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe come as no surprise to commentators in some of the country's leading newspapers.

Papers from across the political spectrum publish opinion pieces highly critical of the president, who was swept into power in May 2002 as the first presidential candidate to win a first-round election victory. Writing in the leading daily El Tiempo, Daniel Samper Pizano condemns what he sees as the high level of corruption in the country, which he believes has rebounded on Mr Uribe.

"The greatest enemy of democracy is the acceptance of venality. At the present time, corruption is the cancer of democracy."

Pointing out that Mr Uribe and his government had pledged to tackle corruption, Mr Pizano laments that the moves to change the constitution to allow for his re-election have had a "grave affect" on the public perception of his integrity.
(snip)

Among the incidents the Medellin newspaper El Colombiano reports is the burning of the American flag in the capital, Bogota and violence in the southern city of Popoyan. Writing in El Colombiano, Reinaldo Spitaletta questions why it took so long for the public to manifest its unhappiness with the Uribe government, which he accuses of spinning a "web of deceit" to hide its "anti-worker, anti-popular policies".
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3739536.stm

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Wants to change their Constitution so he benefits, maintains "anti-worker, anti-popular policies". Another "Teflon President." Sounds as if they've got their own little _{George Bush,} doesn't it?

[ladybugg33]

4. Sending more soldiers to pump up another puppet.

How much more of this can we stand?