Uribe re-election effort hits snag in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Uribe re-election effort hits snag in Colombia
Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:59pm EST

* Nonbinding arbiter ruling goes against re-election push

* Constitutional Court has last word on referendum

* Uribe seen as Washington's free-market ally in the Andes

By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - A bid to elect Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to a third term next year hit a snag on Friday after a panel of arbiters ruled that signatures collected in support of the effort were gathered improperly.

Opponents of a constitutional amendment to allow Uribe to run again said the decision by the National Electoral Council arbiters kills his chances of standing in the May election.

But re-election supporters say the arbiters exceeded their jurisdiction in ruling that Uribe campaign workers spent more money than allowed to collect about four million signatures supporting the change in law.

The final decision falls to the Constitutional Court, which is reviewing a bill passed by Congress calling for a referendum on the proposed constitutional amendment.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1345999120091113?rpc=401

[Peace Patriot]

1. Funny how the corpo-fascist press and the rightwingers here at DU accuse Honduran President Zelaya

of the same thing--proposing to change the Constitution to run for office again--something Zelaya DID NOT DO, but they have little or nothing to say about a narco-thug like Uribe doing exactly this.

They also called Chavez a "dictator" because his government put term limits to a vote of the people--in one of the most transparent, honest and aboveboard election systems in the western hemisphere. That is my objection to Uribe and term limits--not lifting term limits per se (our own FDR ran for and won four terms in office), but the fear, intimidation, brutality and even death that attends Colombia's so-called elections. If you raise your head in a leftist cause in Colombia, you might get it shot off by rightwing death squads. They can no more have fair elections in Colombia than they can in Honduras. Uribe wanting a third term is not the problem. $6 BILLION in US military aid, the Colombian military's dreadful human rights record, and their closely tied rightwing paramilitary death squads are the problem.

Colombia is also hanging right over the cliff of a military dictatorship. Former Defense Minister Manuel Santos--the "Donald Rumsfeld" of South America--is waiting in the wings to conduct an even worse "death squad election" than Uribe. Uribe is bad, very, very bad, but Santos is worse. There are no good choices in Colombia, because none are allowed.

[Downwinder]

2. Don't they call that "projecting." n/t