Colombia’s Cordoba Among Women Contending for Nobel Peace Prize

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Bloomberg

Colombia’s Cordoba Among Women Contending for Nobel Peace Prize
By Meera Bhatia

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia Senator Piedad Cordoba and Afghanistan’s Sima Samar, two women promoting peace and human rights in conflict zones, are among the top contenders for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo said.

There are a record 205 nominees for the 10 million-krona ($1.4 million) prize, which women rarely win, set to be announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Oct. 9.

Cordoba, 54, “is the most likely candidate,” said Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the institute which each year lists potential winners. “She has been able to carve out an independent space for herself in a conflict that’s very protracted. Samar certainly has a very strong personality and played a major role in the Afghan context.”

The prize, along with other honors for literature, physics, medicine and chemistry, was created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel in his will and first awarded in 1901. Finland’s Martti Ahtisaari won last year and past laureates include Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Theresa. Kenya’s Wangari Maathai was the most recent female winner in 2004.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aXLQEJsq.6Ak

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http://www.defesanet.com.br.nyud.net:8090/yy/colombia/dem_farc.jpg

Senator Piedad Cordoba, with Nancy Pelosi and Jim McGovern, in Washington.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Material posted previously on Senator Piedad Cordoba.

Colombian drawing fire for efforts to free hostages
mcclatchy-tribune
March 30, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia

Sen. Piedad Cordoba emerged from the Senate chamber on a recent night, clutching her side.

"My stomach hurts," she told an aide. "It's all this stress."

No wonder. Ten bodyguards accompany her around Colombia after a series of death threats. People on the street insult her, and she must wait in a secure place for other passengers to board an airplane before she gets on, after a verbal altercation at Bogota's airport in January.

A kidnap victim herself who has long worked on behalf of Colombia's dispossessed, Cordoba has been in the headlines over the past three months for her work to secure the freedom of six hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a Marxist guerrilla group known as the FARC.

But most Colombians believe that in doing so, she has become too cozy with the FARC and Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez. Both are almost universally disliked in Colombia.

"She's Chavez's alter ego," said Sen. Jorge Visbal, a political foe.

So while many analysts expect Cordoba to run for president in 2010 with Chavez's support, pollster Juan Lemoine discounts her odds.

"She has less than a 5 percent chance of winning," Lemoine said.

Cordoba soldiers on.

"They've always tried to shut me up," Cordoba told The Miami Herald during several interviews that started in Bogota and ended in Caracas. "I'm against the Establishment. Many people on the left don't want to rock the Establishment and not be invited to cocktail parties. Nobody invites me. The only list I'm on is of those to be killed."

Cordoba said she has already survived eight attempts on her life. One killed two of her police guards, while another maimed her driver.

More:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.colombia30mar30,0,3819626.story?track=rss

Images:

http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu.nyud.net:8090/Assets/images/piedad.jpg http://www.cambio.com.co.nyud.net:8090/portadacambio/753/IMAGEN/IMAGEN-3847804-2.jpg

http://www.semana.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/Generales%5CImgArticulo_T2_49856_20071128_123540.jpg

[Odin2005]

2. Sounds like an amazing woman!