Incoming US ambassador says dismissal of Bogota mayor is ‘bad signal’ for peace talks
Incoming US ambassador says dismissal of Bogota mayor is ‘bad signal’ for peace talks
posted by Adriaan Alsema
Dec 12, 2013
The United States’ incoming ambassador to Colombia on Wednesday expressed his concerns over the recent dismissal of Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, saying it could “erode” ongoing efforts to negotiate peace with leftist rebel group FARC.
During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, current Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South America Kevin Whitaker said that the decision to dismiss Petro could affect the peace talks as the FARC could come to the conclusion there are no political guarantees for leftist political actors.
Before taking part in mainstream politics, Petro was a member of the leftist M-19 guerrilla movement that was demobilized in 1990 and then took part in the formulating of Colombia’s 1991 constitution.
“Colombia is now committed to this important effort to figure out how to end the internal conflict. And it isn’t by accident that the second point of discussion is about political pluralism, about how to integrate individuals from the left in the democratic process,” Whitaker was quoted as saying by Colombian media. “If these individuals come to the conclusion, based on this fact or any other, that this space does not exist, then the basic conditions for peace will in some ways erode,” said the nominated ambassador.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/incoming-us-ambassador-says-dismissal-bogota-mayor-bad-signal-peace/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
The Most Hated Man in Colombia?
[font size=1]
Inspector General Alejandro
Ordoñez.[/font]
Not long ago, Alejandro Ordoñez was a somewhat obscure, if polarizing, government official and Gustavo Petro was mayor with a popularity problem. Then Ordoñez ousted Petro from the office and banned him from politics for 15 years - all for mishandling Bogotá's garbage collection system.
Today, Petro is on his way to becoming a martyr and folk hero, while Ordoñez is the target of anger by Petro's backers and is being questioned and criticized by other high government officials.
Ordoñez extreme conservatism has long gained him the oprobrium of many left-leaning Colombians. A conservative Catholic and follower of controversial French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre - some of whose followers deny the Nazi Holocaust - Ordoñez has staunchly opposed same-sex marriage and abortion rights in Colombia. Ordoñez believes that the Colombian state, which is officially secular, should be based on Catholic doctrine, according to his Wikipedia entry. Ordonez's efforts to discourage even information about legal abortion rights have earned him warnings from other government officials.
Ordoñez's latest decision to oust Petro was criticized by both the minister of justice and the attorney general, Eduardo Montealegre, who called Ordoñez's action "inquisitorial" and "anti-democratic."
More:
http://mikesbogotablog.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-most-hated-man-in-colombia.html
