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Related: About this forumColombia’s ex-President Uribe ‘lied over electoral fraud’: FARC
Colombias ex-President Uribe lied over electoral fraud: FARC
Jun 30, 2014 posted by Nicolas Bedoya
Colombias largest rebel group, the FARC, have rejected accusations by former president and senator-elect Alvaro Uribe that they forced voters re-elect the incumbent president with a gun to the neck.
In a press release on Sunday, the FARC dismissed accusations from Uribe of their alleged involvement in electoral fraud and armed coercion, which led to the re-election of President Juan Manuel Santos.
This accusation without a doubt has to do with another episode of lies and delirium of this recognized enemy of peace and reconciliation (Uribe) of all Colombians, the FARC statement read.
According to the FARC, it is ridiculous that Uribe is accusing them of electoral fraud and violence against voters when direct coercion on the voter by the paramilitaries during [Uribe's] two presidential terms and the recent elections where Uribe was elected senator, is a known fact throughout the country.
Colombias largest guerrilla group accused the former head of state of using the same vile methods of intimidation and extortion, of which he has attributed to the rebels, according to the statement. The rebels criticized Uribe for not presenting evidence to support his claims of the rebels election fraud; however, this is not the first time the ex-president has accused his enemies of serious crimes without substantiating them.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/colombias-former-president-uribe-new-episode-lies-delirium-farc/
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)COLOMBIA: "Mark Him on the Ballot The One Wearing Glasses"
By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA, May 8 2008 (IPS) - "With Uribe, we thought: this is the guy who is going to change the country," the 41-year-old fisherwoman told IPS.That is why her fishing and farming village of 800 people in the central Colombian region of Magdalena Medio decided overwhelmingly to vote for current President Álvaro Uribe in the 2002 presidential elections, when he first ran. The woman agreed to talk to IPS on the condition that she be asked neither her name (we will call her "L." nor the name of her village.
The main city in the fertile region of Magdalena Medio is Barrancabermeja, an oil port on the Magdalena River, which runs across Colombia from south to north before emptying into the Caribbean Sea.
What convinced the villagers to vote for Uribe? "Because the region where we live is poor, very poor, its so difficult to find work, and when I heard him say I am going to work for the poor, I am going to help them, I thought this is a good president."
When the rightwing presidents first four-year term came to an end in 2006, most of the villagers decided again to vote for him, reasoning that he just needed more time to reduce poverty. The odd thing was that in both the 2002 and 2006 elections, despite the fact that the villagers had already decided to vote for Uribe, the far-right paramilitaries, who had committed a number of murders since 1998, when they appeared in the region that was previously dominated by the leftwing guerrillas, pressured the local residents to vote for Uribe anyway.
The paramilitaries did not kill people to pressure the rest to vote for Uribe, as they did in other communities, but merely used "threats," said L.
"If you don't vote for Uribe, you know what the consequences will be," the villagers were told ominously.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2008/05/colombia-quotmark-him-on-the-ballot-the-one-wearing-glassesquot/
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)voters when those were used in Uribe's own campaigns.
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)as they have done all this time, even knowing he was dirty as far back as the 1990's.
He's hypocritical beyond belief. He should be in prison now, instead of trying to make trouble for the elected President.