Colombia’s Paramilitaries: Eye on the U. S. Government
Colombia’s Paramilitaries: Eye on the U. S. Government
September 21, 2016
by W. T. Whitney
After 52 years of war and four years of negotiations, the Colombian people will vote October 2 in a plebiscite to decide yes or no on the peace agreement signed by the government and FARC-EP insurgency on August 24. Public opinion polls say the agreement will be approved. Even ex-President Álvaro Uribe admitted on September 12 that “it’s very possible that on October 2 the yes vote will win in the plebiscite.”
Presently, however, violence by paramilitaries and their increasing visibility pose a real threat to movement by Colombians toward peace. That reality is a cue for insistence now that the U. S. government no longer support or give a blind eye to Colombian paramilitaries.
Uribe is allied to big landowners and infamous for familial and political ties with paramilitary leaders. He is the leader of Colombians opposed to the peace agreement. And once the agreement takes hold – if it does – and as implementation proceeds, they will likely be fomenting conflict of some sort.
The circumstances potentially giving rise to strife are evident in recent observations from an ally of Uribe. Wilson Rey Arias of Meta Department was explaining why he and Uribe captains in two other departments would, surprisingly, be voting yes in the plebiscite.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/21/eye-on-the-u-s-government/
Good Reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016167390
