Colombia rules out recall of scandal-hit congress

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia rules out recall of scandal-hit congress

www.chinaview.cn 2007-02-20 12:37:50

BOGOTA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Colombian Interior Minister Calos Holguin on Monday rejected a proposal by opposition senator, Gustavo Petro, to recall the nation's legislature, the congress, after a political crisis triggered by the arrest of eight legislators.

"In moments of crisis, institutions need to work well, and that is why I am against Petro's initiative," Holguin told Colombia Radio Channel, adding that criminal responsibility for the alleged links of particular legislators to illegal groups should be shouldered by the individuals, and should not affect congress.

Alvaro Araujo, Mauricio Pimiento, Dieb Maloof, Luis Eduardo Vives and Alfonso Campo, all legislators who back the ruling party,were arrested by police on Thursday. The country's foreign minister, Maria Consuelo Araujo,sister of Alvaro Araujo, resigned on Monday saying that she wished to be by her brother's side.

A total of eight legislators have been arrested, after police interrogated more than 30.

The so-called "para-politica" scandal implicates a large number of right-wing legislators, suggesting that their political campaigns were financed by the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and that they may have diverted state funds to the AUC, a 31,000-strong militia organization that has been disbanding in a demobilization process since 2003 after negotiating with current president, Alvaro Uribe.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/20/content_5758084.htm



Alvaro Uribe and his friend.

[Selatius]

1. Maybe the interior ministry is afraid the left will sweep congress.

The corporatists would be angered if that were to happen. The leftists might actually kick out the US.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Uribe, A Bush Ally, Treads on Shaky Ground

Uribe, A Bush Ally, Treads on Shaky Ground
Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007 By SIBYLLA BRODZINKSY/BOGOTA



Colombian president Alvaro Uribe (L) swears in the new Colombian Foreign Minister, Maria Consuelo Araujo (R), Aug. 07, 2006 in Bogota. Araujo resigned her position Feb. 19, 2007.
Cesar Carrion / Presidencia / AFP / Getty

For Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe, the arrests last week of five senior senators allied to his government, on charges they colluded with feared right-wing paramilitary groups, could hardly have come at a worse time. There was obviously the embarrassment of seeing staunch supporters hauled off to jail for allegedly working with the same militias that have carried out some of the most grisly massacres of Colombia's interminable civil war. But the crisis also had an international dimension, not only because early next month Uribe is expecting a visit from President Bush — who considers the conservative Uribe one of his own few allies in Latin America, and whose administration lists Colombia's right-wing paras as drug-trafficking terrorists — but also because one of the senators accused in the scandal was the brother of Colombia's foreign minister.

The latter problem seemed to have been slightly defused Monday with the resignation of Foreign Minister Maria Consuelo Araujo. But not before the spectacle of seeing her brother Sen. Alvaro Araujo charged not only with collusion with the para warlord who controlled his home region, but also with participating in the kidnapping of a rival politician. When Sen. Araujo was called in for questioning last fall, local pundits had called for Minister Araujo's resignation. But Uribe said he refused to "sacrifice" his foreign minister because of the possible misdeeds of her brother. Nevertheless, after the senator's arrest on Feb. 15, domestic and international pressure forced Minister Araujo's resignation, to the relief of other cabinet members. "It became evident that the situation was untenable," said Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, who had just launched a campaign to drum up international funding of military and social programs for the next six years. "In every meeting we had to explain about the foreign minister's situation."

The scandal comes just as Colombia has launched a campaign to drum up some $12 billion of support from the U.S. and Europe to finance a sequel to Plan Colombia, a controversial strategy to fight leftist rebels and drug trafficking. Under the first Plan Colombia, Bogota received more than $4.5 billion in the past six years from the United States in mostly military aid. An additional $1 billion came from donations from European nations which supported social programs and alternative development schemes to wean farmers off growing drug crops like coca. But support for that aid in the Democrat-dominated U.S. Congress is far from a done deal. Several U.S. lawmakers had already expressed reservations about the Bush administration's 2008 budget request for Colombia, which they had hoped would shift its focus to supporting social programs rather than continuing a militaristic approach. Instead, the Bush administration's request is 76% military. With the paramilitary scandal now touching Uribe's cabinet, U.S. lawmakers will be even more wary of digging deep into American pockets.

Congress must also consider whether to ratify a free trade agreement signed between the Bush Administration and the Colombian government last year. Defense Minister Santos recently returned from a trip to Washington, London and Brussels where he presented Plan Colombia II. The the para-politica scandal, as it has come to be known, may still mean it will be a hard sell, said Santos, but the foreign minister's resignation "makes my job a bit easier."
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http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1592017,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Clowns Killed In Colombia

Clowns Killed In Colombia
10:13 am, 22 Feb 2007

Two circus clowns have been shot dead during a performance in Colombia.

Police say the motive for the attack, which happened in the east of the country, is unclear.

One clown was shot in the head while he was on stage, the other is said to have been killed near a ticket booth.

Last year a famous clown, known as Pepe, was also shot dead in Colombia by an unknown assailant.
(snip/)

http://www.newswire.co.nz/main/viewstory.aspx?storyid=359924&catid=0