U.S. House Democratic leader praises Colombia gov't

[Zorro]

Source: Reuters

Colombia's decision to extradite 14 former paramilitary leaders to the United States to face drug-trafficking and other charges was praised on Wednesday by a leading Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, who said it could improve the outlook for a free-trade deal.

"I think it's a very positive development," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said.

Asked by Reuters whether this could help prospects for House passage of a U.S. free-trade agreement with Colombia, Hoyer responded, "I think it is helpful." But he added that there has been no movement yet in scheduling a vote on the House floor.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080514/pl_nm/usa_colombia_trade_dc_1

---

Sounds as if the Democratic leadership is beginning to recognize and acknowledge the Uribe administration's progress against paramilitary terrorists and criminals.

[angstlessk]

1. they better fucking wait...if they do this our death knell is not far behind

what a bunch of wimps!

[jespwrs]

2. Uribe is a criminal

All Uribe deserves is an international criminal trial for murder and drug trafficking.

[AlphaCentauri]

3. uribe is giving his friends a passport to the penthouse

what better for this guys to expend their jail time in the US, 3 meals daily, TV, Gym, A/C, clean blankets, better than any jail in Colombia.

[Zynx]

4. U.S. prisons are not exactly a picnic.

Also, given how rampant corruption is in Colombia it is probably easier to get special treatment.

[AlphaCentauri]

5. they are going to miss a lot, like the colombian ambulances

Old picture



Colombian correctional officers load injured inmates of the Modelo prison in Cucuta near the border with Venezuela unto a truck while waiting for medical treatment. Six inmates were reported killed and 35 injured in a riot began by high risk prisoners as they tried to take over a cell block, prison officials said. By midday, the riot was under control.

[EFerrari]

7. This is theater. If those guys do any time anywhere that is unpleasant

I'll eat canned spinach.

[EFerrari]

6. Uribe is a butcher and Hoyer should know better. n/t

[jeff30997]

8. Please remind me...

Why is Noriega in jail and not this asshole Uribe? Oh,silly me!

He's a good puppet that didn't try to cut his strings like the other

scumbag.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Change to Win, AFL-CIO Show Solidarity With Colombian Union Leaders During U.S. Visit To Oppose Trad

Change to Win, AFL-CIO Show Solidarity With Colombian Union Leaders During U.S. Visit To Oppose Trade Deal

WASHINGTON, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa on Wednesday urged Congress to resist White House pressure to pass a trade deal with Colombia.

During a Capitol Hill news conference, seven Colombian union leaders said they oppose the deal because it rewards the government of Alvaro Uribe, which shows little respect for union rights.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, joined the union leaders. The unionists are meeting with members of Congress to make it clear that the labor rights situation in Colombia remains dire, despite the assurances of the Bush and Uribe administrations.

"These trade deals harm workers and protect the multinationals that exploit them," Hoffa said. "It's a bogus claim that union leaders will be safer if we enter into a trade agreement with Colombia. After CAFTA was signed, violence against unionists in Guatemala went up -- not down."

At least eight trade unionists were killed in Guatemala after CAFTA took effect on July 1, 2006.

Already this year, 23 trade unionists were killed in Colombia, a rate that surpasses last year's. Since Alvaro Uribe took office, more trade unionists were killed in Colombia than in the rest of the world combined.

More:
http://sev.prnewswire.com/publishing-information-services/20080515/DC2235514052008-1.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Democrats traditionally side with labor, not the exploiters of labor.

[struggle4progress]

10. Extradition of paramilitary chiefs - a blow to truth

... Iván Cepeda, spokesman for the Movement of Victims of Crimes of the State (MOVICE), complained to the press that the extraditions would "seriously affect" the rights of survivors, and said they were aimed at keeping the paramilitary leaders from continuing to provide the names of military, political and business accomplices and allies ...

"This is a mockery," Gustavo Gallón, director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists, another leading human rights organisation, told IPS.

"It was clearly spelled out: if they were really committing crimes after demobilising — as they were doing — they were to be referred to the ordinary courts, as established by the justice and peace law," where they would face sentences of up to 40 years rather than the light sentences, of no more than eight years, provided for by the agreement with the government, he said ...

Leftwing Senator Gustavo Petro said ... "If Uribe says there is a pact with the United States" for the prosecution of war crimes to continue in that country, which does not recognise the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, "it is a secret pact, because no one knows about it. The only thing the U.S. is interested in is curbing drug trafficking" ...

http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/Colombia-Extradition-of,3103

[Judi Lynn]

14. Thanks for posting these human rights comments. I'm saving them for future use.

[struggle4progress]

11. " ... the Bush administration agreed it would not seek life sentences for any of the Colombians ..

.. as a precondition of their extradition ..."

Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Colombian paramilitaries make first US court appearances
By CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
MIAMI -- http://www.bradenton.com/331/story/607143.html

[struggle4progress]

12. Colombia: Government Mischaracterizes HRW’s Position on Paramilitary Extradition

... the timing of the mass extradition of virtually all the key paramilitary leaders at once raises serious questions about the government’s commitment to uncovering the truth about paramilitaries’ infiltration of the political system. Just as prosecutors and judges have been making real progress in unraveling the web of paramilitary links to government officials and politicians, the paramilitary leaders who know the most about these links have been sent out of the country ...

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/05/14/colomb18839.htm

[struggle4progress]

13. (AI) Extradition of paramilitary leaders must not lead to closure of investigations into ..

.. human rights violations

... The organization stated that in extraditing these men on drugs-trafficking charges without reference to human rights violations, there is a real danger that tentative investigations being carried out in Colombia, especially by the Human Rights Unit of the Office of the Attorney General and by the Supreme Court of Justice, will be severely weakened.

"There is now a real danger that the full scale of human rights violations committed over the years by paramilitaries, as well as the key role played by the security forces, state officials and leading political and business figures in these crimes, will remain hidden and, as such, in complete impunity," said Amnesty International ...

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AMMF-7EMGZA?OpenDocument
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/colombia-extradition-paramilitary-leaders-must-not-lead-closure-investig

[Alexander]

15. I knew it was Steny Hoyer as soon as I read the headline...

:grr:

[tom_paine]

16. Ummm, would that include Uribe's union-murdering Right-Wing Death Squads?

Or aren't they terrorists because they're killing people like YOU and ME. You know, liberal traitors?

:puke:

They work for Uribe, and if not him directly, through his cronies.

And they kill kill KILL for "social and political gain".

So glad Steny remembered to bring that up.

:puke: