Bush, Colombia & Narco-Politics

[acmavm]

By Andrés Cala
March 9, 2008 (Originally published August 8, 2007)

(For those, like me, who missed it back then. Plus, it's a good review course in bush** policy and politics. It all goes toward his 'legacy'.)

Bush, Colombia & Narco-Politics

By Andrés Cala
March 9, 2008 (Originally published August 8, 2007)


Editor's Note: On March 1, Colombian armed forces crossed into Ecuador to kill 24 leftist Colombian guerrillas, including a senior commander, Raul Reyes. The attack touched off a confrontation pitting Colombia against Ecuador and Venezuela, which condemned the violation of Ecuador's sovereignty and noted that Reyes was a key figure in negotiations over prisoner releases and a possible reduction in political tensions.

The Bush administration defended Colombia's right to attack "terrorists" even if that requires crossing a border, a position echoed by this year's presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Indeed, from the opinion circles of Washington, there was almost no criticism of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe although his inner circle has long been linked to both right-wing terrorism and cocaine trafficking.

Last August, journalist Andres Calas examined the new evidence about Uribe's ties to this dark underworld of Latin American violence. We are republishing that special report below:

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<snip>

George W. Bush’s strategy of countering Venezuela’s leftist president Hugo Chávez by strengthening ties to Colombia’s rightist government has been undercut by fresh evidence of high-level drug corruption and human rights violations implicating President Alvaro Uribe’s inner circle.

These new allegations about Colombia’s narco-politics have tarnished Uribe’s reputation just as Bush has been showcasing the Harvard- and Oxford-educated politician as a paragon of democratic values and an alternative to the firebrand Chávez, who has used Venezuela’s oil wealth to finance social programs for the poor across the region.

<snip>
This so-called “para-scandal” revealed that a counterinsurgency force, known as the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC, collaborated with drug lords to control the cocaine trade and simultaneously worked with Colombia’s elites, including Uribe’s family, to fend off the guerrilla threat.

Another troubling offshoot of the peace process was the creation of a safe haven for drug lords, who flocked to a 370-square-kilometer sanctuary set up for the AUC.

<snip>

Despite the drug suspicions – and the links to paramilitary death squads – Uribe benefited from public disenchantment with a sputtering peace process that had failed to end the civil war. Uribe emerged as the winner with 53 percent of the vote.

After Uribe’s election, several drug barons claimed they had financed his campaign. Indicted drug trafficker Ochoa Vasco said he contributed $150,000 of his own money at the AUC’s request.

Ochoa Vasco also said he witnessed a conversation between the AUC’s leaders and supposed representatives of Uribe’s campaign before the election.

-MORE-

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