Colombia's Congress is crippled by militia scandal

[Joanne98]

Source: AP

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Sen. Jorge Enrique Gomez replaced a jailed senator, who had replaced a senator who resigned under criminal investigation, who had replaced a jailed senator. But the evangelical preacher's lack of legislative experience hardly matters — Congress doesn't do much these days anyway.

Ten percent of Colombia's 268 federal lawmakers are behind bars and another 10 percent, including the Senate's president, are under investigation. And with the arrest of a cousin this week, the scandal has grown uncomfortably close to President Alvaro Uribe, Washington's closest ally in Latin America.

The scandal revolves around allegations that illegal right-wing paramilitaries helped pro-Uribe lawmakers and governors get elected as they rid much of Colombia of left-wing guerrilla bands. In some cases, the politicians are accused of plotting killings with warlords.

The United States and Europe consider both the paramilitaries and the guerrillas to be terrorist groups, and both are active in drug smuggling. Uribe's government has vigorously hunted down the rebels while brokering a peace deal with the paramilitaries that offered reduced sentences in exchange for confessions.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWG2LxDYBEblErWnaRRrEl4OhfkwD90910HO0

[Judi Lynn]

1. Oh, come now, Bush's only firm ally in South America just CAN'T be this crooked. Surely there's

been a misktake, don't you think? It's not like greedy, murderous, racist right-wingers to be corrupt, is it?

This article is probably KILLING AP to have to publish any part of it. They have ALWAYS been the faithful servants of the _Bush administration, dragging in so much propaganda to support _Bush and villify his targets that AP's articles on Latin America are usually only about 5% news, and the rest regurgitated, rehashed, recycled propagandistic crap.

Here's a great bit (for AP) from this article:

The scandal broke in late 2006 after political analyst Claudia Lopez found what she called massive vote-rigging in areas controlled by the paramilitaries, and Sen. Gustavo Petro, a fierce critic of Uribe, detailed before Congress how local politicians worked with warlords to take political control of the Caribbean province of Sucre.

One by one, politicians have been investigated by the Supreme Court, the only body that can try sitting lawmakers. Most of those arrested are being held at Bogota's La Picota prison, where lawyers in expensive suits can be seen entering at all hours of the day.

It's clear the scandal is far from over. This week, jailed paramilitary warlord Salvatore Mancuso said more than half of Colombia's lawmakers could be implicated. Before demobilizing, he had said the paramilitaries "controlled" more than a third of Congress.

"In the whole world, the most perfect mafia takeover of a state, the best achieved, has happened here in Colombia," Petro said.

Superb! Hope this news has given some of these fools a really bad week. It's not as if they don't have it coming, and a hell of a lot worse to come!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/219/481887001_d7031174ea.jpg

http://www.bearder.com.nyud.net:8090/peter/uploaded_images/Beehive-013-716731.jpg

http://550.dreamhosters.com.nyud.net:8090/yvke/files/img_noticia/t_uribe_bush_131.jpg