Colombian Politics
Alvaro Uribe's procession to a second term as Colombia's President hit a stumbling block yesterday as he responded wildly to allegations that his government colluded with paramilitaries to kill civilians.
Ref. https://news.independent.co.uk/world/americ...ticle358339.ece
Sounds like normal politics to me. Isn't a presidential campaign supposed to drudge up dirt on both sides? Maybe I've been in the US too long, but it seems this type of practise is commonplace now. I do agree that President Uribe should not have responded the way he did, because it just makes him to be possibly more guilty than he is.
International Level: Envoy / Political Participation: 241 24.1%
Colombian Human Rights Defender Ivan Cepeda Faces Criminal Charges for Speaking Out on Government-Paramilitary Ties
One of the Colombia¹s leading human rights defenders, Ivan Cepeda, has been charged with slander and libel for publicly calling for the mayor of San Onofre to resign for alleged ties to paramilitary groups. Cepeda is the director of the National Movement for Victims of State Crimes, an umbrella organization for more than 200 Colombian human right organizations. In 1996, government forces assassinated his father, Manuel Cepeda, a leading leftist Senator in Colombia. Ever since then Ivan Cepeda has worked to expose death squads in Colombia.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/03/1348246
Colombia Hostage, Ex-Presidential Candidate, Speaks of Hardship in New Letter
When I saw the full body picture of this woman, it really broke my heart. She looks sickly and absolutely without hope. She (along with other people) have been kidnapped for more than 6 years.
QUOTE |
PARIS - A former presidential candidate held hostage by Colombian rebels describes losing her hair, appetite and hope after six years in the jungle, in an emotional letter released Saturday. The letter, along with videos released by Colombian officials Friday, were the first evidence in years that Ingrid Betancourt and other rebel-held hostages may still be alive. The materials were seized during the arrest in Bogota of three suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. "Here, we are living like the dead," wrote Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen. Betancourt, whose children live in France, was kidnapped in February 2002 while campaigning for Colombia's presidency. The once-outspoken Betancourt sounded resigned and weakened in the letter, addressed to her mother and released by her family in France on Saturday. "I no longer have the same strength, it is very difficult for me to continue believing," she writes. "I am not well physically. ... My appetite is frozen, my hair is falling out in large quantities." The videotapes showed grainy images of an extremely gaunt Betancourt with a rosary in her hand. In the letter, she describes stretching to relieve her sore neck, speaking as little as possible, and says it is a "problem" that she is the only woman among several male prisoners held hostage for eight or 10 years. |
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 1089 100%
Secruss:
QUOTE |
She looks to be in good condition for a kidnap victim. |
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 1089 100%