The election of right wing hardliner, Alvaro Uribe Velez, in Columbia's elections was hailed as a 'landslide' in certain media reports, and as evidence that even Columbia was on board for the war against terrorism. However, what was not reported was that the only 'landslide' was in voters abstaining from going to the polling booths. 54 per cent of the citizens of the country did not vote in the election, and of the remaining citizens who did vote, Velez garnerned a 'landslide' of 24 per cent of the total population (a little over 50 per cent of those who actually voted), with 22 per cent voting against him. Some reports I have heard refer to Velez as 'the son of a local mafia boss' with strong ties to the Columbian death squads, which, according to Amenesty International, have strong ties to the Columbian military. According to an AI report this spring, the evidence suggests military complicity with the death squads in that death squads act with impunity within military controlled regions, and the military fails to respond to reports of death squad activities even within kilometers of military outposts where swift intervention would make a difference.

Uribes running mate is a media mogul, which helps to explain the fact that he has the strong support of the Columbian media, and he is also favored by the United States, which, those with a sense of history will recall, has a long history of supporting tyrants in the region. Velez has plans to double military spending in Columbia and form a one million strong armed civilian militia. A similar civilian militia was responsible for massacres in Guatemala. Reports suggest that Velen, while mayor of Medellin was invovled with the Medellin cocaine cartel and had connections to right wing death squads. His intention to form armed civilian militia in Columbia and his credentials as an extreme right wing hawk lend credence to these reports. Time will tell what the results will be in Columbia, already plaugued by death squad violence and leftist insurrection before the 'landslide' election of Velez. So far this year (as of June 2002) close to 70 union organizers have already been murdered in Columbia in a pattern that goes back years...


The Campaign to Impeach George W. Bush
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Links to other pages mentioning Columbia on this site.
Plan Columbia and the drug war - includes media criticism of the military financing going to Columbia under the name of the 'drug war' (now to be replaced by financing under the name of the 'war on terrorism'). Also includes some disturbing photographs of death squad victims and the extreme poverty and squallor in Columbia, where a small and wealthy clique of families owns seventy per cent of the country.

The Liberation gospel also picks up on the theme of what is going on in countri es like Columbia to retell the old gospel story, which I suggest, having become 'religious' has become misunderstood in its original context.