accuse
the Colombian government of not protecting Trade Union
activists],
'FIGHT WITH THE COURT' [Uribe showed a lack
of
respect for the Supreme Court, after it questioned whether it
is
legal for him to run for a third term, 'JEWISH POLITICS'
[May
refer to the comon perception in Latin America that
Jewish
people
have undue influence in the U.S.].
El Tiempo, Colombia
McCain's Colombia
Visit a 'Brassy, Tawdry Show'
"The fact that we received a presidential
candidate who doubles as a clone of the present occupant of the White House
with such excessive honors, makes clear our position of inferiority - a
position accepted with servility by Colombia's Chief of State."
Candidate John
McCain's visit to Colombia, longer than those of Presidents Clinton and
Bush;strict security measures taken in
Cartagena; his presence at Casa de HuespedesIlustres [the Colombian version of Camp David];
coverage of his visit by the national and international press; and words of
praise for the anti-drug and "anti-terror" policies of President Uribe, suggest that Uribe is
depositing a symbolic vote for the Republican candidate in the ballot box - a
very risky card to play.
Seen from the
other side of the coin, the Republican candidate's visit is a pat on the back
for President Uribe, who is so close to Bush's
foreign policy that he's one of the few Latin American presidents who shares
the shame - along with Bush- of not wanting to accept that the U.S. began a war
of aggression and occupation based on a colossal lie, and which today it
doesn't know how to get out of.
Favor for favor.
The words of the Presidential host and the preferential treatment given to the
visitor seem intended as a response to the Democrats, who have frozen approval
of the Free Trade Agreement and who have raised uncomfortable questions about
the violation of human rights by forces of the Colombian State.
Despite the
ambiguous efforts of Uribe’s government to imply that
this visit doesn't rule exclude a future visit by Barack Obama - the Democratic
candidate who leads his rival McCain in the polls - that's the message which
has been sent. The Colombian President, key to the neoconservative policies of
Bush, could also be the key to Latin American reaffirmation of those policies
should McCain be elected.
ELECTION FUN: MAKE MCCAIN
EXCITING -
PARODY OF RAVE MUSIC VIDEO -
'MCCAIN REMIX'
President Uribe has accepted that Colombia will become the only
remaining beachhead left to the United States on the American sub-continent. He
has confused respect with undue servitude. And although Plan Colombia was at
first an agreement in principle between a conservative [Colombian] president
and another Democrat [Clinton], this Colombian President and the Republican
candidate now have many things in common. Hence the verbal ping-pong of the
visit.
This unusual
campaign stop is also an election visit for Uribe. It
occurs at a time that he remains entangled in the web of Presidential
arrogance, without having escaped the mud being thrown by his friends in the
[Colombian] Congress. But above all, at a time when he's being challenged by
the Supreme Court of Justice, he defies and rebukes it as if it were a matter
of slapping the face of a “fairy [an effeminate man]” who betrayed his
confidence in the halls of the [Presidential] Palace.
'Visit By
McCain'[El Espectador, Colombia]
[Editor's Note: Last week, Colombia's
Supreme Court sentenced a former lawmaker for accepting illegal favors from
government officials for supporting a bill that changed the Colombian
Constitution to allow Uribe to seek a second term.
The Supreme court asked the Constitutional Court to review the legality of Uribe's re-election effort - a request the court denied.
Ironically, this is exactly what President Hugo Chavez tried and failed to do
last year in Venezuela - only Venezuela followed a more democratic route. It
held a plebiscite. Where that move was decried in Washington as a power grab -
no such complaints were voiced over Uribe's
successful alteration of the Colombian Constitution]. Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The fact that we
received a candidate who doubles as a clone of the present occupant of the
White House with such excessive honors, makes clear our position of inferiority
- a position accepted with servility by Colombia's Chief of State. No one
imagines that a President of the United States would welcome one of our country’s
candidates for president with such preferential treatment - above all during
the period right before the election. With great difficulty, a U.S. leader
might similarly receive a regional under-secretary.
ELECTION FUN: MAKE MCCAIN
EXCITING -
MUSIC VIDEO PARODY 'BLUE SUEDE
SHOES'
If McCain’s visit
is for the purpose of gaining support within the Latino electorate, he won’t
win any invitations just because the Colombian Head of State contributed his
“grain of sand,” to the McCain campaign - which was accepted during the brassy,
tawdry show we observed. If this tour was meant as an early indicator of what
McCain's policies will be toward Colombia, a judicious report from our
ambassador to Washington, accompanied by an official note advising against such
a visit, would have sufficed.
Colombian President Uribe, right, with Senator John McCain, left, and his wife Cindy, with Senator Joeseph Lieberman standing behind, in Cartagena, Colombia on Tuesday. Deny it as he might, given the effusive welcome accorded John McCain this week, it appears as though Colombian President Uribe has thrown his lot in with the Republican Presidential candidate. If McCain loses, that could be a huge mistake ...
[LATEST NEWSWIRE PHOTOS: McCain visits Latin America].
