URIBE: 'FREE TRADE AGREEMENT?'
OBAMA: 'NO WE CAN'T'
[El Tiempo,
Colombia]
El Tiempo, Colombia
Why U.S.
Spurned 'Spoiled Brat' Colombians for Brazil
"President
Uribe abandoned the bipartisan relationship inherited
from [former President] Pastrana, taking sides with the
Republicans who lost the election. As a consequence, Uribe
was honored by Bush with a medal, while Colombia has been left without solid
bipartisan bridges to defend its national interests. … the
government of Colombia still mourns Bush's defeat."
By Claudia López
Translated By Halszka
Czarnocka
March 17, 2009
Colombia-El Tiempo
- Original Article (Spanish)
As President Lula de Silva of
Brazil meets face-to-face to discuss global and Latin American politics with
President Obama at the White House, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos deplores
the ill treatment that, according to him, Colombia has received from a portion
of the Congress and civil society in the United States, and proposes an end to Plan Colombia,
considering it a source of humiliation.
This news accentuates the
painful contrast between the foreign policies of Brazil and Colombia. Thanks to
this, Brazil will become the strategic partner of the United States in the
region; while Colombia will cease to be. Brazil will assume this role for
obvious reasons: because it's the world’s tenth largest economy; it is the most
stable and progressive democracy on the continent; it is the only one with a
foreign ministry and president that garner international respect; and, for all
these reasons, it is a player with a global and regional following.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Colombia will lose its status
of preferred partner for other obvious reasons: because its role has been
overblown and because President Uribe abandoned the
bipartisan relationship inherited from [former President] Pastrana,
taking sides with the Republicans who lost the election. As a consequence, Uribe was honored by Bush with a medal, while Colombia has
been left without solid bipartisan bridges to defend its national interests.
Vice President Santos' interview with El Tiempo
is irrefutable proof that the government of Colombia still mourns Bush's defeat.
The interview could be summed up as: “We did the same thing before and no one
questioned a thing. Now they ask why union members get killed and we don’t pursue
legal procedures that solve these crimes; how we will respect labor rights while
engaging in free trade; why we rough up and persecute judges and journalists
that annoy us; why members of law enforcement kill innocent young people and
lie about it [False
Positives]; why there are criminal gangs that still operate in areas where the
"paramilitaries" have supposedly laid down their weapons. They ask us
how we are spending the measly $550 million they provide us for Plan Colombia.
This is the last straw! We deserve some respect!”
COLOMBIA VICE PRESIDENT SANTOS FORCED TO WRITE:
'PLAN COLOMBIA MUST CONTINUE'
[El
Tiempo, Colombia]
No Mr. Vice President. They
are not asking these questions just because of the "measly" money.
They ask because they're interested in democracy and human rights; because
these subjects are central to the political platform that won the election; because,
if you haven’t heard, it's been more than a year since Democrats won the
Congressional elections and four months since they won the presidency. But you,
gentlemen, don't seem to have digested this little detail. Your indignation
about the questions - and not the facts and violations - reinforces the
well-founded doubt that they [U.S. Democrats] have about your government, and
makes them think that to you, it doesn’t matter whether union members are killed
or human rights violated. The only thing that matters to you is that because of
this “foolishness,” the Free Trade Treaty might not be approved.
You're right - Plan Colombia
is useless. It would be better if the United States would commit itself to a
more effective policy against narco-trafficking that
wouldn't leave us with all the costs of failure, while the drug consuming
countries turn a blind eye to their responsibilities. But this isn't what
you're asking for. All you ask for are more planes, more military bases, more fumigation
and more prohibitions. More of the same failure. And
you also call for the Free Trade Treaty, no questions asked. Then when you
aren't given it, you throw a tantrum and make threats, and then are outraged
because they fail to treat you like statesman.
If you want to be treated
like statesmen, then comport yourselves accordingly. Stop demanding, stomping
your feet and threatening, and instead take the initiative, propose something
and then keep your promise. Formulate a bilateral agenda that incorporates the
important subjects, interests and preoccupations of both countries, and put
specific goals in clear terms, so as to seriously address them.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
In order to achieve these vital
national goals, it would be helpful if both Santos' [Vice President Francisco
Santos and Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos Calderón]
allow Foreign Minister Bermúdez to dedicate himself
to dealing with this task instead of putting out fires caused by Defense
Minster Manuel’s campaign and the pique of Pachito
[Vice President Francisco's nickname].
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[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US March 20, 3:27pm]
