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TechnoratiColombia: Celebrate the Release, Not the Regime
It is fantastic to see Ingrid Betancourt free. She was the Green Party candidate running for president of Colombia against Alvaro Uribe in 2002 when she was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) just days after appealing to the FARC to stop its campaign of kidnapping. She was held hostage for more than six years and was released last week along with 14 others. The flamboyant rescue operation by the Colombian army has been splashed across newspapers and TV screens globally, but the celebration of their release should not be confused with celebration of the Colombian government.
I reached Manuel Rozental at his home in Canada. He's a Colombian doctor and human-rights activist who fled Colombia after receiving several threats on his life: "We're talking about the regime with the worst human-rights record in the continent and the army with the worst human-rights record in the continent with the greatest U.S. support, including the contractors or mercenaries. So the fact that this regime was involved in this liberation does not and should not and cannot cover up the fact that it is a horrendous regime."
Colombia has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid outside of Israel and Egypt. Amnesty International USA has called for a halt to all support for Colombia, saying " ... torture, massacres, 'disappearances' and killings of noncombatants are widespread, and collusion between the armed forces and paramilitary groups continues to this day. In 2006, U.S. assistance to Colombia amounted to an estimated $728 million, approximately 80 percent of which was military and police assistance."
John McCain was in Colombia on July 2, the day Betancourt was released along with U.S. military contractors and Colombian soldiers and police officers who were held. McCain's links to Colombia are worth noting. The Huffington Post reports that a McCain fundraising event was just given by billionaire Carl Lindner of Cincinnati, the former CEO of Chiquita Brands International. Chiquita, under Lindner's watch, paid and armed one of the most notorious right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). The U.S. government fined Chiquita $25 million for its funding and arming of the AUC, designated a "foreign terrorist organization" by the U.S. State Department as early as 2001. One of the conditions of the deal was that Chiquita would not have to name the top executives involved.
The Huffington Post and The New York Times recently reported another McCain connection to Colombia. His top adviser, Charlie Black, resigned in March as chairman of the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm BKSH & Associates in order to work full time on the McCain campaign. Since 1998, BKSH has earned $1.8 million representing Occidental Petroleum, which has controversial oil operations in Colombia. Occidental worked with a military contractor and the Colombian military to counter pipeline attacks. In December 1998, the Colombian military dropped a bomb on the village of Santa Domingo, killing 11 adults and seven children. According to the Los Angeles Times, Occidental "supplied, directly or through contractors, troop transportation, planning facilities and fuel to Colombian military aircraft, including the helicopter crew accused of dropping the bomb."
It was a photographed hug that grabbed the attention of Inter Press Service, an independent, global news agency. Soon after Betancourt was released, IPS published a story, "The General Ingrid Hugged," about the national commander of the Colombian army, Gen. Mario Montoya. Montoya has been linked to a secret commando group from the late 1970s that bombed and massacred political opponents of the right wing. While the initial flurry of photo ops, with Betancourt hugging Montoya and standing with Uribe, has boosted public acclaim for the Uribe administration and the Colombian military, Betancourt is beginning to assert her traditionally oppositional status. She told RFI radio in France: "President Uribe, and not just President Uribe but Colombia as a whole, should change some things. ... I think the time has come to change the language of radicalism, extremism and hatred, the very strong words that cause deep hurt to a human being. ... There comes a time when one has to agree to talk to the people you hate."
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 700 stations in North America.
© 2008 Amy Goodman
11 Comments so far
Show AllI am no in the least amazed, on the timing of this release. I do have some misgivings.
Except for Ms. Betancourt, who was a "political prisoner" the three Americans were "invaders" working for the US Government through "private contractors" (who did not pay the ransom for their "employees", and it's puppet the Colombian Gov.
They took their chances, were shot down in their attempt to suppress a people who have for centuries been oppressed by one power after another----using the war on drugs as a "cover".
The US Gov. under the control of the moronic concept that they can control the behavior of others through the drug laws, spread their stupidity outwards and there are plenty of takers of the stupidity if there is enough money along with it.
These and so many more acts of the same moronic behavior will continue as long as the American people allow it. They can stop it all, in a very short order with one simple move.
The income tax has since its enactment been under the attack of those who are impacted most by it---the American people. Some claim that it is illegal since it was not ratified, and others claim that it it illegal because it is unfairly applied, and yet others claim that it is illegal for other reasons.
Whether it is illegal or not is irrelevant since it is NEEDED. If however it were APPORTIONED---as with all other taxes such as property-----where when one receives their property tax receipts they are notified how much is paid for school, roads , etc. Yet the income tax is not apportioned. Money from those revenues are "allotted" by congress, depending upon the political machinations between one or the other "parties". This is why for example, the military (then as presently expressed, about five large "connected" corporations,) receive vast amounts, the DEA receives vast amounts, the local law enforcement groups and so many others----vast amounts on "wars" of one kind or another--that can never be won----while children and elderly often go hungry.
The mentally ill roam the streets and alleys, the under class cannot afford to aspire to higher education levels, the infrastructure is crumbling, the prison system is moving into the hands of privateers, and so many other problems that seem endless, and unbeatable, because there is not enough "money".
If people truly want their tax money to go to needed programs instead of paying ransoms for mercenary drug enforcement "troops"(the "war on drugs", would have resulted in a "peace treaty" a generation ago if intelligent application were involved) and puppet Governments all over the world; they will move to have the income tax apportioned-----no more politics with so much money.
It might even lead to the income tax being fairly applied----even to the point of taxing "faith based initiatives" instead of channeling millions to wealthy congregations and their preachers, there is nothing in the constitution that would prevent that. That might keep those "faith based initiative groups from joining in politics" even subtly as they do now.
Just an observation I've made over the years.
Take the politics out of it----it would work very well thank you. It may even be a refreshing alternative to endless failure----try something new when the present approach obviously is not working----except for a few of course.
When I heard this story for the first time, I thought " this is too much of a 'Coincidence' - people held for years suddenly freed simply by the proximity of John McCain." Once again, thank you Amy for revealing the background of duplicitous intrigues which may more closely indicate the truth behind the story.
Also, what is the truth regarding the possible payment of $20 million by the U.S. government?
I keep hearing John Irving's character Owen Meany (sp?) saying "THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES!"
Thank you.
lf Betancourt does not return to Columbia to run for the presidency maybe the deal was her freedom for her silence. Viva Betancourt, Viva Colombia,
Betancourt para presidence!!!!
the "deep hurt" that betancourt obviously experienced will mature into deep empathy, and with that betancourt may bring healing to a deeply troubled country (and world)
Oh Boy, can't we have a little joy? Betancourt is a hero and what she sent through is beyond discription. I have NO love for the awful government of Columbia but i do have love and respect for the Green party, world wide. Think outside the box....Peace,Peace and PEACE!!!
But this whole thing was staged to celebrate the awful government. How can people be taken in by such blatant manipulation?
Is there any fact to the news story released by the Swiss that the US paid $20M in ransom for the release of Betancourt and the drug crop spraying pilots who were hostages?
The other side of the story -http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3623
Pathetic thugs from Northrup Grumman, a company that's bathing in profit and beholden to
the war economy. The idiot did manage to spell terrorist correctly, and it certainly sucks to be held captive for 5 years, but Northrup and their evil ilk would prefer to keep the whole country captive permanently.
Amy, do you know of any good investigative reporting on the possibility that this was staged by the right wing?
Be sure and have BHO on your morning show Amy, so he can tell us WHY the telecoms HAVE TO HAVE IMMUNITY for illegal acts.
At least there can be NO QUESTION of who this animal is now. Don't have to wait till after the election to be disappointed.
WE COUNT FOR NOTHING HERE UNLESS WE ARE PREPARED TO ACT AGAINST A CRIMINAL GOVERNMENT.