Latin America
Related: About this forumThe Clinton-Colombia Connection
The Clinton-Colombia Connection
May 19, 2016
Exclusive: Despite a grisly human rights record and alleged ties to drug traffickers, Colombias ex-President Uribe has been a favorite of Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill, helping Clinton associates turn hefty profits, reports Jonathan Marshall.
By Jonathan Marshall
On June 29, 2009, one day after Honduran military leaders ousted their countrys democratically elected president, President Obama publicly branded the coup illegal and denounced it as a terrible precedent. Yet even as he spoke, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ensuring that U.S. aid continued and that major capitals would recognize the new regime.
Human rights activists have long decried her for abandoning democratic rights and values in Honduras. But many have overlooked her cozy embrace of the morally compromised Latin American leader who happened to be sharing the White House podium when Obama made his remarks: Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.
Obama was hosting Uribe to build political support for the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, which both he and Hillary Clinton had vigorously opposed during the 2008 election campaign. Obama praised Uribes courage and his admirabl(e) progress on human rights and fighting drug cartels since taking office in 2002 a controversial claim that Clintons State Department would certify that September.
A year later, the love affair between the Obama administration and Uribe grew even hotter. After landing in Bogota for an official visit in April 2010, Defense Secretary Robert Gates lauded the historic progress that Uribes government had made in the war against narco-traffickers and terrorists.
More:
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/05/19/the-clinton-colombia-connection/
Good Reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016157288
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Also from the article:
Uribe, in my view, is a great hero and has been an enormously successful president of Colombia, Gates told reporters.
That begs the question of how one defines successful. If what is meant by success is doing the work of the wealthy then yes, Uribe has been very successful.
What is not surprising is the intellectual dishonesty of the US politicians involved.