Uribe slammed by freed hostage

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Euronews

Uribe slammed by freed hostage
04/02 07:34 CET

The latest hostage to be released by Colombian rebels has launched a stinging attack on the country’s president. Former local governor Alan Jara had been held for more than seven years by the leftist FARC group, which said it was freeing him as a goodwill gesture.

Afterwards, Jara criticised President Alvaro Uribe’s military crackdown on the rebels, saying he was in greater danger from army bombs than from the FARC. “I don’t think President Uribe’s attitude has helped at all with the humanitarian exchange nor the release of hostages,” he told a press conference.

Jara is the fifth hostage to be liberated in recent days. Uribe welcomed three soldiers and a policeman freed at the beginning of the week. Provincial politician Sigifredo Lopez is due to be handed over tomorrow.

Uribe’s US-funded anti-FARC operations have battered the rebels. But they are still believed to hold hundreds of hostages. The President has consistently rejected their offer to swap the captives for FARC prisoners.

Read more: http://www.euronews.net/en/article/04/02/2009/uribe-slammed-by-freed-hostage/

[Peace Patriot]

1. I greatly admire this hostage and the others who have bravely spoken out against

the Colombian government and military, who are feeding on this conflict like vultures, and are also using it to drain billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers, to kill and torture their own people, trade in illicit drugs and weapons, and maintain an obscenely wealthy elite, while millions of Colombians live in abject poverty. Colombia has one of the sickest governments in the world. They have bombed and endangered hostages--even as they were on route to their freedom--and brutally--and entirely without necessity--killed FARC leaders who wanted peace.

I've started to avoid lumping Uribe and the military together, because I think there is a rift between them, and that a military coup is a real threat. A military coup in Colombia would threaten the peace of South America--and would be especially dangerous to Colombia's neighbors, Venezuela and Ecuador (where collusion between local fascists and the Colombian military and its death squads is suspected). I've noticed that President Chavez in Venezuela has taken great pains to shore up Uribe, with joint economic ventures--and this may well be the reason--he's trying to bolster the civilian government against the military (and Defense Minister Santos, who is clearly ambitious to run Colombia, but wouldn't likely be able to, without a military coup that installed him as 'president').

The hostage Alan Jara says, “I don’t think President Uribe’s attitude has helped at all with the humanitarian exchange nor the release of hostages,” and he criticizes "President Alvaro Uribe’s military crackdown on the rebels." There is a lot of evidence that both things are true--that Uribe and the military are of one mind, on sabotaging hostage releases and indiscriminate killing. Peace is not in their monetary interest. However, there is also enough evidence of a rift between Uribe (civilian authority) and Santos (military authority), to suggest that there are deeper layers to this situation. For instance, when the Colombian military bombed the hostages that Chavez was getting released--something Uribe had asked Chavez to do--was it Santos trying to undermine Uribe? Did Uribe approve that? It seemed Uribe's chain was being pulled by Washington, possibly at Santo's behest. Uribe has been all over the map on this--and also very erratic as to his relationship with Chavez--one day, calling him a "terrorist-lover," the next planning to build a railroad with him.

It's my guess that there is the threat of a military coup--and possibly the main thing holding it back is Uribe's efforts to get a "free trade deal" from Washington. I think Congress would balk at a military junta (although you never know what shit Congress might swallow). They want the cover of at least the trappings of democracy (--kind of like their own cover). A military coup might therefore damage corporate oil and ag interests. A "trade deal" with on-paper-only labor and environmental protections will be the likely result. And that may keep "the trappings of democracy" in place. If you still have the trappings, there is always the chance you can make it real. That may be what Chavez (and the rest of South America) is hoping. Chavez has some other purposes as well--to pull Colombia more into UNASUR's orbit--the new South American 'common market.' Colombia is a member, but Santos is already trying to undermine it. Chavez works with Uribe, to demonstrate the benefits of cooperation, and to counter Santos.