In my earlier post on the backdrop for Dave Reichert’s trip to Colombia, I neglected to cite one of the best sources for information on that part of the world, The Center for International Policy’s Plan Colombia and Beyond blog. There they have a couple of recent posts that provide even more background on the free trade agreement that the Bush Administration wants to see passed, as well as the ever-present anti-drug arrangements we have with that country.
Some recent posts:
A summation of how both Obama and Clinton have found some political landmines when it comes to Colombia and free trade in general.
A story about what happened when 6 FARC representatives (including the recently assassinated Raul Reyes) travelled to Europe to discuss peace in 2000.
A closer look at Colombia’s still very poor human rights record.
And finally, this one was particularly fascinating to me. They point to a website which shows on a map of Colombia which military and police installations are qualified for U.S. assistance. If you click through to that website, you can then click on each of the Google Maps pushpins to see where your taxpayer dollars go – largely in the effort to keep cocaine from coming into the United States. An effort which is not working, and will never work.
Am I acting like a conspiracy theorist by suggesting that the US military presence in Colombia might have more to do with
Hugo ChavezVenezuela than Colombia?Hmmm, maybe it’s time to reread Clear and Present Danger. Dubya probably thinks it’s a Pentagon battle report.
Summary of post: Reichert bad
1 Or….Columbia will become the new servants’ lodging for the Bush family’s new post-imperial digs in Paraguay.
@2
Summary of post: Reichert bad
Not necessarily. You can draw your own conclusions about Reichert from what I’ve written in these two posts, but I wanted to give some background on why Reichert is traveling there and what it means. I’ll wait to see if Reichert releases some statement about his trip, or if by some miracle, one of the local papers write about it, before I make any strongly worded conclusions.
@1
Probably. :)
Plan Colombia dates back to 2000 (thanks Bill!). It has always been sold as an initiative to help the Colombian government fight the rebel groups who have been financing themselves through drug trafficking. Of course, now with Chavez next door (an indirect consequence of America waging this drug war and rewarding a government that openly persecutes unionists), that will likely be another excuse for continuing it (sounds like another overseas mission where the damage we cause becomes the reason to double down).
Hey Dumshits…turns out The Smartest Woman In The World and her “husband” Bubba disagree on Columbia free trade.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....nton_trade
That’s how far out in fucking left field she is…
@6 Why don’t you tell us again how much your employer pays a numbskull who can’t even spell “Colombia” correctly? I sure hope your highly-compensated expertise is not cartography. If it is, your employer is being defrauded.
Riechert’s going because he needs something to say he did in office for his campaign.
But this free trade agreement is typical imperial “free trade:” Colombia agrees to eliminate its tariffs on US goods and open their markets in exchange for nothing (or rather, in exchange for the US cash-and-arms spigot remaining open for the Colombian elite).
LOL! Columbia, using info on the laptop they captured after killing Reyes, went to a certain address and found the exact amount of money that e-mail in the laptop said came from Hugo “The Nutjob” Chavez. FARC is an army of thugs trafficking in narcotics and Chavez is helping to fund them.
@9
A few notes to help you understand the situation better:
– While FARC is an army of thugs trafficking in narcotics, the right-wing paramilitaries of Colombia are also armies of thugs trafficking in narcotics. Both sides in that civil war fund themselves through drug trafficking.
– Considering that in this most recent incident that even our staunchest allies in the region sided with Venezuela against Colombia, that should give you an idea of the severity of what Colombia did to retaliate against Reyes.