11,179 Colombian politicians, officials, businessmen involved in parapolitics scandal: Report
11,179 Colombian politicians, officials, businessmen involved in parapolitics scandal: Report
Thursday, 07 June 2012 14:51 Sarah Kinosian
More than 11,000 Colombian politicians, state officials, businessmen and citizen are facing accusations of being accomplices to paramilitary groups, said research group Verdad Abierta Thursday.
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The infiltration of paramilitary groups into Colombian politics has become popularly known as "parapolitics." Former president Alvaro Uribe and hundreds of his former officials have been implicated in the scandal, with dozens facing prosecution.
Verdad Abierta’s report revealed the extent to which the scandal has affected the country, from the highest political office to regional governments and businessmen.
From the beginning of 2005's controversial Justice and Peace Law until the end of April 2012, prosecutors and officials have requested the investigation of 943 politicians, 870 military members, 330 public servants and 9,036 civilians, including several business owners suspected of contributing to paramilitary organizations in some fashion. The Justice and Peace reform sought to provide legal benefits to demobilized members of illegal armed groups, but instead invoked waves of criticism for granting impunity to human rights violators.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/24474-11179-colombian-politicians-officials-businessmen-involved-in-parapolitics-scandal-report.html
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...and furthermore has names like "Justice and Peace Law." ("Patriot Act," "freedom," "No Child Left Behind," 
)
Not to exempt the U.S. government itself, whether run by a Puke junta or Corporate Democrats, but, really, the Bushwhacks take the prize for turning things to shit.
Mountains of it. Shit and body parts.
It surprises me not at all that 11,000 Colombian fascists were involved with rightwing paramilitary thugs who did their assassinations for them, while the Bush Cartel's "made man" and local mob boss, Alvaro Uribe, was running things, funded by $7 BILLION in U.S. taxpayer military aid, and Pentagon, USAID and other U.S. government training, planning and "technical assistance" if not direct participation in the death squads (for which there is some "tip of the iceberg" evidence).
There were probably many more profiting from murder and mayhem, and that number we know includes executives and top investors of Drummond Coal and Chiquita International. Americans were hiring and profiting from these death squads. And, indeed, while Uribe's vast illegal spying operation, DAS (since disbanded) was identifying targets, the U.S. embassy, under Ambassador William Brownfield, was (according to recent testimony) trotting an American liaison back and forth to DAS to keep on top of things and no doubt to offer technical assistance if not suggested targets (for instance, judges and prosecutors). The fascist president of Panama was meanwhile demanding similar U.S. (Bushwhack) assistance at spying on his "enemies" (according to a Wikileaks cable).
Brownfield was quite concerned about what Colombian judges and prosecutors were doing and colluded with Uribe not only to extradite key witnesses to the U.S., out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors, but also to secretly negotiate and secretly sign a U.S./Colombia military agreement that provided "total diplomatic immunity" for all U.S. personnel (including U.S. military 'contractors' such as Blackwater*) in Colombia. This agreement was subsequently declared unconstitutional by the Colombian supreme court but it is an indication of Brownfield's worries (worries that no doubt drew new CIA Director Leon Panetta--a close associate of Bush Sr.--to Bogota in his first visible action as CIA Director) (--big Bush Jr. mess to clean up).
There is a good argument that Colombia, during the Bush Junta, was merely a subset of their worldwide criminal organization. It has resemblances to Iraq for murder and mayhem, though they didn't have to bomb Bogota to install their operatives. They just had to re-purpose the "war on drugs."
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*(Last year, the U.S. State Department "fined" Blackwater for "unauthorized" "trainings" of "foreign persons" IN COLOMBIA "for use in Iraq and Afghanistan." ("Unauthorized," my ass.) Blackwater then changed its name to Xe and moved in with the sheiks of Araby in the U.A.E. This smells to high heaven of a coverup of one of those "mountains" of shit and body parts in Colombia. Colombia was a training ground!)
