Colombia's president begs forgiveness for estranged relations with neighbors

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

Colombia's president begs forgiveness for estranged relations with neighbors
10:14, July 28, 2010

Outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Tuesday asked Colombians to forgive him for estranged relations with the neighboring countries during his tenure.

"Please forgive those impasses I have caused, because I have to put the interests of the homeland above all," Uribe, who will leave office on Aug. 7, said.

During his two terms in office, Colombia had tense relations with Venezuela and Ecuador, both of whom have severed ties with Bogota.

"I always cause upsets abroad and sometimes at home. I have not been able to manage it as well as I would like to," Uribe told local media.

Read more: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7083461.html

[Proletariatprincess]

1. Wow. Not many heads of state would say such things leaving office.

...certainly not in the USA where no mistake is ever acknowledged and all policy decisions are above reproach. (snark)

[EFerrari]

2. Asesino. I hope he has time to repent in prison. n/t

[harmonicon]

3. what a fuck-nut

The idea that the government Uribe ran and is handing power over to is the official government of Columbia is a joke. What a bastard.

[rabs]

4. Uribe has been riding the tiger for eight years

and now that he has to dismount (Aug. 7), the tiger is liable to devour him.

Tomorrow his chief of staff (Moreno) must testify before a Supreme Court special prosecutor on what alvarito knew of DAS-gate. Last week, the former head of the intelligence branch of the DAS, (Tavares), testimony before the Supreme Court, put the blame squarely on Moreno and Uribe. It was the VERY FIRST time any high DAS official had linked uribito to the scandal.

Tavares' startling confession was overshadowed by uribito staging his show at the OAS that led to Chavez's breaking diplomatic relations.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) Moreno will either throw himself on the sword for uribito and face up to 15 years in prison, or he may talk. In that case, the noose is tight around alvarito's neck and he could face very serious criminal charges.

On Thursday, the UNASUR foreign ministers are meeting in Quito over the row with Venezuela and uribito is facing another embarrassing diplomatic smack down.

In two other embarrassments today, the dean of the school of economics was gunned down and killed today in Cali. Another "oops" in uribito's "democratic security."

Holman Morris got his visa to study at Harvard. Hil's State Department yielded to pressure from U.S. academic groups and granted the visa to Morris and his family. Morris is going to reveal what he knows in the next year and uribito and his gang of corrupt government thugs are NOT going to be pleased.

Will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow with Moreno.

edit to fix typo

[Judi Lynn]

5. Fascinating, from beginning to end. Real fireworks possible surrounding the little prince.

http://verobeachlocalnews.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/fireworks3.jpg

Kaboom!
So much lies before him, who can doubt Uribito is adrift in a sea of dread! Too bad he can't fall back on the usual crowd for help, since everyone's going to be watching every move he makes, perhaps.

Now there's an unexpectedly dead dean of the school of economics. That's shooting high, isn't it? It's always been known they hate academics, but who would have expected this? He must have cast aspersions on the dirty economy they've been running there, with so many assassinated labor leaders, and cheap, cheap labor, and few if any safety standards in the outsider-controlled mines, so many homeless people with NO JOBS after the military and paras ran them off their own farms, etc.

Thanks for breaking the news about Hollman Morris. There are many people who wish him well. Hope he will have good security in the States every moment. Journalists like him are one in 1,000,000, no doubt.

http://centerforinvestigativereporting.org.nyud.net:8090/files/project_images/morris_feature1.jpg http://www.javeriana.edu.co.nyud.net:8090/cyl/boletin/mayo/images/TiempoReal_History.jpg

http://i.ytimg.com.nyud.net:8090/vi/HO82tI-SSTQ/0.jpg

http://www.elciudadano.cl.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/hollman-morris.jpg
Hoping Moreno will do the right thing for his country, and he will remember Uribe will be losing his para-connected power once he has been completely outed.

[COLGATE4]

6. Link (other that The People's China Daily"?

[Bacchus39]

8. yeah, my question too. regardless, Uribe is a hero in Colombia, just ask Santos n/t

s

[COLGATE4]

9. Crickets..... n/t

[Judi Lynn]

7. No place for Washington in Colombia-Venezuela row

No place for Washington in Colombia-Venezuela row
A process of South American diplomacy could resolve the Colombia-Venezuela dispute. The US should keep its distance

Mark Weisbrot guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 28 July 2010 14.30

In March I wrote about the Obama administration's contribution to the election campaign under way in Venezuela, where voters will choose a new national assembly in September. I predicted that certain things would happen before September, among them some new "discoveries" that Venezuela supports terrorism. Venezuela has had 13 elections or referenda since Hugo Chávez was first elected in 1998, and in the run-up to most of them, Washington has usually done something to influence the political and media climate.

The intentions were already clear on March 11, when General Douglas Fraser, the head of the US Southern Command was testifying to the US Senate. In response to a question from Senator John McCain about Venezuela's alleged support for terrorism, Fraser said:

"We have continued to watch very closely … We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection."

The next day he recanted his testimony after meeting with the US state department's top official for Latin America, Arturo Valenzuela.

This made it clear that the "terrorist" message was going to be a very important part of Washington's campaign. Even the Bush administration had never forced its military officers to retract their statements when they contradicted the state department's political agenda in Latin America, which they sometimes did.

Unfortunately, the campaign continues. Last Thursday, Colombia's ambassador to the Organisation of the American States (OAS) accused Venezuela at an extraordinary meeting of the OAS of harbouring 1,500 guerillas, and asked for the OAS to take action. The timing was noteworthy to many observers. President Lula da Silva of Brazil noted that it "seemed strange that this occurs a few days before Uribe leaves office. The new president has given signals that he wants to build peace . Everything was going well until Uribe made this denunciation."

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/28/colombia-venezuela-washington-south-america

[rabs]

10. More big fireworks in Bogota today

Uribe's Vice President, left, and German Vargas Lleras


Word has filtered out that JM Santos will nominate German Vargas Lleras as his new Defense Minister (or maybe Interior Minister), later today. Vargas Lleras was once a strong suppertor of uribito, but there has been a falling out between the two in the past few years.

So alvarito's vice president, Francisco Santos, today called Vargas Lleras a "traitor,"
and that his appointment as Defense Minister amounted to letting "the mouse guard the cheese," and that Vargas Lleras "changes positions more than an insomniac turns over."

Francisco Santos: "Appointing Vargas Lleras is like sending Uribe to hell."

That comeing from Francisco Santos, who is the first cousin of Juan Manuel Santos. You can bet that Francisco Santos is expressing the outrage of alvarito.

So the JM Santos-uribito breach becomes wider

http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/politica/francisco-san...

http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo-...


uribito's chief of staff (Bernardo Moreno) testified today in the DAS-gate. No word has leaked out on what he told the Supreme Court special prosecutor. May take a few days for some radio or print media to get the testimony.

[Judi Lynn]

14. So now it's Uribe's old V.P., Francisco Santos slamming his own cousin, the President elect,

and former Defense Minister.

Uribe's gift to them for their nearly 8 years of service to them.

Loved the photo from El Espectador:

http://static2.elespectador.com.nyud.net:8090/files/images/febmar2010/94a4ccac111ec69a5208fb6726469e95.jpg

Photo: El Espectador
Juan Manuel Santos and Germain Vargas Lleras, with President Alvaro Uribe, in times of unity.
They look as if they've been dipped in goo. Hilarious! Love this photo.

The El Tiempo article (El Tiempo, the newpaper owned by J.M. Santos' family, is tremendous:
http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/politica/ARTICULO-WEB-PLANTILLA_NOTA_INTERIOR-7830320.html

Francisco Santos is REALLY out to get him, it seems, or is out to get him for Uribe! This is really crazy. He used to be a liberal until quitting to help Uribe, and then was part of the effort to keep him from being allowed to run again for the Presidency.

It could all get very strange quickly.

I can't read Moreno's expression. I don't know what he's hiding. I'm guessing he said things which incriminate Uribe. Is that your belief? I really can't read him.

Thank you.

[rabs]

16. Judi, look closely at Vargas Lleras' left hand in the photo

He is missing fingers. And his expression; he seems to be most unhappy to be touching alvarito's hand.

In 2002, the missing fingers were the result of a letter bomb blamed on an ELN and two FARC "demobilized" guerrillas. (There was talk of a CIA reward involved, but the story is convoluted and unconfirmed.)

Then in 2005, Vargas Lleras was the target of a car bomb. He was in a bullet-proof SUV and survived without injuries, but several of his bodyguards were wounded.

uribito blamed the FARC, but Vargas Lleras said he had proof uribe's parapoliticians and paramilitaries were behind the attempt to kill him. This created a major gap between the two.

Vargas Lleras opposed uribito's re-election in 2006 and was poised to run against him, which may have been the reason for the assassination attempt. Another big gap.

Then this year Vargas Lleras opposed a proposed constitutional amendment for the re-re-election of uribito for a third term. Another gap.

After the 2006 re-election, uribito took revenge on Vargas Lleras by dismantling Vargas Lleras political party (Cambio Radical) and luring some of his congressional backers to the uribista party. Another gap.

Still, in the past election, Vargas Lleras came in third, behind Santos and Mockus. Juan Manuel Santos and Vargas Lleras have had their differences too, hence the vicious attack by Francisco Santos today.

As for Bernardo Moreno, think his testimony will take a while for it to be leaked by someone in the Supreme Court.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Whatever kind of man he may be, you'd have to say Vargas Lleras has guts!

Sounds as if he has pounded back as hard as he's gotten, as much as he could, to Uribe.

My God, if Uribe would do this to someone as high profile as this guy has been, he would be murder on people who have no public face. Oh, yeah, we know that much, don't we?

I can see there is a difference now with that man's hand, and it almost looks as if he's holding it up in Uribe's face, as if to rub his nose in that bombing.

This is some engrossing information. Thanks so much. :hi:

[bemildred]

11. This is weird. All of a sudden he is Mary Poppins? "Can't we all just get along?" nt

[EFerrari]

12. When he steps down, he'll have no way to protect himself.

Maybe he's throwing himself on the mercy of the court here.

[bemildred]

13. Yah, but I've still got mental whiplash from it.

It's like Cheney coming out all of a sudden and saying the Iraq War was wrong, like Lindsay Lohan becoming a Jehovah's Witness, you know?

[EFerrari]

15. Oh, you know it! nt