By John J Kelly

On the day when UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband opined that the War on Terror had been a mistake,  the Financial Times published conjecture that medallion man Tony Blair was back in the running as a potential EU President. Most people can take a view whether high profile international stooges, Tony Blair and John Howard, ‘improved’ the lives of several million lucky Iraqi refugees and advanced the human rights of millions of citizens bombed and blighted in various ‘peaceful’ war zones, but the third man on the podium, President Ulribe of Colombia, is less prominent on the international stage. Leaving aside the fact that the currency of the Ruritanian-sounding Presidential Medal for Freedom has been somewhat dimished by the fact that peaceniks such as Donald Rumsfeld, General Tommy Franks and others can wear it round their necks at Halloween parties, Ulribe is a fascinating choice.

Nobody whinged when Ed Teller, father of the H-Bomb, got a Presidential Freedom Medal

The Presidential Medal of Freedom to Alvaro Ulribe is not his only international honour. In May 2007, the American Jewish Committee gave Uribe its ‘Light Unto The Nations’ award. AJC President E. Robert Goodkind, who presented the award at AJC’s Annual Dinner said: “President Uribe is a staunch ally of the United States, a good friend of Israel and the Jewish people, and is a firm believer in human dignity and human development in Colombia and the Americas”. Quite how and why he is such a great friend to Israel is an intriguing question. Colombia is a very long way from Israel.

The definition of human dignity has been open to wide interpretation under the Bush regime, and, indeed, by the Israel lobby, especially given the enhancement of human rights and dignity currently underway in Gaza. But not everyone is as enthusiatic about Harvard MBA and Oxford postgrad Ulribe’s contribution to peace in Colombia.  Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch division and a longtime campaigner for labour and human rights, said: 

“How could Bush award our nations highest civilian honor to the leader of a country with worldwide pariah status for its systematic crushing of the most basic human rights? Colombia has the world’s highest assassination rate for unionists – more than 460 have been murdered in since Uribe took office in August 2002 – 43 in 2008 (an increase from 2007), even as Colombia faced scrutiny related to a trade agreement Bush negotiated with Uribe (hence the medal).  The Uribe administration has worked consistently to undermine Afro-Colombians civil rights and territorial control. Systematic violence against Afro-Colombians and assassinations of their leaders continue unabated. African descendants comprise 26 percent of Colombias population. Because Colombian law is on the side of Afro-Colombian territorial rights, wealthy interests have employed illegal means to physically remove Afro-Colombians and others from their lands, with hundreds of thousands forcibly expelled from their lands since 2006 alone, often with assistance by the Colombian military. No Afro-Colombian lands have been returned to community control during the Uribe administration. Joint operations between the Colombian military and illegal terrorist paramilitary organizations like the 1997 Operation Genesis in the Afro-Colombian Chocó region have targeted Afro-Colombian leaders with assassinations, while the Colombian military has aerially bombarded Afro-Colombian territories. Such forced displacements are now occurring in port communities, such as Buenaventura, and other regions Colombia Free Trade Agreement supporters seek to develop. More than 200,000 indigenous citizens are being displaced annually. When asked about this, U.S. ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield said: ‘I do not challenge your figure. I have heard from enough sources – including government of Colombia sources – that the number of internally displaced people in Colombia is, in fact, continuing to rise.’ (Roll Call CongressNow wire service).

Recruiting poster for the paramilitary AUC death squads, presumably aimed at cross dressers

In 2008, Colombian prosecutors ordered the arrest of Mario Uribe, the president’s cousin and closest political ally, who chaired the Colombian Senate and is accused of ties to paramilitary groups. Mario Uribe sought political asylum in the Costa Rican embassy in Bogotá, which denied his request as inadmissible. The Colombian Supreme Court has identified paramilitary ties to 65 current and former members of the Colombian Congress. Thirty-two lawmakers have been detained so far, with 26 of these from Uribe’s governing coalition. Thirty-three additional legislators are under investigation, including 29 from Uribe’s coalition. These include Nancy Gutierrez, a leader in Uribes political party who serves in a position equivalent to that of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. To relate this to the U.S. context, it would be as if the president, Senate majority leader and House speaker were all simultaneously convicted or under investigation for ties to terrorist groups. 

President Ulribe’s father was kidnapped and murdered by revolutionary FARC guerillas in 1983. Ulribe has clamped down on FARC and other revolutionary groups, and has ostensibly calmed down the deliquescent situation in Colombia (though not its principal export, cocaine). But his regime follows the familiar pattern of turning a blind eye to the (allegedly CIA-sponsored?) activities of right-wing ‘paramilitary’ groups (interesting that these are rarely described as ‘terrorists’). The result has been an upsurge in violence, civil unrest and illegal activity. Despite Ulribe’s claims that the paramilitaries are ‘self-defence organisations,’ the skull and crossbone cap badges are a bit of a giveaway.

Democrats, including both Obama and Clinton vowed to revisit The Colombian Free Trade Agreement when presidential candidates, on the grounds that it ‘rewards a nation who’s government has yet to squelch the violence revolving around trade unions and extremist para-military legions’. When in office, will they make good on this promise? Answers in a tightly-rolled hundred dollar bill, please.