No Exit for Colombia Out of Politics and Democracy
CL: There is an important sector of the country that supports it all. The government spread the idea that the U.S. bases will bring peace to the country through war, the military defeat of the guerrillas. We, from the left, always put the need for a negotiated and political solution to the conflict. The right and the government contend that the proposed dialogue has failed and that the gringos will solve the problem.
CM: There is the argument that the bases will bring investment and development to the country ...
CL: That's true. The official hype and the media argue that the bases will improve the conditions of infrastructure in cities near them, there will be more shops, more restaurants and more trade. We know that those things are not so.
CM: There are differences between the Plan Colombia, signed during the Clinton administration (1992-2000), and the bases?
CL: Yes, Plan Colombia was designed to combat alleged drug trafficking. It began about 14 years ago, with an investment of five billion dollars. This year the amount fell to $400 million and in 2011 will be only $340 million. The U.S. government has decided to concentrate all its investments on military bases. They are now seven, but they may be expanded, according to the agreement.
Currently, the argument is hardly only fighting drug trafficking, but to attack terrorism and provide security for the country. That is a very general criterion, because with the country's security can be implied the existence of an external threat. This worries UNASUR. Who threatens Colombia? There is the argument that, with the differences that the government has with Chavez, he would be threatening our country. It's a dangerous path.
CM: Is there a connection with the reactivation of the U.S. Fourth Fleet in the South Atlantic?
CL: Sure. The project is to park the Fourth Fleet at the base of Malambo in Barranquilla. This is the main town in the Colombian Caribbean coast.
CM: What is the relationship of Uribe with the media.?
CL: The major media are owned by powerful national and international economic groups, in close relationship with the government. Also, Juan Manuel Santos is part of the family that owns the newspaper El Tiempo, which turns one hundred years in existence in 2011. It is the most influential group in the country and has, besides the newspaper, a television station in Bogota and they are publishers of books and magazines. It's a monopoly.
The family had a President of the Republic, Eduardo Santos, between 1938 and 1942. With the economic crisis, part of their shares were sold to the Spanish group, Planeta, linked to the PP, the Popular Party of former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
The Planeta group must also make a bid for the third private TV station we have here. It is the only competitor, something incredible. With it all, the political trend in Colombia travels in a direction opposite to what is happening in Latin America, where the right has lost important positions.
CM: How do you evaluate Uribe's management from the social point of view?
CL: Social investment is minimal. The government presented a labor reform supposedly to generate jobs. What we are seeing, in the latest statistics, is a rise in unemployment to 12.5% of the economically active population.
Health care was privatized. High-risk surgeries were eliminated in the public system. Nationwide, 35% of the public budget goes to fighting guerrillas and 25% is intended to pay the debt service.
Uribe's main program was called "democratic security". Thus, in 2002, he assured the defeat of the guerrillas in 90 days. FARC had many casualties, but they continue acting. Thus, "democratic security" has failed.
Uribe also sought an agreement with the paramilitaries to demobilize them. There would be a maximum sentence of eight years, regardless of the crimes, for those who surrendered. They have just condemned the first ones. They have confessed to having committed between 120 and 150 murders. And they got eight years in prison!
Even so, the paramilitaries also keep on acting. Under the Rainbow Corporation, an NGO defending human rights, there are about eight thousand of them in action. The "democratic security" is a failure, as are the government's social policies.
CM: What is the exit to the question of guerrilla warfare?
CL: Eight years ago we advocated a political solution. When I talk about military failure, I'm also referring to the guerrilla war. The government failed to defeat them and they failed to seize power by military means. There is failure in this way. Minimal changes are needed in this country, so that the guerrillas may be incorporated into democratic life.
Source: Carta Maior
Translated from the Portuguese version by:
Lisa KARPOVA
PRAVDA.Ru
