The truth about "Operation Redemption" of Ingrid Betancourt and the American Mercenaries
Coincidently, at least "seven officials, consultants or shareholders of Northrop Grumman" had posts inside the administration of President Bush, including representatives of the office of the Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis Libby (who had been charged with obstruction of justice, two accusations of false evidence and for having given false statements for federal investigators on his participation in the "illegal" exposition of the agent Valerie Plame of the CIA). Moreover, the Colombia Plan has been repeatedly criticized by international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the United Nations, for keeping close relations with death squads of the extreme right, providing assistance to illegal terrorist organizations of the extreme right beyond the direct or indirect participation in slaughters and atrocities. Most of the terrorists of the extreme right in Colombia are former members of the Columbian army, such as the paramilitary commander "Yair" who openly supports the Colombia Plan and publicly offered his support for operations done by the Colombia Plan.
10. Finally, it must be pointed out that the government of Colombia under Uribe, which has benefited from the generalized reminiscences done by the corporate press in the last days, is routinely condemned as having one of the worst human rights records of any country of the world. More than 60 members of the congressional coalition of President Uribe are under investigation for electoral fraud or collaborating with right wing groups classified as "terrorist organizations" by the United States. Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world for syndical organizers, with the highest toll in whole world of murders and extrajudicial executions of trade unionists.
Since the Colombia Plan started, the United States sent about US $4.7 billion dollars for the government of Colombia, described by Senator Cordoba as a "democracy that governs through the use of fear and of terror." Senator Cordoba herself was kidnapped by 12 armed terrorists affiliated with the government. Senator Cordoba says that the operations of the Colombia Plan are used only partially to fight the so-called "war on drugs.” “Also it is used to silence those, who like us, speak publicly against the government. They try to silence us through seizures, disappearances and even though killing many of us."
Unlike many Latin American countries, that had torn down the brutal dictatorships supported by the U.S.A. that governed the continent during greater part of 20th century, Colombia is an active remembrance of how life used to be for all of South America -- ferocious and repressive dictators that terrified the population with money and weapons supplied by the United States in exchange for support to its politics. How is it that a government of this type can receive the homages and congratulations that were demonstrated by the capitalists in the last few days, as soon as they had negotiated the release of Ingrid Betancourt and the North American mercenaries through the payment of US $20 million dollars? How is it that a media that is supposedly democratic and free can pay homage without any criticism to a government of this kind?
Today, Fidel Castro made one of the most sensible declarations on this situation: to arrest civilians is wrong, but what is worse is that the United States, the west, and the capitalist media are exploring this situation to mask and to justify the horrors and genocides that they have imposed on Latin America for hundreds of years, up until today. Even now, the soldiers of the Colombia Plan and the death squads of the of the extreme right continue assassinating leaders of labor unions in cold blood, they continue terrorizing the civilian population of Colombia, and keep on protecting terrorists that hunt and kill anyone that it is looking for social justice for this region, a cause that puts at risk the power and the profit of the dominant ones, of the ruling class.
Link :
http://prod.midiaindependente.org/pt/blue/2008/07/423820.shtml
Translated from the Portuguese version
PRAVDA.Ru
by Lisa KARPOVA
PRAVDA.Ru
