Five days after Ingrid’s rescue, U.S. 747 cargo plane goes down

Yes, we’re back. The plane, carrying flowers from Bogota to Miami, went down near the town of Madrid in the department of Cundinamarca killing two men on the ground. The flight crew survived. So one has to ask, was this an accident or the work of the FARC? Is it possible that the FARC have aquired ground to air missiles? Surely the Colombian and U.S. governments will fully investigate the cause of the crash. Preliminary reports indicate that one of the engines caught fire.

Nevertheless, the FARC will certainly try to strike back at the Colombian and U.S. governments after being humiliated in hostage rescue operation “Jaque”, which led to the liberation of 15 hostages including the three American contractors and Ingrid Betancourt. Having lost their most prized assets, which were the key to their hopes of landing a humanitarian accord that would have involved an exchange of hostages for guerrillas being held in the U.S. (”Simon Trinidad”, and “Sonia”) and other guerillas held in Colombian jails, the FARC now have few options left.

Winners and Losers in “Operacion Jaque”

Winners:

Alvaro Uribe: His already high popularity has skyrocketed even more. Parapolitica and Yidispolitica have not hurt his popularity. Talk about “teflon presidents”! Though some have written of how the operation did not involve a single bullet, and how these types of operations should serve as a model for combating the FARC, it was Uribe’s military policies which led to the lack of command and control among the FARC which permitted operation “Jaque” to succeed.

Juan Manuel Santos: The apparent heir to the Uribe presidency was eloquent on CNN’s Larry King show as well as on Colombian media.

The Colombian Military: deserves credit for having pulled off a daring operation.

Ingrid Betancourt: Appears to have started running for president of Colombia the instant she stepped off the helicopter.

Losers:

The FARC: clearly the big loser here. The operation showed the appalling state of command and control within the FARC since the bombing of the Raul Reyes camp.

Colombian and Latin American Left: who have been calling for a humanitarian accord. The FARC have no bargaining chips left, so a humanitarian accord appears unlikely in the near future. Moreover, Uribe is not likely to accept another “zona de distencion”, a demilitarized zone, which would allow the FARC to regroup and rearm.

President Uribe’s Cousin Under Arrest

The Washington Post reported the arrest of president Alvaro Uribe’s cousin. Ex senator Mario Uribe was arrested for suspected ties to paramilitary groups. He is among a quarter of the Colombian congress caught up in the “parapolitica” scandal for alleged involvement with paramilitary death squads. Mario Uribe had entered the Costa Rican embassy and requested political asylum, which was later denied. This led to his subsequent arrest by Colombian authorities. Meanwhile, according to a story in El Tiempo, defense minister (and the son of El Tiempo’s executive editor) Juan Manuel Santos testified before the Colombian Supreme Court yesterday that Raul Reyes’ laptop implicates many in congress of having ties to the Farc guerrillas, though he did not name anyone. El Tiempo’s story claims Santos “assured” the court that the “farcpolitica” scandal could be larger than the “parapolitica” scandal.

Some thoughts on the death of “Raul Reyes”

• It seems odd that while Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa were quick to declare a violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty, both of the Colombian parties in the armed conflict deny having crossed into Ecuadorian territory. The Colombian Chancellary denied doing so, as did the FARC, according to an article in their magazine Resistencia.
• Shame on El Tiempo for having published gruesome photographs of Raul Reyes’ corpse on its website for most of the weekend without so much as a warning to the reader.
• It would appear as though Hugo Chavez’ on-again off-again role as a mediator in the efforts to arrive at a humanitarian accord is now over, once and for all. Moreover, the prospects for a humanitarian accord and subsequent peace talks seem dim at best, unless the FARC should decide that it can no longer maintain its armed struggle, something that is unlikely to happen. The Uribe administration certainly has shown little interest in the accord.
• Was Correa putting on a show for Chavez? Wouldn’t Uribe have gotten the go ahead long before an actual strike? There are reports in the Ecuadorian press about a “cordial” 15 minute conversation Uribe had with Correa on February 8 regarding “terrorism along the border”.
• Finally, could Raul Reyes’ involvement in recent hostage releases have ultimately made it easier for the Colombian government to track him?

Legislators at work….

The U.S. House of Representatives approved continued funding for Plan Colombia. However the funding was 10% below what the Bush administration had requested and compared to previously funded levels, the bill increases funding for social programs while reducing the military component. Details can be found here.

Meanwhile the Colombian Senate voted to overturn the final version of the “Ley Gay“, the law recognizing same-sex unions. Slightly different versions of the bill had been approved by both the house and senate and the reconciled bill’s approval was widely expected. However a small group of senators tied to evangelical Christians and a faction loyal to Uribe voted to derail the bill 34-29. A large percentage of the 102-member senate was absent from the vote.

The Colombian House of Representatives also voted in favor of a bill that would switch responsibility for investigating wrong-doings by members of congress from the Procurador (Attorney General) to an ethics committee run by the congress (yes, they would investigate themselves). Two of the congressmen who voted for the bill, including one of the bill’s strongest supporters, are currently being investigated by the Procuraduría, according to a story in Thursday’s El Tiempo.

Uribe denies receiving paramilitary campaign funds

New allegations of campaign contributions by paramilitaries have further put the Uribe administration on the defensive just days before the U.S. House of Representatives is to take up the foreign aid bill, which includes funding for “Plan Colombia”. The allegations came from several sources, the first being a letter from Daniel Kovalik, an attorney for the United Steelworker’s Union, asking the U.S. State Department to investigate alleged paramilitary ties to the Uribe campaign and questioning the Uribe administrations efforts to investigate the murder of union activists in Colombia. Kovalik cited a video of an Uribe campaign event where alleged paramilitary boss Fremio Sánchez Carreño appears shaking hands with Uribe. The second allegation comes from reputed narcotrafficker Fabio Ochoa Vasco, who in an interview with the Colombian magazine Semana, claimed that paramilitary bosses collected funds for Uribe’s first presidential campaign in 2002. President Uribe, speaking at an event in Cartagena called the allegations “infamous”, claiming his campaigns were never short of money thanks to generous donations from “Colombians of good-will”. The story appeared here in yesterday’s El Tiempo. See also the AP’s story in USA Today.

A Full Court PR Press

According to a Wall Street Journal article, the Uribe administration has hired four different public relations firms to lobby the US Congress for continued funding for “Plan Colombia” and approval of the free trade treaty between the US and Colombia. The PR firms, which have strong connections to the Democratic party, cost Colombia $100,000 (USD) per month.

Colombia Goes Full Tilt to Return to Grace
Uribe Administration, Seeking U.S. Trade Pact, Lobbies Hard to Overcome Scandal Allegations
By BOB DAVIS
The Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2007
WASHINGTON — To win approval of a new trade pact, Colombia is putting together a richly financed lobbying campaign piloted by ex-Clinton White House officials, complete with advertisements, a rapid-response media team and regular visits by Colombian bigwigs to Congress.
The necessity and breadth of such a campaign demonstrates just how far Colombia has fallen politically in Washington. For years, the Andean nation was considered a model ally that battled guerrillas and narcotraffickers and embraced free-market policies, unlike Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, who mocked President Bush and boasted of creating “21st-century socialism.”
But since Democrats took control of Congress this year, the focus has shifted to a deepening scandal in Colombia, where government officials have been accused of working with right-wing paramilitary leaders who have murdered hundreds of union members and other political foes.
The sharpest slap was delivered by former Vice President Al Gore, who pulled out of an environmental meeting in April rather than share a stage with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe because of what a Gore spokeswoman calls the “troubling allegations” in Colombia…The team includes the public-relations firm of Burson-Marsteller, headed by former Clinton pollster Mark Penn, who is also a top adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The firm has set up a campaign-style operation to respond immediately to any critical news about Colombia…

More of the Same: Wolfowitz Out, Zoellick In

Robert B. Zoellick, one of the original neocon signers of the famous letter from the Project for The New American Century calling for a war in Iraq, has been named to replace Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank:

Zoellick to Be Nominated as World Bank President
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 29, 2007; 6:00 PM

President Bush has decided to nominate Robert Zoellick, the former U.S. trade representative and former deputy secretary of state, to be president of the World Bank, a senior administration official said today.

“We believe Bob Zoellick is uniquely qualified for the job,” said the official, who requested anonymity because Bush has yet announce the choice. “He really has an incredible resume and he has the trust and respect of many officials around the world. He also believes deeply in the World Bank’s mission of lifting people out of poverty.”

read more…

More “Parapolitica” Controversy

Alvaro Uribe has created even more controversy with a vaguely worded “propuesta de excarcelacion” wherein he would free congressmen recently imprisoned as a result of the parapolitica scandal if they divulge all that they know about their collaboration with paramilitary groups. The proposal has received virtually universal condemnation by opposition politicians and newspaper editorialists. Opposition senator Gustavo Petro claimed that Uribe wants to “free his political friends who are in prison” and adds that the proposal is unethical given that one of the president’s relatives is also being investigated in the scandal.

For the complete story (Spanish) read here…

“Parapolitica” Update

Recently, members of the Colombian congress and Alvaro Uribe’s own cabinet have come under scrutiny for their alleged ties to paramilitary groups. The allegations come from demobilized paramilitaries hoping to benefit from Colombia’s “Justice and Peace” law. Among them is Salvatore Mancuso (who incredibly has his own website). Another former paramilitary, Rafael Garcia, has accused his former boss, head of the Colombian intelligence agency DAS, Jorge Noguera, of collaboration with paramilitaries. Garcia is in jail awaiting trial. Noguera was in jail for one month and was subsequently released due to a “procedural error” by prosecutors. Here is an update from the NY Times:

Death-Squad Scandal Circles Closer to Colombia’s President

By SIMON ROMERO; JENNY CAROLINA GONZáLEZ CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FROM MEDELLíN.
Published: May 16, 2007

President Álvaro Uribe, the Bush administration’s closest ally in Latin America, faces an intensifying scandal after a jailed former commander of paramilitary death squads testified Tuesday that Mr. Uribe’s defense minister had tried to plot with the outlawed private militias to upset the rule of a former president.

Speaking at a closed court hearing in Medellín, Salvatore Mancuso, the former paramilitary warlord, said Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos had met with paramilitary leaders in the mid-1990s to discuss efforts to destabilize the president at the time, Ernesto Samper, according to judicial officials.

Mr. Mancuso also said that Vice President Francisco Santos had met with paramilitary leaders in 1997 to discuss taking their operations to the capital, Bogotá.

A spokesman for the Defense Ministry said the minister would not comment. The spokesman said a meeting did take place in which Mr. Santos, the defense minister, discussed an effort to reach a peace plan between two guerrilla groups and the paramilitaries.

The vice president, who was traveling outside the country, was not immediately available for comment.

read more…

A Pattern Emerges

At the risk of being cynical, the two-act tragic comedy moves on to….

Act 3: April 30, 2007

(04-30) 19:31 PDT BOGOTA, Columbia (AP) –

Colombia’s navy made the largest drug seizure in the nation’s history when it uncovered about 27 tons of cocaine buried along the Pacific coast, the defense minister said Monday.

The cocaine, with a wholesale value of more than $500 million, was found Sunday buried in 1,000 packages of 55 pounds each near the coastal town of Pizarro, 250 miles west of Bogota, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a news conference.

Santos said the seizure was the result of eight months of undercover police work and he called it the “biggest in the history of Colombia.”

The cocaine was buried near an estuary accessible only by sea, he said.

There were no arrests in the operation, but the drugs were believed to belong to Colombia’s biggest drug trafficking organization, the Norte del Valle cartel, which operates near the area.

Colombia is the world’s leading cocaine producer, producing annually more than 500 tons of cocaine that represents 90 percent of the drug consumed in the United States.

Most of the cocaine leaves the country by sea, on go-fast boats that transport the drugs up along the Central American coast for their eventual smuggling into the United States overland through Mexico.

Although drug seizures are an everyday affair, they rarely reach such large numbers. Last October, Colombia’s navy made headlines when it found 9.3 tons of cocaine on three go-fast boats near the Pacific coastal port city of Buenaventura — its biggest seizure of the year.

President Alvaro Uribe travels to Washington on Tuesday to shore up support on Capitol Hill and the White House for the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia, an anti-narcotics and counterinsurgency program that has cost American taxpayers more than $5 billion since 2000.