Rights group slams Colombia's Uribe over charges (Bush ally)

[Judi Lynn]

Rights group slams Colombia's Uribe over charges
Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:10 AM BST

By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch sharply criticized Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for what it called a "wildly improper response" to charges that his government's intelligence service helped paramilitaries kill civilians.

The Columbian press has reported that the Administrative Security Department, or DAS, cooperated with the far-right militias, prompting the famously short-tempered Uribe to accuse reporters of maliciously harming the country's democratic institutions.

"Instead of attacking the news media for reporting allegations of criminal activity, President Uribe should ensure a full investigation of the charges," New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement late on Sunday.

Uribe singled out journalists and commentators including Ramiro Bejarano, a lawyer who served on a commission appointed last year to investigate the DAS. "Our investigation showed the paramilitaries had deeply infiltrated the DAS," Bejarano told Reuters.

"This is as serious as if, in the United States, the FBI had been infiltrated by the Mafia," he said. "Uribe's reaction has been not to clean up the agency but to attack journalists covering the story."
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-04-17T041007Z_01_N16366132_RTRUKOC_0_UK-COLOMBIA-RIGHTS.xml&archived=False



Alvaro Uribe and _Bush

(my emphasis)

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombian President Attacks the Press

Colombian President Attacks the Press
By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer

Monday, April 17, 2006
(04-17) 02:18 PDT BOGOTA, Columbia (AP) --

It was a most unpresidential spectacle: President Alvaro Uribe upbraiding the editor of Colombia's top news magazine on morning talk radio for rekindling a corruption scandal just weeks before he stands for re-election.

The magazine Semana had doggedly reported on allegations of fraud in Uribe's 2002 election victory, a conspiracy to assassinate leftist and union activists, and the leaking of sensitive information to drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitary groups.

Semana also reported that officials in the state security agency, known as DAS, allegedly plotted to destabilize the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
(snip)

Uribe's stern lecture to Semana's editor, Alejandro Santos, was considered by groups including Human Rights Watch to be a frightening attempt to muzzle the press in a country where journalism is already a very dangerous profession.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/17/international/i015747D41.DTL

[Bacchus39]

2. hopefully he won't restrict the free press like his

neighbor to the east hey Judy?

[ronnie624]

3. Countering those dedicated to disinformation

about Latin America can be frustrating at times, huh Judi?

[Bacchus39]

4. we certainly don't want the press to become too nosy

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16264

Information minister seeks use of law on social responsibility against broadcast media in Anderson case




http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16831

at least there is hope

Supreme court drops charges of “false statements” against anti-Chávez columnist

[Judi Lynn]

5. Colombia leader hits out at press

Last Updated: Monday, 17 April 2006, 11:21 GMT 12:21 UK
Colombia leader hits out at press

~snip~
The latest allegations against Das emerged last week after Semana interviewed a former official, Rafael Garcia, who is in jail charged with deleting files on paramilitary leaders and drug traffickers.

Mr Garcia reportedly said Das, under the direction of Jorge Noguera, had planned to kill leftists and union activists and had plotted to destabilise the Venezuelan government led by Hugo Chavez.

Das officials allegedly carried out favours for paramilitary leaders, including destroying criminal records.

Mr Garcia is also reported to have accused Mr Noguera - one of Mr Uribe's campaign managers for the 2002 election - of obtaining fraudulent votes for the president.

Mr Noguera resigned as Das director last year amid reports of improper links to paramilitary groups - he was then appointed Colombian consul-general in Milan.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4915430.stm

[Bacchus39]

6. from my first post above

are you kidding me???

"Ten media, six of them TV stations, are currently under a ban handed down by a court on 23 January preventing them from publishing anything about the Anderson case, upheld on appeal on 14 February."


and some good news: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060413/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_paramilitary_disarmament;_ylt=AlbBJ9km3JVylpPRLpwM9OW3IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--


BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's biggest right-wing paramilitary group has disbanded as part of an ongoing peace process, but some renegade factions continued to operate, authorities said Wednesday.


Over 1,700 fighters gave up weapons in a demobilization ceremony in Casibare, 100 miles southeast of the capital on Tuesday, said government Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo.

They were the last to lay down their weapons as part of a 2003 peace deal between the government and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC.

[Judi Lynn]

7. More dead serious info. from the AP article:

~snip~
First, why did Uribe name the man at the center of the scandal, Jorge Noguera, to the post of consul-general in Milan, Italy, rather than order a criminal investigation after Noguera was forced to step down as DAS director in October?

Noguera lost the job after the first evidence emerged, in press reports, that DAS agents were providing favors to right-wing paramilitary leaders and drug traffickers, such as the alleged erasing of their criminal records. The paramilitaries are considered a strong base of support for Uribe, who initiated a peace process with them that has resulted in the demobilization of some 28,000 leftist rebels.

Former DAS information systems director Rafael Garcia, in jail on charges he deleted files on paramilitary leaders and drug traffickers, is the source of the damning new allegations against Noguera.

"Yes, there was a plan to destabilize the government of Venezuela and many people in the Colombian government are involved," Semana quoted Garcia as saying in a jailhouse interview.

Garcia refused to offer more details, saying he will tell investigators from the chief prosecutor's office or a foreign government once he's been guaranteed protection for his family.
(snip/...)

http://www.620ktar.com/?nid=46&sid=176107

(emphasis mine)

[Bacchus39]

8. "in a jailhouse interview"

"IN JAIL ON CHARGES HE DELETED FILES...IS THE SOURCE"

emphasis mine