(Simon Romero has been a relentless corporate media mouthpiece in true Judith Miller fashion, focused on Latin America, and anti-leftist leaders, pro-Bush's Uribe)
A Lawmaker Whose Nation Dislikes Her Friends
Scott Dalton for The New York Times
“I suppose I’m somewhat unique. But Colombia will just have to get used to me because I’m not going away.” Piedad Córdoba
By SIMON ROMERO
Published: March 1, 2008
~Like Mr. Uribe, Ms. Córdoba is a lawyer; both are from Antioquia, the economically vibrant province that has Medellín as its capital. But the similarities end there, with Ms. Córdoba emerging as one of the most outspoken critics of Mr. Uribe, the scion of a powerful landholding family.
Ms. Córdoba said her propensity to speak out originated during her childhood in Medellín as the daughter of a black man and a white woman, both teachers.
“My family and I were considered extraterrestrials,” she said. “I understand what it’s like to be different, which is why I defend homosexuals, women, blacks, anyone I can.”
While at college in Medellín, Ms. Córdoba said she was attracted to the theater and revolutionary ideas, but she avoided the guerrilla groups gaining momentum at the time, defining herself as a pacifist. Later, she got her start in politics as the private secretary of a former mayor of Medellín, William Jaramillo Gómez, emerging as his protégée.
YET while Ms. Córdoba has won recognition for supporting Colombia’s minorities, her warm ties with the country’s leftist guerrillas go too far for many Colombians, even if they privately acknowledge she may be one of the only people who can win the release of the FARC’s captives.
Ernesto Samper, the former Colombian president, said he got a sense of the emotions Ms. Córdoba elicits when he recently entered a barber shop in Bogotá where two women were arguing about politics. One of the women hated Ms. Córdoba, Mr. Samper said, while the other one loved her.
“It’s a mistake to think her political career is over,” Mr. Samper said in a telephone interview.
And so Ms. Córdoba presses ahead with this new phase, which has her spending about as much time in Caracas, in the corridors of Mr. Chávez’s palace and the Meliá, as she does in Bogotá. Asked about comments in Colombia that she should simply stay in Venezuela, Ms. Córdoba flashed a smile and said she had no plan to do so.
“It’s not surprising,” she said, laughing. “In Colombia, with my face, my turban, my words, I’m Public Enemy No. 1.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/world/americas/01cordoba.html?_r=1&em&ex=1204520400&en=bb9dc23c9398bec8&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin