Colombian journalist refused UK visa

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Roy Greenslade Tuesday 14 September 2010 08.15 BST
guardian.co.uk
Colombian journalist refused UK visa

Award-winning Colombian journalist Claudia Duque has been refused entry to Britain. She was invited by the National Union of Journalists to give a speech about her work in upholding human rights.

She was hoping to visit London as part of a European tour in which she collected a press freedom award in Stockholm from the Swedish arm of Reporters Without Borders.

The NUJ's general secretary, Jeremy Dear, said: "It is shameful that the UK government is the only one to turn down her visa request." And Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, said: "It is extraordinary that the authorities in Britain are closing the door to one of Colombia's most distinguished reporters whose work is an inspiration in the struggle for democracy and human rights."

Duque has been a thorn in the side of Colombia's government, not least by revealing the infiltration of extreme right-wing paramilitary groups into government institutions.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/sep/14/press-freedom-colombia

[dipsydoodle]

1. More here

The British Embassy in Bogotá rejected the visa to the internationally recognized Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque and her daughter. Duque, who was aware recently by Reporters Without Borders in Sweden, said that the Embassy presumed that because she has received threats in Colombia, maybe she would not return to her country.

>

Ironically, the same Embassy in its monthly bulletin on human rights declared her the ‘defender of the month’ and she was invited to the residence of British ambassador John Dew during a homage prepared to human rights defenders and independent journalists of Colombia.

Duque, who is also an independent journalist, said to the media that the embassy converted her salary from pesos to pounds and stated that such was too low as to pay a return trip ticket, although the English Union was assuming all the expenses of the journalist and her daughter in order to give a conference in London this coming Thursday.

http://colombiapassport.com/2010/09/13/uk-rejected-visa-to-human-rights-journalist/

The Guardian article makes it sound as though the rejection came from Westminster rather than her local embassy. I wondering if there was something awry with the supportive information from the National Union of Journalists assuming they were sponsering her visit. :shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

3. This just doesn't add up, does it? Same thing from the US to Colombian journalist Hollman Morris:

Colombian journalist denied visa for Harvard fellowship
July 11, 2010 | 10:39 pm

A prominent and controversial Colombian journalist has been denied a visa to enter the U.S. to participate in a prestigious fellowship at Harvard University. The U.S. Embassy ruled journalist Hollman Morris ineligible to enter the United States under the "Terrorist Activities" section of the USA Patriot Act, reports the Associated Press.

Morris is known for his reports on human rights abuses by right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia, at the independent news outlet Contravia, but has been accused of allegiance to the FARC guerrilla group by Colombia's president. Morris had been awarded the Nieman Fellowship, a mid-career program at Harvard for experienced reporters from around the world, for his work investigating little-known abuses at the hands of far-right armed groups who fight the FARC in Colombia's isolated rural regions.

Reports in Colombia have tied paramilitaries to relatives of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, coining a new term for such relationships, "parapolitics." Far-right paramilitary groups in Colombia are believed to be responsible for as many as 20,000 deaths or disappearances, according to some reports.

Uribe, a strong U.S. ally, has singled out Morris for criticism, the AP says: "On Feb. 3, 2009, Uribe called Morris 'an accomplice of terrorism' posing as a journalist after Morris showed up with FARC rebels to cover the insurgents' liberation of four Colombian security force members."

More:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/07/colombian-journalist-visa-fellowship-harvard.html

~~~~~
Morris's situation got so much pressure from the public the State Department here finally caved and allowed the man to go to ####### Harvard, in the end. If it hadn't been for so much public outrage nothing would have happened, we can be completely sure.

This horrendous kind of behavior from the two governments is so damned unexpected, isn't it? You'd think they'd try to be a little more covert about it. They must believe there's little any one can do but crab about it.

Reading your link, was surprised to learn she had discovered the Colombian government had tried to prevent investigation into the assassination of Jaime Garzón, a tremendous, talented political comedian. These guys are deadly, Claudia Julieta Duque has been living with a target on her back. (Morris Hollman has had to have body guards and a bulletproof car to take his children to school in Colombia, already.)

Here is Jaime Garzón's Wikipedia, (the guy whose assassination she investigated):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Garz%C3%B3n



Jaime Garzón
If you hear more on Claudia Duque, please let us know, dipsydoodle. Thanks.

[dipsydoodle]

4. There's something odd about the situation anyway.

From the link I posted the rejection came from the Embassy in Bogota. Presuambly it must follow that the visa application was rejected BEFORE she went to Sweden - she was in Sweden 10th September. She'd otherwise have made the application at the Embassy in Stockholm. It makes it look as though the NUJ withheld complaining until she was actually in Europe although they'd have known in advance she wouldn't be allowed entry to the UK. Tactics I guess.

Maybe it is her intention to stay in Europe. :shrug: From 2004 : http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/taxonomy/term/640

[Judi Lynn]

2. UK denies visa to Colombian journalist .

UK denies visa to Colombian journalist .
Friday, 10 September 2010 13:54 Adriaan Alsema

http://colombiareports.com.nyud.net:8090/pics/media/claudia_duque.jpg

The United Kingdom denied a visa to Colombian journalist Claudia Duque, British journalism organizations report.

Duque had been invited to the U.K. by the National Union of Journalists to give a speech about her work as a human rights reporter.

According to website journalism.co.uk, the Colombian had already received two awards while on tour in Europe, but was refused entrance to the U.K.

In Colombia, Duque allegedly has been a victim of illegal wiretapping by the country's intelligence agency DAS and over the past few years survived murder attempts and received death threats when researching human rights violations.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11788-uk-refuses-visa-to-colombian-journalist.html

[Peace Patriot]

5. The UK must have quite a lot of investment riding on U.S. "free trade for the rich" in Colombia

and/or has dirty fingers in the slaughter of trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, community organizers, peasant farmers and others, and in the forced displacement of five MILLION peasants from their lands, by state terror. The Colombian commander who was questioned about the massacre in La Macarena, for instance, said he had been "trained" by the UK military.* (500 to 2,000 unidentified bodies. Colombian commander said they were FARC guerrillas. Local people said they were 'disappeared' local community activists or members.) Also, Blackwater was just "fined" by the State Department for its "unauthorized" "trainings" of Colombians for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. Was the UK also "training" assassins in Colombia?

This action speaks GUILT.

The statement that this journalist should be barred because she might ask for asylum because she received death threats in Colombia makes no sense at all. Isn't that the very reason that asylum is granted--that returning to your country would put you in mortal danger? So you BAR somebody BECAUSE they are in danger?!?

The U.S./Bushwhack ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, was permitted, by the Obama administration, to operate in Colombia until about a month ago. One of the things he did was to get Bush pal Alvaro Uribe to "extradite" all the main prosecution death squad witnesses to the U.S., on drug trafficking charges, where their cases have been completely sealed by the U.S. court in DC, putting them out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors. This was done in secret, in the dead of night. Colombian prosecutors have fervently complained, to no avail. They were counting on these witnesses to get at the bosses and higher players on death squad murders. (Brownfield also lied to them--said the witnesses would be made available, but the opposite has happened.)

I think that the CIA also made a deal with Uribe. He would keep his mouth shut, and leave power peacefully (no coup), in exchange for CIA protection from prosecution and certain honors from the U.S. (For instance, the Obama administration appointed him to a prestigious international legal commission investigating Israel's firing on aid boats.) His image is also being "cleansed" so that they can sell "free trade for the rich" with Colombia to the U.S. Congress (where labor Democrats have objected to the short life spans of labor union leaders in Colombia). So here's where the UK would come in--piggybacking on U.S. conquests, as they did in Iraq. Are UK multinationals counting on the terrorized slave labor force in Colombia, and their portion of unfettered access to Colombian oil, minerals and other resources, like U.S. multinationals are? If so--and it is very likely the case--then they have stake in covering up the Colombian military and closely tied rightwing paramilitary slaughters in Colombia, by which Uribe was bolstered, by which any kind of decent progressive government was prevented (Uribe's former Defense minister Santos became president) and by which Colombia was prepared for full client state status. A journalist who exposes such atrocities would give them the willies.

The U.S. is trying to groom Santos as at least a "relief" from Uribe with the narrative that the era of death squad politics is over. They can't just dump Uribe or off him--he knows too much and probably has it all on a disk in a Swiss safety deposit box. But they need to create this new "Smiley Face" Colombian government, to get "free trade for the rich" in place and to get other corporate deals going in a region that is very unhappy with the U.S., over Honduras, and Uribe, and a lot of things. The U.S. needs to get its talons back in, get the World Bank/IMF bankster portfolio re-expanded in Latin America (another UK interest) and so on. Yet more reason for the UK to suppress info about death squads in Colombia.

Stupid move, to ban a journalist. It'll just give yet more publicity to whatever she has to say (and whatever people might tell her now). The pressure will be intense to reverse this stupid order, and it probably will be reversed. What have they gained, as to covering up US/UK/Uribe crimes in Colombia? Nada.


-------------------------

The La Macarena massacre: recent mass grave discovered, containing up to 2,000 bodies whom local people say were local, 'disappeared' community activists, nearby to a U.S. military base; includes a description of, and links to docs about, USAID/Colombian military ops in La Macarena)
http://www.cipcol.org/?p=1303

*The UK military connection
http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2010/02/04/silence-on-british-army-link-to-colombian-mass-grave/

U.S. and Colombia Cover Up Atrocities Through Mass Graves, by Dan Kovalik 4/1/10
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/us-colombia-cover-up-atro_b_521402.html

Colombia: Mass Grave Discovered In La Macarena
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1005/S00001.htm