become available:
1. 2006. U.S./Bushwhack ambassador to
Venezuela is William Brownfield (from '04 to '07). In 2007, Brownfield went to Colombia as ambassador. Brownfield actively interfered in Venezuelan politics and was several times threatened with expulsion. He was likely the conduit for multi-millions in USAID and other funds to rightwing groups in Venezuela. I would definitely look for interesting cables out of the U.S. embassy in Colombia, pertaining to Venezuela circa 2006. The Bush Junta was shoveling $7 BILLION U.S. military aid to Colombia and there was close cooperation between U.S. and Colombian militaries. An assassination plot against Chavez was hatched in the Colombian military during this period (Brownfield's tenure in Venezuela), apparently intended to unfold around the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election in the fall, with help from Washington P.R. firm, Penn & Schoen, and their publication of a false poll claiming Chavez didn't win the election (apparently intended to spark phony rightwing riots and destabilization). Brazil's Lula da Silva was notable in his support of Chavez during that period. So was Nestor Kirchner, president of Argentina (recently deceased), who--when the dictate came down from the Bushwhacks to South American leaders that they must "isolate Chavez"--replied, "But he's my brother!" And so was Rafael Correa, who was running for president in Ecuador. Chavez won the election, hands down (in an election system that is far, FAR more transparent than our own). So did Correa. Since these leaders were targets of the Bush Junta, there could be comment about their activities and relations with Colombia in the cables. Possibly important: Brownfield at one point served as "Political Advisor" to the Pentagon's "Southern Command" in Panama ('89-'90).
2. August 31, 2007. The Bushwhacks moved William Brownfield to Colombia, as ambassador . He retained this post until recently (mid-2010), two years into the Obama administration. Brownfield was involved in, or ambassador during, many important incidents, detailed below, including:
a) Serious treachery against Chavez on hostage release efforts (Nov-Dec '07) possibly designed by Donald Rumsfeld (see item 3, below);
b) Serious treachery against Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa (March 2008, U.S./Colombia bombing/raid on FARC guerilla temporary hostage release camp just inside Ecuador's border) (see item 4, below);
c) Sabotage of all local, regional and international efforts to end Colombia's 70 year civil war (throughout this period);
d) Thousands of murders by the Colombian military and its death squads, of trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, community activists, journalists, leftist political opponents, peasant farmers and others--including the "false positives" scandal (youths recruited for jobs, by the Colombian military, then killed and dressed up like FARC guerrillas, to up the military's "body count"--to earn bonuses and that $7 BILLION in military lard from the U.S. Congress)--and displacement of five MILLION peasant farmers from their lands, with state terror, all aided and abetted by agencies of the U.S. government and the U.S. military. (Questions: Any sign in Brownfield's cables that the Bush Junta or anybody in the U.S. government gave a goddamn about these numerous OFFICIAL murders, other than for P.R. reasons, i.e., getting the U.S./Colombia "free trade for the rich" agreement through Congress? How about when Bush pal Uribe said that everyone who opposes him is a "terrorist"? Jeez. Btw, Junior visited Colombia in March 2006. That might be an interesting date as to embassy cables. Pre-Brownfield. Brownfield, brought in in 2007, could be more a "fixer" than a perp, in Colombia. See next item.)
(La Macarena mass grave)
http://www.cipcol.org/?p=1303(and)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/us-colombia-cover-up-atro_b_521402.htmle) Circa 2009. Secret U.S./Colombia military agreement, negotiated by Brownfield and Uribe, giving "total diplomatic immunity" to all U.S. military personnel and all U.S. military 'contractors' in Colombia, and granting the U.S. military use of seven more bases in Colombia and use of all Colombian civilian infrastructure (airports, roads, harbors, etc.)--mid-2009. This agreement caused an uproar among Latin American leaders and was subsequently declared unconstitutional by the Colombian supreme court. (Questions: Look for cables about this secret agreement especially its "total diplomatic immunity" provision. What were the Bushwhacks trying to accomplish? (This agreement was pretty obviously of their design, originally.) What was the Obama administration trying to accomplish? Was Brownfield aware of the agreement's unconstitutionality (due to failure to submit it to the Colombian legislature)? Were they aware of how much trouble this agreement would cause in the region? How did the secret agreement get disclosed? Uribe disclosed it, but what prompted him to do that? Did the Bush Junta intend to keep Uribe in power, in a junta, implementing this U.S. military occupation of Colombia by fiat? Or were they scurrying around trying to get some sort of official, signed "immunity" to cover up Bush Junta war crimes, or complicity in war crimes, in Colombia? Also, any hint in the cables, of a Pentagon war plan against Venezuela--which might show up in comment on the FARC guerrillas, or on Colombia/Venezuela border problems, or Colombia/Venezuela rollercoaster relations?) (See below, the bombing/raid on Ecuador.)
f) 2008-2010. Swift, secret, midnight extraditions, arranged by Brownfield and Uribe, removing death squad witnesses to the U.S.--out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors and over their objections. The death squad criminals were extradited to the U.S. on mere drug charges, in the midst of giving death squad testimony in Colombia against others (for reduced sentences), and were 'buried' in the U.S. federal prison system, by complete sealing of their cases in U.S. federal court in Washington DC. A.G. Eric Holder (past private attorney for Chiquita executives in their death squad case) was probably involved in these extraditions and sealings of cases. Over a thousand such U.S. extraditions, all told, in recent years. Blatant subversion of the Colombian justice system, possibly designed to cover up ties to Uribe and ties between these criminals and the U.S. government or military. (Look for cables sorting out "fixers" from perps?)
May 2008:
http://medialeft.net/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=637:colombian-extraditions-aimed-at-covering-up-uribes-death-squad-ties&catid=28:venezuela-and-colombia&Itemid=183June 2010:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/18/Stealing_Colombia%27s_Criminals?page=0,0(also at:
http://www.ictj.org/en/news/coverage/article/3835.html)
g) Circa July 2009-2010. Massive Uribe spying scandal (spying on everybody--judges, prosecutors, political opponents, trade unionists, journalists, human rights activists, foreign embassies) erupted in Uribe's last two years in office. Uribe's spy agency was passing info to the CIA. Some 40 of Uribe's cohorts under investigation in Colombia for spying. Then, recently, the Colombian prosecutors' chief witness on Uribe spying was given weirdly fast asylum in Panama, probably arranged by the CIA, and six more such witnesses are headed to Panama. (Question: Was this spying for the purpose of creating "hit lists" for the death squads, and/or death threats to judges, prosecutors, etc., in addition to illegally obtaining information about political and judicial opponents? What were Brownfield's, the Bush Junta's and/or CIA's complicity in the spying? Was the U.S. military and/or embassy providing Uribe with high tech spying capabilities? Look for cables on this scandal that might help explain U.S. motives for getting these witnesses out of Dodge.)
(Uribe's spy chief Hurtado gets asylum in Panama--Nov 2010)
http://deathbycucumber.com/2010/11/20/colombia-spy-chief-in-asylum-row/(Uribe implicated in spying--Nov 2010)
http://laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=12393&ArticleId=372459 (Six more spy witnesses on the way to Panama--recent)
http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2010/11/impunity_colombia_and_panamah) Circa June 2008. Uribe bribery scandal, involving legislators whom he wanted to extend his term as president. (One of the legislators was convicted and jailed.) (Question: Any cables about U.S. handling of Uribe's growing list of major scandals? All told, some 70 of his political cohorts, including family members, are under investigation or in jail for bribery, ties to death squads, drug trafficking and other crimes, with yet more in trouble in the spying scandal. Any hint in the cables about when the U.S. decided to dump Uribe and why they have had to coddle and protect him since then?)
i) Brownfield finally out in mid-2010. Hard to say whether Obama/Clinton wanted him in Colombia (for the extraditions and the signed "immunity" agreement, protecting the Bush Junta?) or couldn't replace him because Jim DeMint (Diebold-SC) was holding all their Latin American appointments hostage to their handling of the rightwing coup d'etat in Honduras (probably a Bush Junta-devised plot that unfolded six months into the Obama administration--June 2009--that Clinton subsequently supported with democracy cosmetics and that the Pentagon also aided and abetted). Obama's, Clinton's, Panetta's and the Pentagon's connection to these Brownfield activities in Colombia--or connections of Bushwhack players like Jim DeMint, John McCain and John Negroponte--all would be of interest in better understanding events in South America. (Questions: Look for cables that might make clear how complicit Obama/Clinton/Panetta were in Brownfield's activities in Colombia that were subverting the Colombian justice system. Were they approving, winking at or opposed to his activities? Did they want him out?)
j) Recently, the State Department issued a "fine" against Blackwater for "unauthorized" "trainings" of "foreign persons" IN COLOMBIA "for use in Iraq and Afghanistan." Embassy cables about this could be as far back as 2001. (Questions: Were these "trainings" really "unauthorized"? What was Blackwater "training" these "foreign persons" to do in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is this "fine" an Obama/Clinton/Panetta cover-up of Bush Junta authorization of U.S. death squad activity in Colombia? Any concern in the cables about the La Macarena massacre (up to 2,000 bodies in a mass grave discovered in late 2009) or other mass graves and extrajudicial killings? La Macarena was a region of special interest and activity by the U.S. military and the USAID. British MPs visited La Macarena to document the mass grave site--any embassy comment on that?)
k) In what appears to have been a Panetta (CIA Director) dumping of Uribe (Panetta visit to Bogota, Feb '10, amidst rumors of a potential Uribe coup to stay in power), the U.S. has been careful to shower Uribe with honors and protection. (Questions: What does Uribe know about Bush Junta war crimes in Colombia? And what does Brownfield know? Any comment in the cables about Uribe staying in power, Uribe scandals, Panetta's visit, hints of potential links between the Bush Junta and U.S. military, U.S. military 'contractor," Colombian military or Colombian rightwing paramilitary crimes ? Uribe, in his final weeks in power, seemed to be trying to start a war with Venezuela. Why did he do this? Was this a reflection of internal U.S. conflict between Bushwhack and Clinton/Panetta methods in Latin America? Any hints in the cables about this? Any comment about Uribe's successor, his former Defense Minister Manuel Santos? Santos has apparently dropped the secretly negotiated U.S./Colombia military agreement that Brownfield negotiated and has restored relations with Venezuela. Do cables reflect or oppose this change of policy? Is Santos acting independently, or as part of a new plan, with new methods, for U.S. re-conquest of Latin America?)
3. November-December 2007. Uribe had asked Chavez to negotiate with the FARC guerrillas for hostage releases. This was likely a treacherous set-up to hand Chavez a diplomatic disaster, with dead hostages, and to establish Chavez contacts with the FARC to later charge him with being a "terrorist-lover." Chavez took the request seriously and worked to get hostages released. On the eve of the first Chavez-negotiated hostage releases, Uribe suddenly withdrew his request on the flimsy excuse that Chavez had made a phone call to the Colombian military. That same weekend (12/1/07), Donald Rumsfeld published an op-ed in the Washington Post stating, in the first paragraph, that Chavez's help "is not welcome in Colombia." The Colombian military sent rocket fire at the first two hostages, as they were on route to their freedom, but missed. They were forced back into the jungle on a 20 mile hike. Chavez--urged on by world leaders, human rights groups and hostages' families-- got them out later by another route (and got a total of 8 hostages released). He had to quit this effort because of the danger to the hostages. (Questions: Look for any cables that might shed light on who was pulling Uribe's strings during this period and how the U.S. embassy was handling the Chavez hostage release effort. Also, in early 2007, Uribe and Chavez met for four hours, during which Uribe apologized to Chavez for the Colombian military assassination plot against him. Anything in the cables about the content of that meeting? That is possibly the occasion on which Uribe asked Chavez to help with the hostages, setting that treacherous plot against Chavez in motion. )
4. March 2008. The U.S./Colombia dropped 500 lb U.S. "smart bombs" on the FARC hostage release camp on Ecuador's border, and raided over the border to shoot any survivors in the back, all told slaughtering 25 sleeping people. High profile hostage Ingrid Betancourt's family had been notified that the FARC were about to release her, and French, Swiss and Spanish envoys were in Ecuador, on route to the camp, to receive her, when they were warned off. (They were told that "everyone in the camp is going to be killed.") This bombing/raid was likely orchestrated from the U.S. embassy "war room" in Bogota (from which the later, stagey rescue of Ingrid Betancourt was orchestrated, with everyone watching a live feed in the U.S. embassy). The main target in the Ecuador bombing was Raul Reyes, a FARC commander who was trying to end the long civil war. The bombing/raid resulted in Colombia's mafioso president, Alvaro Uribe, claiming they had seized Raul Reyes' laptop computer which contained "evidence" that Chavez and Correa are "terrorist-lovers." The plane, pilot and bombs that slaughtered the Reyes camp likely came from the U.S. military base in Manta, Ecuador, run by Dyncorp, which Rafael Correa evicted from Ecuador in 2009. The "miracle laptop" provided an endless supply of wild, incoherent charges against Chavez and Correa, by Uribe, in the following months. (This "evidence" was eventually completely debunked.) (Questions: Look for cables on this important incident.)
5. Circa 2009-2010: Mentioned above. Look for cables on the Brownfield-Uribe arranged midnight extraditions of death squad witnesses to the U.S. and on their secret negotiations and secret signing of the U.S./Colombia military agreement. These were clearly very important Brownfield tasks. Decisions/comment about them in embassy cables might go back before 2009. Look for evidence of Bushwhack motives in wanting "total diplomatic immunity" for U.S. military personnel and 'contractors.' In both cases--the extraditions and the immunity-- look for signs of the secretiveness and covertness of these activities and the reasons for it.
--------------------------
Well, that's my list for now. There may be more issues/events to pinpoint for searches of the Wikileak documents. Obviously, anything on Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador would be of interest. I obviously think that there is a "smoking gun" (or "guns") in Colombia as to Bush Junta war crimes in Colombia. Possibly Colombian prosecutors, or others, can get at it. (I imagine that the Colombian prosecutors are looking for it, because they have been so subverted by both the Bush Junta and the Obama administration on investigations of Uribe.) Brownfield was at the center of Bush Junta policy in Colombia, so it will be quite interesting to see how careful (or careless?) he was with cables out of that embassy.
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