Colombia's amoral development

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia's amoral development

Development can be carried out with justice, respect and dignity for the poor. Or with violence, displacement and the suppression of human rights. Colombia's former president chose the latter

Posted by Jonathan Glennie Monday 6 June 2011 07.00 BST
guardian.co.uk

Alvaro Uribe Vélez, Colombia's president between 2002 and 2010, is as divisive a figure as his neighbour and long-time phoney-war sparring partner, Hugo Chávez. Lauded by the right for saving the country from the brink of despair (Farc guerrillas had famously arrived at the outskirts of the capital Bogotá) and loathed on the left for his dismal record on human rights, his world lecture tour has followed a predictable pattern – he speaks at business school receptions while protesters scream at him from the pavements.

For most of the decade, Uribe led the only country in South America, with the possible exception of Peru, that followed an orthodox neoliberal approach to economics and wanted no part of the anti-imperialist sentiment that swept most of the new left to power, maintaining exceptionally tight political links with the US.

So how did Colombia fare under Uribe in terms of poverty reduction and development? The answer gives us a clue to the main battlegrounds in international development in the 21st century.

~snip~
Imagine a situation in which millions of people are displaced from their land by violence or the threat of violence. The land is taken over by businesses that develop mega plantations to produce bananas, palm oil, or, yes, coca. Jungle is cleared for cattle rearing. Mines are dug to extract copper, gold, emeralds or oil. The manufacturing sector, which creates jobs and strengthens the middle class, fails to advance while resource extraction and export, which employs very few and fills the pockets of the wealthy, is the key plank of development strategy.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jun/06/colombia-amoral-development-uribe

Also just posted in Editorials:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x606358

[Bacchus39]

1. its the same anywhere, not just Colombia n/t