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he himself applied to the U.S. embassy for help in spying on his "enemies," just like his pal Uribe!
Here is some of background regarding the U.S. and Uribe...
--the U.S. ambassador and Uribe colluded on sudden, midnight extradition of 30 death squad witnesses to the U.S., on mere drug charges, and their 'burial' in the U.S. federal prison system (by complete sealing of their cases), out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors and over their vociferous objections.
--Uribe was spying on judges and prosecutors to monitor their investigations and anticipate their moves (and get death threats called in, where they might be useful), so he could know who, among their witnesses, needed to be gotten out of Colombia.
--Uribe's spy chief, Hurtado, absconded to Panama, and got instant asylum in this U.S. client state--whose rightwing president expected similar spying help from the U.S.--thus putting her out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors, over their vociferous objections, just at the moment they wanted to talk to her about Uribe.
--around the time that they were getting the 30 death squad witnesses out of Colombia, the U.S. ambassador and Uribe secretly negotiated and secretly signed a U.S./Colombia military agreement giving "total diplomatic immunity" to all U.S. military personnel and all U.S. military 'contractors' in Colombia.
--the U.S. State Department, early this year, "fined" Blackwater for "unauthorized" "training" of "foreign persons" IN COLOMBIA "for use in Iraq and Afghanistan."
--Uribe has been teaching law (!) with cushy academic sinecures at Georgetown and Harvard, and was appointed to a prestigious international legal commission.
Smell it yet? Upshot: The U.S. (Bush Junta) was HELPING Uribe spy on his "enemies"--some of whom were murdered by the Colombian military or by the rightwing death squad network that Uribe has been tied to from early in his career. And the Obama administration, obviously under some sort of obligation to prevent investigation and prosecution of Bush Junta war criminals, HAS to include Uribe in that immunity, or Uribe will rat on the Bushwhacks who helped him spy on and murder his "enemies."
Some 70 of Uribe's closest associates are under investigation or already in jail, for ties to the death squads, drug trafficking, bribery, election fraud, land theft, ponzi schemes and other crimes. Thousands of trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, community activists, peasant farmers, Indigenous leaders and other Uribe "enemies" were murdered. Half the murders of trade unionists were committed by the Colombian military itself (according to Amnesty International)--which was receiving $7 BILLION in U.S. military aid, as well as U.S. military presence on the ground in Colombia, providing "training" and "technical assistance" as well as the latest Pentagon/USAID "pacification" programs. Five MILLION peasant farmers were driven from their land, by state terror--one of the worst human displacement catastrophes on earth. With Murder, Inc., in charge in Bogota, the Colombian military also felt free to lure youngsters with promises of jobs, murder them and dress their bodies up like FARC guerrillas, to up their "body counts," to earn bonuses and promotions--the infamous "false positives" scandal.
This was a criminal organization running Colombia with U.S. help.
As for this commission--the Accusations Commission, if it is the legislative commission looking into Uribe's crimes, and I believe it is--FIVE of its members abruptly resigned from the Commission just before Uribe testified, two of them admitting that death threats were the reason for their resignations, with death threats the probable reason for the other three. The ten remaining commissioners are facing a man whom they know can have them murdered with impunity. Although Colombian prosecutors have been diligent and courageous, they have been greatly hampered in solving rightwing death squad murders for the very reason that they, too, were being spied upon, and because the U.S. has an interest in protecting Uribe. His criminal network is still operational in Colombia--obviously, with the death threats against these legislators, and several more trade unionists and Indigenous leaders were murdered just in the last few weeks. Further, Uribe clearly intends to be restored to power in Colombia. He may be counting on the far right taking the U.S. presidency next year (he's tight with Bush Sr and Bush Jr), thus putting the Miami mafia in charge of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.
So, it would not surprise me in the least to see this Commission whitewash Uribe and it may even try to suborn the justice system (in the way it handles witnesses--if it can get any--and evidence). Very likely, the members who received death threats and resigned were the ones who might object to a whitewash. I don't know this for sure but it is certainly a reasonable suspicion. There may be courageous remaining members but they have been given a clear message that their lives and their families are at risk if they go after this powerful, U.S.-protected Mob Boss.
It is a BIG question mark whether or not Colombia's rightwing political establishment can clean up its act. The new president, Manuel Santos (who was Uribe's defense minister for several years) seems to be trying to. The Colombian justice system seems to be trying to. And some legislators may be trying to. There is no leftist political establishment to speak of. They have been decimated by murder and terror. So it's up to the rightwing to deal with the Mob (which is running the trillion+ dollar cocaine industry and is very embedded in local and national government and in the military; indeed, the U.S. "war on drugs" was probably being used to transfer lands from the peasants to the big cocaine operations and to consolidate the industry).
In short, the odds are very much against justice in Colombia. The U.S., and especially the U.S./Bush Junta, have messed with Colombia too much, empowering and embedding not just militarists and fascists but outright criminals and an extensive criminal organization. Obama/Panetta saw this as a problem. One of Panetta's very first acts as CIA Director was to go to Bogota amidst rumors of a Uribe coup to stay in power. (Uribe had gotten himself a second term by bribing two legislators, one of whom is in jail for it--and the rumor was that he was planning a coup for a third term, which he very much needed in order to protect himself and his top officials from jail, and to continue benefitting from the death squad/cocaine organization that he had helped to create.) I think Panetta gave Uribe the hook and vetted and approved Santos, but his probable motive in doing so was to protect Bush Jr. (Panetta is close with Bush Sr--was a member of Bush Sr's "Iraq Study Group" which is likely the entity that ousted Rumsfeld over the Bush/Cheney plan to nuke Iran, and the outing of CIA agents. Panetta then became CIA Director, appointed by Obama, with the task of ending the war between the Pentagon and the CIA, and cleaning up any loose ends, like Colombia, that could further harry Bush Jr). Colombia's prosecutors were on Uribe's trail which likely leads to Junior, so Uribe had to be protected from prosecutorial pressure and treated with kid gloves. Colombia is in equally bad shape as the U.S., as to accountability of its leaders, and in equal danger of far rightwing criminals regaining control of the executive branch. If this occurs, in Colombia, it will likely happen violently, and here it will likely happen invisibly and undetectably, in the far rightwing corporate-controlled, 'TRADE SECRET' voting systems, now everywhere in the U.S.
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