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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
— village December 2009 - January 2010
Colombia
- has moved into gov-
ernment in the past decade with Hugo Chavez
(Venezuela, ), leading the charge and
former Tupamaro guerrilla Pepe Mujica the lat-
est to join, after Uruguay’s November election.
Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador have added
their votes to the progressive tide but one country
stands apart from the trend. Colombia remains a
conservative, highly militarised society, governed
by Alvaro Uribe, whose political roots lie in the
landed oligarchy and its paramilitary enforcers.
Uribe’s father was killed by left-wing rebels dur-
ing a botched kidnap attempt in , an event
which has given his anti-subversive campaign
the air of a personal crusade. A lawyer and land-
owner, Uribe was elected president in on a
campaign promise of ‘Democratic Security’ in a
country torn apart by violence and fear. President
Uribe afforded extra powers to the military, estab-
lished a network of informers in rural areas, and
replaced civilian authorities with military officials
in disputed zones. A close ally of the Bush admin-
istration, Uribe offered troops for Iraq and this
year he signed over seven airstrips to the US army
to replace military bases shut down in neighbour-
ing countries. US political influence is on the wane
in the region with Brazilian president Lula da Silva
emerging as spokesman for an alternative power
bloc looking toward China, the Middle East and
-
In Latin America, apart from Colombia which remains a Conservative
highly-militarised country, the left has become the establishment
m i c h a e l m c c a u g h a n
“President
Uribe’s ambitious
plans have been
damaged by
allegations of
human rights
abuses…”
the EU to counterbalance US economic and politi-
cal dominance.
The Uribe era has seen a societal shift in
which the country’s armed forces have moved
centre stage with troop numbers doubled, new
technology acquired, and a presidential pledge
of immunity for their actions. President Uribe
then began to demobilise the country’s right-
wing paramilitary forces which had previously
worked closely with the army to suppress dissent.
The ‘paras’, funded by landowners and industrial-
ists, became big business operatives, using their
money and muscle to buy influence in parliament,
where they control at least one third of elected
officials. However, the process unravelled when
paramilitary leaders, fearing lengthy prison sen-
tences, implicated dozens of politicians, includ-
ing some of Uribe’s closest allies, in their illegal
activities. Colombia’s Congress passed a Peace
and Justice Law which provided for very short
prison sentences in return for confessions, yet
, paras remain outside the process.
President Uribe’s ambitious plans have been
damaged by allegations of human rights abuses,
particularly the scandal of the ‘false positives’ -
where young men are detained by the military,
shot dead, dressed in fatigues and presented
as guerrillas killed in action. At least citi-
zens have been killed in this manner since Uribe
assumed office, sparking comparisons with
s Argentina, where thousands of citizens
were ‘disappeared’ during the dictatorship. The
false positives are a direct result of Alvaro Uribe’s
insistence on measuring progress in the war
through a body count. Army troops are rewarded
with cash bonuses, extra leave and in some cases
promotion. President Uribe, obsessed with sta-
tistics, gets to address the nation and announce
his ongoing successes. However, the international
human-rights community is catching up on the
Colombian leader. Philip Alston, UN Special
Rapporteur on extra judicial executions, issuing
a hard-hitting report which described the false
positives as “systematic and premeditated cold-
blooded murder”, compounded by the ‘systematic
harassment’ by the military of victims’ relatives
seeking justice. The Obama administration has
withheld funds from Uribe over the false posi-
tives scandal but with few allies in the region, it
is unlikely Obama will put any further pressure
on Colombia over the killings.
Colombia has a vibrant political tradition
but the left has been unable to organise freely for
elections as the country’s ruling elite has consist-
ently resorted to violence, killing off popular can-
didates and their campaigning supporters. The
left has also suffered from its historic association
with the armed movement, once popular but now
reviled, for its associations with drugs and kidnap-
ping. More than a third of Colombian voters live
in Bogota, which has elected left-wing mayors but
urban success has yet to create a nationwide plat-
form from which to launch a serious presidential
challenge. President Uribe has issued decrees and
legislation which have eroded judicial independ-
ence while the chronic war in the countryside has
left four million citizens displaced and Colombia
remains the most dangerous country in the world
to be a trade unionist, with dozens murdered each
year. In a symbol of shifting political sentiment
over the failed drug war, Mexico and Argentina
have decriminalised individual drug possession,
even heroin, as governments reflect on the costly
failure of the ‘drug war’. Uribe is marching to a dif-
ferent tune, introducing legislation which would
make possession of a single cannabis joint not just
a criminal offence but the trigger for an automatic
psychiatric assessment and the potential for man-
datory treatment.
One thing Uribe does have in common with
his left-wing nemeses is a desire to remain in
power. He altered the constitution to allow him
to run a second time in and now a third time
in . He looks certain to win that next contest.
If elected, he will govern until and he has
made no secret of his desire to remain in power
until , the anniversary of Colombian inde-
pendence from Spain. The longer Uribe remains
in power the more likely he will fall from grace as
rights abuses pile up and the economy continues
its downward slide. The success of Uribe, built on
doctored statistics and the ruthless suppression
of dissent, may yet be revealed as a cruel illusion,
just as the false positives have been revealed as a
cruel hoax against innocent civilians. Colombia is
facing increased isolation, as even moderates like
Brazil’s President Lula have forcefully criticised
the Colombian decision to offer military bases
to the US army. Venezuela’s Chavez has gone a
step further, ordering troops to deploy at the bor-
der. However, high-decibel rhetoric is unlikely to
translate into action on the ground as economic
growth remains more important than ideologi-
cal posturing. Uribe and Chavez have signed up
to a critical gas pipeline deal while Uribe faces
more pressing challenges at home where even the
Bishops have quietly called on the hard-working
leader to “rest up” in and consider other
ways to serve his country.
PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES
