quote:

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez labeled Colombia the "Israel of Latin America" on his Sunday talk show Aló Presidente yesterday. Responding to events on Saturday in which the Colombian military made an illegal attack across the border in Ecuadorian territory, the Venezuelan leader called Colombia a "terrorist state," and gave orders to mobilize troops on the Venezuelan-Colombian border.

"The Colombian government has turned into the Israel of Latin America," said Chavez during his show on Sunday.

"Colombia is a terrorist state that is subject to the great terrorist, the government of the United States and their apparatus," he explained.

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Originally posted by M. Spector:
Venezuelanalysis

Colombia's illegal attack in Ecuadorian territory was an assassination of guerrilla leader Raul Reyes. At least 15 men and women were also killed in the aerial attack, while they slept in their beds.

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Layton reminded the prime minister about comments he made last November in relation to China. At the time prime minister said, "I don't think Canadians want us to sell out important Canadian values -- our belief in democracy, freedom, human rights. They don't want to sell that out to the almighty dollar."

Trade unionists are regularly killed in Colombia for nothing more than their collective organization, says Layton. Colombia’s National Trade Union School documented 2,245 killings, 3,400 threats and 138 forced disappearances of trade unionists between January 1991 and December 2006.

“Yesterday the prime minister claimed that Colombia is ‘making progress.’ When workers are not free to organize without having their lives threatened, we should not be doing business as usual. This free trade deal reinforces the status quo in Colombia and that isn’t good enough.”

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In addition, Colombian officials alleged that documents from three computers seized where Reyes was murdered indicate that President Correa has relations with the FARC,. Ecuador says the claims by the Colombian government are a lies. The Colombian government has handed the computers over to the United States, ....

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Negotiations between the guerrillas and the government have been a feature of the past 25 years, but an unfortunate experience in the 1980s turned the Farc into a reluctant participant. After a ceasefire in 1984, the Farc was encouraged to establish a legal political party, the Patriotic Union, and to put forward candidates in the elections in 1985. The Patriotic Union was reasonably successful, securing six senators, 23 deputies, and several hundred local councillors. But the outcome was disastrous. After emerging into the open and putting their heads above the parapet, many of the UP supporters were singled out and killed. More than 4,000 left-wing activists and organisers were assassinated in the year after the elections. The guerrillas retired to their safe territories in the rural areas, and vowed not to make the same mistake again. Further negotiations took place between 1999 and 2002, but the government negotiators could not overcome this legacy of mistrust on the part of the Farc. When Uribe became president in 2002, he abandoned all such efforts and embarked on seeking an entirely military solution.

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Originally posted by Istvan:
Sounds like a nice place to visit.

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The similarity is who pays for the damned missiles - in the Middle East, the Americans support the killing of palestinians and border raids INTO Gaza - In north South America, the Americans pay for death to come from a hell hole like Columbia.

Another American surrogate uses American "aid" to maim and kill. This week alone, it has happened in Ecuador, Gaza and Somalia. Whether Israel is or is not a democratic paradise (which its actions do not support), it is merely a surrogate and the empire is again showing its teeth.

If you can't diagnose the sickness, you need to at least recognise the symptoms. Next I suppose you'll be saying that Bush's election was more legitimate the that of Chavez or that Israel has more legitimacy then Palestine.

quote:

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Originally posted by Istvan:
Well, as I said, comparing Colombia to the only democratic nation in the Middle East and the only country in the middle east where minority rights, rights of women, and the rights of unions are recognized is a bit rich. Clearly though Chavez values none of these things anyway.

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Well, as I said, comparing Colombia to the only democratic nation in the Middle East

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quote:

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Originally posted by sanizadeh:
Attacking another sovereign country's land, is illegal. But so is allowing your land to be used by rebels for attack and kidnapping against the neighbor country. Can't have it both ways.

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Originally posted by RosaL:

Well, it might depend on how you see the "rebels". But not necessarily: Even the president of Peru describes the Colombian action as "unacceptable". And the FARC weren't using Ecuadorian land "for attack" as far as we know. They were just sleeping there. Nor is there any reason to believe that Ecuador was "allowing" anything.

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To me this is similar to the way the American government and Honduras were using Contras against the Sandinists in Nicaragua. If Nicaragua had attacked contras inside the Honduras territory, it might have been illegal too, but I would not have blamed the Sandinists only.

[ 03 March 2008: Message edited by: sanizadeh ]

quote:

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Originally posted by sanizadeh:
But My point is that a government cannot claim sovereignty on its land while it allows violation of the sovereignty of another country from its land.

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When do we invade Colombia for harbouring drug lords responsible for the addiction, criminalization and death of Canadians?

Just after we invade Pakistan for harbouring the Taliban, I guess.

Colombia and Israel both have no respect for the territorial sovereignty of their neighbours.

Colombia and Israel are both torture states.

Colombia and Israel both carry out assassinations in foreign countries.

Colombia has hired former Israeli military officers to advise local officials on counter-insurgency tactics and train the Colombian army on intelligence gathering. "Israel's methods of fighting terror have been duplicated in Colombia," a senior Israeli defence official said last year.

quote:

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Originally posted by sanizadeh:

When a rebel group conducts operations inside a country, but flees to the neighboring country whenever is chased, then the neighboring country shares the blame, don't you think so?

To me this is similar to the way the American government and Honduras were using Contras against the Sandinists in Nicaragua. If Nicaragua had attacked contras inside the Honduras territory, it might have been illegal too, but I would not have blamed the Sandinists only.

[ 03 March 2008: Message edited by: sanizadeh ]

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I also guess it must fine for the Israelis to occupy parts of Palestine and then launch attacks on the palestinian population. Irritate the military, invade Lebanon. Fight back and there will be scores of dead civilians in Gaza. Elect the "wrong" people and you are condemned to collective punishment. Lovely, progressive and tolerant society.

Colombia is nothing but a vicious surrogate American state. It has attacked a neighbour and expects impunity. Israel may have good qualities, but it is a an American surrogate which attacks soveign nations like Lebanon with apparent impunity. There are parallels.

Doubtless though they have learned at the knee of "big daddy". The USA attacks and attacks again with only the pretense of self-defence and remains unscathed.

Tha analogy between Colombia and Israel may be incomplete, but the parallels are startling - and it all starts with American sponsorship, politically and militarily. Plus, of course an arrogance that denies any respect for international law.

If I was Chavez, I would move to defend my borders. Full stop.

[ 06 March 2008: Message edited by: munroe ]

I have to say that Israel, despite being constantly attacked by its fundamentalist and expansionist neighbours is an oasis of democracy and human rights in that embattled region of the world.

Women are treated as equals.
Everyone is housed.
Everyone is fed.
Minorities are respected.
Everyone is educated.
Health care is available to all.
Everyone has employment.
There is a free press.
People are free to engage in political protest.
Freedom of expression and association are respected.

The "wall" that everyone complains about is only a cement wall in and around an elementary school. Guess why? Because terrorists were shelling the school, killing children. Now they can't. Now terrorists can't get through the separation fence to blow themselves up in crows of people on the streets.

Given the cards that Israel has been dealt, I think they're doing a great job. They are a bastion of law and order compared to places like Colombia, in any event.

Back in 2003, the author pointed out that

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During the last three years we have seen many signs that the most basic democratic norms are disappearing. Arabs suspected of links with terrorism have had their Israeli citizenship taken away. Arab MKs have been stripped of their parliamentary immunity. Openly racist opinions, political programs and bills--particularly projects for ethnic cleansing of the occupied territories and of Israel itself--have gained legitimacy.

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The fake democracy is particularly evident when it comes to the rights of minorities.

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Democracy for Israelis has always been restricted to two things: predominance of the majority over the minority by means of elections and the acts of the executive branch being based on laws adopted by a parliamentary majority (AIC Special Reports, winter 1986). This is obviously a rather meager conception of democracy, which completely neglects the concept of rights. Contrary to what has often been claimed, the fact that Israel has never had a constitution is not the sole responsibility of the religious parties. The real reason is that Zionist politicians have never been capable of writing a real democratic constitution, guaranteeing equality of all citizens and fundamental rights independent of the will of the majority.

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Extrajudicial executions, the use of torture, what Warschawski calls "personalized legislation" puts the lie to democratic pretenses.

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In Israel, no one has any rights just by being a citizen. Rights--the parliamentary immunity of Arab MKs; the right to run for office if you fail to meet certain political or ideological criteria (which can change whenever the parliamentary majority changes); the legal existence of a party whose program says that the notions of "Jewish state" and "democratic state" are mutually contradictory; the citizenship of Arabs who supposedly have ties with "terrorism," etc.--can be abolished by majority vote.

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And on and on and on.

ETA: Jonathan Cook has recently written a piece about the lack of academic freedom for Arab academics. One in particular, lost his job because he refused to declare his "respect for the uniform of the Israeli army." The Film Studies teacher didn't show the proper respect for a student arriving in his class armed and in military gear. Good grief. The Palestinian minority are subject to systematic discrimination in higher education.

Academic Freedom? Not for Arabs in Israel

Let's just get back to Colombia. Maybe somebody can change the thread title if it doesn't relate to the discussion in this thread.

[ 12 March 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Istvan:
Minorities are respected.

The "wall" that everyone complains about is only a cement wall in and around an elementary school. Guess why? Because terrorists were shelling the school, killing children. Now they can't. Now terrorists can't get through the separation fence to blow themselves up in crows of people on the streets.

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Some Facts not Crap

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Most of the wall's route in Stage 1 is located within the Palestinian's West Bank. As a result, the wall along this part of the route will infringe the human rights of more than 210,000 Palestinians who live in 67 towns and villages: 13 communities, containing 11,700 residents, will become enclaves trapped between the wall and the Green Line; the wall's winding route and the additional wall (the depth barrier) east of the separation wall will turn 19 other villages, in which 128,500 Palestinians live, into enclaves; 36 villages situated east of the separation wall or depth barrier, containing 72,200 residents, will be separated from a substantial part of their farmland, which lies west of the walls.

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F. Castro: Imperialism has just committed a monstrous crime in Ecuador. Deadly bombs were dropped in the early morning hours on a group of men and women who, almost without exception, were asleep... They were Yankee bombs, guided by Yankee satellites.

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on Rafael Correa and the recent bombing of Ecuador

Fidel Castro Ruz tells it like it is. This is in marked contrast to the CBC story which barely gets around to mentioning the concerns of the Ecuadorian President after his country is bombed by Colombia with the help of the USA. You'll find his remarks at the end of the CBC article.

CBC eventually gets around to quoting the President of a country that was just BOMBED.

Gah.

Over at rabble's netted news there is a link to the ZNet Commentary by Justin Podur. Here are some remarks from that story ...

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"We do not want war, but we will not permit the Empire or its puppy, President Uribe, to weaken us." Those were Chavez's words on the Venezuelan radio program, Alo Presidente on March 2. Chavez called Raul Reyes a "good revolutionary" and his killing a "cowardly assassination". Further, he said "It is very serious that a country arrogates to itself the right to bomb the territory of a neighbour and commit an incursion to take bodies, violating many international laws.

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Targeted assassinations are routinely carried out by Israel in the occupied territories and in other countries, much like this one by Colombia, so it's perfectly appropriate to make a comparison.

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The assassination was, literally, the answer to FARC's second unilateral release of four kidnap victims, former Congresspeople, an operation coordinated with help from Venezuela. There are, therefore, numerous parallels with Israel. First, the tactic of high-tech, long-distance assassination of high-profile leaders. Second, the killing of dozens of others around as 'collateral damage'. Third, the use of such assassinations to undermine the possibilities for dialogue and negotiated solutions.

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In the year following a supposed "amnesty" for FARC supporters who had participated in elections in Colombia, there were around 4,000 assassinations of political opponents of the Colombian regime. It is impossible for FARC to trust this regime.

As much as I like Chavez, I don't agree with his chosen expression of comparing Colombia to a puppy. Maybe there's something lost in translation.

[ 12 March 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

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The US/Israeli approach in the Middle East, from the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the invasion of Lebanon in 2006 and the ongoing massacres in Gaza, has been to commit atrocities and acts of violence and, using their superior militaries, exploit the political and military opportunities that arise (this is a military counterpart of what Naomi Klein calls "the shock doctrine"). Even when they have backfired politically or strained military resources, these violent approaches have cost their victims much more than their authors, who continue to have reason to believe that more violence can work.

One of the political opportunities that Israel counts on after it commits an assassination is some random act of violence by the Palestinian armed groups, which it can then exploit, calling the Palestinians terrorists. The FARC have been told that if they unilaterally release kidnap victims, the response will be the assassination of their commanders. What should those who believe the only solution to the conflict is a political solution say to them?

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ETA: but more importantly, my link will still work in three weeks' time, whereas the rabble news page will no longer have a link to the original article.

[ 04 March 2008: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

quote:

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Originally posted by sanizadeh:
Attacking another sovereign country's land, is illegal. But so is allowing your land to be used by rebels for attack and kidnapping against the neighbor country. Can't have it both ways.

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
Yea, that's true. However, you could always provide links to both.

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1. It should also be added that these sorts of air strikes invariably result in all sorts of "collateral damage", i.e., all kinds of people having nothing to do with the armed struggle against the narco-regime - men, women and children - are killed as well.

2. FARC, after seeing thousands (4,000 in one year) of its supporters slaughtered in a fake amnesty is in no position to trust the Colombian regime and neither should anyone else who opposes such atrocities.

3. Bombing a country is a very serious matter. It's effectively an act of war, regardless of the results, and it's of a order of magnitude more serious than skirmishes and kidnappings in the context of a resistance.

If a government creates US-financed and trained death squads to kill peasant and union organizers it seems perfectly sensible that those who resist such a murderous regime would seek safety elsewhere. FARC isn't bombing Colombia. They're doing activities inside the country, where they can still be slaughtered by the regime, so the remarks of sanizadeh are really apples and oranges.

[ 12 March 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

You are just trolling here by trying to bring up things said elsewhere in other threads.

quote:

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:

As much as I like Chavez, I don't agree with his chosen expression of comparing Columbia to a puppy. Maybe there's something lost in translation.

[ 04 March 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

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Originally posted by M. Spector:
This thread compares Israel and Colombia.

You are just trolling here by trying to bring up things said elsewhere in other threads.

Kindly fuck off.

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Originally posted by Istvan:
Why is it ok to compare Israel with Nazi Germany?

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Interestingly enough, when I was in Israel, I went to a museum exhibit that showed the connection between Palestinian leaders and Nazi Germany and the support that the Nazis gave for agressive acts toward Jews in Palestine during that time. It's not as if the establishment of the state of Israel has created resentment and hatred of Jews in the Middle East. That was already long established.

[ 05 March 2008: Message edited by: Istvan ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Istvan:
It's not as if the establishment of the state of Israel has created resentment and hatred of Jews in the Middle East. That was already long established.

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No kidding. It started with Amalek. Our historic destiny is to fulfill the sacred mission entrusted to us by Adonay Eloheinu, Melech Ha'Olam, when he told Shmuel to approach Sha'ul, Melech Yisrael, and exhort him as follows:

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15:1 Samuel said to Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore listen you to the voice of the words of Yahweh.

15:2 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.

15:3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

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Sha'ul, of course, never finished the job. And so it is given unto us, the House of Judah, to get it done.

quote:

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Originally posted by Istvan:
No, "we" don't hate "them".

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quote:

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Originally posted by Istvan:
Well the Hamas government seems to be able to import rockets. Why not food?

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Exactly. We besiege them and invade them and bomb them, and they find ways to import food around the siege! Fair fight! It's better odds than we gave Amalek.

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Originally posted by unionist:
Wasn't this thread about Colombia?

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Either that or "Columbia," wherever that is. -Loafer

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I prefer his cross wired fingers hitting a keyboard to your cross wired brain 'contributing' to a discussion.

[ 07 March 2008: Message edited by: adam stratton ]

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Chavez describes Colombia as "the Israel of Latin America" for good reason. It was recently revealed revealed [sic] that Israelis have been fighting against FARC guerillas in Colombia, ....

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[ 07 March 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]

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(From that blog) The Colombian state demonstrated that it would rather invade another country than come to a peaceful settlement with its domestic foes. The attack, involving the use of cluster bombs against a sleeping decampment ...

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Two guesses, and the first doesn't count, as to which country flooded the territory of a neighboring state with the very same cluster bombs (unexploded, mind you) after withdrawing from that state following a recent invasion?

It was, of course, Israel, after the 2006 invasion and bombing of Lebanon. Looks like Chavez was right on the money.

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But guess who couldn’t wait to parrot the Bush line? Hillary Clinton, still explaining that her vote to invade Iraq was not a vote to invade Iraq, issued a statement nearly identical to Bush’s, blessing the invasion of Ecuador as Colombia’s “right to defend itself.” And she added, “Hugo Chávez must stop these provoking actions.” Huh?

I assumed that Obama wouldn’t jump on this landmine – especially after he was blasted as a foreign policy amateur for suggesting he would invade across Pakistan’s border to hunt terrorists.

It’s embarrassing that Barack repeated Hillary’s line nearly verbatim, announcing, “the Colombian government has every right to defend itself.”

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You must remember that at present Colombia is the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid, after Israel and Egypt. During the first stage of Plan Colombia, the United States provided $7.5 billion and the Colombian state imposed a war tax of 12 percent, which was increased this year by a further 8 percent. Even so, Plan Colombia and all subsequent operations have failed against the FARC–EP resistance and counteroffensive.

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Darn. There's another one of those pesky comparisons with Israel.

[ 12 March 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

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Colombia's defense minister confirmed recently that ex Israeli military men were helping his government fight guerilla organizations, Colombia weekly Semana recently reported.

Meanwhile, Colombian guerilla group FARC stated that Israeli commandos, along with American and British forces, were operating in the jungles against drug lords and guerilla fighters

While denying this report, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos did admit that a group of Israeli advisors was working alongside local defense officials in the last year. [...]

In recent years, Israel has become Colombia's number one weapon supplier, with the arms mainly used to battle drug lords. These weapons include drones, light arms and ammunition, observation and communication systems and even special bombs capable of destroying coca fields.

"Israel's methods of fighting terror have been duplicated in Colombia," a senior defense official said Thursday, adding that arms export to Colombia has increased significantly in recent years, totaling tens of millions of dollars.

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ETA: I finally noticed my spelling mistake regarding Columbia Colombia. No wonder I was getting all those funny looks.

[ 12 March 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

This whole farce is starting to make a lot more sense. A few months ago, Chavez was the hero working with Colombia to free hostages. His message of peace and negotiation seemed to be gaining some traction.

Then, just as the hostages were being freed (and Chavez was about to score a major media coup) there was a "spontaneous" demonstration against the FARC . Next thing you know, the Colombian government is invading Ecuador to take out FARC leaders and discovering "evidence" that Chavez is a terrorist.

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The Colombian government will pay $2.5m to a Farc rebel who killed his boss last week, Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos has said.

Pedro Pablo Montoya, known as Rojas, killed Ivan Rios, a member of the group's ruling body, cut off his hand as proof and then turned himself in.

The government has made paying rewards to informants a key part of its fight against the left-wing rebels.

But critics say the policy amounts to government approval for murder.

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Valero argued it was "an absolutely stupid thing to say from the government of Mr Bush . . . that practices state terrorism, that has invaded Iraq and Afghanistan without respect for international law, that commits genocidal practices in various parts of the world, that has invaded Latin American and Caribbean countries. . . ."

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Author Dario Azzellini has noted that the recent bombing of Ecuador was a special sort of exercise:

quote:

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"It was a test, they wanted to do it in Ecuadorian territory and not in Venezuela to see what the international reaction would be."

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Azzellini sees the bombing of Ecuador as the first step leading up to more serious border violations by Colombia, violations that would later include Venezuela, "in order to provoke a response from Venezuela and lay the blame for the subsequent conflict at their feet."

quote:

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Azzellini: "Their aim is to create massive destabilization in a region where Colombia would play a similar role to that of Israel in the Middle East," Azzellini told Green Left Weekly.

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There's another one of those pesky comparisons to Israel. They just won't go away.

You can watch it here:
http://tinyurl.com/5fgorh

[ 22 May 2008: Message edited by: peacenik2 ]

The Colombian government is involved in an escalation of provocations, clearly with US involvement and support, against its neighbors (Ecuador and Venezuela in particular).

In this most recent incident, after bombing the territory of Ecuador and killing 20 sleeping people, including a key player in the negotiations around some hostages, etc., the Colombian government has now passed on to Interpol some laptops from their bombing victims that miraculously survived the bombing and that allegedly show some sort of link between FARC and the government of Venezuela. Clearly, the laptops have been tampered with but the (US) media is lapping up the baby food that it is being spoon-fed about such fabricated links, in a nefarious and evil effort of escalations that bear a remarkable resemblance to the escalations of provocations against Iran.

How's that?

[ 22 May 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

quote:

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I have to say that Israel, despite being constantly attacked by its fundamentalist and expansionist neighbours...

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quote:

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
It would be useful to summarize the contents of that news report, peacenik2, for people on dialup, for people to decide whether they want to click on the link or not, and so on.

The Colombian government is involved in an escalation of provocations, clearly with US involvement and support, against its neighbors (Ecuador and Venezuela in particular).

In this most recent incident, after bombing the territory of Ecuador and killing 20 sleeping people, including a key player in the negotiations around some hostages, etc., the Colombian government has now passed on to Interpol some laptops from their bombing victims that miraculously survived the bombing and that allegedly show some sort of link between FARC and the government of Venezuela. Clearly, the laptops have been tampered with but the (US) media is lapping up the baby food that it is being spoon-fed about such fabricated links, in a nefarious and evil effort of escalations that bear a remarkable resemblance to the escalations of provocations against Iran.

How's that?

[ 22 May 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

---

quote:

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Venezuela's Minister of Defense, Gustavo Rangel Briceño, denounced on Monday, May 19, that a U.S. fighter jet violated Venezuelan airspace on Saturday night, one day after Caracas complained about a Colombian army’s incursion into Venezuelan territory.

According to Rangel, who read out loud an excerpt of the conversation between the Venezuelan control tower and a U.S. pilot, explained that the latter was not aware he was in Venezuelan territory and that his course was set to the Caribbean Curaçao island during a flight exercise.

At the same press conference, the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolás Maduro, announced that he talked with his Colombian counterpart, Fernando Araujo, about the incursion of the Colombian military into Venezuelan territory. He said they both agreed on activating diplomatic mechanisms in order to settle cross-border conflicts via diplomatic means

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U.S violates Venezuelan airspace

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Caracas, May 19, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan Information Minister Andrés Izarra, confirmed that the government has proof of that sixty Colombian troops made an illegal military incursion into Venezuelan territory last Friday. “We have photos and other materials that demonstrate the military incursion into our territory,” Izarra assured on Sunday after Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, denied the claims

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Colombian troops in Venezuela

[ 24 May 2008: Message edited by: N.R.KISSED ]

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A series of photos allegedly found on the laptops of Raúl Reyes, the FARC leader killed when the Colombian government bombed and raided a FARC encampment across the Ecuadoran border, appear to have actually been taken by Colombian intelligence agents—or by allied police or intelligence agents—in Quito, Ecuador. The photos were supplied to the Bogota daily El Tiempo by an anonymous Colombian intelligence source on Monday March 3, just two days after the raid on the encampment.

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T. Gordon: Thus the United States and Canada have chosen to promote Colombia as an aggressive and heavily militarized bulwark against anti-imperialism in the region - an Israel of the Andes. Like Israel, Colombia receives strong diplomatic support from its imperial allies despite its terrible [human] rights record and its belligerence towards its neighbours. And like Israel, it has also been the beneficiary of American military largesse, most notably via the $4.1 billion Plan Colombia.

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Here's what a theoretician from a right wing Canadian think tank has to say ...

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"One could argue that if Israel were right to bomb Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, then
Colombia was right to act in self-defence in Ecuador."

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Says Gordon: "The Israel analogy is indeed apt, if not for quite the same reasons as Torres might think. Colombia, as I noted above, is clearly positioned as the regional bulwark against democracy and progressive economic policy for imperialist powers like the United States and Canada. While a direct invasion by the U.S. and Canada to defend their interests in the region is unlikely at this point, a well-armed, aggressive and compliant Colombia may help to strengthen their imperial hand in the Andes. This is what lies behind Canadian foreign policy towards Colombia."

Canada's Imperial Adventures in the Andes

[ 27 May 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

quote:

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
Canada's Imperial Adventures in the Andes

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Disaster in the Making: Canada Concludes Its Free Trade Agreement With Colombia

...and a commentary:
When Democracy Gets in the Way, Just Sign It, eh?

Meanwhile, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, the darling of many social-democratic babblers, approves of Harper's neo-liberal agenda:

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Canadians should not underestimate the importance of the role their country can play in consolidating democracy and development in the Americas, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet says.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Chile last year and trumpeted a Canadian re-engagement in the Americas, asserting that his government will make that a key foreign-policy priority....

On her own visit to Canada yesterday, Ms. Bachelet said in an interview with The Globe and Mail that even if most countries in the Americas are more developed than Africa's poorest, Canada must play a role to ensure a hemisphere with "democratic consolidation, peace, security and stability."
....

"So I think for the Caribbean countries, for Central America and some other places, Canada can do much more. And I think this decision, this so-called strategy for the Americas of Prime Minister Harper, is something that many of our countries were expecting for a long time."

If that's not incentive enough, she said, trade and investment ties will also follow.

Mr. Harper's Americas strategy remains a work in progress, however, and its new aid initiatives have been confined to a handful of smaller projects.

So far, its key elements remain commitment to a UN mission in Haiti - which Ms. Bachelet cited as an example of regional co-operation with her country - and a handful of free-trade deals with smaller partners such as one concluded this weekend with Colombia, which Mr. Harper argued yesterday will also promote democracy and rights....

[Chile's] economic growth and stable democracy - Canadian firms also have sizable investments in Chile, notably in mining - have led Mr. Harper to portray Chile as a leading partner for Canada's strategy in Latin America, as a like-minded, free-trading country and a "bastion of democracy."

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[ 15 June 2008: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

quote:

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It is fantastic to see Ingrid Betancourt free. She was the Green Party candidate running for president of Colombia against Alvaro Uribe in 2002 when she was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) just days after appealing to the FARC to stop its campaign of kidnapping. She was held hostage for more than six years and was released last week along with 14 others. The flamboyant rescue operation by the Colombian army has been splashed across newspapers and TV screens globally, but the celebration of their release should not be confused with celebration of the Colombian government.

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