Obama knew about peace talks with FARC: Santos .
Obama knew about peace talks with FARC: Santos .
Wednesday, 05 September 2012 12:34 Courtney Scott
Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday that United States President Barack Obama has known about exploratory dialogues with the FARC for several months, reported local media.
According to Caracol Radio, President Santos revealed that for several months the government of Obama has been aware of the negotiations that were recently officialized with Colombia's largest guerrilla group the FARC to end the country's nearly 50-year armed conflict.
"It is the finishing touch of a strategy and plan that we designed with the United States several years ago. They have always wanted peace here in Colombia and the message that we received from President Obama was very positive. He was aware of these approaches for many months, always supporting them, and even sent special emissaries on various occasions to speak with me about the subject," said Santos.
The declarations of the president were given during the naming of Carlos Urrutia as the new ambassador of Colombia in the United States.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/25889-obama-knew-about-peace-talks-with-farc-santos.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Love that 
...would go ahead without the U.S. president being apprised of them ahead of time.
But this report raises the question, why did Santos feel that he needed to say it publicly?
He describes it as a "plan that we designed with the United States several years ago." That's interesting info. That would put it about 2009-2010, when Bushwhack mafia moss, Alvaro Uribe, was still in power--during the period that the Bushwhack ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, was helping Uribe to extradite death squad witnesses to the U.S., on mere drug charges, and 'bury' them in the U.S. federal prison system, out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors and over their objections. It was also the period of the secret Colombia/U.S. military agreement (again, Uribe) that, among other things, provided total diplomatic immunity for all U.S. personnel including U.S. military contractors, in Colombia (an agreement that was later deemed unconstitutional by the Colombian Supreme Court). (Note: Blackwater was later "fined" by the U.S. State Department for "unauthorized" "training" of "foreign persons" IN COLOMBIA "for use in Iraq and Afghanistan"--a tiny blip in the corporate news media "river of forgetfulness"
.
And, finally, it was the period during which Leon Panetta, as CIA Director, visited Bogota (as I recall, his first visible travel as CIA Director) amidst rumors of a Uribe coup to stay in power.
Therein lies a tale, I am sure--but the upshot seems to be that Panetta yanked Uribe from the stage, albeit landing him on a silk cushion (--probably because of what Uribe knows about Bush Junta crimes in Colombia). And Panetta no doubt vetted and approved Santos.
At THAT point, this plan to end Colombia's long civil war was designed by Santos and the U.S., likely with Panetta as the lead U.S. planner.
Is Santos trying to remind Panetta of his part in/approval of that plan?
The "silk cushion" that Uribe landed upon has allowed him to plot his return to power. He is Santos' arch-rival (both are rightwingers but Santos appears to be a non-criminal or less criminal rightwinger than Uribe). Santos very first act as president (which had to have been approved by Panetta) was to make peace with Venezuela, for instance. Uribe was a notorious warmonger against Venezuela/Chavez and is a foaming-at-the-mouth fascist who uses the issue of "security" to murder, threaten and blackmail his "enemies" and to protect his criminal organization. He was spying on judges and prosecutors, among others!
Is Santos trying to send a "message" to Uribe?
It's hard not to read these statements by Santos as a "message" to Washington. It could also be a "message" to--a warning to--Uribe (that his public blasts at Santos are not okay with Washington's inmost power players?). (Or a general reminder to Uribe that he was ousted in 2010, amidst an agreement with the U.S. to end the war on the peasantry?)
Santos seems to be assuring the world that he has long-standing U.S. approval to end Colombia's 70-year civil war--a war that has been a heady boondoggle for U.S. and Colombian war profiteers, not to mention its value in the brutal displacement of FIVE MILLION peasant farmers and the murders of thousands of trade unionists and other advocates of the poor (part of the prep for U.S. "free trade for the rich"?). I think it also had great value to the Bush Cartel in their consolidation of the cocaine trade and direction of its trillion+ dollar revenue stream to U.S. banksters and other beneficiaries.
Panetta, now Sec of Defense, just did a Pentagon tour of Colombia and certainly seemed to be warmongering against the FARC guerillas and also tightening the Pentagon's boothold in Colombia. What I'm thinking is a "double game"--talking peace but planning more war? Did Santos mistake Panetta's intentions "several years ago" when they created this peace plan? Why is Santos publicly discussing the U.S. agreement to this plan?
Is there disagreement between Obama and Panetta? In such a dispute, I would bet on Panetta winning the argument. He is tight with Bush Senior, and was involved, in my opinion, in ousting Rumsfeld (in late '06) and curtailing Cheney in Jr's last two years in office, thus saving Jr's ass from serious retaliation by the CIA over the outing of its entire WMD counter-proliferation project (not just Valerie Plame). This behind-the-scenes king-making (and un-making) also likely involved the military brass' opposition to a Rumsfeld/Cheney intention to nuke Iran. Rumsfeld out, all talk of nuking Iran goes away ('06-'07), Fitzgerald (DOJ investigator of the CIA outings) goes away, and Obama is permitted by Diebold to win the 2008 (s)election--obviously having made a deal about no impeachment, investigation or prosecution of Bush Junta principles for their many crimes. ("We need to look forward not backward."
Panetta, in my opinion, is the monitor for that deal and was also tasked with cleaning Jr's trail in particular. (We've seen evidence of this in the coddling and protection of Uribe, some 70 of whose closest political cronies are under investigation, or already in jail, in Colombia for ties to the death squads, drug trafficking, illegal domestic spying and all manner of corruption.) Panetta's main commission, though, was probably to end the war between the CIA and the Pentagon that Rumsfeld/Cheney started. Thus, he puts in a term as CIA Director--welcomed with open arms, according to reports--and then hops over to the Pentagon, likely with the same purpose--trying to get our warring government entities onto the same page.
I've described Panetta as the "real" president of the U.S. and I still think that. So, if Santos is sending a "message" to Washington, it is to Panetta. However, I would think that he could call Panetta on the phone and confirm his support for the peace plan, and not have to make public statements about it. Who he might not be able to call is Uribe.
Uribe is tied to the Miami Mafia and to other far rightwing elements here (including Reagan/Bush operatives like John "death squad" Negroponte and Otto Reich, Jim DeMint (SC-Dieobld), who openly blackmailed Obama--bragged about it--on the rightwing coup d'etat in Honduras, John McCain and others). They may be giving Santos trouble, on Uribe's behalf. If his message is to Washington, it could read something like this: 'Hey, Panetta, you agreed to this peace process. Now back me up. Call off Uribe's dogs!'
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I am also reminded of Santos' public statement in support of drug legalization, which I do not believe he could have, or would have, made without some kind of okay from Washington. This pretty much has to mean that Big Pharma is ready to make its legalization/monopoly move, and it's interesting to think about THAT in terms of Uribe and the cocaine revenue stream. How are things falling out among the drug lords? Who gets "laundered" and who doesn't? Who ends up with fallow farm land and who gets drone-bombed? I think Bush Cartel drug trafficking is a major snakepit for Obama and probably for Santos. Panetta seems to me the kind of man who does a smooth act on a highwire over a snakepit. Or he is both the acrobat and the snakepit. And on that Zen note, I'm going to retire for the night.
