Miami Herald: Pro-Uribe vote fraud cited

Posted on Thu, May. 18, 2006
COLOMBIA
Pro-Uribe vote fraud cited
Some Colombian election officials said there was fraud in the 2002 balloting that benefited President Alvaro Uribe.
BY GERARDO REYES AND STEVEN DUDLEY
sdudley@MiamiHerald.com

EL DIFICIL, Colombia - Amid the biggest Colombian scandal since drug traffickers helped finance a presidential candidacy, electoral judges and voters in this remote town are supporting allegations of vote fraud in 2002 that favored President Alvaro Uribe.

Right-wing paramilitary fighters forced election judges to fill in uncast votes for the conservative Uribe and discard votes for his rival, Liberal Party candidate Horacio Serpa, three of the judges here told The Miami Herald.

The judges' comments support recent accusations by Rafael García, a former official at the security agency known as DAS, similar to the FBI. Colombia's media and several nongovernment organizations have regularly made parallel allegations in recent weeks, and the attorney general's office opened an investigation into the fraud charges last week.

Coming ahead of balloting May 28 in which Uribe is expected to win a second term, the allegations have unleashed the country's biggest scandal since the 1994 presidential race, when drug lords contributed $6 million to former President Ernesto Samper's campaign.

The scandal also has highlighted Uribe's strong support among the illegal and notoriously brutal paramilitary groups fighting leftist guerrillas. More than 30,000 paramilitaries have put down their guns since 2004 as part of peace talks with the government, and Uribe has promised not to extradite some of their leaders -- wanted on U.S. drug charges -- if they stay with the peace process.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14605796.htm



Alvaro Uribe and friend

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Students with their bodies painted protest against government and Free Trade Agreement with US in Medellin in Colombia
15 May 2006

Students with their bodies painted protest in downtown Medellin, Colombia, May 15, 2006. Dozens of students protested against President Alvaro Uribe's government and the Free Trade Agreement (TLC) with the US.
REUTERS/ALBEIRO LOPERA

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/BOG03D.htm

Impossible! :sarcasm:

BTW: I fully support this type of Protest, and would like to see more of it. ;) *wink*


A female student with her body painted protests in front of riot policemen in Medellin, Colombia, May 15, 2006. Dozens of students protested against President Alvaro Uribe's government and the Free Trade Agreement (TLC) with the US.
REUTERS/ALBEIRO LOPERA

<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/BOG01D.htm>

president of Bolivia)

A peaceful, democratic, leftist revolution is sweeping Latin America, and one of its key components is TRANSPARENT elections (U.S. voters, take note!), based on long hard work by local civic groups, the OAS, EU election monitoring groups, and the Carter Center.

Transparent elections = good government, will of the people, leftist (majority) policy.

Non-transparent elections = the Bush junta, oppression, fascism.

It's a no-brainer.

Leftist governments now cover nearly all of South America--Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, next Peru--and this revolution may be moving north into Mexico this year (the leftist mayor of Mex City is ahead in the presidential polls). You wonder why the Bush junta is putting Nat'l Guard at the border? THIS is why--to keep out the idea of transparent elections!

Get busy, folks! Do that hard work that the OAS and others are doing on honest vote counts! It's the only way back to democracy!

You can always count on the "liberal" media to handle this topic with kid gloves.