Uribe arrives in Uruguay, newspaper warns President (Re: US bases)

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Friday, August 07, 2009
Uribe arrives in Uruguay, newspaper warns President

Uruguayan left-wing newspapers put pressure on the government today as Colombian President Álvaro Uribe arrives to try to find support from Uruguayan President regarding his plan to let the US station military troops in Colombia.

"Supporting the Wide Front's (centre-left ruling party) historical stance against the decision to let the US build military bases in South America is a matter of national dignity", said the Uruguayan newspaper La República.

In an editorial published today, the newspaper warns that the whole region will have its eyes on Uruguay: "Uribe is travelling over the continent trying to justify his decision to let military forces of the world's most powerful country settle in Colombia, with the pretext of fighting drug trafficking," the newspaper emphasized.

The Colombian President is meeting with Uruguayan Vazquez as part of his tour in South America, trying to rally other country to his cause. Uribe is about to sign a deal with the United States, allowing the North-American country to station US military bases in Colombia as part of the war against drug-trafficking ion the region.



Read more: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/8398

I think it should officially disestablish itself immediately. It serves as a foil to the fascists throughout the hemisphere. It would be better to perform self-criticism for mistakes and crimes, continue to attack the injustices in society, and certainly continue to defend the people from the fascists through whatever means are available. But calling oneself an "army" is bad PR. Better to dissolve into localized "popular committees" or something of the sort, whose job it is to defend farmers, workers, and activists from the state and the rightists. Definitely, these forces need to hire some PR consultants.

elections as the Democratic Alliance M-19. Guess what happened? Paramilitaries assassinated members AND their presidential candidate, Carlos Pizarro.

FARC's roots go back to the 1940s and was considered one of the organizations with roots in the peasantry. They aren't angels by any stretch, but most of what we hear about them and the situation is pure propaganda.

Uribe's government has now absorbed many of the narco-paramilitary thugs (see the recent excellent NACLA report) that were responsible for murder of peasants and activists alike. And Colombia still is the murder capitol for trade unionists.

FARC won't surrender without an assurance that its members won't be murdered and that it would be able to participate in society. While this expectation is reasonable - especially given the absorption of paramilitaries - it doesn't appear to be an option.

What is clear, is that the Obama administration has not chartered a Latin American course significantly different from Bush's.

And from reading the posts on this site that doesn't seem to bother all too many Democrats. (With exceptions like yourself.) I find this extremely discouraging.

And as for the defending the "farmers, workers, and activists" I'm ure most of them would run from FARC with the same speed as from the paramilitary groups. Both have no problem slaughtering innocent civilians.

What possible justification can there be for building 7 U.S. military bases in one Latin American country? From the perspective of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, such actions indicate U.S. designs on destroying their democratic revolutions. Colombia -- and one of the planned military bases -- is also conveniently situated next to one of Venezuela's major oil fields.

Is Obama continuing Bush administration policies to gain total dominance over the world's oil resources? One hopes not, but it is Obama's administration that is signing the treaties to put 7 of our military bases in Colombia.

Hundreds profited from our invasion and occupation of Iraq while thousands died, tens of thousands suffered, and millions of Iraqis were displaced.