U.S. report ties Uribe to Medellin cartel

Monday, August 02, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

World Digest
U.S. report ties Uribe to Medellin cartel



Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, one of the Bush administration's most steadfast allies in South America, was allegedly a "close personal friend" of slain drug lord Pablo Escobar and worked for his Medellin cartel, according to a newly released U.S. military intelligence report.
The 1991 report by the Defense Intelligence Agency describes Uribe, then a rising political star in Colombia, as being "dedicated to collaboration" with the Medellin cartel, at the time the world's richest criminal organization and the source of most cocaine imported into the United States.

The memo devotes a single paragraph to Uribe and his alleged narcotics involvement, listing him 82nd among 104 of the "more important Colombian narco-traffickers."

The allegations about Uribe, who was elected president in 2002, drew strong repudiation from the Colombian government, the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon. All three said the memo, released under a public-records request, was uncorroborated information contradicted by Uribe's record of strong support for efforts to wipe out cocaine in Colombia and to extradite Colombian drug suspects to the United States.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001994560_wdig02.html

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'91 U.S. Report Calls Colombian Leader Ally of Drug Lords
By JUAN FORERO

Published: August 2, 2004


OGOTÁ, Colombia, Aug. 1 - A recently declassified American intelligence report from 1991 says that President Álvaro Uribe, now a staunch ally in Washington's war against drug trafficking, was at that time a close associate of Colombia's most powerful drug lord and an ardent ally of the cocaine traffickers then engulfing this country.

A spokesman for Mr. Uribe denounced the findings in the 13-year-old report, by the Defense Intelligence Agency, on Colombia's biggest drug traffickers as "the same information" presented in a smear campaign by political opponents in the 2002 presidential election. Senior American intelligence officials and diplomats cautioned that such reports might not be accurate. However, the statement issued by the spokesman for the president did not directly address the report's most damaging assertion: that Mr. Uribe was linked to the top drug kingpin of the era, Pablo Escobar.

The report, dated Sept. 23, 1991, and obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archives, a private, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, says Mr. Uribe, then a senator from the northern state of Antioquia, was "dedicated to collaboration with the Medellín cartel at high government levels."

The report, which the archives is making public on Monday, calls Mr. Uribe a "close personal friend" of the cartel's leader, Mr. Escobar, and says Mr. Uribe took part in the drug lord's successful efforts to secure a seat as an auxiliary congressman. It said Mr. Uribe was linked to an unidentified business involved in narcotics in the United States, that as a senator he opposed extraditing traffickers to the United States and that his father, Alberto Uribe, was killed because of his drug ties.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/international/americas/02colo.html
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Rumsfeld, Alvaro Uribe


Richard Armitage

After years of frustration with President Andres Pastrana’s failed peace process, Uribe’s victory is precisely what the Bush administration has been waiting for to pursue its twin obsessions—drugs and terrorists—in Colombia. The American ambassador arrived at the candidate’s headquarters to assure him of Washington’s support even before he was declared the winner. Otto Reich, the undersecretary of state for Latin America, flew to Bogota five days later to meet Uribe and discuss his requests for increased military aid and the removal of U.S. restrictions on the use of counter-narcotics helicopters and American-trained battalions against the guerrillas.
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http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/26/20/feature2.shtml


:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes::eyes:

Bush's connection during his "wonder years" of alcohol and drug abuse. I'm sure he had the same epiphany as * and is a fine moral example of a Columbian citizen now.

These freakin thugs always stick together, this report doesn't surprise me at all.

Sadly, I'm glad to see this... hopefully the Colombian people will wake up and won't allow his reelection.

Though I do not feel surprised. Is it shock?

COVER: Uribe's War (Latin America edition). Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe may have long received rave reviews within the Bush administration as
the exterminating angel of the Washington-financed war on drugs, but his
recent decision to begin peace talks with right-wing militias associated with
drug trafficking has gone over badly with some U.S. officials. Uribe may talk
tough on the subject of drugs, but he appears quite prepared to countenance
some pretty shady characters if they are allied with the far right wing of
Colombia's political spectrum, reports Latin America Regional Editor Joseph
Contreras and Special Correspondent Steven Ambrus.

A Harsh Light On Associate 82. Contreras and Ambrus report that a newly
declassified Defense Department intelligence report, dated September 1991,
reveals that Alvaro Uribe Velez, the president of Colombia and a Washington
ally, was working with the Medellin cartel at high government levels and that
he was linked to a business involved in narcotics activities in the U.S. A
statement from Uribe's office denied he had links to a U.S. business, but
didn't address the Medellmn cartel allegations.
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http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/08-01-2004/0002222570&EDATE=

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Posted on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004





Bush, Colombian Leader Discuss Drug Fight

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Amid early signs of success, President Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday discussed the need for intensifying the war against narco-terrorists in the South American country.

"I have found in President Bush a huge level of understanding that we cannot leave this fight half way," Uribe said after the session between the two leaders, their third meeting in less than two years .

Bush commended Uribe for his efforts in standing against terrorism and combating drug trafficking, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The two also discussed their shared commitment to expanding trade with upcoming talks on a free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States.
(snip)

Uribe, who took office in August 2002, is a staunch U.S. ally whose country was the only one in South America to join Bush's coalition in Iraq.

After a separate meeting with Uribe, Secretary of State Colin Powell said 1.2 million jobs were created last year in Colombia.
"We are moving ahead with the political road map," he said.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/8256500.htm?ERIGHTS=-3442411905785538407mercurynews:&KRD_RM=4ssloonmprplpltkkkkkkkklnl|
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Since when are we responsible for creating jobs in Colombia?

to the corruption in the Bush administration? seriously. Every day I ehar something new and appalling.

Why don't these assholes admit that Colombia is
a "failed state" that controls less than half of it's own
nominal territory because of our bonehead drug policies?