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NewsweekAppointment of Colombian Ex-President Sparks Controversy at Georgetown
Critics say Uribe's human-rights record makes him unworthy of the post.
by Mike Giglio
October 13, 2010
http://www.newsweek.com.nyud.net:8090/content/newsweek/2010/10/13/appointment-of-colombian-ex-president-sparks-controversy-at-georgetown/_jcr_content/body/image.img.jpg/1287004430911.jpgE. Abramovich / AFP-Getty Images (left); M. Ngan / AFP-Getty Images
Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe (left) was the object of protests last month at
Georgetown University, where some demonstrators held up a sign saying, in Spanish, “Goodbye Uribe!”
Last month, Álvaro Uribe, newly minted as a visiting scholar at Georgetown, gave a guest lecture in a political-science class that ended with an embarrassing confrontation. From the stage of a small auditorium, the former Colombian president discussed free markets and security, two hallmarks of the strategy that by the time his eight-year tenure ended in August had transformed Colombia from borderline failed state to international success story and the U.S. government’s staunchest South American ally. Then he fielded questions from students. Nicholas Udu-gama rose from his seat in back, began to clap and, as he made his way down an aisle and onto the stage, accused Uribe of a wide range of human- and civil-rights crimes.
Udu-gama, 29, was pulled through a back exit and arrested, but this was no simple case of isolated campus activism. Uribe’s post at Georgetown has sparked a controversy at one of the country’s most esteemed international universities and across academia. On Sept. 29, more than 150 scholars, including 10 Georgetown professors and leading experts on Latin America and Colombia, signed a letter calling for Uribe to be fired. The letter, authored by a Jesuit priest, Father Javier Giraldo Moreno, one of Colombia’s foremost human-rights proponents, argued that Uribe’s appointment “is not only deeply offensive to those Colombians who still maintain moral principles, but also places at high risk the ethical development of the young people who attend our university.”
In a phone interview with NEWSWEEK, Udu-gama, part of a student-led coalition opposing Uribe’s appointment, spoke directly to the point: “This was Uribe trying to clean his image, basically, in front of our future leaders. He needs to be put in front of a criminal court.”
Such sentiments fly in the face of the usual narrative about Uribe as a man who beat back a guerilla insurgency, significantly reduced coca production, and jump-started his country's economy—and as someone who certainly would appear fit for an honorary university post. Georgetown had no comment, but in a statement said the university “is not endorsing the political views or government policies enacted by an individual,” and that “having such a prominent world leader at Georgetown will further the important work of students and faculty.”
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http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/13/appointment-of-colombian-ex-president-sparks-controversy-at-georgetown.html