Norway’s PRIO Head Says Córdoba Most Likely Nobel Peace Winner

[Judi Lynn]

Norway’s PRIO Head Says Córdoba Most Likely Nobel Peace Winner
By Meera Bhatia

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Piedad Córdoba, the Colombian senator who has been advocating a peace process in her country, is the most likely winner for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, said Norway’s International Peace Research Institute Director Kristian Berg Harpviken.

A second “strong” candidate is Jordanian Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad for promoting interfaith dialogue. Sima Samar, the Afghan woman at the helm of her country’s human rights commission, is also a likely candidate, Oslo-based PRIO said today on its Web site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ar63KLEh8XYg



Piedad Córdoba, center, with Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. Jim McGovern

Piedad Cordoba wants Congress to push prisoner swap
Wednesday, 09 September 2009 11:33 Neda Vanovac

Opposition senator Piedad Cordoba questioned the government's lack of action and awareness of public opinion after publication of proof-of-life videos of ten members of Colombia's security forces held captive by the FARC., The senator urges Congress to take action to push a prisoner swap.

"I want to suggest to the government that we assume an attitude of honesty, allowing us to play a much more decent, dignified and committed role regarding {hostage} releases. To this end I propose that the Senate of the Republic form a committee to talk with the President of the Republic to take certainty and clarity as far as it can go," said Cordoba.
Senator Cordoba has long been pressuring President Alvaro Uribe's government to make a humanitarian agreement with the rebel group to effectuate a prisoner exchange. So far the government has not capitulated.

The senator said that kidnapping charges will eventually take the FARC to the International Criminal Court, along with the government themselves.

"The government has no compelling arguments to ," Cordoba added.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/5827-piedad-cordoba-wants-congress-to-push-prisoner-swap.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Afro-Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba honored in Newark

Afro-Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba honored in Newark
By Karen Juanita Carrillo

http://www.afropresencia.com.nyud.net:8090/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/PiedadCordobaatNLJFhonor3.JPG.w300h225.jpg

Senator Piedad Córdoba with Dr Norma Jackson of the NLJ Foundation.
Photo credit: Karen Juanita Carrillo

On May 29, 2009 the Afro-Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba traveled to Newark, New Jersey and was honored by the non-profit Norma Lozano Jackson Foundation (http://NLJF.org) for her work as a peace negotiator in war-torn Colombia.

Senator Córdoba is a lawyer by trade and as Dr. Jackson said in her introduction, “Senator Cordoba is recognized for her tireless efforts to obtain the inclusion of Colombian minorities in all aspects of society... The humanitarian agreement that would allow the release of all kidnapped individuals presently in the jungles of Colombia is part of the Senator’s daily struggle. She strongly opposes a military solution to the armed conflict in Colombia.

Jackson added that, “Senator Cordoba has been the victim of many attempts against her life, was kidnapped twice and forced into exile in Canada for criticizing the long armed conflict in Colombia.”

Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruiz – the niece of Diego Luis Córdoba, the leading politician behind the creation of the state of El Chocó – has become well-known in her home country as the principal figure behind a peace movement that has helped to free civilian hostages caught up in the fighting between the government and guerrilla forces.

More:
http://www.afropresencia.com/id49.html

[Peace Patriot]

2. I was too late to rec this post, but I have to say THANKS, and I hope it happens.

Piedad Cordoba has to be one of the bravest people on earth in the cause of peace!

And a Nobel Peace Prize to her could well be a key element in stopping what is looking more and more like a U.S. oil war plan in South America. Those are the stakes--not just ending Colombia's 40+ year civil war, but also ending U.S. war profiteers' use of that civil war to build up the U.S. military presence in South America, and to create Colombia as the "lily pad" country from which to launch aggression against democratic countries with lots of oil (chief targets, Venezuela and Ecuador, both adjacent to Colombia).

Her life is at risk, as are the lives of all advocates of peace in Colombia, and all good leaders and their supporters throughout the region. Shining a light on Cordoba--and also giving her some financial and P.R. resources with which to advocate for peace here, in the U.S., as well as in Colombia and Latin America--could help prevent a wider war, rather than merely acknowledging peace advocates after the worst that can happen (massive death, region-wide mayhem) has already occurred, as has been the case with many Nobel Peace Prizes.

Cordoba has to contend with the former Defense Minister, Santos--the 'Donald Rumsfeld' of South America--who is chafing at the bit to invade Venezuela and Ecuador, kill all the leftists and turn their oil over to Exxon Mobil & brethren. Santos is running for president of Colombia (where elections are rigged via death squads). She has to contend with the current president, Uribe, who got his start with the Medellin Cartel and became the darling of the Bush Cartel (and is currently rigging an election to stay in office). She has to contend with U.S. war profiteers and the Pentagon, and our own national political establishment, which supports Colombia's narco-fascist rulers with billions of U.S. tax dollars. She lives with the constant threat of assassination herself. And she never stops trying to bring the Colombian civil war to an end and to turn her country away from militarism and fascism, including incredibly brave efforts last year to get the FARC leftist guerrillas to start releasing their hostages as the preliminary to peace negotiations. Concerning one of those efforts--early in 2008--the U.S./Colombia blew away the FARC's chief hostage and peace negotiator, Raul Reyes and 24 other sleeping people, with ten 500 lb U.S. "smart bombs," likely dropped by a U.S. plane and pilot, on a temporary FARC camp just inside Ecuador's border--an act that nearly started a war between the U.S./Colombia and Ecuador/Venezuela, and that ended all peace negotiations with the FARC. This is the level of danger anyone incurs who wants peace in Colombia.

The Nobel committee should act to prevent a wider war. I hope that is what they do in this case, so that South America's long peace is preserved, and the only enemies of that peace--the U.S. and its awful, fascist allies--are curtailed.

[rabs]

3. Piedad Cordoba has been compared to La Pasionaria by anti-uribistas in Colombia

Dolores Ibarruri of Spanish Civil War fame.


It would be tremendous if Cordoba is awarded the Nobel and an embarrassing blow to the uribistas.