U.S. Advises Security Apprenticeships in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Advises Security Apprenticeships in Colombia
Written by Belen Fernandez
Friday, 23 April 2010 20:40

During his visit to Bogotá last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced:

"Colombia's success against terrorists and narco-traffickers does offer a lot of opportunities for them to share their expertise. We certainly would like to see . . . other countries take advantage of Colombia's strengths."

Gates noted that Peru and Mexico were already taking advantage of Colombian strengths in the area of military training but failed to note the current presence in Colombia of a delegation of mayors and vice-mayors from 26 different cities in Honduras, accompanied by Honduran Interior Minister Áfrico Madrid.

The Honduran visit comes in response to Colombian President Álvaro Uribe’s brief stopover in Tegucigalpa following the January inauguration of Pepe Lobo and legitimization of last year’s coup d'état against Mel Zelaya, whose desire to enable the national Constitution to be rewritten in accordance with the interests of the majority of the populace threatened the political and financial domination of the country by 10 families. Uribe and Lobo signed a security cooperation agreement, a commitment that was reinforced in the Colombian government communiqué regarding the April 13 meeting between the Colombian leader and his Honduran guests.

According to the communiqué, Honduran Municipal Association president Carlos Miranda Canales confirmed that the excursion to Bogotá was an “educational trip” and cited “common problems” faced by the two nations. Gates identified three such problems in the region—“insurgents and narcotics and crime”—and declared that Uribe’s expertise in combating them made him “a great hero.”
The Defense Secretary’s description of the president’s abilities stands in stark contrast to a Defense Department report compiled in 1991, when Uribe was a senator and Gates director of the CIA. The report describes Uribe variously as “dedicated to collaboration with the Medellín cartel at high government levels,” “linked to a business involved in narcotics activities in the US,” “a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar Gaviria,” and “one of the politicians… who has attacked all forms of the extradition treaty .”

Uribe’s improved cooperativeness vis-à-vis the U.S.—as evidenced in the U.S.-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement signed in October 2009, authorizing U.S. use of Colombian military bases—has not, however, relieved him of dubious affiliations. The parapolitics scandal, for example, has revealed paramilitary ties to a number of Uribe’s allies in the national Congress and to other pro-Uribe politicians.

More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/2463-us-advises-security-apprenticeships-in-colombia