The news out of Latin America today is the
surprising turn of events in the relationship between America's two most notorious tyrants and aspiring dictators, Alvaro Uribe of Colombia and
George W. Bush of the United States.
BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, one of Washington's best friends in South America, told the United States to stop "meddling" in his country's affairs after the U.S. ambassador urged him to take steps against corruption in regional elections.
U.S. Ambassador William Wood, in a speech in the capital Friday, said the 2003 elections for mayors and governors saw many unopposed candidates because potential opponents were bribed, scared off and, in some cases, murdered.
He said rightist paramilitary groups were often to blame for those abuses and warned the same could happen in elections scheduled for March elections.
More below the fold...
Apparently years of US-backed right-wing governments, paramilitaries, and the so-called 'War on Drugs' haven't decimated the the left-wing and its supportive peasant farmers enough in Colombia...Uribe needs the paramilitaries to keep any remaining leftists away from the polls.
Uribe responded in a sharply worded statement late Friday.
"The Colombian government does not accept the meddling of foreign governments, even if it is the United States"
The only question here is whether we are dealing with a rogue Ambassador (William Wood) or not. I cannot imagine Condi Rice's State Dept. approving of any criticism of Uribe and his military, at least not without ulterior motives. Perhaps they want to give the appearance of supporting true democracy given the number of critical elections coming up in Latin America next year, and in Bolivia tomorrow. The Bush Administration is terrified of a Morales victory in Bolivia, where he is leading by 5% in the polls. Perhaps they have some electoral shenanigans up their sleeves for tomorrow's election and are trying to cover their backsides??? Morales will likely win the popular vote, but with less than 50% of the vote, in which case the Bolivian Congress will select the President.
We should all be watching news from our neighbors to the south in the coming days...