Across the Americas

Regarding a large-scale gold mining project in Colombia
by Jorge Enrique Robledo. Bogotá, 11 January, 2008

Millions of Colombians are living at risk. For decades, every winter, more and more inhabited areas are flooded and face crushing landslides, while others await catastrophe at the base of active volcanoes and occupy buildings constructed without anti-seismic techniques, constituting 80 percent of the total. In Armero, 25,000 people died in a foretold slaughter that could have easily been averted. In Manizales, for example, 2,700 homes were constructed on mountains that should never have been developed. Not one person has been held responsible for many disasters described as "natural" but which, in reality, are political and social and manipulated in impassioned appeals to the public's emotions, ignoring the victims.

Nov 4, 2007 -- The leftist Alternative Democratic Pole held on to the mayoral office in the Colombian capital with the Oct. 28 election of former Sen. Samuel Moreno Rojas.

Moreno, grandson of former dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953-57), captured 43.7 percent of the votes despite attacks from President Álvaro Uribe, who supported right-wing candidate Enrique Peñalosa, who served as Bogota’s mayor between 1998-2000. Peñalosa won just 28 percent.

06/29/2007 -- “We believe there must first be concrete evidence of sustained results on the ground in Colombia, and Members of Congress will continue working with all interested parties to help achieve this end before consideration of any FTA. Consequently, we cannot support the Colombia FTA at this time." Read the full statement.

This analysis was prepared by COHA Senior Research Fellow Dr. W John Green, May 15th, 2007, http://www.coha.org

Just months after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez’s landslide re-election in May 2006, some critics began pointing to ‘cracks in the pedestal’ of his popularity. The ongoing brouhaha surrounding the evident connections between the Uribe government and the paramilitary organizations, however, make that claim seem like so much wishful thinking. Uribe’s millions of supporters have long been aware of his ties to the paramilitaries but have chosen to ignore them, though they realize that they made a deal with the Devil. Without question, a majority of voting Colombians want to stay the course.