Choice of “investigators” into Flotilla massacre controversial, say Palestinian and Latin American r
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
press release 
Friday August 06, 2010 17:09
by Jose Antonio Gutierrez and Freda H - IPSC and LASC
Palestinian and Latin American rights campaigners in Ireland have reacted strongly to the appointment of outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez to one of two United Nations commissions set up to inquire into the Mavi Marmara massacre on May 31 in international waters while they approached the besieged Gaza Strip.
President Uribe, selected from a shortlist provided by Israel, is to be one of four commissioners on the UN panel of investigation, appointed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon that has been met with approval of the Israeli government. The other panel put forward by the UN Human Rights Commission, was not approved by Israel.
“The appointment of Uribe to a panel investigating Human Rights abuses jeopardizes the very notion of Human Rights” said Jose Antonio Gutierrez, Development Officer with the Dublin-based Latin America Solidarity Centre “In Uribe’s Colombia, massacres and human rights abuses which had Colombian State forces’ finger prints all over them have occurred regularly. His disregard for the work of human rights defenders is well known. To cite just one example, instead of condemning the military perpetrators of the murders of some 2,000 people found at a mass grave at La Macarena, he gave succour to the Colombian army and attacked human rights defenders calling them terrorist fellow-travellers”.
The view was echoed by Freda Hughes, of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign; “The appointment of President Alvaro Uribe to the panel investigating the Mavi Marmara massacre could be considered a joke, were its consequences not so serious. How can you expect impartiality from the head of a state which has strong links both to the US and the Israeli military, a country whose defence minister said to feel proud when they were called the Israel of Latin America? This move seriously undermines the credibility and impartiality of this panel nominated by Ban Ki Moon. Uribe’s record on human rights is nothing short of appalling; he has been widely condemned by the international human rights community among whom his scorn for human rights defenders is notorious. He is not suitable for the job and should be removed if the panel is to have any credibility”.
Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4Uribe makes Trimble look like a Palestinian.Next they'll be putting a chip in Sharon and appointing him to investigate cast Lead.
Ay, Trimble only criticises human rights defenders and verbally attacks them, he doesn't murder stacks of them before doing so (unless there's a large unmarked grave somewhere near Lough Neagh we haven't heard of).
Anyway, for more info on this, we've written an article for electronic intifada: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11449.shtml
"In his defence of David Trimble as a more acceptable choice for the zionist commission, David L seems to be implying that Colombia's Uribe has personally murdered stacks of oppositionists and buried their bodies in unmarked graves .That could be the case of course , but David L would really need to show some evidence for it. "
The only dictator I am aware of that actually killed his enemies with his own hands was Papa Doc Duvalier in Haiti, other than that they all operate through thugs. But it is rather cynical to say that because they did not kill with their own hands they are clean or any less responsible. Intellectual criminals are as responsible as the material muerderers, something that became an issue on the sentence against Fujimori in Perú, that has Uribe wiggleing like jelly.
Now, here you have some bad examples of Uribe in action:
1. In a public conference he ordered the execution of some notorious drug dealer whom he was related to at some point (Uribe was a good friend of the Ochoa family and Pablo Escobar from the Medellin Cartel) but he fell off with him at some point http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo-...igado In case you can't read Spanish the order given in public to the officer was "you disappear them, on my behalf".
2. Uribe as the governor of Antioquia was the founder of the Convivir, a death squad, a real murdering machine that killed over 15,000 peasants in the period 1998-2002 (just before he came to power) http://www.verdadabierta.com/nunca-mas/40-masacres/436-...oquia
3. After the massacre of El Aro, Uribe himself went to give his thanks for getting rid the locality of reds to the local paramilitary leader http://www.elespectador.com/articulo89983-paramilitar-i...l-aro
You can also check on this http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/Alvaro-Uribe-Velez-y...re-de and wikipedia has a not so great entry, but with some information available in your language (which I assume is English) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Aro_massacre
4. Now, the mass grave of La Macarena (referrences in EI article in link above) was the direct result of Urbe's consolidation policies in Meta.
Indeed, Uribe has turned Colombia into the second country when it comes to forced displacement (nearly 5 million people), over 600 trade unionists have been killed during his years of government and ALL of his circle is linked to right wing death squads (with 193 representatives in trial for financing the murder of opposition members).
I don't know why being so picky about calling the bastard a murderer...
The full statement is online now here: http://www.ipsc.ie/pdf/LASC_IPSC_Statement_on_Uribe_10-...0.pdf (also attached at the end of this post)
There is also an article on Electronic Intifada here: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11449.shtml