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Newsbrief:
Colombian
President
Seeks
Iraq-Like
Mobilization
Against
Traffickers
1/17/03
14. Newsbrief:
Colombian President Seeks Iraq-Like Mobilization Against Traffickers
Never one to miss an opportunity
to rachet up war and talk of war, hardline Colombian President Álvaro
Uribe asked the US government Wednesday to deploy a military force in Caribbean
and Pacific waters around Colombia similar to the build-up the US is now
undertaking near Iraq. Speaking in Quito, Ecuador, at the nomination
of incoming Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez, Uribe continued his campaign
to confound armed opposition to his regime with the global "war on terrorism"
-- a campaign that has resonated with the Bush administration, which has
labeled all parties to the ongoing Colombian civil war except the Colombian
state as "terrorists."
"I see that the conflict
of the drug trade and terrorism in Colombia is more dangerous to the democratic
stability of the continent in the medium- and long-term than the conflict
with Iraq itself," Uribe said in remarks reprinted in El Tiempo (Bogota).
"If you [the US] are sending to the Persian Gulf thousands and thousands
of men and all that technology, then what you must do is continue with
the same force and make the same decision about all the routes where the
drug business is, where the money-laundering is, where the arms traffic
is," he added.
While the US and the democratic
world are preoccupied with Iraq, said Uribe, "a greater problem of terrorism
is growing, against Colombian democracy, against the continent, against
the world, financed by drugs," Uribe warned. "This is a more serious
menace than Iraq. Why do they not think of a similar operation to
remove the drug traffic from the seas and skies? They need a real
operation," he said, obliquely criticizing his US allies and financiers.
"There is much talk, but little action."
-- END --
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Issue #272, 1/17/03
The Road to Mérida: Interviews with Participants in the "Out from the Shadows" Campaign | The Road to Mérida: Interview with Dr. Francisco Fernandez, Anthropologist and Former Rector of Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán | The Road to Mérida: Interview with Al Giordano, publisher of Narco News | Bolivian Government Represses Coca Protests, Four Dead... So Far | Ed Rosenthal Medical Marijuana Trial Underway -- Judge Blocks Mention of Prop. 215, Has Trouble Seating Jury | Canadian Prime Minister Promises Motion on Decriminalization as Courts Continue to Chip Away at Marijuana Laws | Latin American Anti-Prohibition Conference, Feb. 12-15, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico | Cumbre Internacional Sobre Legalización, 15-Dec Febrero, Mérida, México | Newsbrief: Souder Pushes Partial HEA Reform, Frank to Reintroduce Drug Provision Repeal Bill | Newsbrief: Racine Caves Before the Ravers | Newsbrief: MPP "War on Drug Czar" Continues -- State Reacts to Allegations | Newsbrief: 12 Dead in Brazil as Drug Police Raid Shantytowns | Newsbrief: Mexican Soldiers Bust Narcs | Newsbrief: Colombian President Seeks Iraq-Like Mobilization Against Traffickers | Newsbrief: Some Colombian Terrorists May Be More Equal Than Others | Newsbrief: Alaska Lieutenant Governor Disqualifies Marijuana Legalization Petition Signatures, Proponents Vow Fight | Newsbrief: Return of the RAVE Act | Newsbrief: Ecstasy Rarely Kills, British Study Finds | Alan Shoemaker Ayahuasca Legal Defense Fund Needs Support | Media Scan: Washington on Forchion, Cockburn on Rosenthal, Forbes on Walters, Szasz on Drug Medicalization, Bruce McKinney, GAO on DARE | DC Job Opportunity at DRCNet -- Campus Coordinator | The Reformer's Calendar
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