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9-11
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  /
COLOMBIA News:
20080702
 John
McCain -  Carl
H Lindner Jr -  Terrorism
-  Money
-  Illegal
-  Military
-  Politics
-  Federal
-  Investigation
-  International
-  Food
- Colombia
-  US
-  Arizona
-  Ohio
-  2008
Election
"McCain
Backer's Firm Pleaded Guilty To Funding Terrorist Group In Colombia."
... "The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain oversaw the
payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that
is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States." ...
"Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati [Ohio] businessman, was
CEO [Chief Executive Officer] of Chiquita Brands International from 1984
to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002.
Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands
of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the
Spanish acronym AUC), which is described
by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal
right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious
civilian massacres."" ... "Following a Justice Department indictment
[pdf] last year, Chiquita admitted
to illegally funding the paramilitaries and agreed to pay a $25 million
fine. Chiquita's payments to the AUC began in 1997 and lasted seven years;
roughly half of the funds came after the group was designated
a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in 2001."
... "According to the Justice Department, the payments "were reviewed and
approved by senior executives" of Chiquita, who knew by no later than September
2000 "that the AUC was a violent, paramilitary organization."" ... "Late
last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for McCain
and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati,
Ohio. The event raised about $2 million; Lindner also serves on McCain's
Ohio Victory Team." ... "While Lindner was CEO of Chiquita, the company
began sending money to the AUC through its shipping subsidiary Banadex.
A report
by the Organization of American States states that Banadex also engaged
in arms trafficking, helping to deliver 3,000 Nicaraguan AK-47 rifles and
millions of rounds of ammunition to the AUC in 2001. According to federal
prosecutors, when company officials realized the arrangement was illegal,
they switched to making the payments in cash." -By
Nico
Pitney -HuffingtonPost.com
20070802
-
US
- Colombia
- International
- Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Law
- Enforcement
- Money
- Politics
- Food
- Agriculture
-
 Workers
- "In
Terrorism-Law Case, Chiquita Points to U.S.: Firm
Says It Awaited Justice Dept. Advice." ... "On April 24, 2003, a board
member of Chiquita International Brands disclosed to a top official at
the Justice Department that the king of the banana trade was evidently
breaking the nation's anti-terrorism laws." ... "Roderick M. Hills, who
had sought the meeting with former law firm colleague Michael Chertoff,
explained that Chiquita was paying "protection money" to a Colombian paramilitary
group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations. Hills said
he knew that such payments were illegal, according to sources and court
records, but said that he needed Chertoff's advice." ... "Chiquita, Hills
said, would have to pull out of the country if it could not continue to
pay the violent right-wing group to secure its Colombian banana plantations.
Chertoff, then assistant attorney general and now secretary of homeland
security [under Republican President Bush], affirmed that the payments
were illegal but said to wait for more feedback, according to five sources
familiar with the meeting." ... "Sources close to Chiquita say that Chertoff
never did get back to the company or its lawyers. Neither did Larry D.
Thompson, the deputy attorney general, whom Chiquita officials sought out
after Chertoff left his job for a federal judgeship in June 2003. And Chiquita
kept making payments for nearly another year." ... "What transpired at
the Justice Department meeting is now a central issue in a criminal probe.
According to these sources' account, the Bush administration was pulled
in competing directions, perhaps because its desire to avoid undermining
a newly elected, friendly Colombian government conflicted with its frequent
public assertions that supporting a terrorist group anywhere constitutes
a criminal offense and a foreign policy mistake." ... "An Organization
of American States report in 2003 said that Chiquita participated in smuggling
thousands of arms for paramilitaries into the Northern Uraba region, using
docks operated by the company to unload thousands of Central American assault
rifles and ammunition." ... "[Colombia's attorney general, Mario] Iguaran,
whose office has been investigating Chiquita's operations, said the company
knew AUC was using payoffs and arms to fund operations against peasants,
union workers and rivals." (1, 2,
3)
-By Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by Spencer
S. Hsu and Juan Forero -WashingtonPost
-
US
- Colombia
-
 Florida
-  School
-  Kids
- US
Immigration - Law
- "Can
Two Kids Alter Immigration Law?" ... "When teenage
brothers Juan and Alex Gomez were awakened at dawn on July 25 and arrested
by U.S. immigration officials, they simply became two more among the thousands
of kids who get snared in deportation dragnets along with their parents.
But this week Juan's Internet-savvy high school friends in Miami [Florida]
have turned his case into a cause celebre in Washington — and even if the
brothers eventually do get deported, the publicity they've garnered may
well boost the passage of a federal immigration bill that would keep other
young people like them from suffering the same fate in the future." ...
"Juan, 18, and Alex, 19, were toddlers when their Colombian parents brought
them on a visit to the U.S. in 1990. Despite having only a six-month visa,
the family did not return to their war-torn country and remained in Florida.
They started a modest business, sidestepping federal immigration authorities
for almost two decades. The boys, meanwhile, grew up as Americans and excelled
at school — especially Juan, who mastered 15 advanced-placement courses
at Miami's Killian Senior High School and almost aced the SAT before graduating
this past spring. Because the law denies benefits such as in-state tuition
to undocumented immigrants, the Gomezes could only afford community college
for their sons — but both were determined to earn college degrees." ...
"Each year some 65,000 kids graduate from high school in the U.S. under
similar circumstances." -By Tim Padgett
-TIME.com
20070314
-
Colombia
- US
- Ohio
- Food
- Company
- Law
- "Chiquita
Charged With Terrorist Dealings: Banana Company Admits
Former Subsidiary Paid Right-Wing Group In Colombia To Protect Employees."
... "Banana company Chiquita Brands International Inc. was charged Wednesday
with doing business with a terrorist organization." ... "Court documents
filed Wednesday are an indication the company has settled a lengthy Justice
Department investigation into its financial dealings with terrorist groups
in Colombia." ... "Federal prosecutors said the [Ohio] Cincinnati-based
company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business
with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described
in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has
designated as a terrorist group." -AP
via -CBSNews
20060529
-
Colombia
- Military
- Drugs
- Employment
- Economy
- Poverty
-
 History
- "Victorious
Colombian Uribe faces high expectations." ... "Colombia's
President Alvaro Uribe on Sunday scored a landslide re-election victory
that handed him a solid mandate for four more years as Washington's closest
ally in Latin America." ... "One of Colombia's most popular presidents,
Uribe won 62 percent of the ballots as conflict-weary voters rewarded him
for his campaign to curb warring left-wing rebels and militia and the cocaine
trade that fuels a long-running insurgency." ... "But even as the first
incumbent president to be re-elected in Colombia's modern history, Uribe
must sustain his security crackdown on FARC rebels and control disbanded
right-wing militia while tackling social issues such as unemployment and
poverty." ... "While Colombia's economy has grown solidly under Uribe's
guidance and foreign investment has expanded, half of the country's 41
million people still live in poverty." (1, 2)
-By Patrick Markey -Reuters
20060528
-
Noteworthy
- Cheney
- Terrorism
- Libby
- US
- Colombia
- Military
-
 Science
- Politics
- "Cheney
aide is screening legislation: Adviser seeks to protect
Bush power." ... "The office of Vice President Dick Cheney routinely reviews
pieces of legislation before they reach the president's desk, searching
for provisions that Cheney believes would infringe on presidential power,
according to former White House and Justice Department officials." ...
"The officials said Cheney's legal adviser and chief of staff, David Addington,
is the Bush administration's leading architect of the ``signing statements"
the president has appended to more than 750 laws. The statements assert
the president's right to ignore the laws because they conflict with his
interpretation of the Constitution." ... "The Bush-Cheney administration
has used such statements to claim for itself the option of bypassing a
ban on torture, oversight provisions in the USA Patriot Act, and numerous
requirements that they provide certain information to Congress, among other
laws." ... "Using signing statements, the administration has challenged
more laws than all previous administrations combined." ... "Addington played
a major role in shaping the administration's legal policies in the war
on terrorism, including a 2002 memo arguing that Bush could authorize interrogators
to bypass anti torture laws. In October, when Cheney's former chief of
staff, I. Lewis ``Scooter" Libby, was indicted for perjury and resigned,
Cheney replaced Libby with Addington." ... "In addition to the torture
ban and oversight provisions of the Patriot Act, the laws Bush has claimed
the authority to disobey include restrictions against US troops engaging
in combat in Colombia, whistle-blower protections for government employees,
and safeguards against political interference in taxpayer-funded research."
... "Mainstream legal scholars across the political spectrum reject Cheney's
expansive view of presidential authority, saying the Constitution gives
Congress the power to make all rules and regulations for the military and
the executive branch and the Supreme Court has consistently upheld laws
giving bureaucrats and certain prosecutors the power to act independently
of the president." -By Charlie Savage
-Boston/Globe
20031130
-
-
- 
- 
- 
- "Two
U.S. Soldiers Among 12 Killed in Iraq This Weekend:
Deadly Weekend Ends Deadliest Month Since March." ... "Guerrillas killed
a dozen people from four nations helping the U.S. military in Iraq in weekend
ambushes, sparking new concern among Washington's allies about the risks
of getting involved in stabilizing the country." ... "Two South Koreans
died on Sunday when their car was sprayed with bullets near Saddam Hussein's
hometown, a day after ambushes killed seven Spanish intelligence agents,
two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, and a Colombian contractor."
(1, 2)
-By Andrew Marshall-Reuters
via -WashingtonPost
20031127
-
- "Bullet-riddled
body that of missing exec in Colombia." ... "A bullet-riddled
body found outside Bogota was positively identified Tuesday as 55-year-old
Chikao Muramatsu, kidnapped in February 2001 and held by leftist guerrillas."
... "Muramatsu served as vice president of Yazaki-Ciemel Ltd., a joint
venture of auto parts maker Yazaki Corp., based in Tokyo's Minato Ward."
-By Satoshi Izumi -Asahi
Shimbun>English
20031018
-
"Colombia
rebel zone a world apart: Tour reveals force’s
growing isolation." ... "The southern stretch of Meta province, a lush
jungle broken by arid plains, is a crossroads for the guns, drugs and social
resentment that sustain Colombia’s war. In 1998, the government, recognizing
the guerrillas’ presence, turned much of the province of 740,000 people
over to the FARC as an enticement to begin peace talks, which collapsed
last year, beginning a period of guerrilla retrenchment." ... "Now the
Colombian military, remade since 2000 with nearly $2 billion in U.S. military
training and equipment, is using mobile columns, night raids and aerial
bombardment in an attempt to cut off FARC financing from Meta’s coca fields.
The offensive is deepening a sense of siege and persecution among mid-level
FARC commanders that has become the dominant theme of the rebels’ public
administration." -By Scott Wilson -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
20031008
-
"Six
killed, 12 injured by bomb in Colombia capital (Updates with government
reaction)." ... "At least six people, including two
police officers, were killed and 12 civilians injured when a car bomb exploded
on Wednesday in a grimy commercial district known for selling smuggled
goods in Colombia's capital." ... "No group fighting in the country's four-decade
guerrilla war immediately claimed responsibility for the blast -- the worst
car bombing in Bogota since 36 people were killed and 160 wounded at the
exclusive Nogal Club in February." -By Ibon Villelabeitia-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
20030807
-
- "Colombian
leader has strong grip - and yen for yoga." ... "In
the year since he has taken office, President Álvaro Uribe has come
to mean many things to the Colombian people: Commander in chief, poncho-clad
populist, yoga enthusiast. But mostly, observers say, he has gained stature
as the strong leader many feel this nation has lacked for decades." ...
"But questions remain whether the president's first-year gains stem more
from his charisma than from broad reform. Even if they do represent tangible
progress, some wonder if Uribe can sustain the momentum." -By
Rachel Van Dongen -CSMonitor
20030507
-
-
-
 -
"Failed
hostage rescue raises worries: 'I fear for
my son's life,' mom says of man held in Colombia." ... "Rosano, whose son,
Marc Gonsalves, of Big Pine Key [Florida], is one of three Americans kidnapped
by Colombian rebels three months ago, said in a telephone interview with
The Herald that she feared for her son's life because hostages have been
told that attempts to free them will be fatal -- just as it was for the
victims of the botched operation." ... "Gonsalves and the two other American
defense contractors taken Feb. 13 are apparently alive. But the body count
from Monday's rescue operation for other captives -- 10 hostages dead,
including a governor -- has mothers around Colombia clamoring for the government
to approve prisoner swaps that could free dozens of captives held by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia." -By France
Robles with contributions by Tim Johnson-Miami/Herald
20030408
-
-
-
-
- "Proud
to be an American: Immigrant Soldier May Achieve
American Citizenship in Death." ... "More than 31,000 members of the U.S.
armed forces are not American citizens, but some of them have already given
their lives in Iraq. Army Pfc. Diego Rincon, 19, was one of them." ...
"Rincon died March 29 while manning an Army roadblock near Najaf when a
suicide bomber posing as a taxi driver detonated a bomb." ... "Officially,
Rincon was a permanent U.S. resident, not a U.S. citizen, but his family
said the events of Sept. 11, 2001, inspired him to join the military and
defend his adopted home. The Rincon family fled Colombia for the suburbs
of Atlanta when Diego was 5 years old." -Contributions
by Janice Johnston and Bill Redeker -ABCNEWS.com
20030223
-
-
- "Colombia
Rebels Admit Kidnapping 3 Americans After Crash."
... "Marxist rebels confirmed today that they had kidnapped three American
government employees after their plane crash-landed in a jungle thicket,
and described them as C.I.A. employees." ... "American officials have refused
to divulge details about the mission the men were on, but they have said
the plane was used in counternarcotics operations and that the Americans
were working for the Pentagon." -By Juan Forero -NYTimes
via -Google-News
20030208
-
"Colombia
Blames Rebels, 32 Dead After Bogota Bomb." ... "Colombian
and U.S. officials blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a
Marxist rebel army known by the Spanish initials FARC that has vowed to
make the country's urban upper classes suffer the effects of a largely
rural war." ... "If the bomb was the work of the FARC, it would throw down
the gauntlet to hard-line President Alvaro Uribe. He has told rebels to
forget peace talks without a cease-fire and embarked on a military build-up."
-By Jason Webb -Reuters
-
"Car
Bomb in Colombia Kills at Least 25." ... "A car bomb
tore through an elite social club in the capital, killing at least 25 people,
wounding more than 150 and raising fears that Colombia's leftist rebels
were making good on threats to attack the country's wealthy ruling class."
... "The explosion Friday night rocked the 11-story El Nogal Club in north
Bogota, blowing brick and mortar onto a busy avenue, collapsing floors
and starting a fire that burned for about two hours before fire crews brought
it under control." -Guardian.co.uk
20030102
-
- "19
Journalists Killed [Worldwide] For Their Work In 2002:
Lowest number on record; Russia, Colombia, and the West Bank top list."
... "A total of 19 journalists were killed worldwide for their work in
2002, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). This number
marks a sharp decrease from 2001 when 37 journalists were killed, eight
of them while covering the war in Afghanistan. Of the 19 journalists killed
in 2002, most were targeted in direct reprisal for their work, and their
killers had not been brought to justice at year's end." ... "This is the
lowest number of journalists killed in the line of duty that CPJ has recorded
since it began tracking the deaths in 1985." ... "Still, in 2002, journalists
remained at great risk. In countries such as Russia, Colombia, Pakistan,
India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, local journalists were murdered
in direct reprisal for their reporting on crime and corruption, most of
them with impunity. Cameramen and photographers were especially vulnerable
to cross fire and targeting by military forces—five were killed in 2002,
including two who were covering conflict in the West Bank." ... "Some statistics
fluctuate from year to year, but others remain constant in such countries
as Russia and Colombia, where journalists die virtually every year because
of their work." -CPJ.org
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
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/Special
"Colombia:
War Without End." -2000
|
"After
win, Colombian faces harsh Latin pattern." ... "To
win a first-round victory in a presidential election here is an accomplishment
in itself. Colombia's president-elect Alvaro Uribe Vélez is the
first candidate to do that under the country's 1991 Constitution." ...
"But if he's been at all mindful of the trajectories of other Latin American
presidents of late, he should beware of the Latin letdown."
-By Howard LaFranchi -CSMonitor/subscribe
