First… Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi refused to meet with the Pro-American President of Colombia Alvaro Uribe when he came to Washington to personally beg democrats to release funding to aid their military.
Pelosi shut him out.
In late April the American Spectator wrote this about the destructive actions by Speaker Pelosi:
She has third parties (Far Left groups) who have encouraged her not to take the meeting,” says a leadership aide, who said a coalition of labor organizations and MoveOn.org had been pressuring her to not meet with Uribe. “We’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not like we’re talking about some family from San Francisco who stopped by her office unannounced. This is the president of a country.”
In Colombia, Uribe has been struggling against communist terrorist groups financed by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, as well as leftist political pressure internally. All while attempting to work with the U.S. against narco-trafficking. “He’s a friend and an ally,” says a State Department source, who was unaware of Pelosi’s snub. “I’d be surprised that one of our national leaders would not meet with a strategic partner of the United States of America.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont, chairman of the subcommittee overseeing foreign funds, recently froze $55 million in military aid to Colombia.
Democrats say they are withholding funds because 8 pro-Uribe lawmakers were put in jail on charges ranging from mere collusion with the paramilitaries to conspiracy to kidnap and murder. This gave democrats an excuse not to fund the Pro-US, Pro-Capitalist neighbor of Hugo’s Venezuela.
What the democrats refuse to acknowledge is that it was “precisely because of the Uribe government’s successful negotiation with the paramilitaries – which lead to the demobilization of 31,000 fighters – that the truth of their influence is being revealed.” The Uribe government supports the paramilitary investigations that discovered the rotten politicians. the Uribe government even continues to fund the investigations!
The Pro-US Colombians were devastated by the denial of funds.
(At last report- these funds were still being denied to the Uribe government. I will update if I find out otherwise.)
Now… Democrats drive another nail through the heart of Pro-US Colombia.
On Monday, democrats sided with the terrorists. Democrats refused to give preferred status the crucial US ally.
From the US House Ways and Means Committee:
“With regard to the Colombia FTA, the House of Representatives recently passed the 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which redirects U.S. foreign assistance in Colombia. All of us regard Colombia as a crucial ally in a region that deserves our active engagement, and the bill represents an effort to have U.S. funds help address the root of numerous problems there. There is widespread concern in Congress about the level of violence in Colombia, the impunity, the lack of investigations and prosecutions, and the role of the paramilitary. Issues of this nature cannot solely be resolved through language in a trade agreement.
“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.
Did you get that?
Democrats are upset about the violence in Colombia, a country that has been fighting Leftist terrorists for over 40 years!
And… Democrats totally disregard the truth:
** Colombia has knocked down deaths by unionists by 90%.
** Murders are at ten/twenty year lows. So are kidnappings. Just this past year in Medellin murders are down 40%.
(This is despite Hugo Chavez’s funding of the FARC terrorists.)
DEMOCRATS ARE NOT BEING HONEST!
What is the real reason they refuse to deal with Pro-US Colombia?
And, just who are they listening to?
And, who are democrats helping here by not assisting the Pro-US Uribe government?
A.M. Mora y Leon is irate over the latest Congressional slap on Colombia:
I also see signs of weakness, in that Congress keeps falsely saying it wants to help Colombia, signalling that it fears those of us who state that the act is unfriendly and helps only Hugo Chavez. Therefore, there is room for fightback. Congress wants to screw Colombia but they don’t want to be called its enemy by bloggers like me.
Congress, I got one message for you – you are Colombia’s enemy and you are screwing Colombia. You are on the side of narcotraffickers. You are helping Hugo Chavez – and not doing one thing for Colombia.
Colombia has risen from the monstrous ashes of a terrifying war to become a nation that has grown into free trade and needs free trade to grow into a first world country. It’s been the U.S.’s most faithful ally in the entire hemisphere, it’s been a friend to Democratic and Republican administrations without fear or favor. But the Democrats can’t stand this country because it’s ruled by a rightwinger, a man who won office with 70% of the popular vote, and who now holds an 80% approval rating …. for Congress, this noble nation must get screwed. It’s a slap in the face of an ally unlike any other in history. This nation did anything for us, anything, and look how our Congress is treating it!
I am so angry I could throw things. I burn with hatred, I want to break something. How could Congress be so unethical? How could they throw away something so precious?
…Colombia is going to be traumatized by this. The charges against it are exaggerated, but cutting off free trade is only likely to increase the violence as the economy tanks. Screwing 46 million people is no way to make them want to be your ally. Betraying a nation like this will have consequences for us and I shudder to think what they are.
Read it all HERE.
Democrats again are playing a very dangerous game with the US and Colombia’s national security.
By continuing to deny assistance to the Pro-US Uribe government- democrats are only helping the opposition and the FARC terrorists.
As Hugo Chavez continues to mass arms and threaten the region, why are democrats abusing America’s greatest ally in the region?
UPDATE: Fausta has President Uribe’s response to the dems.
