Georgetti & Goodman on Colombian hostage release

July 8, 2008

Georgetti & Goodman on Colombian hostage release

In today's Globe & Mail, a letter by Ken Georgetti, contesting the Globe's coverage of the July 2nd release of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 prisoners of war held by the FARC in Colombia.

Georgetti writes: "The only thing more 'stunning' than the rescue was your rush to link this action to the Canada-Colombia trade negotiations in your editorial Colombia's Resurgence (July 4) and in Jeffrey Simpson's column A Bold Rescue Is Good News For Colombia - And Canada (July 5)."

This morning on Democracy Now, Amy Goodman held a roundtable on Colombia with Mario Murillo, Michael Evans and Manuel Rozental.

Rozental states:

"I, first of all, have to say, like I think almost every Colombian, that we were absolutely elated by the liberation of Ingrid and that her condition is good... The fourteen prisoners of war, mistreated, abused, and I’m also glad, as everybody, that they’re free."

"I think it’s very important to put the whole thing into context. First, the Uribe government has peaked in popularity but also has reached a bottom in terms of illegitimacy. It was condemned just a few days before this operation of liberation was carried out because of buying out votes from congress to achieve re-election in a fraudulent way. Uribe’s administration is also linked to death squads, and so are the members of a coalition that led him to win the elections twice and high officials in government, including the secret police. So we’re talking about the regime with the worst human rights record in the continent and the army with the worst human rights record in the continent with the greatest US support..."

"And to put this into perspective, there is a major plan in progress within Colombia and from Colombia with US support and for corporate interests to take over resources and wealth in territories in Colombia and, from there, to launch a war or a major conflict in the Andean region. That agenda is going to advance even further, after—if Uribe gets away with the legitimization of his regime after the liberation of Ingrid."

The whole transcript along with the audio is online and worth reading.

UPDATE: Colombia: Celebrate the Release, Not the Regime, Amy Goodman's latest column.