Hey it's been a while since we checked in on our #1 best friend in the hemisphere, so let's take a peek and see what valuable lessons of democracy we can learn from--SWEET JESUS WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!?!
Let's see, in the last week alone, The Colombian government has been forced to acknowledge its role in the assassination of an opposition Senator. Then somebody turned up a brand new mass grave chock full of more than two thousand "social leaders, campesinos and community human rights defenders" who managed to piss off the government. Two. Thousand.
Meantime President Uribe unveiled his new plan for infiltrating drug gangs by bribing poor kids into suicide spy cults. And while new stats show that a quarter of a million Colombians were forced out of their homes last year b/c of violence, it turns out that other stats, the ones showing urban murder rates going down, were basically just faked by the government. Oh and Uribe's entire intelligence team is about to go on trial for wiretapping journalists. In other words: situation normal, trade deal by spring!
Comments (12)
Okay, da BoRev never looked cooler:
http://www.daylife.com/photo/00hDh2C1Y47II
http://www.daylife.com/photo/05N7g0EdKcbiz
http://www.daylife.com/photo/03Db06efe20FN
http://www.daylife.com/photo/02jQ5plcEZfXD
I take back all the bad things I said about Edwin & his tatoo artist.
It's the man that makes the tatoo work, and not the other way.
Posted by Paul Escobar
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February 8, 2010 5:21 PM
Posted on February 8, 2010 17:21
Oh noes, the Uribeasties ate him.
Posted by QueenBina
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February 8, 2010 10:38 AM
Posted on February 8, 2010 10:38
What has happened to Da BooRev?
Posted by Utpal
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February 7, 2010 4:16 PM
Posted on February 7, 2010 16:16
I think they should be called Reporters Without Shame. Who else would think an unopposed ARENA government spelled "freedom"?
Posted by QueenBina
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February 2, 2010 3:22 PM
Posted on February 2, 2010 15:22
Has anyone actually done a serious analysis of how RWB, e.g., calculates its rankings? One bizarre thing about their rankings if you notice is that some countries that do rather well barely have anything like an opposition press. Chile and El Salvador under ARENA often got high rankings even though there is little diversity in their media.
Posted by Utpal
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February 2, 2010 11:35 AM
Posted on February 2, 2010 11:35
And now the Colombian model is coming to Honduras. Uribe was in Tegucigalpa a few days ago to sign a "security agreement" with the government child of the coup d'etat. Get ready for your mass graves, Hondurans.
And even after the coup and murder of over 100 dissenters, Honduras's position barely changed on Freedom Watch's rankings. Totally not a CIA front, nope.
Posted by Revolter
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February 2, 2010 10:21 AM
Posted on February 2, 2010 10:21
Kewl, I'm Canadian. We even have a Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance up here!
Posted by QueenBina
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February 2, 2010 10:01 AM
Posted on February 2, 2010 10:01
On the positive side, Colombia scores higher than Cuba on Reporters Without Borders' (isn't the name cute?) Press Freedom Index. Cuba, which hasn't seen a journalist murdered since before the revolution, scored an abysmal 170, while Colombia scored 126. That's because Colombian journalists are free to risk getting killed, while Cuban journalists are prohibited by the Communist government from getting killed. Also, Freedom House, (which is NOT a CIA front despite all appearances) gives Colombia a Partly Free rating, while Cuba remains, sadly, Not Free. And if you want to see for yourself, you are Free to go there (as long as you're Canadian).
Posted by Diana Barahona
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February 2, 2010 1:02 AM
Posted on February 2, 2010 01:02
On the positive side, Colombia scores higher than Cuba on Reporters Without Borders' (isn't the name cute?) Press Freedom Index. Cuba, which hasn't seen a journalist murdered since before the revolution, scored an abysmal 170, while Colombia scored 126. That's because Colombian journalists are free to risk getting killed, while Cuban journalists are prohibited by the Communist government from getting killed. Also, Freedom House, (which is NOT a CIA front despite all appearances) gives Colombia a Partly Free rating, while Cuba remains, sadly, Not Free. And if you want to see for yourself, you are Free to go there (as long as you're Canadian).
Posted by Diana Barahona
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February 2, 2010 1:01 AM
Posted on February 2, 2010 01:01
I suppose Nasty, Brutish & Short would remind us that we should be happy, because during La Violencia, the death toll was over 200,000.
But still.
Posted by QueenBina
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February 1, 2010 11:02 AM
Posted on February 1, 2010 11:02
The way this thing works, e.g., Chavez's govt. had to accept responsibility for the Caracazo even though it had nothing to do with it. (It's the "State" that is to be held responsible, not the particular regime)
Now, those 2000 in that mass grave in Col. on the other hand ...
Posted by Utpal
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January 31, 2010 4:26 PM
Posted on January 31, 2010 16:26
To be fair, that ackowledgement of the govt's role in the assassination of the PU senator relates to a prior govt. (1994), not Uribe's.
Posted by Utpal
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January 31, 2010 4:24 PM
Posted on January 31, 2010 16:24