Colombia: Al Gore’s Snub

President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia has been attracting a lot of criticism for his alleged ties with paramilitary forces in his country. Because of these unclear links, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore officially dropped out of an environmental conference where Uribe would be in attendance. The Colombia Herald writes about these accusations that have been issues in televised debates. Adam Isaacson of the Plan Colombia and Beyond blog analyzes this snubbing and suggests that, “Gore should accept President Uribe's invitation to visit Colombia. Another snub will only give Uribe more ammunition for his domestic political battles. When appearing publicly with Uribe in Bogotá, though, Gore should make a clear and explicit show of support for the many brave Colombians who are investigating and prosecuting paramilitary power, and defending the rights of its victims.”

Written byEduardo Avila

Recent Latin America Stories

3 comments

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[…] Some people think that El Tiempo, which endorsed Uribe’s bid for reelection in August 2005 less than a year before the election, is going to “leave alone” the president because of the scandal. Last week, El Tiempo wrote an editorial, which was called “infamous” by presidential adviser José Obdulio Gaviria, about the debate on paramilitarism in Antioquia (Uribe’s native province). Because of that, El Tiempo was not invited to the press conference held by Uribe in order to defend himself from the accusations by senator Gustavo Petro. […]

28 April 2007, 4:15 am
Michael Sales

Columbia is the sort of place where Vice President Gore could be assasinated.

29 April 2007, 17:08 pm

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David Sardi

Michael Sales: If youre going to knock ColOmbia, learn to spell its names, all you did was make yourself look like the ignorant American that you are.

30 April 2007, 2:14 am

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