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.”

3 comments

  • […] 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. […]

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

  • 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.

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.

Receive great stories from around the world directly in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the best of Global Voices!

Submitted addresses will be confirmed by email, and used only to keep you up to date about Global Voices and our mission. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Newsletter powered by Mailchimp (Privacy Policy and Terms).

* = required field
Email Frequency



No thanks, show me the site