A 'Populist Dictatorship' in Colombia

The following is an excellent post by the Center for International Policy's Colombia Program on what Polo Democratico Alternativo President Carlos Gaviria has described as the declaration of a "populist dictatorship" by Colombian 'President' Alvaro Uribe Velez.

Uribe's announcement comes in response to the Colombian Court's calling into question the process through which he bought, through political favours, his 2006 reelection.

Hey, Harper, is this the kind of (illegitimate) 'democracy' Canadians are supporting through your FTA?...


Written by the Center for International Policy, Colombia Program, Originally published in CIP's Colombia and Beyond Blog, 27 June, 2008

In Colombia, President Uribe called a press conference at 11:15 PM last night. He was reacting to a decision by Colombia’s Supreme Court: a guilty verdict against Yidis Medina, a former congresswoman who had cast the decisive vote on constitutional reform legislation that made it possible for Uribe to run for a second term in 2006. It turns out that Medina cast her vote in exchange for promises of political favors, and will now spend 3 1/2 years under house arrest for accepting bribes. In the text of its decision, the Court seriously called into question the legitimacy of the process that led to Uribe’s re-election. Uribe’s reaction last night was extreme.

I have wanted to fight for a safe, prosperous and equitable country. The trap of the power of terrorism in its death agony - to which justices of the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice have lent themselves - does not appear to have a judicial solution.

After saying on national television that the justices who questioned the re-election amendment process are doing the bidding of terrorists, Uribe called on Colombia’s Congress to schedule a national referendum to repeat the 2006 elections.