Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Here is my transation of the 'Tiempo' article I quoted in Spanish earlier.



Before a half-empty auditorium, Alvaro Uribe defends his politics to the European Parliament

Uribe emphasized human rights and signaled the openness of his government to international community monitoring. At least fifty deputies of the Green Party and those with leftist and liberal allignments wore white scarves with the motto "Peace and justice in Colombia!" left the

assembly as Uribe began his remarks, leaving around two hundred and fifty of the six hundred and twenty six members of the house, of which some ten wore white scarves.

As Uribe finished his discourse, an unidentified member of the public yelled at him, "Narcoparamilitarist."

All of the leaders of political groups listened to Uribe, although those of the groups opposed to his presense in the House, the liberal Graham Watson, the Greens Daniel Cohn-Bendit and the leftist Francis Wurtz, announced that they wouldn't be participating in the parliamentary lunch with President Uribe.



I only have a cursory knowlege of current events in Colombia, but I know things are difficult. With all the warring factions, it would be a Herculean task to bring all together and produce a peace that would last and make an unified and contiguous country of Colombia.

Uribe is faced with that task, and faces his constituency in Colombia daily with that labor constantly present.

Heaven knows that all politcs are convoluted and at best confusing, but this sort of blatant discourtesy to a visiting official seems infantile to me.

I guess I'll never understand Europolitics.

No comments: