MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Colombian business community openly sides with Santos and the peace talks
President Juan Manuel Santos’ re-election bid received the backing of a large group of Colombia’s most important businessmen and the country’s wealthiest man, billionaire Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, who spoke up in favor of ongoing peace negotiations with the FARC. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesI'm hoping Santos wins, and continues to stand-up to the Chavista scum across the border and their insiduous lies.
Jun 14th, 2014 - 04:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Relations between Colombia and Venezuela where at their height in 2010, after Santos was elected president. But the relationship soured last year after Santos met with Capriles a month after Maduro won the still disputedVenezuelan presidential election.
Maduro reacted by accusing both Santos and Capriles of engaging in a conspiracy “against the highest powers of state” to overthrow and kill him.
There is still no evidence of this a year later. Maduro says he has it but we are yet to see it.
“EL UNIVERSAL
Friday May 31, 2013 08:11 AM
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro late on Thursday said his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos ”has stabbed Venezuela.“ Reference was made to the meeting in Bogotá between Santos and former opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles.
”As we work for peace here in Venezuela, we cannot accept plots in Bogotá,“ Maduro said in an event in central Carabobo state.
”I question the candor of President Santos, as he has stabbed Venezuela in the back and is willing to endorse a plot against Venezuela. I say this with pain,” Maduro said in an act broadcast by state-run television channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
“I have doubts whether to continue to play a role in the peace process in Colombia or not,” he said. Further, he made serious accusations about an alleged conspiracy intended to murder him. “Álvaro Uribe, Roger Noriega and J.J. Rendón are behind a plan of psychological warfare,” he reported.
“There is a group of experts who have a poison. They are prepared to come to Venezuela to inoculate me with poison, not for me to die in a day, but for me to get sick in the months to come. Should I remain quiet? I have to report on this and face it,” he said.”
What a load of utter, paranoid bullshit.
“But the relationship soured last year after Santos met with Capriles a month after Maduro won the still disputedVenezuelan presidential election.”
Jun 14th, 2014 - 04:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Ilsen the disputor.
:)
Yup. Just little old me, Leopoldo Lopez, Maria Corina Machado, many external observers, oh, and several million Venezuelans.
Jun 14th, 2014 - 05:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But what the hell. I am happy to take the credit for bringing it to your attention.
:-)
Leopoldo who?
Jun 14th, 2014 - 05:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Corina Machado? The one that ridiculized herself in the OAS?
You might want to take a picture of them, just to remember...
Why would I need photos?
Jun 14th, 2014 - 05:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Or do you think the Boligarchs will imprison them for life, or kill them?
Is that what you want?
one does not know abt these people,
Jun 14th, 2014 - 06:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0but their football team beat the slippery Greeks by 3 goals to zero..
These people have picked the wrong side. FARC isn't going to quit, until it rules the country, or is destroyed. Negotiation is what you do when you don't feel strong enough to win the fight. If they can't gain power by negotiating, they'll go to war, when they have regained the strength to do it.
Jun 14th, 2014 - 11:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Bisley.
Jun 15th, 2014 - 12:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0I refer you to South Africa and Northern Ireland.
Not perfect outcomes I admit, but certainly progress and much less death and destruction of lives.
The FARC will out maneuver the Colombian government as it has always done so in the many peace talks in the past that existed.
Jun 15th, 2014 - 01:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0Uribe and Bush were the only ones to stick it up in the FARC and Chavista ar$es. I remember dearly Uribe’s passionate resolve and attitude confronting the entire latam hyenas of Correa Chavez and Lula in Bariloche UNASUR summit with dignity and truth.
Santos is a “yes man” to the Chavistas and the terrorists. He doesn’t have the moral backbone Uribe has.
If anyone thinks that the FARC is outmanoeuvring the Colombian government this time then I suggest they need to do a little more research.
Jun 15th, 2014 - 06:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0The biggest difference this time (as opposed to previous) negotiations is that the Colombian government has not called a ceasefire, but continued to fight the FARC whilst peace talks go on. It has learnt its lesson on trusting the word of FARC. Why do you think that these peace talks have taken so long.
Having actually visited Colombia and living with Colombians here in Oz, there is a desire for this to end. While many hope the FARC can be wiped out entirely without the need to negotiate anything, 5o years of fighting have so far failed to do that. Should we try the same thing for another 10 years or even 20.
Marking peace with FARC and ELN terrorists and criminals is distasteful and there is no guarantee of success. However the benefits of finally ending this totally outweighs the negatives.
Santos has taken a different tact to Uribe. I say that he has built on what Uribe did. However Uribe had not finished these groups off when he left office so returning to his past successes does not guarantee future successes.
Santos has steered Colombia to new heights with regards to its economy and its regional clout.
My biggest reason for not liking Zuluaga is not that he wants to go harder militarily against FARC, but that he is a proxy for Uribe. Uribe never got over the fact that he couldn't control Santos after Santos won the presidency. Zuluaga is a step down the usual path of many Latin American countries where ex-presidents attempt to exert influence and continue to entrench their power beyond their mandate.
If Santos loses power, then I hope he does what Uribe didn't and retire gracefully to work elsewhere and not continue to try and preach and influence the national dialogue.
A very well informed piece by Anglotino.
Jun 15th, 2014 - 09:28 am - Link - Report abuse 0I also wish for a strong, stable and peaceful neighbour to positively influence Venezuela. If Colombia resolves its internal problems it will fast become the leader in that region, for the benefit of many.
I am seriously considering moving there in a couple of years time, especially since Venezuelans only need their Cedula (ID Card), not a passport, to visit.
You are answering your own questions in your comment Anglotino “Why do you think that these peace talks have taken so long”....
Jun 15th, 2014 - 01:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you believe that Hitler was negotiating with the Red Army his capitulation for the 2 previous years after Stalingrad!
The mere fact that most of these talks are being held in La Habana is a sign of weakness.
So, in your opinion CD2, what is the best way forward
Jun 15th, 2014 - 03:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Continued talks?
Complete annihilation of FARC?
A third of option of your choice?
13
Jun 15th, 2014 - 04:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0IMO as a Venezuelan you must accept that Colombia is not only fighting the FARC and the ELN but is also involved in a proxy war with Ecuador, Venezuela and Cuba.
These peace talks held a certain promise back in September 2012 when it was possible that Chavez would die and the regime would perhaps collapse in itself or lose the elections. After the fraud of Maduro in early 2013 there is no more position of strength that Colombian gov’t can capitalize on.
You can’t realistically sit down to negotiate with the same people that want to unstable you and overthrow you and install a Castro- Chavista aligned regime in Colombia unless you are negotiating your own capitulation.
As for Santos and Uribe and to understand the difference between them there is a Churchill quote that applies “You have made enemies?? Good. That means you have stood for something”.
And to answer Anglotino even further; if I was a Colombian I would have a puppet of Uribe in gov’t like Zuluaga rather than a puppet of Maduro Casto axis like Santos.
What to do you may ask me ?? IMO I would keep up the attacks on the FARC and cross the Ecuadorian and Venezuelan borders as many times as they have to in order to strike their hideouts. The Latam hyenas presidents and dictators can fuss all they like, but Colombia is a NATO aligned country that has a defense treaty with the US, capitalize on that until Ecuador and Venezuela have changed gov’ts. And Brazil are pussies anyway. Make it clear to them just like the Israelis have made it clear to the arab countries they will hunt the terrorist down wherever they may go.
Some really interesting comments there.
Jun 16th, 2014 - 05:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Food for the thought!
Thanks.
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