A friend of mine, Simone Bruno, wrote a fine article in Spanish on the local and regional elections in Colombia that are taking place today. Some highlights from his piece.
-22 candidates have been assassinated
-8 others were assassinated before announcing their candidacy
-36000 candidates under police protection
-family members of candidates have been murdered
-Many of the assassinations of candidates have been done by the guerrillas. Simone quotes Uribe going on his “democratic tour”, saying: “we have weakened FARC, we have weakened ELN, and dismantled paramilitarism.”
A friend of mine, Simone Bruno, wrote a fine article in Spanish on the local and regional elections in Colombia that are taking place today. Some highlights from his piece.
-22 candidates have been assassinated
-8 others were assassinated before announcing their candidacy
-36000 candidates under police protection
-family members of candidates have been murdered
-Many of the assassinations of candidates have been done by the guerrillas. Simone quotes Uribe going on his “democratic tour”, saying: “we have weakened FARC, we have weakened ELN, and dismantled paramilitarism.”
‘Imagine’, Simone asks, ‘how bad it would be if they hadn’t weakened them’.
-Para-politica: 200 candidates barred from running but 46 others who are running stand accused of financing paramilitarism or being involved in it. And it’s at the local level, Simone points out, that the links between paramilitarism and politicians are strongest.
-Paramilitaries are also intimidating voters.
-Simone suspects that tomorrow’s results will be weird, possibly with all parties announcing victory and no losers.
