The Ambiguities of Human Rights in Colombia

Abstract

Paul A. Chambers holds a Ph.D. in peace studies from the University of Bradford, UK, and is an independent academic and researcher based in Colombia. He is a coeditor (with Verónica espinal restrepo) of Conflicto armado: interpretaciones y transformaciones, Medellín: sello editorial Universidad de Medellín, 2012.

A human rights tragedy: strategic localization of US foreign policy in Colombia

“…65 Yet, there were also some indications that the Uribe-led government deviated from the official US policy stance, especially when the Colombian government castigated almost all forms of political dissidence in the context of the war on terror. As Paul Chambers 66 noted, the Uribe government 'publicly denounced human rights activists as supporters of terrorism and cemented a dangerously authoritarian social consensus that facilitated the overriding of fundamental human rights in the name of "democratic security"'. In his official speech on 8 September 2003, at the time that Plan Patriota (second phase of Plan Colombia) was being inaugurated, President Uribe strongly criticized unarmed political dissidents by branding them as 'writers and ideologues who ultimately give support to terrorism and who cravenly shield themselves with the banner of human rights'.…”

“…In his official speech on 8 September 2003, at the time that Plan Patriota (second phase of Plan Colombia) was being inaugurated, President Uribe strongly criticized unarmed political dissidents by branding them as 'writers and ideologues who ultimately give support to terrorism and who cravenly shield themselves with the banner of human rights'. 67 This strategic expansion in the scope of repression was not only limited to the Uribeled government's localized political discourses of the war on terror, as actual state policies ultimately led to the violent repression of unarmed political opposition actors in Colombia. As The Washington Post journalists Karen de Young and Claudia Duque's investigations suggested: 68 American cash, equipment and training, supplied to elite units of the Colombian intelligence service over the past decade to help smash cocaine-trafficking rings, were used to carry out spying operations and smear campaigns against Supreme Court justices, Uribe's political opponents and civil society groups.…”