Tag Archives: Alvaro Uribe

The War on Drugs: Eradication of Colombia’s Indigenous People

By Andrea Samuelson | Published: February 26, 2009
The deadline for the FARC to return the slain bodies of the 27 Awa indigenous community members killed earlier this month expired at 6:00 PM on February 23, 2009.  The killings, carried out on two separate occasions in the Nariño area of southwestern Colombia, have brought terror to the region and left more than 400 [...]
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The Role of the State and the Black Markets of La Guajira

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: January 14, 2009
Riding in an old Renault at night in La Guajira, Colombia’s northernmost state, our driver, Edison, recognizes an opportunity to fill up his tank not by Chevron, Shell, or Texaco signs over a gas station, but by the sight of a large red plastic container under the only lit lightbulb in sight on the side [...]
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Pass FTA and amend Plan Colombia, from the Washington Times

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: December 2, 2008
The Washington Times published an op-ed yesterday that I co-authored with Shannon O’Neil. It originally appeared here and I am including the entire text below. The Washington Times Monday, December 1, 2008 O’NEIL/CHASKEL: Pass FTA and amend Plan Colombia Shannon O’Neil and Sebastian Chaskel Two years ago President Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe negotiated a free trade agreement (FTA). [...]
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What else is coming down with Colombia’s crumbling pyramids?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: November 28, 2008
While the world has been preoccupied with a swelling global financial crisis, Colombia has been busy with one of its own making. Two weeks ago a few notorious Ponzi schemes such as DRFE (which stands for Dinero Rapido Facil en Efectio, or Easy Money Fast Cash) stopped paying their clients as their leadership fled abroad. The rioting [...]
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Bolivia and Colombia now have something in common: frustration with U.S. trade policy

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: November 2, 2008
Starting this weekend, and for the first time since 1991, Bolivia’s products no longer enjoy preferential access when entering the United States, unlike those from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. All four countries had received tariff-free access for certain products under the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), a program designed during the George [...]
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Colombia as Israel and the Andes as the Middle East?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 9, 2008
On March 3, Venezuelan President Chávez called the Colombian government the “Israel of Latin America” stating, “we aren’t going to permit Colombia to become the Israel of these lands.” But this week’s comparisons of the Andes with the Middle East and Colombia with Israel did not stop there. Some of the comments were simply [...]
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The Crisis Has Been Overcome?

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 9, 2008
After six days of tension which led some to fear inter-state armed conflict in the Andes, the conflict was declared “overcome” by Presidents Uribe, Correa, Chávez, and Ortega on Friday afternoon at the Rio Summit in the Dominican Republic. After a week of insulting each other, the Presidents reacted positively to Dominican President Fernandez’s [...]
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Civil Society Reacts in Latin America

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 7, 2008
This week has been characterized by a lot of saber-rattling and microphone diplomacy by the region’s dignitaries. At the OAS, virtually every country in the region took a stance on the conflict between Ecuador and Colombia. Today, civil society reacted to recent events. As the screenshot above from Ecuador’s El [...]
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Raúl Reyes 1948-2008: Internal and Regional Implications

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 3, 2008
Early Saturday morning, the Colombian armed forces bombed a target on the Ecuadorian side of the Colombian-Ecuadorian border where they believed Raúl Reyes, the second in command of the FARC, would be that night. After bombing the location twice, Colombian troops crossed the border and brought Reyes’ body and 3 laptops back to the [...]
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Arming the Colombia-Venezuela Border

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: January 22, 2008
As relations between Colombia and Venezuela deteriorate, U.S. officials took the opportunity this week to express their disappointment with Venezuelan President Chávez during visits to Colombia. On Thursday Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed his concern about Venezuela’s military buildup. According to Reuters, Mullen said that while he [...]
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