PEACEFUL SOLUTIONS FOR A COLOMBIA IN PEACE

Comment

Comment by Joseph George Slovinec on November 21, 2009 at 11:20am

On November 21, 2009, I would like to respect work of the U.S. Institute of Peace on Colombia including recent forums with Congressman Jim Mc Govern on ideas I had on the Obama-Biden transition comments and Virginia Bouvier. I can only add the important of historic studies of use of Presidential diplomacy both on President Obama's side and the sides of President Chavez of Venezuela and President Uribe of Colombia. On my transition calls for peace, I welcome a related step when President Uribe called for a "verifiable ceasefire" with FARC on the BBC website on April 1, 2009. On November 10, 2009, CNN website reported President Chavez of Venezuela claimed a threat of war against Venezuela existed because the U.S. reportedly made an agreement to station U.S. military personnel at 7 Colombian bases. Colombia wisely wants to talk to the United Nations and Organization of American States about the Chavez accusations. It seems President Obama's brief meeting in Trinidad with President Chavez was not enough to persuade him of the desire of Mr. Obama and the American people for peace with Venezuela. I trust Colombia's word that Colombia only requests aid for Plan Colombia objectives Senator Biden discussed with the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2000. We often do not know exact details of reports from the jungle like the reports when U.S. defense contractors Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Thomas Howes when FARC either released them or allowed someone to accompany them out of captivity. I earlier opposed use of U.S. soldiers in combat zones in Colombia and Obama could reduce tensions with either keeping U.S. soldiers at the Colombian bases or not sending them to avoid offending Chavez who supported 2007 talks on freedom for Gonsalves, Stansell, Howes, and many FARC prisoners. There was a major crisis when Mark Penn quit Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential campaign after reports Penn lobbied for the Colombian Free Trade Pact against Hillary's policies and instructions. President Obama discussed trade tactfully in his meeting with President Uribe in Washington, D.C. in June 2009 and revisions of agreements could occur. In Chicago, I would have respected both the rights of Colombia's government to talk about desires for a free trade agreement and of DePaul students to hold a 2005 conference on right-wing violations of human rights of Colombian trade unions. DePaul has a business school with interests in studying the welcoming of Venezuelan oil sales to the Chicago area and Colombian coffee sales to the Chicago area. I encourage President Obama to talk about South America to the best Midwest Catholic academic centers, the Kellogg Institute of International Studies and the Kroc Institute for Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, my undergraduate school. In conclusion of this set of comments for Congress, I encourage oversight of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and U.S. House committees of statements of President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton on U.S. policies and peace between Venezuela and Colombia.

Comment by Joseph George Slovinec on November 13, 2009 at 3:21pm

It seems you need my first comment like websites on the Obama-Biden transition website, Your Seat at the Table icon, for Institute for Policy Studies and my second comment reads about my research: "In a previous paper, I wrote liberal advice for Obama: U.S. Congressmen who favored mediation for the Colombian civil war between government and FARC rebels included Congressmen McGovern and Delahunt who correctly praised the role of President Chavez of Venezuela in successful talks to free prisoners of FARC rebels: Colombian President Uribe later helped these talks after Mr. Uribe unfairly blamed Chavez for reports of funding of FARC rebels which could be exaggerated or false." In 2008 FARC released Colombian Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 3 defense contractors, a choice I advocated in a 2007 memo. I only want U.S. contractors to deliver weapons to the Colombian military without visits of Americans to the jungles. In April 2009 Colombian President Uribe said he was willing to talk peace with the FARC rebels and President Chavez of Venezuela supported these sentiments. Next week I will encourage Congress to study my comments and ask President Obama to appoint officials to study peace in Colombia and reductions of tensions between Colombia and Venezuela after the 2008 Colombia-
Ecuador border crisis. I believe I can add to historic discussions without direct involvement in talks. Colombia is controversial in my native Chicago with concerns on a large cocaine trade with the Chicago Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration. On a regional institute basis, I am a specialist on European History and I did research for Professor Susan Nan, an expert on Central Asia and diplomacy, on Colombia and United Nations mediator James LeMoyne's peace talks in 2002 on Center for International Policy website: this was completed by January 2009. I hope to also send this message to her, yet I want to open up these ideas to comments from you and students who use this network. Thank you.