ABC News Discovers Colombian Paramilitaries Exist, 20 Years Too Late
ABC News breathlessly informs us that Santiago Uribe, brother of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, has been sentenced for backing paramilitaries. Conveniently, they omit the decades the US supported Álvaro Uribe through Plan Colombia, pouring billions into a government whose leader, according to Human Rights Watch, had 'deep ties' to these same death squads. (See: Human Rights Watch, 'The
'Sixth Division': Military-Paramilitary Ties and US Policy in Colombia', 2001 & 'Broken Justice in Colombia', 2012). It’s almost as if Washington preferred a convenient 'war on drugs' narrative over acknowledging their chosen strongman was connected to groups terrorizing his own people. How many disappeared farmers does it take for mainstream media to connect the dots in their own backyard?