Gustavo Petro is a leader of Colombia’s main opposition party, the Democratic Pole. He is a Senator in Colombia and has been leading efforts to investigate ties between paramilitary death squads and top politicians. Gustavo Petro is also a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement. He joins Democracy Now (9 March 2007) from Washington

OPEN QUOTE (in particular, although the whole interview is exTREMEly dramatic (you absolutely won’t want to miss it)) :

The Polo Democratico, Democratic Pole, Party has defined in its statutes in clear-cut terms that it rejects armed struggle in Colombia. It rejects violent forms of resolving social and political conflicts in our society. It seems to us that the use of arms to eliminate one’s social and political opponent has degenerated to grave extremes in Colombian society, to the point that I wouldn’t call the FARC a leftist movement, even though the basis of their struggle continues to be — the objective basis of their struggle continues to be massive social inequality in Colombia. But after forty years of using instruments of death, coercing Colombian citizens has brought about a degradation of the mentality of this kind of a movement, which is deepened or furthered when drug trafficking has also become one of its sources of financing.

The FARC today don’t represent any possibility of democratic transformation

To the contrary, it’s yet one more element in the Colombian landscape that is encouraging violent fragmentation and destruction, anti-democratic destruction, of society and the state.

END OF QUOTE

If you watch the video you also get a special bonus clip of G.W. speaking to the Colombian delegation and comparing himself to George Washington. After he delivered the punch line he paused so everyone could presumably laugh or applaud or whatever . . .

and no one did nada. Dead silence.

Oops. G Dubya’s speech was on Monday and he was addressing the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.

Here’s the blurb :

You know, not far from the White House, there’s a statue of the great liberator Simon Bolivar. He’s often compared to George Washington — Jorge W. Like Washington, he was a general who fought for the right of his people to govern themselves. Like Washington, he succeeded in defeating a much stronger colonial power. And like Washington, he belongs to all of us who love liberty. One Latin American diplomat had put it this way: “Neither Washington nor Bolivar was destined to have children of their own, so that we Americans might call ourselves their children.”

We are the sons and daughters of this struggle, and it is our mission to complete the revolution they began on our two continents. The millions across our hemisphere who every day suffer the degradations of poverty and hunger have a right to be impatient. And I’m going to make them this pledge: The goal of this great country, the goal of a country full of generous people, is an Americas where the dignity of every person is respected, where all find room at the table, and where opportunity reaches into every village and every home. By extending the blessings of liberty to the least among us, we will fulfill the destiny of this new world and set a shining example for others. Que Dios les bendiga.

END OF QUOTE

A team of experts must have stayed up late putting that one together

yesterday chavez refered to that comparison in his speech, ill try to find it

“But both leaders seem locked in a struggle that has become downright personal — and Bush is not ducking from the fight. Just before the trip, Bush even tried to take on the mantle of Chavez’s revered independence hero, telling an audience of Hispanic businessmen on the eve of his trip that Simon Bolivar “is often compared to George Washington — Jorge W.”

Chavez called that a crude slap to the dignity of the Venezuelan people — and reminded Bush that Bolivar’s sword was used to defeat imperialism, his favorite term for U.S. policy.”:http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/news/20070310p2g00m0in016000c.html

.. and washington made a revolution in favor of the economic elite.. thats the end of that quote if i remember correctly

From Blood : An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce (p. 27)

Suffering from what appeared to be strep after a winter’s ride on his farm in Virginia, [ George ] Washington insisted that his doctors bleed him copiously. After two days of the treatment, [ he died. . . . Doctors later writing in defense of their “treatment plan” said, ] “We were governed by the best light we had; we thought we were right, and so we are justified.”

Dumdedumdum.

The General in His Labyrinth

I haven’t been able to sit through a GGM, I don’t know why. I have trouble with fiction anyway, these days, when the demands of keeping up with the facts are SO steep. But. I am given to saying “no one writes to the colonel” much like someone would say “oh well”. And I read that a LONG time ago. But it is in my blood. No question.

I don’t think of Simon B as Quixotic. At all. So that’s weird. Because it sounds like that’s what G-M has done to him. Why would he do that? He gets shat on in Virgen de los sicarios also. Where’s that coming from, do you know? Any guesses?

I did very much enjoy The Labyrinth though. Did you see that? I thought that was a pretty accurate leveraging of Franco’s avatar to describe Fascism and the magical properties of Resistance.

That giant frog deflating after coughing up all its insides to deliver the magical key — has come in handy on more than one occasion since. I was having trouble stifling a gag reflex in the theater. LOL.

I should say also that I’m very fond of the Quixotic. I didn’t mean to imply that it’s a bad thing. Windmills and Whales are two of my favorite magically real avatars of permanent revolution.Funny ya? People are constantly dissing Captain Ahab. But not moi. When is a great white sperm whale not a great white sperm whale? That is the question.

But everyone quotes Chapter 42. I believe it’s considered quite tacky.

Here’s where I would take a deep breathe, shake my head and say, “no one writes to the colonel”.