VHeadline commentarist Kenneth T. Tellis writes: The U.S. first got involved in the direct dismemberment of Colombia on November 3, 1903 ... to build the Panama Canal, through the Panama a part of the Republic of Colombia, for which Colombia would not grant permission, the U.S. Government sought another means.
It set up and armed a rebel group to declare itself independent of Colombia.
When Colombia attempted to send troops to Panama, the U.S. Navy intervened by having the gunboat the USS Nashville intercept and turn back the Colombian army.
- The U.S. government then put a naval blockade around Colombia, stopping it from receiving any armaments.
Of course this ban was not around the illegal state of Panama which the U.S. had created. But the U.S. government also went through the motions of signing an illegal treaty with Philippe Bunau-Varella a French citizen, called the Hay-Bunau Varella Treaty of Panama. This was the beginning of what became known as Gunboat Diplomacy by Teddy Roosevelt.
Its policy in effect was to "SPEAK SOFTLY, BUT CARRY A BIG STICK."
On December 20 1989 a U.S. force of 27,000 personnel was dispatched to Panama to oust its president, one Manuel Noriega, who had turned against his U.S. masters and taken over their DRUG BUSINESS for himself. This invasion of Panama was a croc, because while the U.S. government was talking of re-establishing democracy, it actually wanted the total control of Panama's drug industry.
- Many Panamanians were murdered by the invading U.S. forces and their number is still unknown.
The invading U.S. forces managed to capture Manuel Noriega, but they would not permit the international press to interview him. So, Manuel Noriega was put aboard a U.S.A.F. plane and spirited away to Florida, where he was incarcerated and kept at a secret location by the U.S. government.
The U.S. government chose to illegally detain a foreign citizen that they had kidnapped and refused to allow any press or representatives of other bodies, including the U.N. to meet him.
These again were in violation of the U.N. Human Rights Charter and also of the U.N. Charter itself.
Now we come to the present time and the actions of U.S. government vis-à-vis the illegal intrusion of the U.S. Special Forces/Colombian Army team that crossed an international border and attacked a so-called FARC guerilla encampment on the sovereign territory of Ecuador on March I, 2008.
The Bush regime immediately sought to condemn the Ecuadorian government, rather than the U.S. puppet regime of one Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia. But this is quite understandable, since any admission that Colombia had violated international law, would automatically imply that U.S. Special Forces had also broken the law.
- Thus, it was far better for the U.S. government to create the illusion that Ecuador along with Venezuela was to blame for the action.
The present situation in Colombia is really a Civil War that has been going on for close to 40 years. On the one side are the rightist elements called AUC, and on the other the two groups called FARC and the ELN. FARC and ELN are rebel groups fighting for the rights of all Colombians, not terrorist groups as the BUSH regime in the U.S. makes them out to be.
Therefore it is a political issue, and as the Civil War continues it is going to take its toll on Colombian lives.
The immediate recognition of FARC and ELN would alleviate the problem. But, the issue is being exacerbated by the direct involvement of the U.S., which has no business there to begin with.
It is up to Colombians to settle the stalemate by peaceful means and not have the U.S. supplying arms for the senseless killing to continue. But there is method in why the U.S. is there at all. The U.S. sees this as an opportunity to expand its control of Latin America through the puppet regime of Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia, thus it would not serve the U.S. to see the issue of Colombia resolved.
But we must also understand that there was precedent set before which could have repercussions. That issue is that while the American Civil War was being fought, a shipbuilding company in England had built a ship for a so-called French shipping company, when in fact the French company was a front for the Confederate States of America, and was their agent.
The ship being built was the CSS Alabama, which put out to sea under a different name and a neutral flag, but very quickly declared itself to be the CSS Alabama. The CSS Alabama was then used in attacking and capturing ships of the U.S. Merchant Marine and other U.S. Naval ships.
Britain was forced to pay the U.S. government $15.5 million as reparations for its part in aiding the Confederacy during the American Civil War, for building four ships for the Navy of the Confederate States of America, these being the CSS Alabama, CSS George, CSS Rappahannock and the CSS Shenandoah.
Now, it is up to the Ecuadorian government of Rafael Correa to take the matter up with the U.N. and the International Court and demand reparations from the U.S. and Colombia for their illegal raid on its sovereign territory by U.S. Special Forces and the Colombian army on March 1, 2008, and the Alabama Claims has already set the precedent for reparations that both the U.S. and Colombia must pay to Ecuador.
Kenneth T. Tellis
kenttellis@rogers.com
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