Join in 7 seconds.. Existing users: sign in.

all forums, active | friendly talkzone, travel tips, visa & paperwork, renting, selling & meetups, politics & the war, espanol

British Government promises to discuss new death threats in Colombia

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/217426/120844325395.htm
British Government promises to discuss new death threats in Colombia
17 Apr 2008 14:36:00 GMT
Source: Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) - UK
CAFOD
Website: http://www.cafod.org.uk

British Government promises to discuss new death threats in Colombia

The British Government has promised to discuss new death threats against priests and members of development and human rights organisations in Colombia.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has agreed to meet aid agency CAFOD after the so-called paramilitary group, the Black Eagles (�?guilas Negras), threatened to assassinate members of CAFOD's partner organisations in the north of Colombia.

The email from the Black Eagles said CAFOD's partner, the Development and Peace Programme of Magdalena Medio, human rights group SEMBRAR, the Federación de Agricultores y Mineros (Farmers and Miners Federation) and priests and parishioners in the region were all "military targets" in an "annihilation plan" and "will be exterminated one by one".

It continued: "We are watching you every minute...The plan to annihilate you will begin at any point. We are not joking about assassinating you, so go and warn your relatives so they can prepare your burial."

CAFOD has already met the new Colombian ambassador in London, Noemí Sanín, and conveyed its concerns about these threats and continued paramilitary intimidation in the South American country - where a conflict has been raging for four decades. aramilitary g Clare Dixon, head of CAFOD's Latin America and Caribbean Department, said: "This latest threat is another sign that the notorious paramilitary groups are still active, despite the Colombian government's demobilisation process.

"The continued activity of these groups and their influence in politics is undermining Colombia's claim to be a democratic state providing security for its citizens. People have a right to live in peace.

"We are pleased the British Government is taking these threats seriously - more than 2,000 people have been murdered in the region since 1986 including 28 members of our Magdalena Medio partner organisation."

Notes to editor:
CAFOD is the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development which works with communities in over 50 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, supporting people to find their own solutions to poverty. The agency works with all people regardless of race, gender, religion or nationality. CAFOD has worked in Colombia since the1960s.

The internationally-respected Magdalena Medio Programme is run by the church and development agencies. It receives funding from the World Bank and the European Union to run a "peace laboratory" which involves communities in economic and social development projects in order to promote peace.

Paramilitary groups in Colombia were originally set up to protect rich landowners but they have now become heavily involved in drug trafficking and there is evidence of collusion with the armed forces. In 2005 a Justice and Peace law was passed to demobilise paramilitary and guerrilla groups, however it failed to dismantle the organisations' structures and many continue to commit horrendous human rights violations.

For more information, interviews or case studies, contact Anna Ford on 0207 095 5557, 07785 950378 aford at cafod.org.uk

By romy on Apr 17, 2008, 19:19 in Politics & the war.

romy says on Apr 17, 2008, 20:08:

Also, in British-Colombia relations...
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/why-is-gordon-meeting-up-with-shakira...
Gordon Brown to talk to pop star Shakira on education
Advertisement
April 18, 2008 - 6:41AM

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is planning talks with Colombian pop sensation Shakira on education in the developing world.

The telephone talks scheduled for Monday follow Brown's meeting earlier this month with George Clooney on violence in Darfur.

Brown's office said today that he and the pop singer will discuss an aim for every child to have access to quality primary education by 2015. Shakira is a longtime supporter of education projects.

The British leader is on a four-day tour of the US but due to return to London by Saturday.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 17, 2008, 20:23:

Quote: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is planning talks with Colombian pop sensation Shakira on education in the developing world.
=========

Now that's one benefit of being prime minister I'd never considered.

Oh,, telephone talks,, well,, he probably didn't have a pole in his office anyway.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

0 funny, 0 helpful.

robi666 says on Apr 17, 2008, 20:45:

What? Still talking about an email?

No other evidences? A panflet, writing on the walls, a dead horse in a bed?

Still the same delirious email of a couple of months ago, signed by the unreal Comandante Camilo none heard about before? The same email sent by Aguilasnegrasenrearme at hotmail.com?

http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/post/organizers-of-the-march-6-protes...

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kat1 (Moderator) says on Apr 18, 2008, 06:33:

I think that he is now talking to all this celebrities he should go and have a word with Bruce Willis and Stallone to see if they can fight the guerrillas and rescue all the hostages.

engage brain before opening mouth

0 funny, 0 helpful.

britabroad says on Apr 18, 2008, 14:33:

It comes as no suprise that twat Brown chooses to speak to a pop star about something like education.
His own governments record on education is dire to say the least.
He'll be talking to some tvnovella actor about the situation with Venezuela next.

Leave the big stick at home...carry a cannon!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

SiV says on Apr 18, 2008, 20:47:

What does Shakira know about Colombian education? I imagine she went to the richest private bilingual school in Barranquilla, Bogota, Miami,. . .or wherever she grew up. Bet she's never stepped into a Colombian state school unless it was to promote one of her records.
Of course, I could be way off the mark here. Anyone know?

Stultórum númere infinitum est.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

robi666 says on Apr 18, 2008, 21:32:

I am not sure that she was born rich...

0 funny, 0 helpful.

britabroad says on Apr 19, 2008, 12:24:

All I could find was that her father was a writer and that she attended a Catholic school in Barranquilla where her music teacher said she had a voice "like a goat".

Leave the big stick at home...carry a cannon!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Cerealkiller says on Apr 19, 2008, 12:31:

She wasnt always rich. She went to a nuns' school in BAQ, not an estrato 6 bilingual school. As a matter of fact, she learned English after becoming famous, which I believe is quite cool as most people who learn languages as adults are painful to listen to...

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Alma del Norte says on Apr 19, 2008, 18:51:

De acuerdo, es muy doloroso a me escucha! :(

La vida es una rutina

0 funny, 0 helpful.

billyb says on Apr 19, 2008, 22:27:

"he probably didn't have a pole in his office anyway."

I wouldn't mind seeing shak working a pole.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kalder says on Apr 20, 2008, 09:16:

Lots of poles in British offices. And building sites and restaurants and farms and...

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

0 funny, 0 helpful.

britabroad says on Apr 20, 2008, 20:54:

... and then they claim unemployment benefit too, send it home and buy a house in Poland with it.

Leave the big stick at home...carry a cannon!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

SiV says on Apr 21, 2008, 11:24:

. . .bloody foreigners living outside their own home countries! Especially the ones taking advantage of exchange rates to lead a beter life!

Stultórum númere infinitum est.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kalder says on Apr 21, 2008, 12:43:

Bloody right-on hippies...

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

0 funny, 0 helpful.

romy says on Apr 21, 2008, 14:16:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfSi0MQ_qzmbeeoTbAOI69cdVsIAD906EKQ...
Shakira praises British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
By DAVID STRINGER – 1 hour ago
LONDON (AP) — George Clooney. Angelina Jolie. Shakira.

Not a red carpet lineup, but a roll call of celebrities the sometimes dour British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has recruited to inject glamour into his appeals to help the developing world.

Brown joined a telephone conference Monday with Shakira, praising the Colombian pop sensation for taking an inspirational role in work to provide a basic education for every child in the world.

The Grammy-winning singer, famed for her hit "Hips Don't Lie," is supporting a week of events to highlight the cause of education advocacy group the Global Campaign for Education.

She said the group is pressing world leaders to provide funding for primary education for 72 million young children who now miss out on schooling as a result of poverty.

The group also aims to generate support for some 226 million older children who miss out on classes because of a lack of access to schools, or because of truancy.

Brown is the world's "No. 1 champion of education," said the group's chairman, Gene Sperling, an ex-White House economic adviser to former President Clinton.

Shakira also praised Brown, who as British treasury chief in 2006 pledged $15 billion over 10 years for education in the developing world — the largest offer of aid from a Group of Eight industrialized nation.

"He is a man with wonderful intentions, he is very pro-active, he is working very hard for the issue of education," Shakira said, speaking from Washington on a conference call.

The 31-year-old singer said she had previously met Brown to discuss aid for education. "I could feel how passionate and enthusiastic he was about it," she said.

"She is inspiring people all over the world," Brown said, returning the singer's praise as he joined the call from London.

Brown has made work on meeting the Millennium Development Goals — a set of development standards on education, health, literacy and poverty — a key plank of his foreign policy.

Betraying his often gloomy demeanor, Brown regularly courts celebrities to lend backing to his campaigns.

He held talks with George Clooney earlier this month on violence in Darfur, has worked closely with Bono and Bob Geldof on aid for Africa, and chatted with Angelina Jolie in 2006 on education.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

britabroad says on Apr 21, 2008, 16:09:

"I could feel how passionate and enthusiastic he was about it."

Must have had her sitting on his knee.

Leave the big stick at home...carry a cannon!

0 funny, 0 helpful.