tasco66 says on Jul 18, 2008, 10:55:
Thank god there are honest, hard working investigative journalists in Switzerland:
Here are just some interesting parts of the article:
According to the e-mails of Juan-Antonio, the professor displays unabashed sympathy for the FARC and offers his advice on how optimally to use the hostages: “The new Minister of France, Dominique de Willepin [sic!], has been a personal friend of Ingrid for many years now, Gontard says, and it is the perfect time to play political games [jugadas politicas], in order to increase the rift that exists vis-à -vis the USA insofar as Colombia is concerned. One adequate measure would be to signal to France the possibility of a solution in Ingrid’s case that would deepen the contradiction and could have political benefits. For example, Ingrid could go public with a document from the FARC and present to the world a proposal that could include national reconciliation, an exchange [of prisoners] and other matters. This [document] would be published all over the world and would generate a lot of publicity. It could bring about a very rapid change in the attitude of the EU and other countries.� The last-mentioned point concerns the plans of the European Union to place the FARC on its terror list.
According to Juan-Antonio, Gontard is even prepared to obtain a Swiss visa for him, so that he can have direct contact with the ICRC, the Swiss government, and the UN. Juan-Antonio would like to undertake a European tour. Gontard warns him that outside of Switzerland and France he could encounter “legal� problems.
The FARC are pursuing one goal above all: they want to be taken off the list of terrorist organizations and recognized as a “party to an internal conflict.� Following the kidnapping of Betancourt, France has shown a certain willingness to accommodate the demand. Switzerland has no problem with it, since Switzerland has never qualified the FARC as a terrorist organization. And the EDA, now under Calmy-Rey’s leadership, has no intention of changing this position – as Gontard repeatedly assures the hostage-takers.
the criminal acts of the FARC are, of course, broadly condemned, but at the same time they are relativized by reference to the attacks of the civilian paramilitary forces, which latter are described in great detail and treated as far more serious. In keeping with the doctrine that is widespread in Europe, the core of the problem is supposed to be social injustice. This formula presupposes that the guerilla enjoy substantial support among the population – a premise that Uribe’s popularity disproves – and it inverts cause and effect. The undoubtedly brutal and corrupt paramilitaries did not give rise to the guerilla; on the contrary, they are themselves clearly a consequence of the guerilla’s rise.
After his predecessor was led around by the nose for years by the guerilla over the course of fraudulent negotiations, Alvaro Uribe decides to use force. In the final analysis, he is simply trying to uphold Colombian law. (In Colombia, it is against the law even just to pay a ransom.) But the Europeans – who cling to their third-worldist dogma and insist on “dialogue� with the extortionists – put pressure on Uribe, and in spring 2004 he declares his willingness, nonetheless, to give Switzerland, France, and Spain a mandate to conduct negotiations with the FARC. Colombia is seeking to sign free trade agreements and it is important to maintain good relations with the old world.
On 29 June 2004, Jean-Pierre Gontard, the professor from Geneva, travels to the jungle encampment of Raúl Reyes. There he is received as the “personal adviser to Chancellor [sic!] Micheline Calmy-Rey.� The French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur will later describe the trip as a daring expedition. In fact, it is no more dangerous than your average vacation safari. The “Foreign Minister� of the FARC has already taken up residence on the Ecuadorian side of the border.
According to the report, the professor also offered his services to Reyes as strategy advisor in the poker game surrounding the hostages. The three Americans that the FARC have likewise taken captive are, according to Gontard, “definitely members of the CIA, the governments represented by him have no interest in them.� On Reyes’s account, Gontard advises him, nonetheless, not to kill the three Americans and to “preserve them in very good condition, since they could still be very useful sometime in the future.� The Swiss professor reportedly tells Reyes that a FARC demand for one hundred million dollars in exchange for a six month ceasefire is realistic. And verbatim: “He says that Ingrid is a jewel [una joya] in the hands of the FARC, because she is very important for the French government.�
Bravo, Presidente Uribe for the perfect operation!
0 funny, 0 helpful.
