Yet Another Blow to the FARC
Via the BBC: Farc 'co-ordinator' held in Spain Spanish police say they have arrested the representative of the left-wing Colombian rebel group Farc in Spain. Maria Remedios Garcia Albert, a Spanish national, was detained near Madrid, as part of a joint operation by the Spanish and Colombian authorities. [...] It is claimed that Ms Garcia helped co-ordinate the group's wider activities in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 27, 2008 10:50
Colombia Misused Red Cross Symbol in Betancourt Rescue
The daring rescue of Ingrid Betancourt from FARC terrorists misused the Red Cross symbol in violation of the Geneva Conventions. A member of the military mission that tricked Colombian rebels into freeing 15 hostages wore the insignia of the International Red Cross during the operation, President Alvaro Uribe said Wednesday. Mr. Uribe said his government had apologized to the Red Cross for ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 16, 2008 15:20
Ingrid Betancourt Rescued by Colombia Army
Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio was freed yesterday in a daring rescue by the Colombian National Army after more than five years of captivity by FARC narco-terrorists. [S]he and 14 other hostages — including three U.S. military contractors held since 2003 — were airlifted to freedom in an audaciously "perfect" operation involving military spies who tricked the rebels into handing over their prize ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 3, 2008 07:25
Confirmed: Ecuadoran Killed in Colombian Raid on FARC
Here's a follow-up to a story I noted yesterday: (via the BBC), Ecuadorean death report confirmedColombia has confirmed that an Ecuadorean was killed when its troops attacked a rebel camp inside the neighbouring state three weeks ago. Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said his body was taken to Colombia after the raid along with that of top leftist Colombian rebel ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 24, 2008 07:11
Tensions Continue Between Colombia and Ecuador
Via the BBC: Ecuador warns Colombia over raidEcuador President Rafael Correa has warned of diplomatic tension if an Ecuadorean is found among the victims of a Colombian raid inside Ecuador. Mr Correa said Ecuador would not forgive the murder of Franklin Aisalia, if he had indeed died during the raid on Farc rebels inside Ecuador. But he said he hoped Colombia ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 23, 2008 10:06
Florida and Michigan Do-Overs
The Democratic National Committee is trying to work out a means for Florida and Michigan to stage delegate selection contests within the rules but there has thus far been no plan that's acceptable to the states and both campaigns. Meanwhile, some supporters of Hillary Clinton are arguing that the DNC should simply seat the delegates from the previous round of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 10, 2008 10:11
Belgium Divided
Sarah Laitner has an interesting piece in today's Financial Times about the Balkanization of Belgium. Belgium, divided between Flanders, its wealthy Dutch-speaking north, and francophone Wallonia in the south, has chugged along without a new federal government for a record 165 days. Since elections in June, the bickering parties in a centre-right would-be coalition have failed to form an administration. The ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 21, 2007 15:37
Ward Churchill Fired for Academic Misconduct
After years of controversy, Colorado University finally fired Ward Churchill yesterday afternoon. CU President Hank Brown had earlier recommended the dismissal. In the end, there really wasn’t much choice, Brown said. Churchill "falsified history and fabricated history." And Churchill "did not express regret, apologize or agree to refrain from this behavior in the future," Brown said. Some 25 faculty members on three ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 25, 2007 15:55
Colombia Releases FARC Prisoners–Inlcuding a Key FARC Leader
Cross-posted from La Política Colombiana: Via the BBC: Colombia releases top Farc rebel The Colombian government has released a jailed guerrilla leader in the hope he will encourage the rebels to release the 56 hostages they hold. Rodrigo Granda, known as the Farc rebel group's "foreign minister", was freed as the authorities prepare to release up to 200 guerrillas from ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 5, 2007 13:46
FARC Rejects Prisoner Release Move by Uribe
Cross-posted from La Política Colombiana: Via the BBC: Colombian rebels spurn jail deal Colombia's biggest rebel group insists it will not release any hostages even though the government has announced plans to free some 200 jailed rebels. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, said the gesture by President Alvaro Uribe was a "farce". A Farc statement said the government ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 4, 2007 09:45
Bill Richardson Job Interview Ads
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's has a new ad campaign out that's going viral on YouTube. The first ads, "Job Interview" and "Tell Me" poke fun of the fact that the candidate is a virtual unknown despite having easily the most impressive resume in the Democratic field. Here's the video of the two ads, which run back-to-back: Kevin Drum thinks they're ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 10, 2007 14:18
Senator John McCain YouTube Interview
Senator John McCain did an interview with the folks at YouTube which was, not surprisingly, made into a YouTube video: Highlights: "I assume that there's a camera there at all times. You really have to." Quite right. He's also quite accommodating when asked to give a brief "rant" about government spending. He dodges, however, what would seem a softball question as ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 7, 2007 15:42
1st Republican Debate of 2008 – Video, Transcripts, Reax
I caught perhaps half an hour of last night's so-called debate between Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and eight other guys. I don't feel deprived at not having seen the rest. The format was awful and the not unreasonable decision to include people whose candidacy has no shot (Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul, at a minimum) made the time to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 4, 2007 07:59
Lieberman Leaning Further Republican
Political Insider's Alec Oveis: Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D/I-CT) told CongressDaily that he will support Sen. Susan Collins's (R-ME) re-election bid in 2008, "even though Democrats have already targeted her seat to try to keep control of the Senate." "Lieberman also reserved the option of endorsing a Republican for president in 2008 and repeated statements that he has not ruled out a future ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 13, 2007 15:53
Lawmakers: 5 Day Work Week a Grind
There is a growing bipartisan consensus among Congressmen that they work too damned hard, reports The Politico's Ryan Grim. Even before Democratic leaders have made good on promises to harness lawmakers five days a week, cross-party opposition is growing, with senators ready to revolt and House members simmering over the new schedule. The most popular move afoot would have lawmakers ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 7, 2007 08:38
