Q: What do Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair, ex-Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe have in common?A: They will all receive the Medal of Freedom.
On Tuesday, President George W. Bush will grant the honor to the three leaders during one of his last public gestures before leaving offive. The ceremony will be held in the White House one week before the inauguration of incoming president Barack Obama.
According to White House press secretary Dana Perino, Uribe and co. are being honored for “their work to improve the lives of their citizens and for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad”. Indeed, Uribe has enjoyed great support amongst most Colombians especially for his “democratic security” policy. Yet his presidency has had its share of shortcomings that contradict some of what Perino claimed.
Uribe has had to endure the “para-politics” scandal which has linked some of closest allies including his brother to rightist paramilitary squads. There’s also the supposedly “contaminated” process behind the push to allow him to run for a third term. Uribe came under fire over alledged bribes to senators that enabled his first reelection. Extrajudicial murders have risen as Colombia’s armed forces have been tainted by planting “false positives”. Public opinion has dipped over Uribe’s perceived weak reaction to the collapse of several pyramid schemes. Even the much celebrated mission to rescue over a dozen hostages last July was not without its controversy.
Even with all these shortcomings at least the Medal of Freedom hasn’t been granted to those who grossly miscalculated the early stages of the Iraqi invasion.
Oh wait…
Image- Voice of America
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Guardian UK, Colombia Reports, USA TODAY, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, CBS News, AP, Voice of America, New York Times, semana.com
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