"In Colombia, brainy outsider and Uribe torchbearer vie for presidency" by Frank Bajak, Associated Press | May 29, 2010
IBAGUE, Colombia — Colombia’s newest political sensation.
Antanas Mockus’s unorthodox methods and colorful campaign have catapulted him from fringe status into a statistical dead heat with the former defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, in tomorrow’s election for president of Colombia, Washington’s top ally in South America.
Are you mocking us with this repetitive filler, Glob?
The sudden rise in the polls of this political outsider — from 3 percent in March to well more than 30 percent now — is giving Colombians what could be their most riveting election in decades.
A victory for Mockus, the son of Lithuanian immigrants, would make him the world’s first Green Party president — though his emphasis is more on clean government than clean environment....
The pro-Mockus “Green Wave’’ has been surging ever since Santos’s Unity Party — the strongest in Uribe’s governing coalition — won the most seats in March 14 congressional elections.
Though Uribe’s approval rating still hovers around 70 percent, his legacy is threatened by a raft of scandals: Prosecutors say soldiers killed more than 1,000 innocent civilians during his tenure, while Uribe advisers allegedly ordered illegal spying on judges, journalists, and human rights workers.
You know, the typical US client behavior in the region; that's why the other countries are all voting in leftist leaders.
And well-heeled Uribe backers received millions of dollars in irrigation subsidies intended to help needy farmers....
And LOOK what was CUT from the WEB PIECE:
Mockus recently told an interviewer he thought Colombia should follow the Costa Rican model and dissolve its military.
Wow WHAT an INCREDIBLE IDEA, 'eh, America?
Then there would be NO MORE NEED for LYING US INTO WARS, 'eh, MSM?
Backtracking later, he said he wasn't not (sic) actually proposing dismantling of Colombia's armed forces.
So who paid him a visit?
--more--"
Obama's Colombian Template
FARC foe will face runoff in Colombia
So much for the dead heat, huh?
Why do I smell the stench of another rigged election?
