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by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Belisario Betancur, the ex-president of Colombia (1982-1986) died in his bed on the 7th of December, 2018. He corpse hadn’t even time to go cold before he received and avalanche of eulogies from politician, ns and the press. El Espectador gave over various pages to him and the magazine Semana did likewise. They are all in agreement, the man of peace has died, but unlike Salvador Allende, the real Man of Peace in Benedetti’s poem, he did not die under fire from the bullets, warplanes and tanks of the Empire, but rather he died in peace and will be buried in the midst of a wave of praise. The eulogies from the press are not surprising. Betancur was, after all, one of them and social etiquette is to speak well of the dead, especially if he happens to be a president of the country. You only have to look at all the liberals praising the recently deceased president of the USA, George H.W. Bush, the man who brought new vigour to conventional warfare and also to the death squads in Central America. Death pardons everything. It would seem scientists can discuss whether we are born with a blank slate, but without a doubt the press and the powerful give a kind of blank slate to some when they die. It is hardly surprising. But, what has the reformist left in Colombia to say for itself? There are two tweets that embody a certain vision of Betancur and the issue of . . . full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/colombia-the-real-and-bloody-legacy-of-belisario-betancur/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
