After Colombian President Uribe’s embarrassingly obvious support for Republican John McCain during his campaign for the U.S. presidency, the people of that country are now grappling with the damage that such support is likely to have done to relations with President-elect Obama’s Administration.

Beyond the likely negative impact on the much-hoped for U.S.-Colombia Free Trade deal, Semana columnist Nelson Camilo Sánchez forecasts that the Uribe Government is likely to get a whole lot more serious about human rights.

Sánchez writes in part:

“While the entire planet celebrates the victory of the donkey, members of the Colombian government must be regretting months of snubbing the party of Platero’s kin [a Platero is a small donkey. Like no other government in the world, President Uribe and his cohorts pulled out all the stops to support the Republican campaign. Perhaps the only thing missing was for them to wear McCain-Palin ’08 lapel pins, because they did everything else: A presidential reception, a tour of Cartagena, compliments here, flattery there. … To avoid repeating another blunder, the government has the alternative of taking Obama’s election not as a tragedy that has altered its plans, but as a political opportunity to correct course and adopt a sincere commitment to human rights matters, among other issues that the new administration will examine under a microscope.”

By Nelson Camilo Sánchez

Translated By Liz Essary

November 14, 2008

Colombia – Semana – Original Article (Spanish)
There are two symbolic animals in United States politics: The elephant and the donkey. The first is the symbol of the Republican Party, the party of Bush and candidate McCain. The second is the mascot of the Democratic Party. The history of the donkey goes back to 1828 when opponents of Andrew Jackson tried to label him an “ass” because of his veneer of populism. But Jackson took things one step further than his critics, using the animal on his campaign posters.

While the entire planet celebrates the victory of the donkey, members of the Colombian government must be regretting months of snubbing the party of Platero’s kin [a Platero is a small donkey http://worldmeets.us/imagesui/readiconmini.gif]. Like no other government in the world, [Colombian President Alvaro] Uribe and his cohorts pulled out all the stops to support the Republican campaign. Perhaps the only thing missing was for them to wear McCain-Palin ’08 lapel pins, because they did everything else: A presidential reception, a tour of Cartagena, compliments here, flattery there http://worldmeets.us/imagesui/readiconmini.gif. … Now, after the people of the United States have come out en masse to punish with their votes the path of disgrace that Republicans have led that country and the world down for the past eight years, Uribe’s government has no choice but to attempt to redeem itself with “That One” (as John McCain once referred to Obama) and his party.