NBC News Whitewashes Colombia’s Right-Wing President view post on FAIR.org by Harrison Malkin Colombian President Iván Duque gave a talk on June 21 at the “Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity” on his book Orange Economy: An Infinite Opportunity. Duque wasn’t alone—Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, singer John Legend and former NBA star Dwyane Wade also made appearances at the French Riviera event. Claire Atkinson, the senior media editor at NBC News (6/27/19), interviewed Duque after his talk—but instead of asking hard questions and doing deep political analysis, she turned to easy questioning, opting not to follow up on his answers, while omitting the realities on the ground in Colombia. It seems as if his stance on climate change and his ideas on creativity were good enough to erase his record. NBC News (6/27/19) interviews Colombian President Iván Duque with kid gloves. NBC News didn’t include the fact that the country’s Afro-Colombians, indigenous people and campesinos, among others, are protesting him in large numbers—with a recent poll showing that his approval rating is at 28 percent, only a year after he took office. NBC News readers were given no indication of his unpopularity or the opposition movement against him. The Colombian people are protesting the army’s order to “double the number of criminals and militants they kill, capture or force to surrender in battle…and possibly accept higher civilian casualties in the process,” as the New York Times (5/18/19) reported. They’re protesting the mass murder of activists, a “systematic action,” and the degradation of workers rights. Public Radio International (4/26/19) documented that activists and human rights advocates are being murdered in Colombia at the rate of one every three days—and that Duque’s political allies have longstanding ties to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a notorious death squad. But we don’t see any questions from NBC Newson these grim realities. Public Radio International (4/26/19) reports a side of Colombia that you can’t see from Cannes. In Duque’s talk, he said he wants Colombia to be the “Silicon Valley” of Latin America. To do this, he put in place a “zero income tax for seven years for creative and tech industries in Colombia.” Colombia Reports (1/7/15) writes that “inequality is a widely cited cause of Colombia’s armed conflict.” And so in Colombia, one of the most unequal countries in the world, the consequences of yet another policy favoring the wealthy isn’t investigated by NBC News. The sub-headline of the NBC News interview is this quote from Duque: “We only produce 0.4 percent of CO2 global emissions, but we are one of the most vulnerable countries on climate change effects.” Accepting his self-portrayal as an environmental advocate, Atkinson didn’t ask Duque about his plans to expand aerial fumigation of coca farms, a tactic cheered on by the United States. Colombia Reports (4/4/14) explains that this means the livelihoods and health of small-scale farmers are continuously threatened by the damaging effects of chemical pesticides dropped from government-contracted planes in Colombia’s remote regions. The neoliberal Duque brought up the relationship between the United States and Colombia (the US sends $400 million dollars a year in military and economic aid to Colombia) while answering a question on the drug war. “We have been allies of the United States, and they have been allies in this task, but as I said, it’s a matter of co-responsibility.” The US’s relationship with Colombia, “our closest ally at this moment in South America,” according to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, isn’t explored any further by NBC News or Duque. As NACLA (12/6/18) puts it, Duque’s aggressive anti-drug rhetoric continues the approach of Plan Colombia, the failed counternarcotics strategy that defined US/Colombia relations between 1999 and 2015. Under Plan Colombia, US taxpayers contributed to the financing of widespread human rights violations. NBCUniversal, a sponsor of the Cannes event, didn’t find the time to ask about this, either. You can send messages to  NBC News (or via Twitter: @NBCNews). Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. Featured image: Colombian President Iván Duque at Cannes.

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