What Jumps Out: Moral Compasses

Donald Trump, having waited to see which way the land lies after Round One, has unsurprisingly thrown his support behind Tiger Abelardo.

Before we start, I will caveat this short note with my belief that neither run-off candidate on June 21 will prove a solution to Colombia’s issues. The talk of the cafes and bars is that these are the weakest second-round choices in recent memory, and we’ve had some poor ones. Their failings are numerous and are perhaps highlighted by the zealots on both sides of this uber-polarized situation, competing ever harder to throw mud at the other side. Some of the TV advertising is frankly nauseating.

This is more a quick chat about where Donald Trump’s own personal moral compass lies. We already saw with the pardon he granted to convicted former Honduran President Hernández, who was serving 45 years for drug and weapons offenses, that he is more than capable of looking past his own self-proclaimed values on drugs if the offender shares the same political persuasion.

Abelardo will, of course, be delighted that his hero and role model has backed him. He appears to share a scary number of his values and numerous other positions, including withdrawal from institutions such as the United Nations. However, others wonder if it might prove as much of a hindrance as a help, but that remains to be seen on June 21.

The irony (carried over from Hernández) lies in Trump’s support of Abelardo, a week after the extradition to the US of Alex Saab, a mega drug lord allied to Nicolás Maduro, to finally meet his judgment day. Saab is a very inconvenient truth for Abelardo, as he was the man who mounted a vociferous defense of one of Colombia’s most notorious criminals – and Saab is far from the only drug lord he has defended. Of course, there is the argument that everyone deserves a just defense, especially if they have bottomless riches; again, that is a decision for one’s personal conscience.

Finally, last week, we had Washington’s War Ministry announce the sinking of yet another speedboat allegedly laden with drugs, although as yet there has been no proof despite 60-plus such attacks at the cost of more than 200 lives. Again, we are reminded of Washington’s incoherent attitude toward drug cartels – an attitude heavily dependent on one’s political beliefs.

God Bless The Donald.