Monday, April 29, 2013

Attorney General Ordoñez Vs. Historical Fact

A.G. Ordoñez prefers not to answer.
Colombia's Federation of Jewish Communities is demanding that Attorney General Alejandro Ordoñez come clean on whether he believes the Nazi Holocaust happened.

For the record, it's hard to think of another historical even that's better documented than the Holocaust: there are the survivors' statements, the Nuremberg and other trials, confessions by Nazi perpetrators, voluminous Nazi records, the concentration camps - which are there to be visited, and, of course, the fact that the large Jewish populations which existed across Europe disappeared during World War II.

According to historical investigators, the Nazis massacred some 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of gays, Gypsies, communists and disabled people.

A lie? Piled corpses of victims of the Nazi Holocaust.

Ordoñez, a hard line conservative and traditionalist Catholic, got himself into this situation during an April 8Blu Radio. Ordóñez has said that he feels like he's 'on trial at Nuremberg' because of criticisms of his views opposing abortion, gay rights and a law banning discrimination.
interview by writer Héctor Abad Faciolince on

Abad asked Ordóñez "Do you believe that the Jewish Holocaust, by the government of Hitler, was an exaggeration?"

Armando Valenzuela Ruiz,
Colombian neo Nazi.

(Photo from a Neo Nazi
 site, where he shares the 
page with Hitler, 
Mussolini and Goebbels.)

Abad's didn't come out of the blue, as Daniel Coronell, a newspaper columnist, leader of Colombia's tiny Jewish community and executive of Univision in Miami, pointed out in a column in Semana magazine. After all, Ordóñez is a follower of conservative Catholic Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, some of whose other followers have denied the Holocaust. Even more incriminating are Ordoñez's associations with Armando Valenzuela Ruiz, a founder of Colombia's paramilitaries and life-long Holocaust denier who is venerated by Colombia's neo-Nazis.

In 1975, Ordoñez, Valenzuela and others signed a letter congratulating Ecuador's dictator for escaping a coup attempt. The letter, from 'Colombian nationalists' was published in Valenzuela's openly anti-semitic newspaper, according to Coronell. (The letter congratulated the dictator for triumphing over 'International Masonry,' but the bizarre conspiracy theories about Freemasons deserve their own blogpost.)

The letter was written 38 years ago, which gives Ordoñez plenty of time to
The February issue of Semana
magazine calls Ordoñez 'all powerful.'
have changed his ideas and associations. And Abad gave Ordoñez his opportunity to make clear that he believes that the Holocaust, like other historical events, really happened. Instead, Ordoñez thanked Abad and ended the interview.

Does Ordoñez deny the Holocaust? He made it easy to believe that he does. Colombia's Federation of Jewish Communities called on Ordoñez to state his position on the Holocaust. He hasn't responded.

People who seize onto the bizarre idea of Holocaust denial usually don't do it based on historical research, but motivated by anti-semitism.

A sign at Bogotá's May Day parade says
'Hitler killed 6 million Jews.
Ordoñez killed Colombia's democracy.'
As bad as religious prejudice is, especially for someone responsible for enforcing the law evenhandedly, even worse might be what it suggests about how Ordoñez's reasoning. Colombia is supposed to be a secular nation with no official religion, where policy decisions are made based on evidence. If Ordoñez really doesn't believe in the Holocaust, despite all the evidence, then what does he think about global warming, evolution, the basis of human sexuality and so many other subjects? Should anybody who bases his positions on ideology - whether prejudices or religion - be making decisions in a secular nation?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

18 comments:

Stuart Oswald said...

Not sure how you managed to turn Religious Prejudice, Catholic and Holocaust into an agenda of.. global warming, evolution, the basis of human sexuality and so many other subjects..? But you did somewhat so jaggedly. The thin line being, someone of religion holding official office.?. Colombia being secular does not mean it is wholly atheistic (thank God). People of any faith or belief have a right to hold office providing they can follow the letter of the law and uphold the constitution (without infringing on their religious beliefs). This would go for any person, be they follow Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Atheism... I admit I know rather little of "Holocaust Denial". I can't believe they outright believe it didn't happen. I might think it's them not admitting it happen to the large extent that it did or them not disagreeing with what the atheistic National Socialists did to religious human beings.

mauricio forero l said...

This guy Ordonez is such a disgrace. Every time I read his name is for this kind of backwardness. The question is Mike...How in hell this moron has a job or any kind of office with the government. Secularism should be the only way to be part of government. They should have a IQ test for these idiots. You have to be a complete moron, backward ass to denied Hitler's atrocities.

Miguel said...

Hi Mauricio - Thanks for your comment. I expected you'd be in agreement.

Stuart - Thanks for your comment, too. The connection to global warming, evolution, etc is that the people who refuse to believe these things are doing so against overwhelming evidence, generally for ideological, self-interested or religious reasons.

Mike

Stuart Oswald said...

Yes, Miguel. Point being, I was impressed how you brought this into the article. Especially when none of those points need apply to the topic of the Holocaust. Getting "Catholic" in there was a stroke of genius on your part. And what's more worrying here is that you chose to lump those so inclined people, as so called opponents to your beliefs and views (climate change, (supposed) sexual rights, religion...). I am opposed to much of your ideological commentary but that does not make me a holocaust denier. That is immoral dirty politics you're playing. I am disappointed. Thankfully, I am too adapt at seeing through it. I feel sorry for some good intentioned people here that are not able to see through the ensuing implications.

Miguel said...

I included those other issues because they are often ideologically-motivated beliefs, whereas leaders should base their policies on facts.

No need for politicians to be atheists, but applying personal belief to public policy is another issue. Stuart, I wonder whether you would feel differently if Ordoñez were a fundamentalist Muslim applying his religious beliefs to public policy.

Mike

camisaneri said...

This article, and this whole issue are malicious. The great proof of Coronell is a newspaper of Armando Valenzuela, where the name of Ordoñez appears. Any other relation, between Ordoñez and Valenzuela is inexistent. In fact, anyone that have read Valenzuela's work, must know it doesn't aboard holocaust denial issues at all, and if it does it is almost non-existent in his work.

Valenzuela was a crazy man, who was a militant of the Communist Party of Colombia and a personal friend of Camilo Torres... Then, mysteriously he became an anticommunist... Ordoñez who lived in Santander and had study a great deal of time in Italy, would have known very little about who was Armando Valenzuela, if he knew who he was...

Coronell also suggest Lefebvrists are holocaust revisionist, but Lefebvrists doesn't have a standard opinion about the holocaust for god sake.

The great proof of Coronell is this newspaper, where Ordoñez name appears supporting moderate leftist Guillermo Rodriguez Lara, the coronel, who replaced the dictator called José María Velasco Ibarra (he assumed complete powers after he was elected for the fifth time), Velasco Ibarra almost destroyed Ecuador...

Come on, this is indignant Ordoñez never said he was an holocaust revisionist, when they ask him, he was forced to end the interview, because the interviewer have been a real dumbass with Ordoñez in the past, and the question was at least misguided.

Ordoñez must evade this malicious debate, he is the Procurador of Colombia, where people are killed every day by the guerrilla and by paramilitarism, he must not enter in an irrelevant discussion about the holocaust, where the only terms of the whole discussion is that somehow he is a nazi, and that he must ask for forgiveness for the Germany crimes...

Tercerista said...
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Tercerista said...
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Miguel said...

Ordoñez could issue a short statement and put all of this to rest. Why doesn't he? Otherwise, it'll dog him, especially as he's now being spoken of as a possible presidential candidate (which is scary).

Mike

camisaneri said...

http://www.ccjcolombia.org/int.php?id=887

Ally Brown said...

thank goodness Stuart here is adept (with an e, Stuart) enough to see through your dirty immoral politics Mike! For a minute there I thought you were simply saying that a powerful man in office should be able to differentiate between bigotry and evidence!

btw Stuart, Hitler was a Catholic, not an atheist

Stuart Oswald said...

Thanks Ally. By the way, you might want to capitalise the first letter of your sentences and even work on your sentencing structure too. ;)

I won't take your account of Hitler's beliefs, as it's very well established that his view of the world was atheistic. He was christened a Catholic but that is far from claiming he lived his life as one.

Miguel said...

Hi Stuart,

The fact is that Hitler did cite Christianity a lot, in Mein Kampf and his speeches, and that important churches supported Naziism.

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." - Hitler.

But Hitler did not identify himself as a Catholic.

Of course, it is possible that his talk about God was just to win support from churches and believers.

Mike

Stuart Oswald said...
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Stuart Oswald said...

Less even a Christian. He also had great admiration for Islam. He was overridingly an atheist. Himself and his ideology.

Miguel said...

Hitler an admirer of Islam? That's a new one on me.

Mike

Stuart Oswald said...

"The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?"

You learn something everyday.

Miguel said...

yes you do. I was also surprised to learn that Ghandi admired Hitler, at least thru the first year of the war. However, I think that was more a result of hating the British.

Mike