COLOMBIAN President Alvaro Uribe received a rough ride during a visit to Strasbourg this week when London Green Party Euro-MP Jean Lambert led a protest in the parliament chamber, denouncing the visit as 'insensitive and inappropriate'.
Mrs Lambert led fellow Green Euro-MPs in donning scarves calling for 'peace and justice' for Colombia, in protest at the Latin American nation's repressive response to ongoing insurgency.
President Uribe has been singled out by human rights organisations as leading one of the world's most repressive regimes. His visit comes on the second anniversary of the kidnapping of Colombian Green presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
Mrs Lambert said: "The Parliament's invitation to the Colombian President at this time is insensitive and inappropriate - there are too many questions about human rights violations in Colombia and Uribe's response to the ongoing conflict there.
"Year after year, the UN High Commission on Human Rights has described human rights violations in frightening detail and Colombia's present policies are moving the country in the wrong direction."
ENDS
Editors Note: Picture of Jean Lambert wearing 'Peace and Justice' scarf in the Parliament Chamber available on request from Ben on 020 7407 6280
For more information please contact Ben Duncan on 020 7407 6280, 07973 823358 or press@greenmeps.org.uk