Elite’s control over Colombia’s media and government prevents public outrage over ‘Panama Papers’

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

Elite’s control over Colombia’s media and government prevents public outrage over ‘Panama Papers’

written by Lyra Bartell May 17, 2016

Even though the “Panama Papers” revealed how Colombia’s elite systematically hid money from tax authorities in offshore tax havens, the same elite’s influence in media has prevented public outcry, according to the former tax chief.

According to Juan Ricardo Ortega, the former director of Colombia’s tax agency DIAN, the elite’s control over mass media and government institutions has encouraged them to hide their wealth abroad, assuming they would never face consequences for it.

In an interview with newspaper Semana, Ortega blamed the relative media silence on the fact that “there are many very influential people with access to media power” in the Panama Papers.

This widespread control and influence over the media can no longer conceal the dollar signs of hidden money which are racking up after the release of 11 million documents from Panamanian law company Mossack Fonseca.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/100-billion-hidden-offshore-accounts-means-colombia/

[Octafish]

1. Just like here.

Trillions offshore.

Austerity at home.

Few know doodley-squat.

Win. Win. Win.

[forest444]

2. Just like in the U.S. - as Octafish pointed out - and in Argentina, for example.

There's a generalized confusion in Argentina about how exactly the Panama Papers implicate Macri and his gang, with many voters under the impression that "the accounts were closed or dormant" - when in reality millions were routinely moved from one account to the next (with millions in taxes going unpaid).

That is, as you pointed out in your other posts, almost entirely the result of deliberate misinformation by his pals at Clarín and La Nación - both of which were also Mossack Fonseca clients.

Even so, a lot has been backfiring on Macri. Take the Lázaro Báez circus (the public contractor and business partner of the Kirchners): Macri and his pet judges thought that by crucifying the guy, they could drag Mrs. Kirchner down with him.

But to their great surprise, it turns out that Macri's cousin and trustee, Ángel Calcaterra, is Báez's partner too - something that either Calcaterra hid from Macri, or that Macri thought would never be discovered.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110850158

Now, of course, Macri's trying to throw his cousin under the bus - and Calcaterra's running scared. There's no loyalty among thieves, even when they're related.