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UN Colombia Mission
Scandals Show Peacekeeping
Rot Under Guterres Amid Cuts
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
UN GATE,
Jan 8 – How corrupt is today's
UN under Antonio Guterres?
Today's follow up, the first
but certainly not last, is yet
once again on his mission in
Colombia, about which his
spokespeople Stephane Dujarric
and Melissa Fleming refuse all
Press questions. Inner City
Press has asked them, and
others, about the newest sex
abuse case against the UN
there. Now this, from UN
whistleblowers through Inner
City Press:
Dear Matthew Russell Lee, The dishonorable CMS
Yang Wang has reached new
lows, attempting to abolish
the post of a national staff
member while she was on
maternity leave. This action
was reportedly justified
under budgetary constraints.
The timing is particularly
concerning: the process was
initiated after the staff
member had delivered her
child, at a moment when she
was understandably not
monitoring her work email.
The attempt was made in
coordination with Mar
Brusola. According to
multiple staff members, the
justification used was an
alleged lack of performance
and skills on the part of
the staff member. These
claims are disputed and
raise concerns of pretext,
particularly given the
context of ongoing
allegations regarding
irregularities in CMS
recruitment processes,
including contested CMS
election procedures and a
disputed Chief ORM
selection.
This "cost-cutting"
measure is a farce when
compared to the mission’s
staggering financial
negligence. While looking to
fire a new mother, the
mission continues to fund a
bloated Engineering Unit
that handles no actual
construction. This is the
same unit that purchased AC
units without usable
refrigerant and solar panels
that sat rotting in paid
storage for years. These
purchases were reportedly
authorized by the corrupt
Thair Al-Tikitri, now
retired.
Most damning is the
environmental cover-up: the
waste of a dismantled water
treatment was discharged
onto land rented by the
mission, resulting in a
quiet payoff to silence the
owner. The
new SRSG might have
inherited this mess from
Massieu, but every day he
allows Wang, and Brusola to
remain in power, he signs
off on their abuses. The UN
cannot claim to be a moral
authority in Colombia while
it treats its own staff with
such calculated disdain.
On June 19, 2025 Inner
City Press
applied to USG Melissa
Fleming and Tal Mekel of
MALU to enter and cover
UNGA30.
More than two months
later, no answer at
all, as they
accredit
state media
from dictatorships.
Shameful.
We'll have
more on all this. Keep the info
coming.
***
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