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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