Colombia Election Today

Colombia is holding its presidential election today and all indications are that President Uribe will be reëlected. I'm certainly not enthusiastic about this. I think that Uribe, while having accomplished some good, is also deeply enamored of a policy that will give great ebenfits to the leaders of the AUC, who I believe should fac the consequences of their vicious crimes and should be forced to give up the rewards of their criminal activity. I also happen to think that this criticism is apt:

But as Mr. Uribe prepares for what will most likely be another four-year term, political analysts, opposition politicians and human rights groups have raised concern about the concentrated power he will amass and his often heavy-handed style of governing.

Sixty-one percent of Congress is allied with the president. Another four years will most likely put government allies on the Constitutional Court and in the comptroller's office, both now independent institutions prone to oppose Mr. Uribe.

"The Uribe supporters would say this is the price of victory," wrote María Jimena Duzán, a columnist in El Tiempo and critic of Mr. Uribe's policies. "If Uribe is re-elected, he will have omnipotent power without precedent in our history."

as is this one:

Experts say he is vulnerable to charges that he has been overly generous in disarmament negotiations with right-wing paramilitary groups, helping them morph into secretive drug-trafficking groups.

The government was also wounded by news reports that the intelligence service collaborated with paramilitaries to assassinate leftist union activists and provided secret information to drug traffickers. Mr. Uribe has angrily denied the allegations.

One of Colombia's incisive analysts, Antonio Caballero, said Mr. Uribe avoided the scandals by separating himself from ministers or generals who blundered. "His role is not to take responsibility in the acts of his government," Mr. Caballero wrote in the newsweekly Semana.

Mr. Uribe often gives little thought to the potential consequences of his statements:

Critics often come under withering attack from Mr. Uribe, be they former allies, like Senator Rafael Pardo, or rights groups. He has even accused opponents of ties to Marxist guerrillas, a dangerous charge where death squads frequently go after allies of the FARC rebels.

More on that here. This, of course is an issue for Colombians to decide. But it is also an issue for the US to consider as per the amount of aid it gives to Colombia. If the Uribe administration refuses to abide by the Constitutional Court's recent decision regarding impunity amnesty for the drug warlords of the AUC, then the Bush administration will have to acknowledge that there are two authoritarian governments in South America: one in Colombia and one in Venezuela.

Please read this great post by Adam Isacson as to who really benefots from the drug trade here and in Colombia.

Comments

[Russell]

I don't think it's fair to call Venezuela an authoritarian government.

[Randy Paul]

Well, I'll call it a government led by a man with strong authoritarian tendencies.

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