sassa Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 Uribe Commits to War Against Drugs BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — President-elect Alvaro Uribe said the U.S.-backed fight against the drugs that stream across Colombia's borders will be crucial to his plans to end the long-running civil war that kills thousands of people every year. A day after his landslide election on a law-and-order platform, Uribe said Monday that the drug war is ``essential'' because Colombia's leftist rebels and their rivals, the right-wing paramilitaries, finance their fight with the proceeds from drug trafficking. ``Colombia has to defeat drugs,'' the Harvard-educated former state governor told a news conference. ``If not, we will not create conditions to negotiate peace. As long as the violent groups are financed we will remain far from obtaining final accords.'' Uribe, 49, won 53 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff and securing a firm mandate to enact his plans to hammer the rebels in battle and force them into peace talks. His closest contender, former Interior Minister Horacio Serpa, received 31.7 percent. Uribe's promises to increase the size of the military and take a hard line against the 38-year insurgency resonated with voters fed up with the long-simmering war, which kills about 3,000 people a year, many of them civilians. On Monday, he appealed for more U.S. aid to stop cocaine and heroin from leaving Colombia and to prevent arms shipments from being smuggled to its outlawed guerrilla and paramilitary groups. The United States has provided $1.7 billion in mostly military aid over the past two years to help Colombia battle drugs. The Bush administration has asked Congress to ease restrictions on that aid so that the government can use it to fight the insurgents. The administration has also requested $98 million to train Colombian troops to guard a key oil pipeline that is regularly targeted by rebels. President Andres Pastrana, whose term ends in August, vastly improved Colombia's relations with the United States, obtaining the drug-fighting aid. Uribe said Monday he would keep Colombia's ambassador to Washington, Luis Moreno, in place, saying he has been key in solidifying U.S. ties. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman said the United States looks forward to working with Uribe ``to advance our shared goals of eliminating the scourges of narcotics trafficking and terrorism, improving human rights conditions and ensuring a prosperous future for all Colombia.'' Colombia produces most of the world's cocaine and 70 percent of the heroin consumed in the United States. The willingness of the United States to provide more military aid may depend on whether Uribe's planned crackdown on guerrillas would also extend to a right-wing paramilitary group that has massacred suspected rebel collaborators. Uribe said he will combat all armed groups, but also said he was open to the possibility of peace talks with the paramilitaries — something his predecessors have refused to do. Uribe plans to ask for U.N. help in contacting the guerrillas and probing their willingness to resume peace negotiations in return for a cessation of hostilities and a halt to terrorism. But observers said the main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will reject such overtures. ``Those terms have never been acceptable to the FARC in the past and will not be in the future,'' said Bruce Bagley, a Colombia expert at the University of Miami. ``I expect a major escalation of violence.'' Uribe's ambitious agenda goes beyond the crackdown on guerrillas and drugs. He plans a referendum to nearly halve the size of Congress and reduce corruption. He also promised to create jobs, build roads, overhaul education and trim a bloated public pension system. But bureaucrats, Congress and angry state workers could stand in his way — as could Colombians' traditional aversion to higher taxes. ``He's got a Herculean task before him,'' Bagley said. ``It's going to be extremely difficult to fulfill even part of what he aspires to do during his four years of the presidency.'' Colombia has been unable to use credits from the International Monetary Fund for social programs, and Uribe appealed Monday for greater flexibility from the international financial agency. ``In Colombia's circumstances of poverty, we need to increase social investment,'' he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgym Posted May 30 Report Share Posted May 30 Hmmm... sounds like he's an outsider... But good that he beat the other dude who was interior minister, they need some new flesh down in coke land.I don't think they can negotiate with the left or rightist extremists in any rational way. The gov't will have to crack down in a covert way, perhaps with the help of the CIA, in order to regain strength and hope in that beautiful land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppanils Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 i give him less than a year until he's assasinated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxlea Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Originally posted by bigpoppanils i give him less than a year until he's assasinated sigh, sadly I'll have to agree with you. He's had three assesination attempts during the campaign.Gmc, also agree with your comment. The only way to clean up the corruption and chaos in the country is with the aide of US. It's real sad to see family members forced out of their homes and flee to another country in order to save their lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycmuzik Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Originally posted by gmccookny Hmmm... sounds like he's an outsider... But good that he beat the other dude who was interior minister, they need some new flesh down in coke land.I don't think they can negotiate with the left or rightist extremists in any rational way. The gov't will have to crack down in a covert way, perhaps with the help of the CIA, in order to regain strength and hope in that beautiful land. I agree that covert op's is probably one of the best ways to go about this. The CIA has proven in the past that it can be successful when it does get involved. WIth the help of the CIA and few members of Delta Force, the Columbian gov't was finally able to catch up with Pablo Escobar. Hopefully this could be repeated with some of the druglords down there now...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxlea Posted May 31 Report Share Posted May 31 Originally posted by nycmuzik2000 I agree that covert op's is probably one of the best ways to go about this. The CIA has proven in the past that it can be successful when it does get involved. WIth the help of the CIA and few members of Delta Force, the Columbian gov't was finally able to catch up with Pablo Escobar. Hopefully this could be repeated with some of the druglords down there now...... Druglords, aka F.A.R.C., this Guerilla group basically took over the cartels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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