Álvaro Uribe Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
| Became President | August 7, 2002 |
| Predecessor | Andrés Pastrana |
| Date of Birth | July 4, 1952 |
| Place of Birth | Medellín |
Álvaro Uribe Vélez (b. July 4, 1952) is the President of Colombia (since 2002).
Running as an independent liberal candidate (having previously been a member of the Colombian Liberal Party), he was elected President of Colombia in the first round of the 26 May 2002 elections with 53% of the popular vote.
His electoral platform was centred around the policy of confronting Colombia's main guerrilla movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC). This new approach was adopted after four years of unsuccessful attempts by the previous administration, under Andrés Pastrana, to negotiate a ceasefire with the guerrillas, and amid decreasing public support for the guerrillas.
Uribe is often characterized by his opponents as a "hard-line right-winger" on account of his stance against the FARC and the ELN. In contrast to these perceptions, some observers believe that his socioeconomic policies are more centrist and mention that he has remained open to a negotiated end to the conflict, contingent upon the armed groups first declaring a cease-fire. He has made emphasis on not repeating the experience of the Caguan demilitarized zone that President Pastrana granted the FARC, which was arguably used by the guerrillas as their main operations base.
Colombian polls (usually based on a random sample of income-classified telephone numbers) have shown what would be an unprecedented level of support by many Colombians (estimated at around 70% after his second year in office).[1] Uribe is seeking a Congressional amendment to the Colombian Constitution, which would allow him to run for a second term as president (the Constitution of 1991 only allows for one presidential term). Uribe's popularity, concentrated among the medium and higher income sectors of Colombian society, is largely considered to be due to his administration's relatively successful campaigns against the FARC and the ELN, and in part to the efforts made to begin demobilizing the paramilitaries (AUC).
According to official government statistical information, in two years, homicides, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks in Colombia have decreased by as much as 50% - their lowest levels in almost twenty years. In 2003, there were 7,000 fewer homicides than in 2002 - a decrease of 27%. By April 2004, the government had established a permanent police or military presence in every Colombian municipality for the first time in decades. [1]
Numerous opposition organisations and critics, while acknowledging that some improvements have been made, consider that Uribe's primary focus on security results in an intransigent position regarding the resolution of Colombia's internal conflict, leaving aside important socio-economical concerns and politically polarizing the country, dividing the public into supporters and critics of his persona (and of the possibility of his being allowed to run for a second term). [1]
Uribe has stated that the government must first show military superiority in order to eventually make the guerrillas return to the negotiating table with a more flexible position, even if this would only happen after his term in office expired. He has also been quoted as saying that Colombia's main concerns at the moment are the challenges of terrorism and the narcotics trade, and not necessarily what many analysts would consider as more profound elements of the conflict (such as poverty and political alienation or exclusion). [1]
President Uribe has also issued numerous allegations against what he claims are "agents of terrorism" inside a minority of human rights organizations, while at the same time declaring that he respects criticism from most other established organizations and sources. [1] These statements have been sharply criticized both inside and outside Colombia because they could potentially endanger the work of human rights and opposition figures. [1] In light of this stance and his family's background as wealthy Cordoban cattle ranchers, critics have made numerous allegations of his ties to narcotics traffickers and paramilitaries - both of which abounded in Cordoba.
Other observers would note that in his previous political positions during the 1980s and 1990s, including the mayor of Medellin, state Senator, and Governor of Antioquia, a limited acquaintance with the narcotics cartels would have been unavoidable for any politician who wished to actually govern without the horrific consequences of cartel backlash. It is also argued that allegations that Uribe fought against the extradition of drug traffickers should be taken in context - for numerous politicians argued that a partially conciliatory stance toward the immensely powerful cartels was necessary during the 1980s and early 1990s.
As an example of this, it is mentioned that Colombian president Cesar Gaviria banned the extradition of cartel members after the assassination of more than 50 police officers in Medellin, the bombing of the country's largest newspaper (El Tiempo), and the hijacking of a major international airliner. The M-19, a former leftwing guerrilla group that became a political party during the period, was opposed to extradition, as were (and are) the other guerrilla groups, because they consider it as an undue interference of the U.S. (the main receptor of extradited Colombians) in the country's affairs.
Since gaining office, Uribe's concrete actions would tend to show him as a stringent enemy of narcotics traffickers, as his administration has been responsible for arresting and extraditing more drug traffickers to the United States than all other presidents in Colombian history to date.
An article published on the first week of August 2004 by Newsweek's Joseph Contreras that questioned the recent peace process with the AUC and explored the possibility of Uribe's government letting paramilitaries with ties to the drug business go free, included references to a recently unclassified 1991 U.S. military-intelligence report about the Medellín Cartel that included Alvaro Uribe's name in a list of collaborators of the organization, stating that the then Senator Uribe allegedly would have had personal links to Pablo Escobar, helped the drug lord in his campaign to be elected to Congress as part of a list, and was opposed to extradition of captured drug lords to the U.S.. The same document also claimed that Uribe's father would have died due to conflicts with narcotics traffickers. [1]
On August 1st, the U.S. Department of State's spokesman Robert Zimmerman officially replied to the document by making the following statement:
"We completely reject these allegations about president Uribe. We do not have credible information that can corroborate or give substance to a nonevaluated report that dates from 1991 and which ties president Uribe with the drug business." [1]
Likewise, on that same date the Colombian government released a public communique in response, which pointed out that the 1991 document itself indicates that the information contained within was "not finally evaluated", and stated that:
Allegations from a 1991 document
The Pentagon also publicly supported Uribe: "No conclusions can be drawn from it," said spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Conway, who added that the report was raw, uncorroborated information from a single source. [1]
...
According to this position, the claims contained in the intelligence report would have constituted "raw", unverified intelligence that was never confirmed and would not serve as credible basis to establish a link with Pablo Escobar or other drug lords. Critics have observed that the Colombian government has yet to directly deny any friendship or business connection between Uribe and Escobar.
The author of the article, Joseph Contreras, defended his work in declarations to Colombian Radio Caracol and likewise pointed to the lack of a denial about the claim of friendship between the current president of Colombia and the dead drug lord, but admitted that: "In the paragraph that corresponds to Uribe Vélez, it is evident to me that the version of the circumstances of the death of his father is not a correct version." This admission would tend to give some credibility to the statement that the FARC killed Uribe Sierra during a kidnapping attempt. He stood by most of the other content in the report. [1]
These and other similar accusations have already been made several times in the past against Uribe, especially during this 2002 election campaign and in a book published by Newsweek's same Joseph Contreras, one of the authors of the August 2004 article and of earlier features on Colombia and Uribe. They have always been denied by Uribe and his supporters but some of his critics continue to express their preoccupation about them, though they have not committed to any legal action regarding the charges.
See also: Politics of Colombia
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