During the commerotation of the 100 years of the Treaty of Chinácota

ORDER AND AUTHORITY WILL LEAD COLOMBIA TO PROGRESS

Chinácota, November 21 (CNE) – President Álvaro Uribe manifested today that the only way to recover democracy and tranquility is by recuperating order and authority in the entire territory.

During the commemoration of the 100 years of the Treaty of Chinácota, the Head of State affirmed that authority, if practiced with efficiency and transparency, will lead the Nation into a new period of progress.

"Colombia must rescue order and authority. I will not give up until we defeat illegal armed groups. Those organizations are mistreating the citizens of Norte del Santander and, perhaps, the citizens of the entire Nation," Uribe pointed out.

During his speech, the President exhorted Colombians to unite against the actions of terrorist groups: "Just as the War of One Thousand Days, the current confrontation is not conducing to anything but unhappiness. We must show the world our capacity to defeat violence," he expressed.

The Colombian Head of State compared the country’s current situation with the time period of the War of One Thousand Days, and sustained that difference between the rebels’ objectives is quite clear: before, they protected and claimed Human Rights, and now a days, they just attempt directly against them.

"The rebels of the beginning of the century fought for the freedom of press, but today they pretend to rescind it by realizing terrorist actions against mass media," he explained.

Uribe affirmed that, today, terrorism consecrates death warrants because it produces 35,000 murders and 3,500 kidnaps every year in Colombia. Moreover, he reminded that terrorist actions are currently financed by the traffic of drugs, plundering, and kidnapping.