WALL STREET JOURNAL
ABOARD THE "COFFE POT" WITH COLOMBIA`S PRESIDENT
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
CARTAGENA DE INDIAS, Colombia -- On a sultry summer morning here two weeks ago, Colombian army sharpshooters dotted the ancient rampart once used to protect this city from British invaders. Under a cloudless sky and penetrating sun, the uniformed men in heavy boots gazed up and down the fortress wall looking for signs of trouble.
Their mission was to defend visiting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whom rebels have been trying to kill for years. Soon a heavily armed motorcade swept the presidential entourage along the highway by the sea to a hotel where Mr. Uribe attended a forum on local infrastructure issues.
Later that afternoon the president was again aboard Colombia's Air Force 001 -- which Colombians call "the coffee pot" because it's so old -- flying back to Bogota. I interviewed him on that flight and he talked about the war on terror and his policy of "democratic security."
In his first year in office Colombia has gained good ground against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Captures of guerrillas and paramilitaries are up sharply, as are desertions from illegal groups. In the first half of this year, kidnapping is down 33% and the country registered one of the lowest homicide rates in the past decade.
Yet Colombia remains a long way away from winning this war and Mr. Uribe is unequivocal about the need to achieve full disarmament of the insurgents. While he has made it clear that he will negotiate with any party interested in peace, he refuses to compromise with armed opponents.
"Pluralistic democracy cannot accept armed opposition and in Colombia we have an open democracy," he told me. This is his core conviction, and if ever there was a president who stays on message, it is Mr. Uribe. His presidency has been defined by his perpetual-motion tour of the country to host "community councils," encouraging civil, political debate.
The routine pace is hectic and fraught with danger but it may also explain his 70% approval rating. No matter what one thinks of Mr. Uribe's politics, it is impossible to deny his motivational skills. Between his intense patriotism, infectious optimism and, perhaps most importantly, an unwavering determination to defeat terrorism, he has inspired a nation to hope for the future.
Inside Colombia, Mr. Uribe's toughest job has been to manage the resources of a poor country against an enemy flush with funds derived from the appetite for banned drugs in rich countries. That gap has widened as the violence has scared away investors and the opportunity cost has compounded for almost a decade. Colombia has gotten poorer while the rebels, having taken over the businesses of defeated drug cartels, have gotten richer.
Outside of Colombia Mr. Uribe's big challenge is to get the world to see the nature of the problem his country confronts. He has been unable to convince the United Nations that the rebels are terrorists despite the voices from the left that support such a view. Recently, former Salvadoran guerrilla leader Joaquín Villalobos wrote a long essay in Semana magazine arguing that the FARC has lost all moral legitimacy and is now merely a criminal enterprise seeking power. As Mr. Uribe says, "The guerrillas are using land mines and their source of financing is drugs and kidnapping. That is sheer terrorism."
Some American policy makers have begun to figure this out. The U.S.'s Plan Colombia, which under Bill Clinton prohibited the use of U.S. aid against narco-guerrillas, now allows Colombia to go after all the bad guys. This has helped. Of course it would be silly to suggest that it will reduce world-market supplies of drugs. But if the Colombian goal is to get the gangsters to take their trade elsewhere, then the project has value.
Not surprisingly, military successes aren't going down well with the guerrillas. Yet faced with practically zero popular support, their options are limited. They have, however, held onto the hope that their legendary disinformation campaigns designed to discredit military leadership still pack some punch.
The weapon of choice in this propaganda war is the recurring charge that the military has links to the paramilitary and therefore is a human-rights violator. This approach has yielded results over the years with the U.S. State Department playing the role of the useful idiot. It pulled the visas of top brass more than once and forced the removal of the best generals from the field operations whenever allegations surfaced. Long, drawn out investigations exonerated the accused. But by then the rebels had what they wanted, the demobilization of their nemeses. The personal destruction of some of the military's bravest, most dedicated men has been devastating for morale and the espirit de corp.
In recent years, Colombians have fought back by courageously outing false witnesses and alleged guerrilla sympathizers inside the attorney general's office. But the practice of swamping military leaders in accusatory paperwork continues.
I asked Mr. Uribe if he believes the links exist. "Institutionally, no. If there have been links at lower levels, they have almost disappeared," he said. "There has been a sharp increase in arrests of criminal elements and in paramilitary arrests. In many cases people complain that the armed forces are not effective. But no one says that this is because of paramilitary links. My conclusion is that our armed forces have been without political support, financial support and moral support."
That's why, under his leadership, there are 11,000 new "campesino soldiers" patrolling in places where they were born, two new mobile brigades totaling 1,200 soldiers and 10,000 new police officers. Effectiveness has also improved using a strategy that includes "civilian cooperation" in information gathering. Addressing issues of moral support, he told me that while he accepts the discretionary power of the U.S. over visas, he thinks it should "reconsider the cases of the generals" who were absolved of all charges against them.
Mr. Uribe's serious approach to law enforcement, the first in many years in Colombia, has given the country a few wins. Yet even the energetic optimist knows the challenges remain grave. Colombia, he says, "has the worst domestic terrorist threat in the world."
