DaY 37: Colombia (user search)
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  DaY 37: Colombia (search mode)
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Author Topic: DaY 37: Colombia  (Read 1623 times)
ag
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« on: February 28, 2006, 08:35:57 PM »
« edited: February 28, 2006, 09:52:14 PM by ag »

Best nation in South America politically.

Does that mean that you would like every Lat. Am. country to have a nasty Marxist rebellion or two? Because that's the dominant distinguishing feature of Columbian politics.

By the way, you are mistaken if you think Uribe is a rightwinger. He comes from the center-left of Columbian politics: before running for presidency he had been a member of the (left-of-center) Liberal party. The only thing he is a "rightwinger" on is defeating the rebels, and that's something that unites much of Columbian political spectrum. Hence - and because he has been rather competent at that - his popularity. What's more, he is not even that authoritarian, given the fight he is in - just compare him with the self-coup prone Fujimori. In the absence of the war he is likely to have been very similar to Chilean Sociallists in outlook.  He isn't a Pinochet, or even a Fujimori.
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ag
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 12,828


« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2006, 04:15:28 PM »

By the way, you are mistaken if you think Uribe is a rightwinger. He comes from the center-left of Columbian politics: before running for presidency he had been a member of the (left-of-center) Liberal party. The only thing he is a "rightwinger" on is defeating the rebels, and that's something that unites much of Columbian political spectrum. Hence - and because he has been rather competent at that - his popularity. What's more, he is not even that authoritarian, given the fight he is in - just compare him with the self-coup prone Fujimori. In the absence of the war he is likely to have been very similar to Chilean Sociallists in outlook.  He isn't a Pinochet, or even a Fujimori.

I don't care if he's a right winger or not. He's pro-American enough for me.

If that is your criterion, you simply chose a wrong guy. He is not Anti-American, of course - and he, correctly, perceives a substantial coincidence of interests between the US and Colombia. But on this count he is not different from almost a dosen other Latin American presidents (he is not any different here from leaders of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and many others). If governmental alegiance to the US is your criterion, your favorite country on the continent should, probably, be El Salvador.

If you think that Uribe would ever do what US wants him to do when it would hurt Colombia, just for the pleasure of beign helpful, you are badly "misunderestimating" him.  It makes no more sense to say that he is pro-American than to say that US is pro-Colombian.  He does what he does in Colombia not to do good by the US, but because it is good - in his perception - for Colombia. In fact, if he were to be, at any moment, perceived to be more "pro-American" than "pro-Colombian", he wouldn't stay president for more than a few months.
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