Colombia’s Political Horizon: The Rise of the Left

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia’s Political Horizon: The Rise of the Left
Saturday, 1 November 2008, 2:25 pm

Colombia’s President Uribe: “I deplore that Senator Obama”

Current Political Landscape

In contemporary discourse regarding Latin America, Colombia is often characterized as a failed state mired by ruinous civil war and reflecting the pervasive influence of powerful drug-running paramilitaries. On the other hand, there are those who see the country as an enviable exemplar of democracy led by one of the most popular presidents of the region. The U.S. government, not surprisingly, is the indefatigable spokesperson for the latter interpretation. Comments by officials like former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicolas Burns, who stated in 2006 that “during the last five years, the Colombian people have produced the greatest success story in Latin America,” are unfortunately, common.

Depictions such as these above do little to deepen people’s understanding of this problematic country and its significance in contemporary Latin America. As of late, this type of inflated rhetoric has obfuscated developments which are challenging the status quo in Colombia and could fundamentally alter the country’s so-called “special” relationship with the U.S., as well as with some of its Latin American neighbors. As of now, a challenge is emanating from multiple sectors of society, but particularly from the politically progressive wing comprised of the excluded, the dispossessed, and the indigenous, who are increasingly exerting anti-government pressure in the public forum in an effort to make themselves heard.

Many Colombians seek change and more of them are demanding it in very concrete terms. The 2006 elections clearly demonstrated that many such dissidents were willing to work within the traditional institutions to realize these progressive demands. Now, with less than two years until the next elections, this opposition to president Alvaro Uribe’s consistently right-wing initiatives and the philosophical beliefs behind them is maturing. Will the 2010 elections usher in a new era for Colombia? An examination of Uribe’s new democratic opposition, its successes up to now, its prevailing vision, its weaknesses, and its potential to effect change in the country, taken together, may shed some light on the frequently misrepresented state of Colombia’s democracy, the role of the guerilla insurgency, and the social realities which bedevil a country that is far from being a vigorous democracy.

The 2006 Elections
~snip~
Contributing to Uribe’s victory were the predominantly conservative and Uribe worshipping Colombian press, the support of active as well as recently demobilized paramilitaries, an electoral abstention rate of more than 60 per cent of the electorate, the framing of the election as a forbidding choice between improving democratic security or capitulating to communist control of the country, and his knowledge of “how to appeal to a crowd, often to its lesser instincts,” as The New York Times put it. There were reports of paramilitary forces terrorizing people in the barrios during the electoral period and an unprecedented number of spoiled votes, some of them encapsulating people’s fear and disillusionment with the pre-Uribe system in the form of insults: asesinos (assassins), ladrones (thieves), corruptos (you’re all corrupt). Days before the election, El Tiempo, Colombia’s largest newspaper, reported a prospective voter’s complaints of intimidation, “We are all so scared. These things never happened here…but today we’re even afraid to be seen talking to the police.”

Uribe was also criticized, even by prominent moderates, for not stating declaratively that he did not wish to receive any kind of support from these armed groups. This came after scores of pro-Uribe legislators and other officials were indicted on conspiracy charges involving so-called demobilized paramilitaries. For example, El Tiempo quoted Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, former president of Colombia and head of the Liberal Party, as well as an ex-Secretary General of the OAS, as stating “During the campaign I asked him to declare that he did not want any support from sectors linked to paramilitary activities. I said it many times. Unfortunately, I failed to get an answer…the President should have said explicitly that he did not want paramilitary support.”

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0811/S00003.htm

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