To listen to all the flap about the rescue of Betancourt the last few days over Alvaro Uribe, the President of Columbia, one would get them impression that he is a left wing hero. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Alvaro Uribe is a right-wing hardliner.   His political life has been dominated by his desire to rid Colombia of the leftist rebels who killed his father, a rich landowner 20 years ago.  Hardly "a man of the people" Uribe comes from a wealthy family and he was educated at Oxford and Harvard.

Columbia under the leadership of Uribe is a perfect example of people trading in their rights for a leader who will keep "law and order".  They forget that it was the paramilitaries, paid for and supported by Uribe and friendly USA business interests that kept the fighting up in their cities to keep the leftist out that created the conflicts.  They forget that it is friends and relatives of Uribe who push the small landowners out.

Now Uribe is trying to get the Constitution of Columbia changed so he can be "legally" re-elected for his third term.  (LOL I'm sure if Bush had a competent  PR person instead of "turd blossom" Karl Rove all these years, he might have done better and would be pulling the same sort trick.  What is more likely from Bush will be an attempt to start a war in Iran, suspend the elections and declare marshal law.)

Read from the BBC news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3214685.stm

Death Squads meet on Uribe's ranch

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041702007.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/world/americas/16colombia.html