terça-feira, novembro 11, 2003
Colombia
Alvaro Uribe parece estar a ter sucesso na luta contra a violência. Até o insuspeito (para a esquerda) NYT concorda:
For years, Colombia's drug-fueled conflict raged, with Marxist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries gaining ground and growing ever more violent as the United States spent billions trying to control the mayhem.
But now, 15 months in office into a four-year term, President Álvaro Uribe is taking actions that suggest he is ready to be bolder than past leaders in dealing with this country's seemingly intractable violence.
Unlike his predecessors, who proved ineffectual at taming the war, Mr. Uribe has come up with a coherent plan that sets out how Colombia might be extricated from its morass.
Under his "democratic security program," steps have been taken to weaken the rebels, disarm the death squads and install a state presence in long forgotten regions of this country of 40 million people.
Even after a setback last month in a referendum, Mr. Uribe continues to enjoy what the experts call a remarkable level of support, with one poll taken days after the Oct. 25 vote showing him with the same approval rating as before, 77 percent. In theory, that support gives him the political leverage to follow through on his bold program
(...)
Homicides, which topped 32,000 in the last year of the previous government, have fallen 16 percent, and kidnappings are down 22 percent. Mass killings of villagers ? what Colombia's government calls massacres ? have also dropped
(...)
Mr. Uribe's trips to rural provinces torn by war have helped solidify his message of control, even though the FARC has tried to assassinate him several times.
In August, after rebels fired on his helicopter, he continued to his destination, the northern town of Granada. "We are never going to go from here," Mr. Uribe told 2,000 villagers who came to hear him. "The FARC has to get out of here, as from all of Colombia."
posted by Miguel Noronha 2:40 da tarde
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