Colombia in 1999 was facing serious threats from illegal armed groups and the unraveling of state authority. Eight years later, the country is back from that brink. The Colombian government and people, with strong support from the United States, first halted the downward cycle and then made important progress in addressing the deep-seated problems that threatened stability and democratic governance. The influence of illegal armed groups has been rolled back, the presence of the state broadly expanded, levels of violence and criminality sharply reduced, the observance of human rights improved, standards of governance enhanced, and the economy set in a very positive direction. Notwithstanding this success, difficult problems related to a longstanding tradition of weak government remain. But the magnitude of these still-unresolved challenges does not detract from the significance of Colombia’s gains since 1999.

Al inicio de su segundo cuatrienio, Uribe parece estar en una posición más sólida para afrontar los problemas de larga data de Colombia: narcotráfico, conflicto interno, falta de seguridad en las zonas rurales y pobreza persistente en el campo, corrupción y desigualdad social. Pero las apariencias pueden ser engañosas. Su coalición de gobierno es inestable y su popularidad es vulnerable a lo que la insurgencia, aún poderosa, decida hacer.

Tengo la curiosidad de conocer más a fondo al único presidente de centroderecha de Sudamérica, al personaje que es más popular en Colombia que el propio Ricardo Lagos en Chile. Dan ganas de pedirle la receta. Es serio, introvertido, reservado. Mide cada palabra. Su despacho, de austeridad total, sólo tiene un televisor viejo y mapas de Colombia desparramados por todos lados.

How Colombia implements its controversial new legal framework for demobilising the far-right paramilitaries and returning them to society is critically important.

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's quest for re-election in 2006 by attempting to amend the constitution so a sitting president can run again could weaken democratic institutions and even damage the country's prospects for peace. Re-election would allow Uribe to continue his strategy against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but that security policy, with its overwhelming reliance on military measures, is unlikely to bring peace.