El Presidente

President ?lvaro Uribe has won praise both at home and abroad for his aggressive stance against the rebels. He was elected president in 2002 and won a second term four years later. He has been consistently popular, with approval ratings of at least 65%—a figure that would be the envy of most other politicians worldwide. He is in favour of free trade and privatisation (see Free Trade), while his economic policies and efforts to deal with guerrilla groups and paramilitaries have given the economy a boost.

Kidnappings have gone down in number during his presidency; in 2000 there were 3,572 kidnappings, but by 2006 this had been reduced to 521. In July 2007 the dramatic rescue of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, along with 14 other hostages, caught the world’s attention and dealt a blow to their captors, FARC. With the paramilitaries he has also had some success, including demobilising 31,000 soldiers, although this was on the condition (heavily criticised by some) that they received comparably soft sentences and were exempt from extradition.

Despite these developments, Uribe’s reign has not been free from scandal. In 2006 some lawmakers within his government were discovered to have links with the AUC. Although this ‘parapolitics’ scandal didn’t embroil the president himself, his cousin Mario Uribe was arrested. Also, despite the government’s efforts, cocaine production and export remains a huge problem, while the guerrilla groups and paramilitaries, if somewhat depleted, remain at large.