Posted on 05/26/2002 9:36:10 PM PDT by maui_hawaii
Right-wing candidate Alvaro Uribe has emerged as the clear winner of Colombia's presidential election. With almost all the ballots now counted, the 49-year-old lawyer has secured more than 53% of the vote.
He has pledged to take tough action against left-wing guerillas, with Colombia in the bloodiest phase yet of its 38-year civil conflict.
Securing more than half the votes cast means Mr Uribe wins the presidency outright, avoiding a second round of voting in June.
His nearest rival, Horacio Serpa, of the opposition Liberal Party, attracted 31% of the vote. He has conceded defeat.
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott, in the Colombian capital Bogota, says Mr Uribe now has a strong mandate to act out his campaign promises to get tough with the guerillas, who killed his father and have tried to kill him on several occasions.
But he adds that with the election of Mr Uribe, peace seems a more distant prospect than ever.
Rebel attacks
Sunday's election saw more than 200,000 troops and police deployed to protect voters amid allegations of intimidation.
Election officials said polling went smoothly at most stations, with much of the predicted violence from left-wing guerillas failing to materialise.
But there were some isolated incidents, mainly in the rebel-dominated south of the country.
Guerillas from Colombia's biggest rebel group - the FARC - rigged some vehicles with explosives in an attempt to intimidate voters.
But the National Registrar's office in Bogota said the FARC caused difficulties in fewer than 10 of 1,000 municipalities.
Mr Uribe suspended most of his pre-election appearances after a bomb, thought to have been planted by the FARC, killed four bystanders and nearly killed him on a campaign trip to the coastal town of Barranquilla.
There were also claims that right-wing paramilitary groups were putting pressure on people to vote for Mr Uribe, while harassing and intimidating the campaigns of rival candidates.
'Big issues'
Of the two leading contenders, Mr Uribe was without doubt the favoured candidate of the United States.
His crusade against Colombia's illegal armies, who are funded by drug money, will be supported by US President George W Bush.
The US Ambassador to Colombia, Anne Patterson, went to Mr Uribe's campaign headquarters at a Bogota hotel to congratulate him once the result became clear.
"Colombia and the US have many big issues to deal with - drug trafficking, human rights and the fight against terrorism," she said.
"We're ready to work with the next government."
Precisely wrong.
Destroying the FARC is a prerequisite to any lasting peace.
There is a Chinese idiom that says something like "when tough times arrive, people hug buddah's feet"... meaning, when things are going 'good' buddah doesn't know what he's talking about... when they are bad... they go ask for help.
Dead people don't repeat offend.
Because the media is incapable of admitting their "flower children" way doesn't work.
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