Pubdate: Fri, 05 Aug 2005
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Pablo Bachelet

URIBE PITCHES PEACE PLAN TO BUSH

President Bush Gave Colombian President Uribe A Warm Welcome In Texas, But 
Refrained From Endorsing A Peace Plan

WASHINGTON - President Bush extended a warm, Texas-style welcome to 
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at his ranch Thursday as Uribe launched an 
effort to build international support for his expensive and controversial 
peace plan.

The visitor didn't seem to get the kind of strong backing he was looking 
for, but the invitation to join the president at his Crawford ranch 
underlined his status as Washington's closest ally in Latin America.

Bush said that the United States and Colombia would work together "to fight 
drug trafficking and terrorism, and to promote security, democracy and the 
rule of law throughout the Americas."

Bush also praised Uribe as "strong and principled." Uribe's high standing 
in Washington comes from his close cooperation with U.S. officials in the 
war on drugs, as well as his right-of-center politics in a region now 
largely dominated by left-of-center governments.

He is considered one of the keystones in U.S. efforts to isolate his 
next-door neighbor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a leftist who 
regularly and fiercely attacks Bush and Washington policies and coordinates 
closely with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

In April, Colombia played a key role in brokering a deal between Washington 
and Chile that allowed Chile's then interior minister, Jose Miguel Insulza, 
to become secretary general of the Organization of American States.

And Colombia scored a major international victory last month when its 
ambassador to the United States, Luis Alberto Moreno, was elected to head 
the Inter-American Development Bank. Washington supported Moreno discretely.

Uribe's visit came at a delicate time for Colombia. His government is 
looking to implement an amnesty law that sets the legal framework to disarm 
15,000 members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing 
paramilitary organization also known as AUC.

He is trying to raise $130 million for the process but has run into 
opposition from human rights groups and some members of U.S. Congress who 
say the AUC traffics drugs and is responsible for thousands of murders. The 
Bush administration has supported the law as a way to demobilize the 
fighters and perhaps shrink Colombia's 40-year civil conflict.

Bush avoided giving the amnesty law an outright endorsement at a news 
conference with Uribe, but he promised to lobby Congress for continued 
funding of Plan Colombia, the multibillion-dollar anti-drug-trafficking plan.

"I will ask the Congress to sustain our commitment to follow-on programs 
for Plan Colombia, so Colombia can build on its progress and win its war 
against the narco-terrorists," Bush said.

Colombia has obtained almost $4 billion under the five-year plan, which 
formally ends in December. The Bush administration has asked Congress to 
extend the program for one more year.

To some analysts, Uribe seemed to come away with few clear gains from his 
Texas visit. "It seems to me that President Uribe would have liked specific 
support from the administration on demobilization," said Mark Schneider, a 
former specialist on Latin America with the U.S. Agency for International 
Development. "He didn't get it."

Congress has set conditions for any funding of the demobilization plan, 
seeking assurances that Colombia will continue to extradite top drug 
traffickers to face U.S. justice and ensure that the AUC networks halt 
operations.

This week, the State Department certified that Colombia was doing enough to 
ensure that its security forces were held accountable for human rights 
excesses, freeing up about $70 million in aid.
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