Pubdate: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2007 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Author: Victor M. Robledo GORE HAS IT WRONG ON URIBE Re the April 21 article Gore cancels Miami appearance in snub of Colombia's president: Former Vice President Al Gore was supposed to be the keynote speaker in Miami at the April 20 Green Forum. But he decided not to attend because he would not share the stage with Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe. Fortunately, when Uribe spoke he was received with a rousing standing ovation. Gore is ignorant of the reality in Colombia. Twenty years ago the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was advancing in gigantic steps toward the domination of the country. Wholesale kidnappings to finance their operations were the order of the day (there still are hundreds of them). The police and the army were unable to control the situation. To defend their lives and property, regional ranchers, with the consent of Uribe, then governor of the Antioquia province, resorted to becoming a private militia that managed to control the situation to a certain degree. Over the years the militia got out of hand. And, without the aid of the ranchers they were protecting, the militia created their own agenda and got into drugs. In the process the militia committed the same atrocities the FARC and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, had been doing all along. The minimal opposition to Uribe, who still has an approval rating of more than 70 percent, is known as Polo Democratico (Chavez followers). The group has managed to get a friendly ear in the Democratic-led U.S. Congress, which apparently has ruined any possibility of signing the free-trade agreement with the United States, thus potentially sending Colombia into a dangerous Chavez-style future. As a Democrat, I am appalled at the ignorance of my senator, Bill Nelson, for blaming Uribe for something he helped create but that then turned in another direction without his blessing. As a native Colombian, I feel offended by Gore. And U.S. citizen, I am beginning to understand the reason why everything we do in foreign policy always backfires and stains our own nation. VICTOR M. ROBLEDO Miami - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath