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"All I ask God is that I can serve Colombia well until the last day of my life"
- Alvaro Uribe, 2010
With complete conviction, the seven-year-old boy announced his goal in life. He was going to be the President of the country. Today, not only has Alvaro Uribe, Colombia’s President, achieved his goal but he has also gained venerated status in his country as the man who hoisted a nation, teetering on the brink of ruin, to new heights.
Colombia has had a long history of violence and disruption, which reached its height when Uribe was elected as President in 2002. Paramilitary forces and guerillas lorded over the country and drug trafficking and crime ran rampant. But the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly known as FARC, imparted its own brand of violence. For more than half a century, the rebel group held the country in its grip, bombing restaurants, damaging electric towers, and killing or kidnapping people, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. In Uribe’s own words, their exploits led to “poverty, unemployment, misery and inequality.” And Uribe had a personal connection to them. His father, a wealthy cattle ranch owner, was murdered by FARC in 1983, in a kidnapping attempt.
Although before he was elected president, Uribe declared, “I hold no bitterness. I just want to serve Colombia,” it is widely believed that he ruthlessly pursued FARC with the recurring pain of an old wound. His first task as President was to step up military spending by introducing an emergency tax hike on businesses. Armed with recharged military power, Uribe drove the rebels out into the countryside. Senior rebel commanders were killed, and with the group forced into a corner, many deserted. In 2008, a highly organized military operation succeeded in freeing 15 of the FARC’s high-profile captives, including Betancourt.
But Uribe’s minesweeping operations did not stop there. He simultaneously engaged rogue right-wing paramilitaries. A trained lawyer educated at Oxford and Harvard, Uribe hammered out a peace deal in 2003 that resulted in the surrender of the rogue leaders.
Apart from wrestling rebels to the ground, it was Uribe’s concern for the rural communities that brought him closer to the peoples’ hearts. The charismatic and bespectacled Uribe is known for putting in long work hours, which include traveling to remote parts of Colombia on weekends. He made it popular for everyday citizens to step up and participate in country matters, and it was not uncommon for television channels to broadcast programs featuring Uribe holding long discussions with locals.
As rebellious disruptions began to taper off, Colombia began to attract investments. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was barely $500 million when Uribe took over. At the end of his first Presidential term in 2006, FDI stood at a stupendous $6.2 billion. The same year, Colombia sped up the ranks of the 2006 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, leaving well-established business hubs like Chile, Mexico and Spain behind. Within a year of Uribe’s rule, the new atmosphere of security and peace led the economy to 4% growth in 2003, the highest annual rate since 1995.
Encouraged by the progress, amendments were made to Colombia’s constitution, and for the first time in the country’s history the President was allowed to run again in the 2006 elections. And Uribe notched up a thumping victory with 62% of the votes.
"The country has improved but we're not in paradise. We may not have
rivers of milk and honey, but neither as one peasant farmer told me, do
we have rivers of blood anymore," notes Uribe to Reuters.
Today, Uribe, who regularly practices yoga, meditation and exercise to maintain his high energy levels, enjoys strong popularity with 70% of all Colombians. As his eight-year aegis draws to a close in 2010, Colombia can boast about its calmer landscape. Colombia's Ministry of Defense vouches that murder rates have dipped as much as 45%, while kidnappings have been slashed by 90% between 2002 and 2009. Poverty rates too have shown improvement, down to 46% in 2009 from 54% in 2002.
Uribe, though, is modest. “We have improved, but our improvement is not irreversible yet,” he intones to the Wall Street Journal. Although weakened, FARC rebels still remain active and Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine. Unemployment at 11.7% is the highest among Latin American countries and Uribe says infrastructure, education and healthcare are some of the key areas that need attention.
These will be the challenges facing the new President, who will take up the mantle when elections end on June 20th. Uribe, who is happiest when he is riding horses in a throwback to his ranch days, was ready to run for a third term but the Colombian court rejected his proposal.
So what is next in line for Uribe? He is contemplating pursuing higher studies or involving himself in projects for virtual universities. But he is not sure. Smiling, he quips enigmatically to Reuters, “Let's see what life brings along.” Colombia too is waiting with bated breath.
Image Credit: The World Economic Forum on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
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