DaY 37: Colombia

[Bacon King]

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/co.html

Discuss.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Lots of hot girls (check out her! and communist rebels. Hence lots of hot communist rebels. I like it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Farc are scum -- as are other terrorist groups -- exports a lot of drugs -- President is apparently extremely popular -- when I think of something else to say it will go here -- er -- that's it...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

President is apparently extremely popular

That's what I heard too, but I always heard he was pretty much secretly backing AUC, which is why I never liked him (AUC would fall under "other terrorist groups"). Although some AUC units have been disarming lately.

But the most important thing that you did not mention: how hot the girls are!

[WMS]

Both the left-wing ELN and the right-wing AUC are likely to complete peace deals with the government. That leaves the scum of Colombia, FARC, facing the first competent government Colombia's had in quite some while. Go Uribe - a communitarian, not a conservative nor a liberal!

[Jake]

Best nation in South America politically. Best national leader in the Americas. Best militia group in the world. Freedom Fighters all around, except for the BRTDish trash.

[YoMartin]

Best militia group in the world.

I don´t know whether`s good to have that or not...

[ag]

Best nation in South America politically.

Does that mean that you would like every Lat. Am. country to have a nasty Marxist rebellion or two? Because that's the dominant distinguishing feature of Columbian politics.

By the way, you are mistaken if you think Uribe is a rightwinger. He comes from the center-left of Columbian politics: before running for presidency he had been a member of the (left-of-center) Liberal party. The only thing he is a "rightwinger" on is defeating the rebels, and that's something that unites much of Columbian political spectrum. Hence - and because he has been rather competent at that - his popularity. What's more, he is not even that authoritarian, given the fight he is in - just compare him with the self-coup prone Fujimori. In the absence of the war he is likely to have been very similar to Chilean Sociallists in outlook.  He isn't a Pinochet, or even a Fujimori.

[opebo]

Probably the hottest women in South America, and that is saying a lot. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Probably the hottest women in South America, and that is saying a lot. 

I think I might like Argentines more, but as mentioned before, yes, very hot. And they have hot communist rebels!

[opebo]

Probably the hottest women in South America, and that is saying a lot. 

I think I might like Argentines more, but as mentioned before, yes, very hot. And they have hot communist rebels!

You know the truth is the very hottest South Americans I've seen in pictures from the WSG have been from Venezuala, but it is a much more expensive country.

[YoMartin]

Best nation in South America politically.

 What's more, he is not even that authoritarian, given the fight he is in.

That´s true. Besides, calling Uribe a right winger because he is tough on law & order issues probably is not very accurate -we´re all big fans of the political compass in this forum. I ignore where he stands on economic matters. The Liberals are indeed a member of the Socialist International, yet Colombian political parties are maybe the least cohesive and disciplined of the continent (and that´s a lot to say). Is Uribe still a member of the liberals anyway? I´ve read García Márquez is supporting another liberal candidate, much to the "left" of Uribe on the issue of handling the FARC situation.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The reason I call Uribe a right winger is his support of AUC. I wouldn't consider people who are both anti-FARC and anti-AUC to be right wing.

[Jake]

By the way, you are mistaken if you think Uribe is a rightwinger. He comes from the center-left of Columbian politics: before running for presidency he had been a member of the (left-of-center) Liberal party. The only thing he is a "rightwinger" on is defeating the rebels, and that's something that unites much of Columbian political spectrum. Hence - and because he has been rather competent at that - his popularity. What's more, he is not even that authoritarian, given the fight he is in - just compare him with the self-coup prone Fujimori. In the absence of the war he is likely to have been very similar to Chilean Sociallists in outlook.  He isn't a Pinochet, or even a Fujimori.

I don't care if he's a right winger or not. He's pro-American enough for me.

[ag]

By the way, you are mistaken if you think Uribe is a rightwinger. He comes from the center-left of Columbian politics: before running for presidency he had been a member of the (left-of-center) Liberal party. The only thing he is a "rightwinger" on is defeating the rebels, and that's something that unites much of Columbian political spectrum. Hence - and because he has been rather competent at that - his popularity. What's more, he is not even that authoritarian, given the fight he is in - just compare him with the self-coup prone Fujimori. In the absence of the war he is likely to have been very similar to Chilean Sociallists in outlook.  He isn't a Pinochet, or even a Fujimori.

I don't care if he's a right winger or not. He's pro-American enough for me.

If that is your criterion, you simply chose a wrong guy. He is not Anti-American, of course - and he, correctly, perceives a substantial coincidence of interests between the US and Colombia. But on this count he is not different from almost a dosen other Latin American presidents (he is not any different here from leaders of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and many others). If governmental alegiance to the US is your criterion, your favorite country on the continent should, probably, be El Salvador.

If you think that Uribe would ever do what US wants him to do when it would hurt Colombia, just for the pleasure of beign helpful, you are badly "misunderestimating" him.  It makes no more sense to say that he is pro-American than to say that US is pro-Colombian.  He does what he does in Colombia not to do good by the US, but because it is good - in his perception - for Colombia. In fact, if he were to be, at any moment, perceived to be more "pro-American" than "pro-Colombian", he wouldn't stay president for more than a few months.

[WMS]

By the way, you are mistaken if you think Uribe is a rightwinger. He comes from the center-left of Columbian politics: before running for presidency he had been a member of the (left-of-center) Liberal party. The only thing he is a "rightwinger" on is defeating the rebels, and that's something that unites much of Columbian political spectrum. Hence - and because he has been rather competent at that - his popularity. What's more, he is not even that authoritarian, given the fight he is in - just compare him with the self-coup prone Fujimori. In the absence of the war he is likely to have been very similar to Chilean Sociallists in outlook.  He isn't a Pinochet, or even a Fujimori.

I don't care if he's a right winger or not. He's pro-American enough for me.

If that is your criterion, you simply chose a wrong guy. He is not Anti-American, of course - and he, correctly, perceives a substantial coincidence of interests between the US and Colombia. But on this count he is not different from almost a dosen other Latin American presidents (he is not any different here from leaders of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and many others). If governmental alegiance to the US is your criterion, your favorite country on the continent should, probably, be El Salvador.

If you think that Uribe would ever do what US wants him to do when it would hurt Colombia, just for the pleasure of beign helpful, you are badly "misunderestimating" him.  It makes no more sense to say that he is pro-American than to say that US is pro-Colombian.  He does what he does in Colombia not to do good by the US, but because it is good - in his perception - for Colombia. In fact, if he were to be, at any moment, perceived to be more "pro-American" than "pro-Colombian", he wouldn't stay president for more than a few months.

He's not an anti-American Marxist nut like Chavez, so Uribe wins the 'sane' award from me. And yes, I'm well aware he's an ally, not a puppet, and one of those wonderful examples that indicates that alliance with the Unites States does not equal dependency or subservience in spite of what the International Left says.

Oh, and I did root for the current leader of El Salvador in their last election, despite my neutrality towards ARENA-as-a-whole, because the FMLN ran one of their rabid frothing anti-American leftist nuts. I don't care for the FMLN either, actually...I'd be voting for one of the centrist parties instead.