THE RE-ELECTION RISK

Some Colombians openly wonder how level the political playing field will be in two years' time if Uribe is allowed to stand for another term. "Buoyed by his enormous popularity, Uribe says, 'I want to be re-elected and I'm going to change the rules so that can happen,' " says Enrique Santos Calderon, the codirector of the country's leading newspaper El Tiempo and a cousin of Uribe's vice president. "I think that's dangerous and unsound." Colombians need only look at the fates of two ex-presidents who took their countries down the same road where Uribe wants to go. Both Menem and Fujimori are spending their golden years in disgraced exile as fugitives from justice in their native Argentina and Peru. Until Latin America develops stronger institutional checks on executive power, the risks of re-election may exceed the rewards.

WITH STEVEN AMBRUS IN BOGOTA AND MIKE KEPP IN RIO DE JANEIRO

© 2004