Colombian Crossroads

They are our strongest allies in Latin America, constantly guarding the front line against the socialist, anti-American movement that has been growing in our own backyard. And yet, many Americans are not even aware that our Colombian allies are facing a difficult crossroads in the presidential elections Sunday, or that they could be taking a misguided left turn.

Amazingly, although outgoing President Alvaro Uribe enjoys 70 percent popularity, his not so charismatic heir-apparent and former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos is in a deadlocked race against Antanas Mockus, the left-leaning candidate of the newly formed Colombian Green Party — favored by none other than Venezuelan President (and avowed U.S. hater) Hugo Chavez.

If Uribe had been allowed to run for a third term, there is no doubt he would have been re-elected. Under Uribe, Colombians still see the amazing progress Colombia has made in the fight against drug-trafficking leftist rebels and in dramatically reducing the bombings, kidnappings and widespread violence that plagued Colombian society for a half-century. They recognize that confidence in Colombia — especially in terms of foreign investment — has more than quadrupled during the eight years Uribe has been in office.

Yet with Santos as the new candidate of the president's U Party, many Colombians apparently feel they now can let down their guard against the forces of evil that have destabilized their country for so long.

Uribe and Santos were so successful in bringing Colombia back from the brink of chaos that now polls say Colombians feel (quite naively) there are other domestic issues — jobs, education, healthcare — that have taken more importance than national security.

There are still huge rebel armies in Colombia, and they are still holding hundreds of hostages. Chavez is constantly threatening to start a border war with Colombia. But the Colombian people are so anxious to put their violent history in the past — without finishing the fight against leftist insurgents — that many voters are dangerously shifting to Mockus, who promises progress on those other issues but is also likely to soften Uribe's tough line against the rebels and lead Colombia back to chaos.

In Sunday's (May 30) election, Santos and Mockus are running against four other candidates who have little chance of winning, but are likely to split the electorate enough to force a run-off, already set for June 20, between Santos and Mockus.

And if Colombians choose Mockus, they would be taking a huge gamble. While he denies having intentions of allowing Venezuelan leftist ideals into Colombia, he says he "admires" Chavez, which is what Chavez would say about Fidel Castro before he started turning Venezuela into another Cuban-style socialist dictatorship. Although Chavez hasn't formally endorsed Mockus (because it would probably hurt him), the Venezuelan president has warned Colombians that Santos "could generate a war" if elected. And yet, Chavez denies that he is meddling in the Colombian elections.

Mockus is clearly Chavez's candidate, and that should be enough for Colombians to reject him. On numerous occasions, he has questioned the Uribe government's close relationship with the United States and promises to seek greater Latin American integration with the likes of Chavez and other anti-American despots.

He is running on a platform of transparency and ethics, promising to run Colombia as efficiently as he ran Bogota during his two terms as the capital's mayor. But he is known as an unpredictable, eccentric politician who could easily shock the very people who elected him. After all, this former philosophy professor became a politician by dropping his pants and mooning his own students at the National University of Colombia in Bogota in 1993. The incident got him fired from the university and yet, amazingly, gave him the notoriety to become a politician.

Mockus supporters argue that rather than a radical-left candidate, their man is a maverick who would change the traditional course of Colombian politics. But if professor Mockus already has mooned his own students, what's to say that President Mockus won't moon his own people?

When Colombians go to the polls Sunday, and probably again on June 20, they will face a crossroads without clear street signs, increasing the chances of a misguided left turn. And if they don't see the wolf in sheep's clothing, Americans should know that we might have more enemies in our own backyard.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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