Dark Clouds Loom Over Colombia President Uribe's Administration
10-25-080607ET
BOGOTA (AFP)--Labor strikes, indigenous protests, a slowing economy - these are some of the dark clouds looming over the last two years of Alvaro Uribe's second term in office that threaten to eclipse the Colombian president's sky- high approval rating. Uribe, a conservative first elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, has a 78% approval rating according to a Gallup poll in September. He remains the most popular head of state in Latin America - though his popularity appears to be slipping.
The government's woes have been multiple: truckers on strike in August, and a six-week strike of court workers that ended in October. Even sugar cane cutters went on strike in mid-September. And since October 10 thousands of indigenous Colombians - representing about 3.2% of the population - have been holding protest marches demanding the government fulfill a promise to hand over land. They are also angry at what they say are abuses on their community carried out by leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, and even army soldiers.
Uribe faces a potentially major headache as political egos begin to sharpen ahead of the 2010 presidential election. One outcome was Congress' refusal to approve an Uribe-supported reform of the judiciary.
Abroad the president also faces the possibility of losing his main benefactor, as US President George W. Bush, a staunch Colombia supporter, is less likely to be replaced in the upcoming election by fellow Republican John McCain - who visited Colombia in July - than by Democrat Barack Obama, who leads in US opinion polls.
Bush and McCain are strong supporters of a US free trade agreement with Colombia, while Obama and the Democrats want the agreement delayed to obtain more human rights protections, especially for Colombian labor leaders.
In December the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is to look closely at human rights in Colombia, including studying a report from non-governmental organizations charging that the Colombian state "tolerates" and even "supports" thousands of crimes carried out by right-wing paramilitary forces.
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