Resignations hurt leader in Colombia

<clips>

BOGOTA After taking office 15 months ago, President Alvaro Uribe said his ministers would remain with him throughout his four-year term, a pledge aimed at casting an image of stability and purpose in a nation where governments are usually scorned.

But in the last week, Uribe's reputation has been tarnished with the resignations, in quick succession, of three cabinet ministers, the armed forces commander and the chief of the Colombian National Police.

Cabinet shake-ups are common here and elsewhere in Latin America after political setbacks. Uribe's first political defeat came last month, when voters rejected a referendum that would have handed him new powers over state spending.

But the resignations here, announced one day after the other in dour news conferences without explanation, have led many in Colombia to question Uribe's right-leaning administration.

http://www.iht.com/articles/117696.html

"Shake-Up Spoils Colombia's Effort to Cast Stable Image" in the New York Times.

No kidding the IMF backs US-shill Uribe. Colombians voted down his referendum for austerity measures and now we're seeing bigtime unrest as ministers, the national police chief, and School of the Americas graduate General Jorge Enrique Mora, known for his brutality, resign.

<clips>

The International Monetary Fund has agreed to let Colombia increase its budget shortfall following the defeat of a austerity referendum last month.

Plans by the government of President Alvaro Uribe to raise taxes sharply were "appropriate", the IMF said.

The IMF also agreed that the country's budget deficit could widen to 2.8% from 2.5% following the poll defeat.

But it criticised President Uribe's move to pay debt using foreign currency reserves, calling the idea "dangerous".

Colombia did not have any foreign exchange to spare, it warned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3269759.stm

Indhira Guzman, Colombian military researcher who gave Astorga the doc, received death threats against her and her young daughter. She hinted that the threats came from inside the Colombian armed forces.

<clips>

MEXICO CITY -- One of Mexico's leading specialists on drug trafficking was detained and interrogated by Colombian police last week while returning here from an academic conference in Bogota, the professor and diplomatic sources said.

Luis Astorga, a sociologist and author of three books on drug trafficking in the region, had boarded his return flight to Mexico on Nov. 3 when agents from Colombia's Administrative Security Department forced him to disembark, he said.

During a three-hour interrogation, the agents rifled through his luggage and wallet before confiscating a Colombian army report on the alleged links between the country's most powerful guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and Mexican drug traffickers, he said.

The agents claimed the document was classified. But Astorga said it had been given to him by a colleague at the congress on drug trafficking, sponsored by Colombia's National Museum, and that it had already been widely circulated outside the country.

<http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2003/11/14/colombia_detains_drug_specialist/>

I get upset at US press failing to call Latin American Presidents Presidents. "Leader", "Strongmen", my ass. These people were ELECTED!