New Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, inaugurated on August 7, 2002, cannot be taken seriously as a man seeking peace with the rebel movement, including FARC, but he has proved effective in appearing to be a leader at least seeking an alternative to the extremes of the hard-left and hard-right. Underneath this alternative approach, however, Uribe seems to be far more a hawk than a dove. Increasingly, he appears to be pursuing a policy with the intention of defeating the various rebel factions, with the unofficial aid of the right-wing paramilitary forces. Of course, even if Uribe seriously pursued peace negotiations with the rebels, there is no guarantee that any meaningful results would follow. The war has been going on for 38 years, and the two sides (or more, if the rebel factions and paramilitary forces are seen as separate entities) seem too far apart to hold much hope for true or lasting peace. This is especially true when the issue of drugs is included. Both rebel and anti-rebel forces appear deeply involved in drug sales to support their causes, creating a completely corrupted ends-justify-the-means reality on both sides. The role of the United States further complicates the war, with $1.5 billion in U.S. funds flowing into Colombia since 1998 in military aid to fight the drug trade (Villelabeitia). Is that money being spent to fight the rebels as well, or to fund the paramilitary squads, or to fight the right-wing drug trade as well as the left-wing?
The election of Uribe was in part the result of the Colombian people's displeasure with the previous President's failure to find peace. Ospina refers to Uribe as "the hard right presidential candidate" and his campaign pledge "to crack down on the leftist rebels who have been waging war for 38 years." In fact, Ospina writes that during the campaign, Uribe was simply another candidate in the pack until "peace talks with the largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces o...