The Americas

Under the “get tough” policy of President Alviro Uribe, who was reelected in 2006 to a second four-year term, Colombia’s cities reportedly are more secure. Nonetheless, Colombia remains locked in struggles with the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Because the drug trade fuels so much of the violence across so much of Colombia, the Bush administration has allowed some of the $4 billion in U.S. aid under “Plan Colombia” to be used to support counterterrorism as well as anti-drug operations.

At the same time that President Uribe was pressing military operations, he also offered to create a “neutral zone” where FARC and government negotiators could explore the possibility of a hostage/prisoner exchange. This effort received an unanticipated (and somewhat unwanted) “boost” from Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, who offered to be an intermediary between the two sides. Chavez’s offer was initially accepted, but was then terminated in late November when Uribe accused Chavez of overstepping the terms of his commission. Then in December the swap of three foreigners was back on and then back off. At year’s end, three of Venezuela helicopters were in Colombia waiting for the FARC to produce the three hostages. Meanwhile, the killings continue – an estimated 3,000 per year, although as in Iraq and Afghanistan, the true toll may never be known.