Sound Familiar?

A decision that most likely will open the door to a second term for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe may also spark an increase in violence by the country’s left-wing rebels after three years of relative quiet.

The last thing FARC wants is more Uribe cramping their style. It was the safer bet to lay low while he was in office, thinking he couldn’t run for reelection. But now that that hurdle is almost cleared, they’ve had to revamp their plans.

Mr. Rangel says the FARC may try to call into question the efficacy of Uribe’s “democratic security” strategy, which has dramatically reduced kidnappings, homicides, and terrorist attacks.
As a result, Colombians are likely to see further economic sabotage, attacks on military bases, and urban terror plots on political targets similar to the assassination attempt in Bogotá recently of Uribista Sen. German Vargas Lleras, he says.
The president’s favorability ratings stand at near 80 percent, and polls that showed overwhelming support for the idea of reelection revealed that between 53 and 56 percent of Colombians would vote to reelect Uribe in May 2006.

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