Uribe by A Landslide.

Colombiche says on May 28, 2006, 19:35:

There are so many things I would like to say right now... But the only one that comes to mind is:

"I told you so!!"

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

Monpirri says on May 28, 2006, 19:47:

Colombiche Just say, let's open the champagne bottle and enjoy the night while it's still young.

Annette Taddeo for US Congress 2008

Gator says on May 28, 2006, 20:33:

All I Hear are Positive Comments How about a BIG VIVA COLOMBIA

most result are now in: Uribe 7,562,862(the highest number of votes EVER received by a candidate for president), Gaviria 2,713,216 In Bogotá DC: URIBE 1,398,412, GAVIRIA 501,813, SERPA 165,749, MOCKUS 65,455. The worst defeat the Liberal party has suffered in 100 years.

He won every departmento(state) except La Guajira but lost only by 4.000 votes

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

juancegomez says on May 28, 2006, 21:55:

Uribe also lost Nariño, I believe... ...and Gaviria was pretty close to him in Putumayo and Caquetá, I believe. If more voters had participated in those departments and elsewhere, Gaviria might probably have done even better.

I didn't want Uribe to win, and I personally voted against him, but as I've repeatedly said...I don't think it's the end of the world either, not at all.

b bruce says on May 28, 2006, 22:03:

It would have been a mistake to change direction! I was watching the TV here in Key West and I was not seeing any results. Then the local news at eleven showed Colombians in Miami and Bogota celebrating and dancing in the streets. Was I happy to see that. I just found a nice piece of property to purchase in Santa Marta. Not even realizing that the election out come could effect pursuing my dream. I believe it is a good day for Colombia. But there is still a lot of work to be done helping the poor and settling the civil dispute with the FARC. Viva Colombia!

Rubiazo says on May 28, 2006, 22:10:

All I gotta say is Thank god for the Constitutional Court!

Gator says on May 28, 2006, 22:11:

Right You Are Juancegomez. Nariño went to Gaviria, Missed that-was at a big "election party" downstairs and it was hard to watch/listen to the TV with all the noise. Still 32 out of 34 departmentos is not too bad.

"SIC FRIATUR CRUSTUM DULCE. OBESA CANTAVIT."

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

platano says on May 28, 2006, 23:56:

Congratulations to all the Uribe supporters on your win... While I do not support Uribe's policies, such as spraying poison on people (apparently the people in Nariño didn't like being sprayed either), I did say he would win. I go even further. I say he will win a third term. The Constitution can be changed to permit it.

plátano

Desideria (Moderator) says on May 29, 2006, 00:09:

No third term for Uribe, methinks. There are two dominant trends in these elections: absentee ballot and the rise of the left. Same people who voted for Uribe were out and voted for him again. He's brought a relative peace in the countryside, but mainly just around major cities. I would have to disagree even with that: Cali is one of the major cities and yet has not benefitted from the peace-bringing efforts of Mr. Uribe. The extremely confusing incident in Jamundí just a few days ago where 10 policemen were killed, apparently, by the High Mountain Brigade soldiers is one of those things that put a damper on any celebrtions.

I'll have to agree with juance and I pretty much share his political view: security but not sacrificing social projects, health care, education. I would like Colombia have a higher participation rate at elections; not only these elections but the ones a month and a half ago whe Colombians chose congress and senate representatives the absentism was the great winner.

Anyway, congratulations, Colombia, for elections well carried-out and for super fast results.

Hopefully Mr. Uribe will surround himself with more useful advisors on his second term.

Cheers,
Desi

Embrace your uniqueness. Time is much too short to be living someone
else's life.

-Kobi Yamada

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

platano says on May 29, 2006, 00:12:

Desi, Same people who voted for Uribe were out and voted for him again.

And why wouldn't those people (62%+) vote for him a third time? Especially since he has done such a good job and, in their eyes, is such a good leader.

(Some believe if Uribe is not president, Colombia will be overrun by the FARC and FARC must be annihilated by a strong leader. Uribe is that strong president.)

plátano

Desideria (Moderator) says on May 29, 2006, 00:31:

Yes, I know that I didn't quite finish that thought. I believe that there's a great, amorphous mass of Uribe voters that only vote for him because they've done that before, because their friends say that he's Mr. Good Guy and because they use the infallible Colombian election logic: vote for the least bad of the candidates. With the rise of the PDI they will be easily swayed to other alternatives, because they are basically apolitical.

Another thing that I thought was significant if you look at the election results was the great concentration of Uribe votes in the smack middle of the country: Bogotá, Cundinamarca and Antioquia. The periferia (Guajira, Nariño, but also Barranquilla and all Atlantic coast, Popayán and Cauca) didn't seem to value him as high.

Cheers,
Desi



Embrace your uniqueness. Time is much too short to be living someone
else's life.

-Kobi Yamada

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

platano says on May 29, 2006, 00:39:

Gringodiego... No, I would not have voted for Gaviria. My first choice is Ingrid Betancourt. My second choice is Mockus. That is why everyone can relax and not worry about Plátano... I have a snowball's chance in hell of effecting anything political in Colombia. :=)

plátano

platano says on May 29, 2006, 00:41:

Gringodiego... Uribe Looms as an Even Larger Icon in the eyes and hearts of many, and many more than before.

I think you are on to something here. This is how FDR got elected three times in a time of war... ummm... I mean conflict.

What do you think? Some enterprising paisa will be selling bumper stickers that say: "Uribe 2010" ... tomorrow ... in Parque Bolivar?

plátano

Desideria (Moderator) says on May 29, 2006, 00:44:

why?
I haven't been able to find anything negative about Gaviria yet. I would've loved to see Gaviria/Betancourt combination in Palacio Nariño: a socialdemocrat academic and a woman representing the green.

I have a job for Mockus also: he'd do well as alcalde in Cali.

Cheers,
Desi
Embrace your uniqueness. Time is much too short to be living someone
else's life.

-Kobi Yamada

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

platano says on May 29, 2006, 00:48:

I have nothing against Gaviria... My first loyalty is to Ingrid because she represents the Green Party and, as far as I know, the Green Party is the only political party with nonviolence as one of its ten core values (a value I happen to share). The other parties, to my knowledge, believe in confronting the FARC with violence, a strategy which has not forced FARC to surrender in the last, oh, FIFTY YEARS it's been tried.

plátano

platano says on May 29, 2006, 00:54:

Gringodiego... Thanks for your sensitivity!

Here is a site in English with a nice photo of Ingrid: http://www.global.greens.org.au/colombia.html

No, I don't think Ingrid has electricity, and I don't think FARC is treating her well. Just being held captive is a violation of her human rights since she was not an armed combatant and cannot be claimed to be a "prisoner of war". I want FARC to release ALL the people they are holding.

plátano

lpdiver says on May 29, 2006, 02:53:

Perhaps Uribe Can even emulate Chavez and be "reelected" for decades to come!

T

"cook some rice!"

jccg says on May 29, 2006, 04:42:

It was well know, the countri will continue it's way to hell However, It is a huge victory for fredom the fact that free thinkers get the 22% of the votation. May be, in a future, if AU (or AUC whatever do you like more) allow it, Colombia will have a little chance. I have something good to say about AU, he has made the thinkers, the aphatic, and apolitical people go to vote. some agains him, some for him, but the important is: they were there to vote.
For me, it has been pretty interesting how the tradidional rulers has traied to link Gaviria with something bad, and traied to diffamed him and his economical proyect (without acomplish it...). it shows how Colombia is starting (in a really slow way) to search for a change of those who rule, and they are scared!. For now, tradition won. Of course, any smart person know that Uribe was going to be reelected (and he is going to start his third term reform so soon). So, we knew we will have at least four more years of fall.

Just loking for the light inside the darkness...

This is just the true!!

Gator says on May 29, 2006, 07:20:

jccg, Intersting Arguement A couple of pointers on how liberals argue:

Make an untrue statement.
"However, It is a huge victory for fredom the fact that free thinkers get the 22% of the votation."
22% is not a mandate by any argument. There was ample opportunity for the people to vote left. They chose not to.
" it shows how Colombia is starting (in a really slow way) to search for a change of those who rule, and they are scared!" Of what?


Redefine your definition and hope the other person forgets the previous one. Repeat as needed.
" For me, it has been pretty interesting how the tradidional rulers has traied to link Gaviria with something bad, and traied to diffamed him and his economical proyect (without acomplish it.."


"SIC FRIATUR CRUSTUM DULCE. OBESA CANTAVIT."

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

Rubiazo says on May 29, 2006, 07:51:

I'm a little more realistic I just hope Uncle Al (sic!) doesn't get to do too much damage in the next four years. He is a clear and present danger to invidiual freedoms down there.

juanalejo says on May 29, 2006, 07:54:

jccg Democracy begins when people start to accept and over all respect other people´s ideas. Your assumption that the thinkers are those who voted for Gaviria says a lot about what you think of democracy. I know a quite a few people who would have voted for Mockus, but after the dirty war that began on the Gaviria side they decided to sway out to Uribe as they believed the lack of respect by the opposition went from degrading to insulting, and that is something a lot of people would not tolerate.

jccg says on May 29, 2006, 08:54:

mmmmm.... let's see Gator: Allowme to ilustrate you about colombian politics. for years, "lefthist", socialist, and others critics of colombian goverment, were aphatic of polithics. Then, although the most of the thinkers (seid: those who think, make critics, debate, etc...) did not like the gov. They did not participate in any democratic desition... i.e. people just did not trust the system. Then, to get more than 22% of the votation from those people is INDEED a victory of democracy. It, of course, include the votes for Mokus, but the last one get so few that we almost can refere only to the gaviria voters.

juanalejo: "Democracy begins when people start to accept and over all respect other people´s ideas." WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. democracy beguins when people took an actively part on the decitions. Respec other's ideas is vague (an stupid). You must respect people, but ideas are to debate them. but, of course, if two or more non mixtable ideas are under a democratic debate, we must accept the one that becomes democraticly selected to be applied. even if we disagreed.

I do not assume that thinkers only vote for Gaviria, but I do assume that the most of Gaviria votes comes frome thinkers, wich is different. You know, noliberalism also have thinkers (and many of them pretty good ones!!)

This is just the true!!

Gator says on May 29, 2006, 09:59:

Thank God,jccg ! After almost twenty year of living here you have succinctly explained what the wife, friends and relatives could not.

BTW ALL election that are open and free are a victory of democracy

"SIC FRIATUR CRUSTUM DULCE. OBESA CANTAVIT."

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

Rubiazo says on May 29, 2006, 10:04:

I'll be a happy man if in four years I can blow marijuana smoke in a police officer's face in Colombia. :)

juancegomez says on May 29, 2006, 10:15:

I don't think you could do that even in Amsterdam though... ...but I suppose that wasn't meant to be taken literally. :)

Miguel_Clavo says on May 30, 2006, 06:43:

Hey Rubiazo..actually,you can do that now anywhere in the world! what are you afraid of???? jejejejeje.....

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo...faltan 32 días...Colombia es pasión!

"Ignorance is a Weapon of Mass Destruction..."

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

Gomezman5 says on May 30, 2006, 07:15:

Desi...and related I don't think that Gaviria's 22% was indicative of the rise of the Left. There are many reasons people vote for a candidate. One of which, is you stated yourself, is that a particular candidate is the lesser of the other evils. For those that did not like Uribe, was there any other option? Please.....do you call Serpa a viable option at this point in his career? He is a "has been" multiple time loser if there has been such a thing. So, I really don't see a socialist element of much significance. This is good news when you consider what has been going on in the rest of the continent.

As to your assertion that regarding the decrease in crime, Uribe has only been good for major cites. Well, I would venture to say that those urban centers are what make a country viable. I am not going to go on one of my security mantras, but if the cities go to hell, Colombia is dead in the water. No tourism No commercial activity, and your dear investments will be worthless. Colombia has only so much resources to defend itself, and concentrating it's resources in some guerilla infested village in Santander would not be the best use of whatever it has to defend itself.

Lastly, regarding social programs and sacrifices. Look, Colombia has had to sacrifice billions upon billions of dollars in social programs, education and alike to fight this war. Just taking the almost 3-5 billion dollars it has received from the US for Plan Colombia alone.....good grief, if Colombia would have been able to use a tiny fraction of that money for "social programs", it would be the model country for all of Latin America, and Latin Americans from all over the place would want to abandon their country's to live in Colombia? And guess what, a lot of Colombians here would go back home too.

Rubiazo says on May 30, 2006, 23:35:

at Miguel Clavo I'm afraid of being deported back to fucking Canada! And while you can smoke in public in the bigger cities, you can't blow the shit in the officer's face yet, not like you can in Colombia. Of course in Colombia the officer is probably one of those 17 year old 'Auxiliar Bachiller's and will complain that you didn't give him a proper hit :)