Andres Oppenheimer
It's not unusual in Latin American politics for presidents to clash with their predecessors who once helped elect them, but the current feud between former Colombian President
It's a brutal verbal battle between two long-time allies that is shaking
When I interviewed Uribe last week following a terrorist attack in
During the interview, Uribe said that there has been "an enormous mistake in the security policy of President Santos" that has resulted in a resurgence of guerrilla violence in
Referring to the terrorist attack in
Uribe asserted that "one of the big mistakes of the Santos administration has been to seek a (peace) agreement with the terrorist FARC group through the Chávez dictatorship in
When I asked him whether he is seeking to return to the presidency -- he can't run for the presidency under current laws, but there is speculation he may try to change the laws or find a loyal surrogate -- Uribe asserted that he is not campaigning for the presidency, but for "maintaining the policies that have worked well for
Santos, in turn, has responded that since he took office in 2010,
What's behind Uribe's offensive against his former protégé? There are three main theories:
- Uribe is trying to recover his place as the most powerful politician in
- Uribe is trying to control a majority in
- Uribe's ultimate goal is to return to power, either directly -- for instance, by running for vice resident and later asking the No. 1 on the ticket to step aside -- or through a more docile candidate than Santos turned out to be.
My opinion: In most other countries, this feud wouldn't be more than an anecdote within the political class. But in
What's more, unless Uribe and Santos come to terms -- or Uribe softens his attacks, or Santos starts to completely ignore them -- the two leaders will split
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