December 20, 2004

For the second time in four days, police foiled a leftist rebel attempt to assassinate president Uribe. The rebels see Uribe's more vigorous actions against them as the main cause of the decline of the rebel organizations. That's partially true, but the rebels have become increasingly unpopular because of decades of violence. Uribe simply listened to what people wanted, got himself elected, and acted. Now the rebels want him dead, although if they pulled that off, the popular opposition to the leftist rebels would probably become even more intense.