[MattinNJ]

One of the unfortnate by-products of the WOT is that we have not paid enough attention south of our border. Lula in Brazil, Chavez, Argentina, Chile, etc...have all lurched left. Uibe is doing a great job in Columbia but we cut our aid to him ostensibly because of our expenditures on the WOT.

[StJacques]

That's an interesting comment you made about Uribe. Do you know that the DEA has credited Uribe with breaking the drug cartels in Colombia -- and this does not include the FARC who are an army unto themselves -- into smaller organizations that focus on production of cocaine almost exclusively now, and which no longer operate extensive worldwide distribution networks? The DEA also says that, unfortunately, Mexican drug operations have stepped in to take care of the distribution now, but that's something the Colombians cannot effectively stop given that those contacts are so very low profile as to be nearly unseen.

A couple of weeks ago I posted in a discussion pertaining to the recent successes of the Left in Latin America that I see only three countries in which there is a powerful Left wing within national politics and where the Right wing has shown the balls to stand up to the Left; Colombia, Nicaragua, and Mexico. That's not a long list and it's one of the reasons why what is going on in Mexico right now is so very important for the larger political landscape in Latin America.