Colombia: Permanently on the Defense

Not so long ago, Colombia was held up as a showcase of the Alianza — relatively rich in resources, increasingly mature in politics, full of hopeful plans for the future. The Andean country is now approaching what Colombians gloomily call "zero hour."

Under President Guillermo Leon Valencia's do-nothing, three-year-old government, the cost of living has risen 60%, Colombia's chronic trade deficit has doubled, business confidence has evaporated and unemployment is soaring. Politically, the ruling Liberal-Conservative National Front is splintering, and Congress is all but immobilized. Last week, with new elections only nine months away, Valencia finally decided that something ought...

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