COLOMBIA: Freeing the Peso

Colombia, one of the most dogged advocates of government economic meddling, last week abruptly freed its long-pegged peso. Officially traded at 2½ to the dollar before the freeing, the peso promptly dropped to 6¼. Result expected: encouragement for the producers of dollar-earning exports (chiefly coffee), discouragement of dollar-draining imports, reduction of a towering trade debt estimated at $200 million.