WINNER IN COLOMBIA FACES 'HERCULEAN' JOB

Uribe Will Take Over Presidency In August Of A Troubled Nation

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)- Colombian President-elect Alvaro Uribe awoke
yesterday with a clear but seemingly impossible mandate: Conquer leftist
guerrillas, battle corruption, revive a slumping economy and impose order
in one of world's most violent and insecure nations.

Uribe, who will take over from President Andres Pastrana in August, won a
resounding first-round victory in largely peaceful elections Sunday, taking
53 percent of the vote vs. 31.7 percent for Horacio Serpa - the
next-closest challenger.

"He's got a Herculean task before him," said Bruce Bagley, a Colombia
expert at the University of Miami in Florida. "It's going to be extremely
difficult to fulfill even part of what he aspires to do during his four
years of the presidency."

Uribe, who is 49 and was educated at Harvard University, wants more
military aid from the United States, which dovetails with the Bush
administration's plans. Although his election could herald bloodier
fighting, Uribe's promise of security appeals to Colombians desperately
seeking relief from a 38-year war.

"We ask God to illuminate us, to give us determination and energy to do
good for Colombia," Uribe told foreign journalists yesterday.

Uribe spoke at a news conference in which he appealed for U.S. aid to stop
cocaine and heroin from leaving Colombia and to prevent arms shipments from
being smuggled to Colombia's outlawed guerrilla and paramilitary groups.

"If we don't resolve it, this conflict has a dangerous potential to
destabilize Latin America," he said. "We need help from the United States
in order to preserve our democracy."

Uribe's ambitious agenda goes beyond the crackdown on guerrillas. He plans
a referendum to nearly halve the size of Colombia's Congress and reduce
corruption. He also promised to create jobs, build roads, revolutionize
education and trim a bloated public pension system.

The willingness of the United States to provide more military aid may
depend on whether Uribe's planned crackdown on guerrillas would also extend
to a right-wing paramilitary group that has massacred suspected rebel
collaborators. Uribe said he will combat all armed groups but also said he
was open to the possibility of peace talks with the paramilitaries.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman said the United
States looks forward to working with Uribe "to advance our shared goals of
eliminating the scourges of narcotics trafficking and terrorism, improving
human rights conditions and ensuring a prosperous future for all Colombia."