DESPITE LEAD IN POLLS, URIBE'S IMAGE TAKES A HIT

Colombia Leader Treats Detractors As Traitors, Refuses To Debate His Rivals

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Rather than taking the high road as he marches
toward re-election, President Alvaro Uribe has come under fire for
delivering a series of low blows to his detractors.

Bolstered by a double-digit lead in the polls heading into next
month's election, Uribe often treats his critics as traitors and acts
as if a second term is his birthright, many analysts say.

He has refused to take part in debates with rival candidates. He has
bashed the media, provoking a sharp rebuke from Human Rights Watch.

And he at first tried to brush off a burgeoning scandal in which
paramilitary gunmen allegedly infiltrated his government's
intelligence agency.

"Uribe is hiding behind his high approval ratings to reject criticism
and avoid debate," said German Espejo of the Security and Democracy
Foundation, a Bogota think tank.

"But he's got to face up to the good and the bad."

With leftists winning elections across much of Latin America, Uribe is
one of the few rightists expected to hang onto power.

He is President Bush's closest ally in the region, and Uribe's
government has received more than $3 billion in American aid since
2002, much of it for the war on drugs.

By Colombian standards, Uribe has led a charmed presidency. During his
term, the Colombian economy has rebounded. The army has driven back
Marxist guerrillas, and thousands of right-wing paramilitary gunmen,
who have killed thousands of rebels and their supporters, have
disarmed. A poll published last month estimated that Uribe would get
56 percent of the votes in the May 28 election, compared with 25
percent for former Interior Minister Horacio Serpa, his closest rival
in the seven-candidate field. If nobody wins more than 50 percent of
the vote, a runoff between the top-two finishers would be held in June.

But as the campaign heats up, Uribe's Teflon image has begun to fade
amid the worst scandal of his administration.

In statements to Colombian prosecutors and journalists, Rafael Garcia,
a jailed official of the DAS -- the powerful agency dealing with
intelligence and counterintelligence whose agents also investigate
crimes and make arrests -- claimed that the agency provided
paramilitary militias with the names of union leaders and academics
who were later threatened or killed.

Garcia testified that the former head of the DAS, Jorge Noguera,
collaborated with paramilitaries to fraudulently secure an additional
300,000 votes for Uribe in northern Magdalena state during the 2002
presidential election -- crucial support that helped put him over the
50 percent threshold and avoid a runoff.

And in another bombshell, Garcia claimed that the DAS worked
hand-in-glove with paramilitaries in a failed plot to kill several
Venezuelan leaders, including the country's leftist president, Hugo
Chavez.

The allegations received prominent play in the Colombian media,
especially Semana magazine, the nation's most respected newsweekly.

The charges stung Uribe, who denies having any links to the
paramilitaries though he was publicly endorsed by militia commanders
during the 2002 campaign.

Uribe's initial reaction was to lash out at the bearers of the bad
news. He accused journalists of being malicious and of harming
Colombia's democratic institutions and got into a ugly verbal brawl
with the editor of Semana during a live television interview.

Reporters "must decide whether they are serious or whether they are
yellow journalists," Uribe said last week. "They must decide whether
they want to follow the rule of law or act as a substitute for the
justice system."

Uribe's attacks were especially disturbing, since the Colombian media
have played a key role in exposing government scandals.

Yet investigative journalists here are often targeted by
paramilitaries, rebels and drug traffickers, who sometimes pay the
rebels and paramilitaries for protection.

Uribe's attacks on the media amount to a dangerous form of piling on,
said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch.

"President Uribe's aggressive response raises suspicion about whether
he actually wants the truth known, and has a chilling effect on the
exercise of freedom of expression," Vivanco said n a public dressing
down of Uribe. "Instead of attacking the media, Uribe should ensure a
full investigation of the charges."

Far behind in the polls, Uribe's rivals in the campaign are furiously
trying to take advantage of the scandal, dubbed by some pundits as
DAS-gate.

But there may be no way for voters to judge the candidates
side-by-side because Uribe is skipping a series of televised debates.
As the overwhelming favorite, Uribe's inner circle figured he had
nothing to gain by showing up.

"We're not going to allow the president to get involved in a
cockfight," said Fabio Echeverri, Uribe's campaign manager.

Later, in a radio interview, Uribe offered another explanation. "I'm
not avoiding my responsibilities," he said. "I'm involved in a
permanent debate with the Colombian people."

But the televised free-for-alls are one of the few ways opposition
candidates can stand on equal footing with a popular incumbent.

Uribe's decision to avoid the face-offs was even more contentious
because he pushed hard for a constitutional amendment, approved last
year, allowing him to run for a second four-year term. Opponents of
the measure have long argued that sitting presidents wield too many
advantages in elections -- such as the option of ducking debates.

"Refusing to participate in the debates creates a
dangerous precedent," said Semana in a recent cover
story titled: Mr. President: What Are You Afraid Of?
"There's something particularly sad about the attitude
of the president."

Ironically, part of Uribe's popularity stems from his reputation for
being a straight-shooter.

Some analysts believe Uribe has gradually surrounded himself with
paranoid sycophants who see a conspiracy behind every headline.

But a bunker mentality at the presidential palace could lead to even
more fireworks between Uribe and his adversaries if he wins another
four-year term.

"If this is what happens in the middle of Uribe's campaign, when he
still has appearances to keep up," columnist Daniel Coronell wrote in
Semana, "imagine what his second term will be like."

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1952: Alvaro Uribe is born, the first of five children to a cattle
rancher and his wife, a city councilwoman. Marxist rebels kill his
father in 1983 at the ranch. "I have no bitterness," Uribe says years
later.

2002: Uribe, a lawyer and politician, is elected president of
Colombia; rebel bombs mar inauguration.

2 003: Right-wing paramilitaries begin to disarm, leaders later
allowed to address Congress.

2005: New law offers reduced jail terms and protection from
extradition for paramilitaries who disarm.

2006: Runs for re-election after constitutional amendment removes
one-term limit.