COLOMBIA LEADER GOES TOO FAR

Since Colombian President Alvaro Uribe took office last month, he has
assumed dictatorial powers.

The Harvard-educated leader, elected by a landslide after promising to take
a strong stand against rebels and drug dealers, has suspended basic
freedoms in the name of national security.

The armed forces can impose curfews, search a home or arrest people without
a warrant, restrict domestic travel and monitor the movement of all foreigners.

Uribe should reconsider his tough stand. Most Colombians are willing to pay
more taxes and allow some intrusion into their lives - such as notifying
the government every time they move or travel - if that's what it takes to
end the violence.

But the military, an institution with a long history of human rights
abuses, could engage in widespread abuses again.

Moreover, if the siege is not lifted soon, Colombia runs the risk of having
a long conflict such as the one that devastated most of Central America
during the Cold War era.

Washington has made Colombia the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid after
Israel and Egypt. It should make it clear to Uribe that he's gone too far.

The administration would look hypocritical for supporting Uribe's
repression while condemning Hugo Chavez of neighboring Venezuela, another
dictatorial president.