URIBE DAZZLES SOME COLOMBIANS, DISAPPOINTS OTHERS

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian magazine Semana calls it "The Year That
Hope Returned," while local newspapers gush over the "self-control"
and "serenity" of the year-old presidency of Alvaro Uribe, a man who
presides over Latin America's most violent nation.

His country is home to the world's largest numbers of kidnappings, a
guerrilla war and a huge cocaine empire. But as the government marks
its anniversary on Thursday, Colombians believe Uribe is doing all he
can to make the country safer.

"People feel that Uribe is doing the job he promised," said private
pollster Jorge Londono of Invamer Gallup, explaining the president's
70 percent popularity rating.

But others question the rosy picture and are haunted by joblessness
and violence in a country where thousands of people are killed every
year.

The guerrilla war casts a long shadow over the economy, and
unemployment stands at 17 percent in Colombia's biggest cities,
despite signs that investment is rising.

The defense ministry says kidnapping is down by a third this year,
although more than 1,000 people have been abducted so far. Violent
deaths of civilians -- including war and non-war related killings --
fell by nearly a quarter, but there were still more than 13,500 victims.

U.S. anti-drug chief John Walters said on a recent visit that under
Uribe's watch Bogota was making progress in the drug war. Because of
this, he forecast "dramatic changes" in the black market for Colombian
cocaine on U.S. streets. Most of America's cocaine comes from Colombia
and it is a major heroin supplier.

The armed forces frequently cite battlefield victories against the
country's rebels, prompting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, to issue a statement last month denying it was
losing its 39-year-old war.

Yet there is the nagging question of why the president has yet to
capture or kill a single major FARC commander.

Critics say officials may be overstating damage to the rebel
army.

"There no indications that its fundamental structures have been
affected (by the military campaign). And one cannot rule out that they
(the FARC) are preparing some terrorist response to the commemorations
of Uribe's first year," said El Tiempo newspaper in an editorial.

The president's father was killed by FARC rebels in the early 1980s
and his own swearing-in ceremony last year was marred by a rebel
mortar attack on the nation's capital that killed 21 people. Exactly
six months later, a car bomb blamed on the FARC killed 36 people at a
Bogota social club.

The government has struck a deal to disarm the country's largest
paramilitary army by 2005, but analysts warn the deal may not end the
far-right's dirty war against Marxist rebels.

Analysts say what may get the president through the tough times ahead
in his four-year term is his strong support from the United States and
his savvy use of the media.

Uribe's lack of flamboyance has given him an air of sincerity on
television compared to his silver-tongued predecessor, Andres
Pastrana. He has interviewed FARC deserters, former kidnap victims,
and even answered phone calls during a televised cabinet meeting last
week.

"He's a media hero," said Colombian television critic Omar Rincon.
"Uribe discovered he had a television gene and he's exploiting it
because he knows that to win the war and to trumpet the success of his
government, he has go on TV."

(Additional reporting by Amira Abultaif)