GORE HAS IT WRONG ON URIBE

Re the April 21 article Gore cancels Miami appearance in snub of
Colombia's president: Former Vice President Al Gore was supposed to be
the keynote speaker in Miami at the April 20 Green Forum. But he
decided not to attend because he would not share the stage with
Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe. Fortunately, when Uribe spoke he
was received with a rousing standing ovation.

Gore is ignorant of the reality in Colombia. Twenty years ago the
leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was advancing
in gigantic steps toward the domination of the country. Wholesale
kidnappings to finance their operations were the order of the day
(there still are hundreds of them). The police and the army were
unable to control the situation. To defend their lives and property,
regional ranchers, with the consent of Uribe, then governor of the
Antioquia province, resorted to becoming a private militia that
managed to control the situation to a certain degree.

Over the years the militia got out of hand. And, without the aid of
the ranchers they were protecting, the militia created their own
agenda and got into drugs. In the process the militia committed the
same atrocities the FARC and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, had
been doing all along.

The minimal opposition to Uribe, who still has an approval rating of
more than 70 percent, is known as Polo Democratico (Chavez followers).
The group has managed to get a friendly ear in the Democratic-led U.S.
Congress, which apparently has ruined any possibility of signing the
free-trade agreement with the United States, thus potentially sending
Colombia into a dangerous Chavez-style future. As a Democrat, I am
appalled at the ignorance of my senator, Bill Nelson, for blaming
Uribe for something he helped create but that then turned in another
direction without his blessing. As a native Colombian, I feel offended
by Gore. And U.S. citizen, I am beginning to understand the reason why
everything we do in foreign policy always backfires and stains our own
nation.

VICTOR M. ROBLEDO

Miami