ONE RIGHTEOUS GRINGO

Al Gore may not have known that he was taking the side of a former
terrorist and ally of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez when he waded
into Colombian politics 10 days ago. But that's not much consolation
to 45 million Colombians who watched their country's already fragile
international image suffer another unjust blow, this time at the
hands of a former U.S. vice president. The event was a climate-change
conference in Miami, where Mr. Gore and Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe were set to share the stage.

At the last minute, Mr. Gore notified the conference organizers that
he refused to appear with Mr. Uribe because of "deeply troubling"
allegations of human-rights violations swirling around the Colombian
government.

It is not clear whether the ex-veep knows that making unsubstantiated
claims of human-rights violations has been a key guerrilla weapon for
more than a decade, along with the more traditional practices of
murdering, maiming and kidnapping civilians.

Nor is it clear whether Mr. Gore knew that the recycled charges that
caught his attention are being hyped by Colombian Sen. Gustavo Petro,
a close friend of Mr. Chavez and former member of the pro-Cuban M-19
terrorist group.

What we do know is that Mr. Gore's line of reasoning -- that Colombia
is not good enough to rub shoulders with the righteous gringos -- is
also being peddled by some Democrats in Congress, the AFL-CIO and
other forces of anti-globalization. The endgame is all about killing
the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

When Mr. Uribe got wind of Mr. Gore's decision to stand him up, he
rightly interpreted its significance: Colombia is the victim of an
international smear campaign that, if left unchecked, could undermine
congressional support for the pending trade deal. Rather than let the
whispering go on, Mr. Uribe elevated the matter, calling two press
conferences over two days to refute the charges, which he says are
damaging the country's interests. He also asked Mr. Gore to look "at
Colombia closely" so he could see the progress that has been made.

The truth about Colombia's bloody struggle against criminal networks
is not hard to discern.

The tragedy originated more than five decades ago with ideological
rebel warfare and was long supported by Fidel Castro. After Pablo
Escobar was killed in 1993 and the Medellin and Cali drug cartels
collapsed in the mid-1990s, the guerrillas moved into the
narcotrafficking business and used this new source of financing to
heighten the terror. In a December 2001 monograph published by The
Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, Latin
American insurgency and counterinsurgency expert David Spencer
described the costs of the guerillas' "predatory business": "The
federation of cattle ranchers reported that in 1997 they suffered
losses of $750 million, largely to guerrilla theft and extortion. The
consequences of resisting these extortive taxes is severe and
includes kidnapping, death, and destruction of property." As Mr.
Spencer explained, the urban rich avoided much of the terrorism; the
vulnerable were the "small, independent farmers, ranchers,
professionals, and merchants." Lacking resources and a plan of
action, the state did little to protect innocents. So the rural
population organized self-defense units that became known as
paramilitaries. Many of these groups later morphed into criminal enterprises.

Mr. Uribe, whose father was murdered by guerrillas, was elected
governor of the state of Antioquia in 1995. He inherited a mess.
"Guerrillas were all over the state," he told me in a 1997 interview
in Medellin. "They were kidnapping, drug trafficking, keeping illegal
plantations. Against them were the paramilitary. Wherever guerrillas
arrived in one place, sooner or later paramilitary arrived there too,
committing many similar crimes." To confront the chaos, the governor
made increasing the presence of the state a priority and launched the
"convivirs." These legal civic organizations were citizens'
intelligence networks designed to help the army and police identify
and pursue guerrillas, paramilitary groups, narcotraffickers and
common criminals in the countryside. It was later learned that some
of the convivirs had links to paramilitaries. This shouldn't be
surprising since both groups shared a common enemy.

But to the extent that such collusion existed, one can hardly blame
it on Mr. Uribe. The concept of engaging the public in helping to
strengthen the state's law-enforcement capabilities is a perfectly
defensible strategy.

Of course, the guerrillas didn't like it. They suffered major
setbacks while Antioquian peasants, farmers, ranchers, banana workers
and rural weekenders all enjoyed newfound security.

Mr. Uribe ran for president in 2002 on a promise to defeat organized
crime. He has produced impressive results.

According to national police statistics, homicides dropped to 17,277
in 2006 from 28,837 in 2002. Kidnappings fell to 687 from 2,883 over
the same period and terrorist attacks were cut by more than
two-thirds. Since 2002, some 42,000 illegally armed combatants have
put down their weapons and 1,342 paramilitary have been killed. As to
charges against his former intelligence chief, based mainly on the
testimony of one rather dubious witness, the justice system is working.

It is in no need of Mr. Gore's condescending prejudice. Though
Colombia is not yet pacified, voters have confidence in Mr. Uribe.
The economy has recovered and the government is working to protect
the environment against the degradation caused by coca growers
destroying forests and cocaine labs polluting rivers.

There is also a special program to provide security for members of
labor unions.

Mr. Uribe was re-elected last year and today maintains an approval
rating of better than 70%. Mr. Uribe's popularity is a source of much
frustration for his adversaries, especially as the FTA -- considered
his baby -- gains momentum.

Colombians widely favor the deal and it is now sailing through the
legislature. Thus the export of the tired, old allegations of
human-rights violations from Mr. Petro. How ironic that Colombia's
anti-American hard-left, normally obsessed with trashing Uncle Sam,
is now rushing to Washington to get help in defeating the will of its
own people.

Mr. Uribe will be in Washington this week to meet with members of
Congress and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to make his case for the
FTA. In the end, it may turn out that Mr. Gore did him a favor by
bringing this subject to the fore. Union activists who don't want any
more U.S. free trade agreements have every right to lobby against
them. But they should make their case on facts, not on politically
motivated and unsubstantiated charges.