MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Seven hours in Colombia to confirm support for a top ally

Pte. Uribe and Pte. Bush

President George Bush travels to Colombia early Sunday amid extremely tight security in the Colombian capital where he will meet and publicly express support for Washington's top ally in the region, President Alvaro Uribe.

Colombia is the biggest U.S aid recipient in Latin America and most of the money, an estimated 4 billion US dollars since 2000, has gone to fund Plan Colombia, which helps fight the largely drug-financed Colombian insurgency. Re-elected President Uribe says the effort is working, and stresses the government is making gains. But a scandal has erupted that has prompted many US Congress members to question pouring so much money into a country that remains the world's largest producer of cocaine and with notorious cases of human rights abuse by security forces. The scandal links several of Mr. Uribe's allies to paramilitary commanders accused of atrocities before they struck a peace deal with the government. The Uribe administration says the ties were discovered during an official probe and those guilty are being punished. Before embarking on his Latin American tour, President Bush told Colombian television that President Uribe is handling the issue well, that he is a strong leader, and retains the confidence of the United States. The Plan Colombia is also questioned in Colombia and divides public opinion. The Catholic Church stated that the visit of the US president "should help all Colombians to be heard" and to assess the inequalities in relations between United States and Colombia. Bishop Luis Augusto Castro said US aid should be less military and more oriented to progress and development "which is the root of all the problems facing Colombia". Of the more than four billion US dollars of the Plan Colombia, only 700 million have been for "social and development programs". About 20,000 military and police will be involved in providing security for the president's visit, which will last less than seven hours. He travels to Colombia from Uruguay, and will then fly to Guatemala.