MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian leader defies Court with plans for referendum

Pte. Alvaro Uribe

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe deepened his clash with the Judiciary branch by going ahead with plans for a referendum aimed at re-running the 2006 election in which he won a second term.

The popular leader reacted angrily to last week's Supreme Court ruling that said a former lawmaker was bribed by high government officials to support the constitutional amendment that allowed Uribe to seek re-election. Judges recommended a legal review of the 2006 vote but rather than wait for that, Uribe wants to take his case directly to voters. After the bribery ruling was handed down Uribe said the Supreme Court was politically biased and may even be influenced by Colombia's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade. His combative strategy opens the possibility of a special election that could give him a new mandate and allow more public debate over whether he should be allowed to try to stay in power beyond 2010 when his current term ends. "The referendum is on the way," presidential advisor Jose Obdulio Gaviria said as the opposition howled that Uribe is thumbing his nose at the judicial system and throwing off the country's constitutional checks and balances. The president's staff was busy drawing up the wording of the proposal. If it is approved by Congress the referendum will be put before the country's voters. "If the court has doubts about my election, let's ask the people and see what they say," Uribe said after Thursday's Supreme Court decision. Uribe, who has about 80% popularity based on his fight against the cocaine funded guerrillas fighting a four-decade-old insurgency, is portrayed this week on the cover of the Colombian news magazine Semana as a Roman emperor with the caption: "I am the power." "The face-off between Uribe and the court has brought the country to the brink of constitutional breakdown" said the usually pro-Uribe El Tiempo newspaper in a Sunday editorial. The legal question is whether a referendum can be called to rerun an election that has not yet been officially invalidated. The Constitutional Court is weighing whether or not to review the 2006 vote to determine if it was legal. Colombian Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, who is in charge of negotiating with Colombia's illegal militias and also a Uribe ally, called for an investigation of the Supreme Court after jailed paramilitary chief and drug lord Salvatore Mancuso said his organization had infiltrated the court. Dozens of members of Uribe congressional coalition, including his cousin and former Senator Mario Uribe, are under investigation on charges that they used far-right paramilitary thugs to intimidate voters.