LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Colombia: United States
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Executive Branch: Colombia is a republic where the executive branch dominates government structure. Up until recently, the president was elected together with the vice-president by popular vote for a single four-year term, which functioned as both head of government and head of state. However, on October 19, 2005, the Colombian Congress amended the constitution, which now allows Colombian presidents to serve up to two consecutive four-year terms. However department governors, mayors of cities and towns and other executive branch officials are only elected for a three year term, and cannot be reelected.
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Colombia is a free market economy with major commercial and investment ties to the United States. Transition from a highly regulated economy has been underway for more than 15 years. In 1990, the administration of President Cesar Gaviria (1990-94) initiated economic liberalization or "apertura," and this has continued since then, with tariff reductions, financial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises and adoption of a more liberal foreign exchange rate. These policies eased import restrictions and opened most sectors to foreign investment, although agricultural products remained protected.
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Among Colombia's international sponsors, the United States plays a leading role in arming and funding the state terror. The involvement must be seen in the context of the long U.S. struggle against leftist and dissident movements, in its hemisphere and worldwide. With the Soviet "bogey" gone, the struggle against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- in effect, a struggle against all "left-wing" activism and dissidence (human-rights groups, union activists, peace movements, etc.) -- is now presented under the guise of "The Drug War." The U.S. knows full well the widescale involvement of its regime and paramilitary clients in drug-trafficking and largescale killing. Yet Colombia has become the third-largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world (after Israel and Egypt). The following commentary by The Economist makes clear the U.S. connection, and its underlying logic:
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Colombia maintains an excellent extradition relationship with the United States. The Uribe administration has extradited more than 600 fugitives to the United States. Among those extradited in 2005 were Cali Cartel leaders Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and his brother Miguel, and FARC leaders Juvenal Ovidio Palmera Pineda (aka "Simon Trinidad"), who was convicted and sentenced at the beginning of 2008, and Omaira Rojas Cabrera (aka "Sonia").
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Many of the attitudes that led to Colombia’s sharp class divisions originated in 16th-century Spain and became ingrained in Colombian society during the colonial period. Family lineage, inherited wealth, and racial background continue to be powerful determinants of status. Economic progress during the last 100 years has been substantial, but political, social, and economic power continues to be concentrated in the hands of the small upper class.
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In the 1990s, Colombia came perilously close to becoming a failed state. With the state seemingly impotent, drug merchants enjoyed a perverse popular appeal. Escobar, the acknowledged boss of the Medellin cartel, was even elected to parliament. Violence permeated society as presidential candidates, police officers and judges were assassinated.
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