Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn the latest in the ongoing saga of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe’s potential third term, Defense Minister and loyal Uribista Juan Manuel Santos resigned from his position Tuesday to prepare for a possbible presidential bid in 2010. That bid, however, comes with an important caveat; “if the president decides to run, he can count on my support,” said Santos. “If he does not do it, I will be a candidate.”
Although Santos has an “intuition” that Uribe will seek a third term, he has doubts about the prudence of such a move. Back in January, he told the Washington Post that “history will judge him [Uribe] much better if he leaves now than if he risks staying for four more years.” Uribe, for his part, is still playing coy on the issue.
AmericasQuarterly.Org will continue to follow this story in-depth. Look for a blog post tomorrow from Liz Harper, our DC correspondent, on the implications of a third term on U.S.-Colombia relations, and a forthcoming web exclusive article from our Colombia correspondent, Anastasia Moloney, will offer on-the-ground perspective on recent developments.
Tags: Colombia,
Santos,
Uribe
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