As a resident of the United States, I loathe George W. Bush. Apart from the many obvious reasons are the fact that I have family in Guanatanamo Bay.

And yet, as I looked over the news today, I couldnt help but like the man, even for a second. What with the billions of dollars he has given to the government to fight rebel uprisings and drug trade, and his efforts to try and extend markets into the country so as to give jobs to the poor.. I talk, of course, of my home country Colombia. Let's make one thing clear, however: If that money had been given by Clinton to Samper 8 years ago, Colombia would be a first-world country, or at least well in the process of becoming one. The situation is not much worse, mind you, but the current President of Colombia ( Alvaro Uribe, or "Bushto"-meaning little Bush- to more than a few Colombian citizens) probably used a good deal of this money to buy himself a new plane and fund his attempts to change the constitution to get himself re-elected. ( These are not assumptions, they are things he literally wants to do)

For those who want to know, Uribe calls himself an "independent liberal" which is funny, since the man is so far to the right the constitution party cant see him with the hubble.
He was also one of the leaders ( though he hid himself well) in the movement of falsely trying to accuse samper of stealing government funds. Which is something that I have no doubt Uribe will do with Bush's money anyway. My other problem is that uribe has withdrawn massive funds and troops from fighting right-wing paramilitary forces to fighting marxists rebel guerrilas. Fighting the guerrillas is more important than fighting the paramilitarys, I agree, but a few things must be taken into account.

- Despite the fact that the paramilitary forces are not trying to overthrow the government, the have attacked and overtaken the governments of small towns along the distencion zone and forced to work on their armies or Coca Plantations. which leads me to my next point:

-Samper knew thathe paras were a real problem. They would soon become just as dangerous ( and as big) as the Marxists rebels. More dangerous, in fact, since they have brilliant leadership.

- The paras are a lot smaller than the FARC or ELN ( guerrilla rebel groups). However, they are responsible for 12% more Cocaine production, 19% more heroin, and have comitted a whooping 34% more kidnappings for ransom than any rebel group.

But I digress. My point is that, misguided and late as US help is, it happened under Bush. Some $2 billion were give to Colombias efforts to fight insurgents, and Im sure some of it will make it past Uribe's corrupt hands.

Ill go back to hating you tomorrow, dubya. For today only, youre ok.