Uribe’s hostage triumph
乌里韦的人质胜利

Jul 3rd 2008 | BOGOTÁ
From The Economist print edition

The freeing of Ingrid Betancourt (left) and other guerrilla hostages is a political apotheosis for President Álvaro Uribe (right). It might even secure him a third term
英格丽德•贝当古（左）和其他游击队人质的获救是阿尔瓦罗•乌里韦总统（右）的政治礼赞。这可能会让他赢得第三个总统任期

IT WAS an ending happier than any Hollywood director would dare to dream up. After years of captivity at the hands of left-wing FARC guerrillas, Ingrid Betancourt, three American defence contractors and 11 Colombian soldiers were rescued on July 2nd by the army without a shot being fired. It was a “miracle”, said Ms Betancourt, a former presidential candidate who holds French and Colombian nationality and who had been held for more than six years, for much of that time in chains and in poor health. It was a triumph for Colombia’s president, Álvaro Uribe, who at some political cost had resisted pressure to negotiate the release of Ms Betancourt. And it was a disaster for the FARC and its sympathisers in Latin America who hoped to use the hostage issue to weaken Mr Uribe.
结局如此完满，可能超出任何好莱坞导演的想象。被左翼势力哥伦比亚革命武装力量囚禁多年的贝当古、三名美国防御承包商和11名哥伦比亚士兵于7月2日成功获救，救援部队未用一枪一弹。贝当古称这是一个”奇迹”。贝当古曾是总统竞选人，具有法国和哥伦比亚双重国籍。至此，她已被关押了六年多，其间大多时候倍受铁锁和疾病的困扰。对哥伦比亚总统阿尔瓦罗•乌里韦来说，这是一个胜利。乌里韦曾因顶住压力拒绝就贝当古的释放进行谈判，而导致其政治地位受到一些争议。对哥伦比亚革命武装力量及其在拉丁美洲的同情者来说，这是一个灾难，他们曾希望利用人质问题来削弱乌里韦的力量。

The rescue operation involved years of planning. It was testament to the army’s new sophistication in intelligence and infiltration. It built on its recent successes in disrupting the FARC’s communications and isolating its leaders from each other. An attempt to rescue other guerrilla hostages in 2003 had ended in disaster, when ten were killed by their captors.
这次救援行动已规划了数年。行动的成功实施证明哥军队在情报和潜透能力方面实力大增。不久前，哥部队成功截获了哥伦比亚革命武装力量的通讯，切断了其各领导人间的交流。2003年曾经试图营救过其他人质，结果失败了，导致10名人质被杀。

This time the army relied on trickery rather than surprise or force. A former hostage who escaped last year supplied details of the jungle camps where the hostages were being held in the remote south-eastern departments of Guaviare and Vaupés. Army intelligence agents, posing as senior FARC members, communicated with the guerrilla commander guarding the hostages. They gave him a false order purporting to be from the FARC’s new leader, Alfonso Cano, that the hostages were to be taken to a helicopter sent by a humanitarian organisation-mimicking the arrangements when six other captives were released earlier this year after mediation by Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez.
这次，军队依靠计谋而是突袭或武力赢得胜利。去年逃出的一名人质提供情报，详细说明了人质关押地，哥东南部瓜维亚雷省和沃佩斯省森林营地的情况。军队情报特务冒冲哥伦比亚革命武装力量的高级官员，与关押人质的游击队指挥员通信，以哥伦比亚革命武装力量的新领导 Alfonso Cano的名义给他发了一个假命令，要求把人质送上人道主义组织派来的直升飞机。今年早些时候，在委内瑞拉总统雨果‧查维兹的斡旋下，曾以这种方式释放了 6名人质。

Once on board the helicopter, the two guerrilla escorts were overpowered and the army agents, some dressed in Che Guevara T-shirts, broke the news to the hostages that they were flying to an army base and freedom. “We couldn’t believe it. The helicopter nearly fell because we jumped for joy,” said Ms Betancourt.
一登上飞机，两名游击队护卫人员就被制服，哥军队特务（有些穿着切•格瓦拉的T恤）就告诉机上人质说，他们在飞住军队基地，他们已获自由。”我们不敢相信自己的耳朵。我们都高兴地跳起来，几乎把飞机踏沉了”，贝当古说。

The operation is the latest of several devastating blows suffered this year by the FARC, which mixes an antiquated Marxism-Leninism with drug-trafficking and racketeering. In March, the army bombed a guerrilla camp just over the border in Ecuador, killing Raúl Reyes, a member of the group’s seven-man secretariat. The incident outraged Ecuador’s president, but yielded a huge haul of documents from Mr Reyes’s computers. Days later another member of the secretariat was killed by his own bodyguard. Then Manuel Marulanda, the FARC’s founder and undisputed leader, died, supposedly of a heart attack.
哥伦比亚革命武装力量信奉马列主义，同时贩卖毒品并进行敲诈勒索勾当。今年这个武装力量接连遭受重创。3月，哥军队轰炸了厄瓜多尔边境线上的游击队营地，炸死了游击队的7人秘书处的成员之一Raúl Reyes。这次轰炸若恼了厄瓜多尔总统，获得了Reyes电脑内的大批文件。数天后，秘书处的另一成员被其保卫人员杀害。接着，哥伦比亚革命武装力量的创立者和当仁不让的领导人Manuel Marulanda去逝，据推测是死于心脏病发作。

The FARC still hold several hundred hostages, including a score of army and police officers and two politicians. But they have lost their chief prizes. Ms Betancourt was a minor politician in Colombia when she was seized while campaigning for the presidency in 2002. But she has become a national cause célèbre in France, where she studied; she married a Frenchman and her two children live there. Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, had made her release a personal priority, and pressed Mr Uribe to negotiate with the guerrillas.
哥伦比亚革命武装力量仍握有数百名人质，其中有二十来名士兵和武警及两名政治家。不过，他们失去了手中最大一个砝码。贝当古是哥伦比亚一位年轻的政治家，2002年竞争总统时被绑架。她在法国尽人皆知。她曾在法国学习，嫁给了一个法国人，她的两个孩子也生活在法国。法国总统尼古拉•萨科齐把寻求贝当古的释放当成第一要务，曾给乌里韦施压，要求他同游击队进行谈判。

The three Americans, who were working on contract to the United States government, were captured when their anti-drug surveillance plane crashed in guerrilla territory in 2003. The United States supplies Colombia with military aid and training. It has given particular help in intercepting FARC communications. Juan Manuel Santos, the defence minister, said that he had co-ordinated the rescue plan with American officials.
3名被放美国人，是美国政府的合同承包商。2003年，他们乘坐的禁毒监测飞机在游击队的领地迫降，由此被抓。美国向哥伦比亚提供军事援助和培训，特别帮助哥截获哥伦比亚革命武装力量的通讯。国防部长胡安• 曼努埃尔• 桑托斯说他曾就求援方案与美国方面进行协商。

The FARC claimed to want to swap its trophy hostages (who at one point numbered around 60, including Colombian politicians and military officers) for jailed guerrillas. But e-mails from Mr Reyes’s computer, seen by The Economist, show that their real aim was to use them to embarrass Mr Uribe politically and to gain international recognition.
哥伦比亚革命武装力量曾提出想用其手中的人质（有一段时间曾是60人左右，包括哥伦比亚政治家和军官）来交换被哥政府关押的游击队员。不过，《经济学家》所看到来自Reyes电脑的一个邮件却表明，他们真正的目的是想利用人质搞垮乌里韦，并获得国际知名度。
They wanted the president to “demilitarise” a swathe of territory to allow talks. Mr Uribe was resolutely against that: during past peace talks the FARC used a similar enclave for recruiting and training while continuing to kill and kidnap. The guerrillas also want the European Union to drop them from a list of terrorist organisations-an aim that Mr Chávez supported, calling for their recognition as a “belligerent force”.
他们希望总统开辟一块”安全地带”来进行和谈.乌里韦总统对此坚决表示反对(在最后一次与哥伦比亚革命武装力量和谈过程中,他们同样利用得到的这块”安全地带”进行招募和训练新士兵工作,并且继续进行屠杀和绑架活动)。哥伦比亚革命武装力量还想让欧盟将其从一个恐怖组织名单中去掉,这得到了查韦斯的支持，查韦斯呼吁承认哥伦比亚游击队是‘反对派武装’。”
Mr Uribe faced much pressure to bow to the FARC’s demands, both from the hostages’ families and, less understandably, from France. (At Mr Sarkozy’s request he freed a jailed guerrilla leader who has returned to action.) Ms Betancourt’s mother was particularly bitter in her criticism of the president during her tireless campaign for her daughter’s release. But Ingrid Betancourt was full of praise for Mr Uribe and for the “impeccable” army operation. She said the biggest blow suffered by the FARC had been when the president succeeded in changing the constitution to allow him to run for-and win by a landslide-a second term in 2006.
乌里韦承受了巨大压力，要求他满足哥伦比亚革命武装力量的要求。这些压力来自人质家属和（令人难以理解的是）法国。（在萨科齐的要求下，他曾释放了一名关押的游击队领袖，这名领袖返回后随即投入战斗）。贝当古的母亲在不懈地寻救营救女儿过程中，毫不留情地批评总统乌里韦。不过，贝当古却对乌里韦大加赞扬，对”完美的”军队行动大加赞扬。她说总统成功修改了宪法，得以在2006年竞选总统，并以绝对优势获胜，这对哥伦比亚革命武装力量是一个最大的打击。

That statement must have been particularly sweet for Mr Uribe. For the hostage release came in a week in which he was being widely criticised at home for appearing to blow up a conflict with Colombia’s judiciary in order to engineer the possibility of a third term. Enraged by a Supreme Court ruling on June 26th that seemed to question the legality of his election victory in 2006, he has proposed a referendum on rerunning the vote.
乌里韦听到这些可能会倍感温馨。人质释放前一周来，乌里韦因想谋求第三届任期而与哥伦比亚法院发生冲突，从而在国内大受诟病。最高法院6月26日的判决似乎质疑他2006年竞选胜利的合法性，乌里韦大怒，提议要进行全民公决重新统计投票。

The court’s verdict involved Yidis Medina, a former congresswoman who cast the deciding vote when a congressional committee approved the constitutional change that allowed Mr Uribe to run in 2006. Ms Medina, a disreputable character who is also being investigated for alleged links to the ELN, another guerrilla group, had given a videotaped interview in 2004 in which she said that three of her followers were given government jobs in exchange for her vote on the re-election amendment. She authorised the tape to be made public after other promises were not kept, she said.
法院的判决也涉及Yidis Medina（前国会议员，在国会委员会批准修改宪法，允许乌里韦竞选2006年总统时投了决定性一票）。Medina声名狼藉，曾因与ELN（另一游击队组织）有瓜葛而接受调查。她披露了一个2004年采访录像带，录像带上她说她的3名追随者被给予了政府职位，以获取她投票同意修订关于重选的宪法。她说，因为其他诺言没有兑现，她授权将这个录像带公之于众。

The court sentenced Ms Medina to 47 months of house arrest, and ordered investigations into two ministers she claimed had been involved in arranging the jobs. It went on to ask the Constitutional Court to consider the legality of the amendment and thus of the 2006 election in which Mr Uribe won by a landslide.
法院判决Medina47个月的软禁，并命令调查两名部队，据Medina说，这两名部队参与安排了这些职位。法院接着要求宪法法院审查宪法修订的合法性，以及2006年选举的合法性。乌里韦在2006年选举时以绝对优势获胜。

In a late-night television address, the president blasted the Supreme Court for “abuse of power” and for “applying justice selectively”. It is not the first time that Mr Uribe has clashed with the courts. Under Colombia’s constitution, the Supreme Court has the power to investigate wrongdoing by members of Congress. It has done so with energy: most of the more than 70 legislators it is investigating for past links with right-wing paramilitary groups are members of parties that backed the president; they include his cousin, Mario Uribe. The justices insist that they are merely applying the law. The president has repeatedly questioned their impartiality.
在晚间在电视讲话中，总统强烈指责最高法院”滥用职权”以及”有选择地执法”。这不是乌里韦第一次与法院发生冲突。根据哥伦比亚宪法，最高法院有权调查国会议员的错误行径。它也不遗余力地这样做了：法院就与右翼准军事集团的过往联系而调查了70多名国会议员，其中绝大多数是支持总统的政党的党员，包括总统的堂弟，Mario Uribe。法院坚持他们只是在执法。总统却一再质疑他们这样做是否公正。

Legal experts doubt the constitutionality of a referendum to call for a rerun of an election. Many political commentators say it is unnecessary, since the Supreme Court did not directly question the legitimacy of the election itself. Nevertheless, the government announced that it would present a referendum bill when Congress begins a new session on July 20th. The referendum could not be held until late 2009. So a rerun of the 2006 election might be held just before the next scheduled presidential election in May 2010.
法律专家怀疑就重新选举进行全民公决的宪法性。许多政治评论家说这没有必要，因为最高法院并不直接质疑选举本身的合法性。但是，政府还是宣布将提交一个全民公决法案，提交给7月20日开始的新一届国会会议。全民公决直至2009年底才能举行。因此重新进行2006年选举可能会在下一个总统竞选日2010年5月前举行。

That timing makes Mr Uribe’s opponents suspicious. For months he has refused to rule out seeking another constitutional change that would allow him to stand for a third term. His supporters are collecting signatures for a separate referendum on this issue. The triumphant release of the hostages, coming on top of his other successes, means that if he indeed wants a third term, Mr Uribe may well be able to get it. But others have political ambitions too. One is Mr Santos, who as defence minister has overseen those successes. Another is Ms Betancourt, who in freedom was quick to say she still aspires to the presidency. It would be even stranger than the movies if the three main protagonists in this week’s happy ending were to meet again in a sequel at the ballot box in two years’ time.
这个时间安排让乌里韦的反对者们有所怀疑。数月来，乌里韦一直拒绝放弃再次修改宪法，让他得以连任三届。乌里韦的支持者正在寻求签名，以就此事宜进行另一次全民公决。成功救援人质是乌里韦赢得的最大胜利，这意味着如果他想获得第三届任期，他成功的可能性很大。但是，其他们也有这个政治野心。比如，指挥此次救援行动的国防部长桑托斯。还有贝当古，获释后不久即表明她有意竞选总统。如果本周快乐大结局的三名主角将在两年后的竞选中再续”情缘”，那这比电影还要离奇。

译者：王乙任　　http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12430&extra=page%3D1

Gracias and Good Night
谢谢，晚安

Jul 3rd 2008
From The Economist print edition

Despite his coup in freeing Ingrid Betancourt, álvaro Uribe should not seek a third term
虽然他让贝当古重获自由，但乌里韦不应该妄图梅开三度

ONLY those blinded by ideology would deny that álvaro Uribe has made Colombia a better place. By expanding the security forces and leading them tirelessly, Mr Uribe, who was first elected president in 2002, has imposed the authority of the democratic state across most of a previously lawless country. He persuaded thousands of right-wing paramilitaries to disarm, and has inflicted probably mortal blows on the FARC guerrillas. The latest of these was the dramatic liberation this week of the FARC’s most-prized hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, a politician of Colombian and French nationality kidnapped six years ago, and three American defence contractors (see article). Murders have almost halved since 2002; kidnappings have fallen much more. A safer country is prospering economically, as confidence returns.

只有那些被意识形态蒙蔽了双眼的人，才会否认乌里韦改善了哥伦比亚的状况。乌里韦先生最初在2002年被选为总统，通过扩充并孜孜不倦地率领安全部队，他在这个国家的大部分地区树立起了民主政权的权威，而此前这些地方都目无法纪。他说服了成千上万的右翼准军事组织解除武装，并给FARC（哥伦比亚革命武装力量）的游击队施加了几乎致命的打击。他最新的行动是让FARC最有价值的人质在本周戏剧般地获释，其中包括贝当古（六年前被绑架的哥、法双籍政治家）和三名美国军需商。此外，自2002年以来，凶杀案几乎减半，绑架案也骤减。随着信心的重拾，这个更安全的国家在经济上也在蓬勃发展。

This record has won Mr Uribe his people’s gratitude (opinion polls give him an approval rating of 80%) and in 2006 a second term-after he persuaded Congress to lift a constitutional ban on consecutive presidential terms, and the courts to ratify the change. But now this second term is unexpectedly in question. On June 26th the Supreme Court found that a former legislator cast a deciding committee vote for the re-election amendment only after two ministers had promised government jobs to some of her supporters. The justices have asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of the constitutional change and thus of the 2006 election.

这些良好的记录为乌里韦先生赢得了民众的感激（民意调查支持率达80%），也为他在2006年赢得了连任–在他说服国会取消禁止总统连任的宪法条款，并说服法院批准这一修改后。然而，这第2个任期如今却出乎意料地受到了质疑。6月26日，最高法院发现，一个前立法委员要求两个部长为她的支持者在政府中谋得公职，以此换取她在修订再次选举总统的条款上投出决定性的一票。法官已经请求宪法法院就上述修宪和由此带来的2006年总统选举的合法性做出裁决。

Mr Uribe’s reaction was characteristically combative. He asked Congress to call a referendum on the legitimacy of his term. He claims that the courts are pursuing a political vendetta. He has a point: reprehensible though it is, patronage politics is routine in Colombia and much of the democratic world. To deduce that in this case it invalidates the election is disproportionate-as the Constitutional Court may well conclude.

乌里韦先生对此勃然大怒。他要求国会就他连任的合法性进行全民公投。他声称法院在挑起政治仇恨。他有自己的理由：主仆政治(Patronage Plitics)虽然不招人待见，但在哥伦比亚和民主世界的许多地区司空见惯。如果将乌里韦先生的观点推导至这件事上，裁定2006年选举无效（宪法法院很可能做出这样的裁定）是不合时宜的。

But the president’s referendum idea is equally cock-eyed. He seems determined to battle the courts, rather than respect them. Worse, although he has denied this, the referendum suggests to many a step towards prolonging his rule beyond 2010. He has allowed supporters to gather signatures for a (separate) referendum to change the constitution again to allow him a third term. This would give him time to finish off the FARC and complete his rescue of Colombia, supporters say.

然而，总统先生关于公投的主意同样不合时宜。他似乎执意要与法院作对，而不是尊重法院。更糟的是，对于许多人来说，全民公投意味着朝延长他的统治至 2010年之后又迈进了一步（虽然他对此矢口否认）。他已经允许他的支持者收集签名，要求举行公投，从而再次修宪，使他梅开三度。他的支持者说，这样可以给他充足的时间，铲除FARC，完成他对哥伦比亚的拯救大业。

He deserves a full second term-but no more
他应该完成现在的任期，不过仅此而已

Tempting though such a prospect might seem, a third term would be disastrous for Colombia. Mr Uribe is not without flaws. Worryingly, given his feud with the judiciary, judges nominated by him will form a majority in the Constitutional Court by next year. His shoot-from-the-hip manner has made him many enemies abroad, including in America’s Democratic Party. He may be welcoming John McCain to Colombia this week, but it is Barack Obama who is ahead in the opinion polls and the Democrats control Congress (where they are disgracefully blocking a trade agreement with Colombia mainly because of their distaste for Mr Uribe). A different Colombian president might also carry out the agrarian reform-settling people displaced by violence on land confiscated from warlords-that Colombia needs and Mr Uribe eschews.

这样的前景虽然看起来很诱人，不过让他再度连任将是哥伦比亚的灾难。乌里韦先生可不是完美无瑕。令人担忧的是，他与司法部素来不和，而他提名的法官到明年将在宪法法院中占据多数席位。他唐突鲁莽的作风让他在海外树敌颇多，其中包括美国民主党。本周，他可能在哥伦比亚迎接麦凯恩（共和党候选人）的到来，然而在美国，民意调查中靠前的可是奥巴马，控制国会的也是民主党。美国国会很不体面地否决了与哥伦比亚的自由贸易协定，主要原因就是不喜欢乌里韦先生。此外，换一个总统还可能完成土地改革，将因暴力而流离失所的人们安置在从军阀那里没收来的土地上。哥伦比亚需要这项改革，而乌里韦先生避之唯恐不及。

Most importantly, Colombia’s transformation will remain fragile as long as it is the work of one man. To be complete, it needs to be institutionalised. There are several plausible successors who would maintain Mr Uribe’s security policies. Rather than a plebiscitarian strongman, in the mould of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez or Peru’s Alberto Fujimori, Colombia needs strengthened democratic institutions. The greatest service Mr Uribe could do his country is to depart in 2010.

最重要的是，仅凭一己之力，哥伦比亚的改革将非常脆弱。要完成改革，需要制度化。有好几个貌似可信的继任者都乐意继续乌里韦的安全政策。哥伦比亚需要的，不是像委内瑞拉的查韦斯或秘鲁的藤森这样的公投强人，而是强化的民主体制。乌里韦先生能给他的祖国做的最大的贡献，就是在2010年任期满后卸任离去。

译者：misser    http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12538&pid=78838&page=1&extra=page%3D1#pid78838