Latinnews Daily - 6 November 2003

Interior and justice minister Fernando Londoño sparked chaos yesterday when he suggested that Alvaro Uribe would call a snap election and step down as president if he lost the support of the Partido Conservador in congress. He retracted the comment soon afterwards on Uribe's orders.

Londoño's comments came during a meeting with the PC. 'If you take the decision to throw in your lot with the opposition it will cause a profound political crisis,' he told ministers. 'I don't think this crisis will be resolved without the president taking extreme measures, including bringing forward the elections,' he continued. '[The president] will not remain in office just to survive for two or three years if he can't do anything for the nation.'

Uribe called Londoño immediately after the meeting, ordering him to retract his comments. The interior minister, unaware that the meeting had been broadcast by the media, initially denied making the comments. Having been disabused of this notion, he issued a statement saying that his comments had been taken out of context and that 'the president remained totally committed his position'.

By then the damage had been done, however. Londoño's talk of looming political turmoil comes at a time when the Colombian government is at pains to play down the impact of the failure of its 25 October austerity referendum and the strong performance of opposition parties in the 26 October regional elections. It also coincided with the visit of the IMF, which is unlikely to have been reassured of the government's competence by the episode.

It would be easy to write off Londoño's comments as unsubstantiated politicking. After all, President Uribe would be violating the Colombian constitution if he were to bring the election forward. However, the Colombian media has been left wondering what it means if the interior minister and the president cannot agree on fundamental issues.

What the spat may signify is the end of Londoño's cabinet career. He was already expected to be forced out or step down after the referendum failed. He was behind the questionnaire's style and content, which was widely criticised for being excessively long and unnecessarily complicated and which was cited as a main reason for the fact that the vote failed to attract the 25% participation required for it to be valid. His subsequent assertion that the vote should be recounted to include abstentions further damaged his standing.

Yesterday's episode does, however, indicate the difficulties Uribe will now face in congress. Up until now he has bypassed parliament in his dealings, a process which has irritated political parties no end. The failure of the referendum means that Uribe will now have to pass his reforms through congress, in the hope rather than the expectation that he still has enough support to do so.