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At first blush, NBC's report from Colombia on its progress since the narcoguerrilla conflicts of the 1980s seemed completely flattering to Alvaro Uribe, the nation's president. Trish Regan of CNBC filed her report from the former cocaine capital of Medellin in the Andean highlands, where Uribe boasted to her of his "political will." Regan praised the city's booming economy and plummeting crime rate contrasting it with the days when it was "terrorized by drug lord Pablo Escobar and right-wing guerrillas." Then came Regan's provisos: Uribe has not been evenhanded in the civil war, "bombing cocaine labs and raiding guerrilla camps" but not targeting "right-wing paramilitary groups;" prosperity in trade, finance and construction still leaves nearly half of the population beneath the poverty line; and Uribe's pacification is only partial--"paramilitary groups, leftist guerrillas and drug lords continue to operate outside the cities." Uribe's "political will," Regan reflected, is a euphemism for "military force."
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