BOGOTA (AFP) — Colombia's popular President Alvaro Uribe is laying the groundwork this week to run for an unprecedented third mandate, but mystery remains whether he will vie with Ingrid Betancourt, a political rival he is credited with saving from leftist rebels.
Electoral authorities were examining a petition of five million names ahead of what was expected to be a formal move to change the constitution to allow Uribe to seek re-election in 2010, when his current term is up.
The president, Washington's closest ally in Latin America, already had the constitution amended two years after he was first elected to office in 2002 to allow his re-election in 2004.
Previously, the 1991 basic law had not permitted presidents more than a single four-year term.
Uribe, 56, has enjoyed very strong public support throughout his rule, mainly for his unremitting fight against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and another Marxist guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, which have fomented unrest since the 1960s.
That support peaked as high as 91 percent after a daring operation that freed Betancourt, a dual Colombian-French citizen who was one of Uribe's competitors in the 2002 elections.
Uribe claimed credit for her rescue and that of 14 other FARC hostages, including three US defense contractors, on July 2.
The operation was said to have been a ruse carried out by Colombian soldiers -- one of whom was filmed wearing an insignia of the Red Cross, to the fury of the Swiss-based humanitarian organization.
It was not clear whether Betancourt, who now enjoys enormous sympathy, support and recognition within Colombia and internationally, plans to run again for president.
After her liberation, she did not rule that out, though seemed to suggest she would not be on 2010's ballot, preferring to work to free hundreds of other hostages still held by the FARC.
Betancourt is currently in France with her family, and plans are underway to highlight her extraordinary biography in film and books, which could funnel millions of dollars into a campaign war chest.
For Uribe to have another shot at Colombia's top job, he needs to call a referendum on a change to the constitution.
For that, 1.4 million signatures are required. The petition, delivered Monday by truck, far exceeds that. Congress -- which is dominated by Uribe loyalists -- and the constitutional court need to approve the text for the plebiscite to take place.
"Most of the population want him to stay in power," newspaper editorialist Claudia Lopez said, adding that the procedure underway was "a pure formality."
She added that allegations leveled at Uribe have been largely dismissed by a country enthused by the defeats he has dealt the rebels.
Those allegations include suspicions he was tied to brutal rightwing paramilitary groups who have been combating the rebels with illegal means, including the murders of hundreds of rural residents.
Many lawmakers in Uribe's ruling coalition have recently been arrested for alleged links to the groups.
Uribe has also been accused, in a declassified 1991 US Defense Intelligence Agency report, of once having been implicated in Colombia's billion-dollar cocaine trade and of having been close friends with Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug lord who was killed in a shootout with police in 1993.
The Colombian president has strenuously denied that claim, and the US government, which supplies five billion dollars a year to Colombia's anti-narcotics operations, has distanced itself from it.
Uribe is seen as being so fierce in his battle against the FARC because the rebels killed his father in what was said to be a botched kidnapping. The US intelligence report said his father was murdered for drug ties.
There are a few critics raising their voices against the likely third mandate.
Opposition senator Gustavo Petro, who is another potential presidential candidate, claimed company bosses with state contracts have forced employees to sign the petition, and warned the referendum "won't be only for 2010, but also 2014, 2018."
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