January 30, 1996
Web posted at: 11:55 p.m. EST (0455 GMT)
From Correspondent Ralph Begleiter
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After calling a special Congress Tuesday, Colombia's President Ernesto Samper admitted drug money helped put him in office but insisted he was tricked. Now, the besieged president is demanding that he be investigated to determined who was responsible. The political crisis in Colombia, unlike some others in Latin America, has many observers suggesting that it demonstrates the strength of democracy in the region, rather than its weakness.
The United States has been pushing the government of Samper to crack down even harder on Colombia's notorious narcotics production and worldwide distribution industry. But the United States also has strongly counted Colombia among countries making Latin America increasingly democratic.
In a demonstration of support, U.S. President George Bush even flew to Cartagena, Colombia, in 1992 for a summit meeting practically in the heart of drug cartel country.
When Samper won election in 1994, it was widely assumed that he had close ties to the Cali drug cartel. Allegations of those ties were bolstered by Samper's close personal friend and campaign manager, who told authorities that Samper knew about drug money financing for his campaign.
Another aide added to the allegations. "The president not only knew about it, but the president directly organized it," said former campaign treasurer Santiago Medina. "He was the manager of the whole transfer of funds from the Cali Cartel."
In light of those claims, Samper has rallied to defend himself. Tuesday, he called for the immediate reopening of an official probe into charges he accepted drug money to finance his 1994 election campaign. "I ask the Congress to investigate me quickly in order to reach a definitive end of this crisis," Samper said.
After opposition lawmakers accused Samper of trying to dodge justice, the president called Congress back early from its recess. In his strongest admission yet that his campaign was contaminated by the support of drug lords, Samper said it was important that Congress establish "who, when, and using what channels, contaminated it."
"The only thing I ask is due process," he added, saying he would serve as his own defense attorney since death threats had forced his lawyer to take refuge at a military base in the capital last week.
The decline of the Samper government is due not to coup nor violence, but to political pressure -- and that is seen as a sign of Colombia's strength. "It has a reasonably democratic government, despite the criminal violence, despite the drug trade, despite guerrillas. And clearly the Colombians want to preserve that," said Peter Hakim of Inter-American Dialogue.
Comparisons of different countries and different regions are always tricky, but in one important respect, what's going on in Colombia is similar to what's been happening to the government in South Korea.
As democracy slowly develops in South Korea, Korean leaders are being forced to become more accountable to the people. Today, a succession of South Korean leaders face prosecution for crimes of bribery and corruption which seemed acceptable just two decades ago.
"It's part of the worldwide trend, in part fostered by U.S. policy and our war against drugs, In part fostered by the growing awareness of citizens in a number of each of these countries that this kind of politics-as-usual undermines the very fabric of their lives, the quality of their democracies," said Bruce Bagley of the University of Miami.
In Colombia, drug-money corruption was accepted as commonplace before, but today it's enough to bring down a government. Like Brazil and Argentina, where political leaders have been held accountable by their people, Colombians are discovering the power of their democracy.
Many Colombians believe the evidence Samper used drug money is now so overwhelming that Congress, shaken by a probe of drug corruption within its ranks, will have to rule against the president.
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