Colombia: Turn to the Front

Under the truce established eight years ago between Colombia’s Liberals and Conservatives, the two warring parties are supposed to alternate the presidency and join in a single National Front to develop their rich nation. For the past three years, under the wavering hand of Conservative President Guillermo León Valencia, there has been little development, and even less unity. The economy is in tatters, while the front has split into so many quarreling factions that its official candidate in the May 1966 elections, Liberal Carlos Lleras Restrepo, withdrew from the race.

Last week the battered front was showing some new signs of life—thanks to the statesman who devised the for mula in the first place. He is Alberto Lleras Camargo, the longtime Liberal leader (and distant cousin of Lleras Restrepo) who served ably from 1958 to 1962 as the front’s first President, then retired to Manhattan and a job as editorial chairman of Visión, Latin America’s leading Spanish-language newsmagazine. Going back to Bogotá last August, Lleras set out to glue the front together by main force of personality and prestige. He urged all Colombians “to bind ourselves in a great movement to awaken the national conscience.” In the political back rooms and in talks with the country’s landowning upper class, Lleras Camargo reminded Colombians of the 200,000 killed during the years of bloody civil strife, implying that the front was the only way to avoid another massacre—or a military dictatorship. The campaign ended at a huge rally in Bogotá. With Lleras Camargo looking on, Lleras Restrepo once again accepted the front’s nomination for President and proclaimed a platform of nationalism and social reform.

Looking for a Chance. The likelihood is that Lleras Restrepo will win the presidency against a divided opposition next May. He might even be able to do something for Colombia—if he gets the chance. Though he has none of the personal appeal of Lleras Camargo, he is a respected economist and former Finance Minister who knows the hard things he must do to reduce Colombia’s spiraling cost of living (up 64% in three years) and soaring foreign debt (up 100%, to $750 million).

The problem will be getting Colombia’s Congress to go along. Dissident Liberals, Conservatives and followers of ex-Dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla control 126 of the 282 seats, more than enough for the one-third needed to block legislation under the current law. The next campaign of the two Llerases will be to change the law to a simple majority—and that may be tougher than winning the presidency itself.