Colombia Alters Course in Vote for President

Voters turned out in record numbers Sunday to elect Andres Pastrana to lead Colombia, firmly rejecting the administration of President Ernesto Samper, who spent most of his four-year term defending himself against drug-corruption allegations while the world’s major cocaine-producing nation spiraled further into chaos.

Pastrana’s election is expected to markedly improve U.S.-Colombian relations, which have grown bitter in the past four years because of Samper’s alleged ties to drug traffickers.

Pastrana, beaten by Samper four years ago, defeated Horacio Serpa, Samper’s interior minister and, arguably, most loyal supporter. Election officials announced that, with 98% of precincts reporting, Pastrana had won 50.4% of the vote to Serpa’s 46.5%, and they declared Pastrana the winner. The remaining votes were blank or defaced ballots, a form of voter protest.

“Let us dedicate ourselves to thinking of the future, of recovering our national dignity, restoring peace and reviving our moribund economy,” the president-elect told cheering supporters. “Let us start the history of Colombia over again. Change has begun.”

Pastrana, 44, campaigned as a candidate who could make peace, halt drug corruption and reactivate the economy. He is also expected to mend fences with the United States, which revoked the visas of Samper and other members of the government and the armed forces for alleged ties to drug traffickers.

Despite those accusations, the United States has continued to provide $90 million a year in anti-narcotics aid to Colombia, which produces 80% of the world’s cocaine and an increasing amount of heroin.

Recent signs that U.S. policy is becoming more conciliatory have given rise to hope for a change from the threats of economic sanctions that have hung over Colombia’s staggering economy. Pastrana established valuable relationships in Washington as a correspondent there for his family’s television news program and is well regarded by U.S. officials.

“We need to get along with the United States in order to travel and trade with them,” said Luis Sandoval, a 33-year-old mechanical engineer, explaining his vote for Pastrana.

The president-elect also pledged to repair this battered country by untangling the intertwined problems of drug trafficking, guerrillas, illegal private armies and a weak government that have made Colombia the most serious security risk in Latin America, according to Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military interests in the region.

Those promises proved more important than his history as a lackluster mayor of Bogota, the capital, and the privileged son of unpopular former President Misael Pastrana.

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Andres Pastrana, a member of the Conservative Party, will end 12 years of Liberal Party rule when he takes office Aug. 7. However, he owes his election not only to his own party but to a broad coalition called the Great Alliance for Change that includes both independents and disaffected Liberals.

His core support came from people such as Maria Torres de Castro, a 51-year-old real estate agent who wore a vest in the royal blue of Pastrana’s Conservative Party as she dispensed “Change Is Andres” bumper stickers outside a voting center.

“The economy, the guerrillas, everything has gone wrong with this government,” she said.

But Pastrana was ultimately elected by less-than-enthusiastic voters who supported independent candidates in the first round of voting last month.

“It’s not that we consider him a complete change, but we must have some hope,” said Horacio Gomez, 42, one such voter. Analysts had feared that many independent voters would stay home for the runoff between candidates of the two parties that have governed Colombia for more than a century.

Instead, more than 12 million Colombians--60% of registered voters--cast ballots, marking the first time in modern history that more than half of those registered actually went to the polls.

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Later Sunday, in a televised, backhanded congratulatory speech, Samper said, “I wish [the new president] more loyal opponents than I have had.”

It was Pastrana who, after Samper narrowly defeated him four years ago, turned over to the U.S. Embassy audiotapes of Samper’s compromising telephone conversations with a drug dealer’s wife.

The 55-year-old Serpa, conceding defeat in remarks to supporters, also congratulated Pastrana. The winner later paid tribute to his opponent, telling his own supporters, “The country needs the voices of peace, like Horacio Serpa.”

A charismatic populist known for his bushy mustache and fiery rhetoric, Serpa was unable to distance himself from Samper in the minds of voters.

Further, his efforts to portray himself as the candidate of peace, best able to end Latin America’s oldest guerrilla war, were undermined last week by a rebel communique. The insurgents criticized Serpa for serving in the government of Samper, which they consider illegitimate.

The civil war that has simmered here for more than three decades has become increasingly brutal. Private armies have massacred suspected guerrilla supporters, and rebels have retaliated with virtually no interference from law enforcement.

On Sunday, guerrillas interrupted voting in two rural municipalities, but overall, election violence was minimal by Colombian standards.