Uribe Widens War on Rebels

President Alvaro Uribe moved quickly Monday to take advantage of sweeping powers granted him under a state of emergency, opening a new front in the battle against the hemisphere’s oldest insurgency.

Having declared the state of emergency, which took effect just after midnight on Monday, Uribe immediately enacted new taxes to pay for more soldiers and police. He was expected to announce further measures later this week that could include restrictions on citizens’ movements, detentions without warrants and removal of judicial oversight of wiretaps.

The emergency decree is a concrete sign of Uribe’s determination to confront Colombia’s leftist rebels, who have waged a campaign against the government for nearly four decades. It also signals the first time in recent history that the full weight of the Colombian government, supported by the United States, will be applied against the guerrilla groups.

“The government and Colombian society must quickly recover national security, now that the violent ones have become more aggressive and more destructive,” said Interior and Justice Minister Fernando Londono in announcing the state of emergency after a six-hour meeting that ended early Monday.

Uribe gained special powers for a limited period of time to enact laws to prosecute the nation’s internal conflict, which pits the rebels against government forces and right-wing paramilitaries. While the state of emergency could equally be used to fight the paramilitaries--who are responsible for the majority of massacres in the conflict--the focus Monday was on the guerrillas.

The state of emergency comes on the heels of a determined rebel offensive since Uribe won election in May on promises of a military crackdown. Rebels have threatened to execute mayors and other democratically elected officials. They have blown up bridges and electricity towers.

Just last week, authorities blamed urban guerrillas for launching homemade missiles against the presidential palace during Uribe’s inauguration. Twenty-one people were killed, authorities say, most of them indigents living in a nearby neighborhood.

Using his extraordinary powers, Uribe immediately imposed a 1.2% tax Monday on the country’s richest individuals and companies, an estimated 400,000 taxable entities with liquid assets of about $60,000 or more.

The government hopes the tax will raise nearly $800 million to pay for two new mobile army brigades, 10,000 new police officers and a controversial program to create 100,000 citizen informants, who will be paid for their services.

Other measures that might be imposed under the state of emergency include new laws that would make it easier to go after guerrilla finances and property; requirements for citizens to register their movements with local authorities; and restrictions on the media and public demonstrations.

The new taxes are in line with U.S. demands that Colombia pay more for its war effort before receiving additional aid. The U.S. has provided more than $1.7 billion in the last two years, with much of that money now going to fund Colombia’s war effort.

Uribe’s decision to declare the state of emergency, which must be approved by the country’s Constitutional Court, received support from nearly every faction of society, an indication of a new willingness to confront the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country’s largest guerrilla group.

Business leaders indicated a willingness to pay new taxes. Human rights officials accepted the necessity of restrictions on constitutional guarantees. Political leaders on the right and left expressed support.

Since the country enacted a new constitution in 1991, five other states of emergency have been declared, but Monday marked the first time a president had issued such a decree so soon after taking office.

Sen. Carlos Gaviria, who as a Constitutional Court justice nullified a state of emergency declaration in 1995 and is now part of the leftist opposition, said Uribe’s decision was fully justified.

He brushed aside fears that Uribe was using the declaration to gain dictatorial powers, as has happened frequently in Latin America.

The state of emergency can last only 180 days and be extended an additional 90 only with congressional approval.

“Uribe’s proposals are authoritarian,” Gaviria said. “But I have always said that I expect his government to be authoritarian, not fascist.”

Still, some expressed worry that Uribe is taking a dangerous road toward dictatorial control--and continued violence.

The state of emergency comes after a referendum introduced last week by Uribe to weaken congressional powers. If passed, it would reduce the number of representatives, restrict Congress’ power of the purse and allow the national legislature to be dissolved by popular vote.

Uribe also did not rule out arming some of the newly created government informants, raising fears that they could go out of control. When he was a provincial governor, Uribe created citizen militia groups that were later accused of paramilitary violence.

“All of this is only going to polarize the country and make the conflict worse,” said Ana Teresa Bernal, head of one of Colombia’s largest peace groups. “What we are fearing is that the most affected will be the civilian population.”

The new measures could also result in a clash between the executive and judicial branches. In the past, the high court has insisted on the right to pass judgment on the validity of a state of emergency declaration.

For instance, when the court annulled the state of emergency in 1995, then-President Ernesto Samper had declared the country under siege by guerrillas and narcotics traffickers. The court ruled that this was normal in Colombia and that it didn’t merit extraordinary powers.

But Londono, Uribe’s confrontational new justice and interior minister, insisted Monday that the court did not have the right to review the new president’s declaration.

Constitutional experts downplayed the possibility of an impasse, saying that the court would probably insist on the right to review the decree and then agree that the country’s crisis is sufficiently grave to merit a state of emergency.

“It’s a political solution that also represents reality,” said Jorge Enrique Ivanez, director of postgraduate law studies at Javeriana University.

Part of the fear over the declaration stems from history. Prior to the 1991 constitution, which limited presidential powers, Colombian presidents frequently used--and abused--a statute creating a state of siege.

The country was under an official state of siege almost continuously for nearly 40 years before 1991, allowing presidents to issue laws, manipulate Congress and suspend constitutional rights.

But those worries have partly been assuaged by the current declaration, which limits, but does not suspend, constitutional rights and has fixed time limits.

“It raises alarm bells, but this step in itself is not at all surprising, nor is it all that troubling,” said Jason Hagen, Colombia expert for the Washington Office on Latin America, a left-leaning group that promotes human rights and democracy in the region. “He has the right to do this.”