Colombia’s security policy, adopted by current President Alvaro Uribe as his “Democratic Security” policy, should be able to survive a change of government, presidential candidate German Vargas Lleras said Saturday.
On the night Vargas was officially elected candidate for political party Cambio Radical, the politician stressed he had always supported the current administration’s widely praised security policy and will “forever” do so.
However, Vargas spoke out against the re-election of Uribe, claiming that the policy will be able to continue its success under a new head of state.
The Cambio Radical leader responded to words by the president, who has said that some of the presidential candidates would nullify the gains made in the eight years Uribe has been in power.
“Guerrillas, paramilitaries, drug traffickers and criminals of whatever origin will find in me their most energetic enemy,” the presidential candidate said, adding that “precisely because it’s a good policy, Democratic Security has to withstand a change in government.”
Because he claims to be able to continue the current administration’s security policy, Vargas Lleras opposes a second re-election of Uribe, which is currently being debated by the Constitutional Court and for which Uribe supporters want a constitution-changing referendum.