Hard-Liner Elected in Colombia With a Mandate to Crush Rebels

By JUAN FORERO

May 26, 2002

OGOTÁ, Colombia- Bitter after three years of fruitless peace talks, voters gave a resounding victory today to a hard-right candidate for president who promises a sharp buildup in the armed forces to battle two rebel groups that have been waging war for 38 years.

With 97 percent of returns counted this evening, election officials said Álvaro Uribe Vélez had received 53 percent of the vote, more than 20 percentage points ahead of his closest rival, Horacio Serpa, a Liberal Party populist. By the end of the night, Mr. Uribe had collected the majority needed to avoid a June runoff with Mr. Serpa — an unmistakable endorsement of Mr. Uribe's hard-line policies.

A former governor and mayor of Colombia's second-largest city, Medellín, Mr. Uribe, 49, promises an uncompromising "hard hand" against the insurgents, a position that has resonated across this nation of 40 million people in an election that was being closely followed by American officials.

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