Colombian
Defense Minister Resigns To
Contend For Presidency
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Colombian Defense
Minister Resigns To
Contend For Presidency
Bogota - Colombian Defense
Minister Juan Manuel Santos on Monday
resigned from his post to race for next
year's presidential election.
"It is necessary to pass the relay and
continue with my public life in another
stage. If the president (Alvaro Uribe) runs
for a third period, he has all my support.
If he decides not to run for a new
reelection, I will be a candidate," Santos
told the press.
Santos, 57, said his resignation would take
effect on Saturday. It is required that
public servants who want to join the May 30,
2010 presidential election must resign from
their posts one year before it.
Santos, who is considered Uribe's most
likely successor, had led an effective
campaign against the rebel Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
However, the resignation of Santos was seen
by the oppositions as a maneuver aimed at
insuring that the presidency will remain in
the hands of the government of President
Uribe. Uribe is expected to give an official
announcement on whether to seek a third term
"All those pre-candidates a backdrop for the
only truth of the President which is to be
reelected, and once he gives the order, they
will withdraw," Hector Rojas, a congressman
from the Liberal Party, told the press.
Colombian congress will decide on Tuesday
whether it approves a referendum to change
the constitution so that Uribe could run for
a third consecutive time.
Uribe was elected to the presidency in 2002,
and he was re-elected in 2006 after a
constitutional change allowed him a second
term.
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