A Good Day for Colombia

The presidency of Alvaro Uribe has been a successful one. During his tenure Colombia has enjoyed improvements in almost every aspect of life. Among his successes has been the weakening of the FARC, once one of the most powerful terrorist and criminal organizations in the country. While still a major force, they have not been able to diminish the free-market economic success that Colombia has enjoyed, despite help from neighbor governments unfriendly to the right-leaning Uribe.

Uribe was considering running for a third term as president. He is popular, and may have been successful. The Colombian Constitutional Court has declared that such a move would be unconstitutional, and Mr. Uribe will abide by its decision.

This is in stark contrast to the actions of Hugo Chavez, who has successfully extended his time as president of Venezuela, and Honduras' Zelaya, who would have violated his country's constitution in pursuit of the same.

Colombia will benefit from the institutional discipline required by the Court to issue this decision, and by the actions of the president to honor it.