UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York: "The United Nations has been supporting peace efforts in Colombia, and will examine with care and interest president-elect Alvaro Uribe's proposals regarding a future role for the organisation in new peace efforts."

Mr Uribe, a 49 year-old lawyer, connected to what the Drug Enforcment Agency (DEA) has called the "super cartel", "the most powerful criminal organization in the world", and which has named right wing paramiltary death squad leader, Carlos Castano, as "kingpin"; won Colombia's presidential elections.

One may ask, does it really matter? The answer, simply, is that it doesn't. The world's longest civil war and U.S. counterinsurgency will continue despite whoever represents the interests of the narco-ruling elite in Colombia. A ruling class supported by the Empire. An Empire, like its parent the British Empire before it; exploited its colonies for its riches fuelled by its opium trade.

Calls for further U.S intervention

During Uribe's electoral campaign, Uribe promised to destroy the communist insurgency.

After his electoral victory, Mr Uribe called on his master, the United States, to help "fight drug traffickers and block arms shipments to the illegal armed groups."

He also urged the United Nations to help "mediate" with the rebels in an attempt to end almost four decades of violence, which has seen more than 300,000 Colombians killed in the hands of state repression.

Former Colombian President, Andres Pastrana, devoted much of his four years in office to trying to encircle and destroy the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a common strategy used against Latin American insurgencies. This was proven ineffective due to the insurgency's mass base of support when his administration abandoned peace talks and attempted to capture and execute insurgents, supporters, and residents of the former demilitarized zone of San Vicente Del Caguan.

As for previous civil wars in Latin American modern history, it was "mediation" by the UN, effective U.S. pacification programs, U.S. trained - backed death squads, U.S. State Department propaganda fuelled by corporate media including certain so-called "alternative media" that claimed to be "neutral", "for peace", "against extremism", by preaching defamation and deliberate apolitical ideas, together helped defeat the people.

Such tactics by imperialism continue, and although they may have sabotaged and delayed class war in the Central American countries of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala with brutal U.S. exported genuine terrorism and lies; it will never put out the revolutionary flames in Bolivar's America only intensify it.

A "negotiated peace" on "their" terms put forth by the comprador classes dependent on U.S. imperialist interests is something which is very unlikely to occur again. As spokesperson for the FARC-EP, Raul Reyes, has stated: "We are not looking to disappear, to surrender, the way they did".

False courage

Uribe has said he will increase spending on the armed forces and double the number of professional soldiers, in an attempt to destroy the popular insurgency.

During the bourgeois elections, more than 200,000 soldiers, police, and paramilitary special forces were deployed to intimidate voters.

According to Colombian defence analyst, Alfredo Rangel, the paramilitary special forces look forward to the new "peace talks" with their presidential candidate. "Maybe we shouldn't be too optimistic about their agreeing to international mediation to restart a process in the near future", Rangel said.

"Drugs, the oil that keeps the wheels of capitalism turning" -- Christian De Brie, Jean de Maillard.