BOGOTA Reuter: President Virgilio Barcos new Colombian government which took office just over a month ago pledging to rid the country of political violence is facing a wave of political killings.
Analysts say the government has appeared indecisive in its first month of power prompting fears of a period of instability in the violence plagued nation.
Barco has refrained from commenting publicly on the recent murders of parliamentarians and activists of the guerrilla backed Patriotic Union (UP) leftist party.
This has drawn acid comments in the local press about “a government which excessively maintains a stubborn silence”.
Barco took office on August 7 with a pledge to rid the country of the political violence that has affected it for the past three decades. He announced wide ranging reforms aimed at eradicating absolute poverty.
But most analysts and western diplomats agree that what developed instead was an apparent power vacuum with the incoming liberal administration seen as irresolute in the face of what one analyst called an explosive situation.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 19, 1986
