Álvaro Uribe Vélez

Álvaro Uribe Vélez is Colombian politician.

Independent liberal candidate, elected in the first round of the May, 2002 elections in Colombia. His electoral platform was centred around the policy of confronting Colombia's main guerrilla movement, Las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), after four years of unsuccessful attempts by the previous administration of Andres Pastrana to negotiate a ceasefire with the guerrillas, and the decreasing public support for the guerrillas.

Uribe is often mis-characterized as a "hard-line right-winger" due to his stance against the FARC and the ELN, despite his centrist socioeconomic policies and his continued openness to the negotiation of an end to the conflict, which is contingent upon the armed groups first declaring a cease-fire.

See also: Politics of Colombia, List of Presidents of Colombia