"Uribe is a Wall Street favorite but many investors and analysts say a third term by the bespectacled conservative would present a threat to the independence of Colombian institutions, such as the courts and the central bank."

Uribe, elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 after Congress passed a constitutional amendment allowing a second term, is flirting with running again in 2010. This would require another change in law.

Maybe Hugo should check out with Uribe how you pull off this trick TWICE.

It helps to have Washington and Wall Street backing you up. Of course, that also means selling your soul to the devil, and nobody survives that kind of Faustian bargain for long, as Uribe will soon find out.