Safe Streets Act

摘要

Three years ago trucks attempting to deliver Aguila beer couldn't reach 10% of Colombia. Leftist guerrillas controlled the roads into 110 municipalities and demanded fees from the drivers, which the owner of the brand, Bavaria S.A., refused to pay. "People used to transport beer in the trunks of their cars ― a kind of underground distribution system," says Bavaria President Ricardo Obregon. Today the guerrillas have retreated. Most of rural Colombia is getting its Aguila, and avaria's top line was up 13% (pro forma) to $1.7 billion. Credit for the guerrilla pullback in Latin America's third-largest nation by population goes to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. His success to date is of no small importance to the U.S. Since 2001, with most eyes focused on Iraq, America has funneled $2.66 billion in military and development aid into a rather different nation-building exercise called Plan Colombia (see box, p. 93). Although the effort was hatched under Uribe's predecessor, the president has turned out to be a pivotal player.