In response to this crisis, from October 2002 FACI embarked upon a procurement drive, ordering new aircraft and helicopters to complement its single Cessna 421 Golden Eagle, an SA 365 Dauphin and the presidential Gulfstream 3.

The electronic media were routinely critical of the authorities, but were owned by a handful of people and depended on their owners taste, interests, and fate. Yeltsin s handover of power to Putin, like a king with his dauphin, tells us more about his regime than almost anything else.

Although Uribe is now technically a lame duck president, he does retain considerable influence, and is trying hard to keep the issue of internal security the central focus of his presidency at the heart of the electoral battle. He has also sought to benefit from ratcheting up tensions with neighboring Venezuela, and counts on his dauphin, former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, to unite the country s right wing forces in order to ensure continuity with his policies.