Colombia: Defense Minister Resigns

Colombia’s Defense Minister Jorge Uribe resigned a year before the end of his term and will be replaced by President Alvaro Uribe´s legal counsel, Camilo Ospina. Minister Uribe has done much to curb kidnapping and violence in the government´s ongoing war against both left and right-wing paramilitary groups, helping restore business and consumer confidence in Colombia. The government forecasts the $91 billion economy, whose main exports are coffee, coal and oil, will expand about 4 percent this year after growing 4 percent in 2004.