Under President Alvaro Uribe's "democratic security" initiative, data suggests security in Colombia has improved significantly. But the country remains the world's biggest producer of cocaine, the rebel group FARC controls many rural areas, and paramilitaries show signs of regrouping.

Sunday's easy victory by President Álvaro Uribe in Colombia provides an exception to the recent leftward trend in Latin America. Yet experts say it is too simplistic to cast a center-right victory in strife-torn Colombia as an ebbing of the prevailing tide.

Incumbent President Alvaro Uribe is favored to win Colombia's May 28 elections, a result that would mark a departure from the trend that has seen left-leaning governments come to power around the region.

In November 1999, the Council on Foreign Relations and Inter-American Dialogue established an independent task force to review and offer recommendations on U.S. policy toward Colombia. The cochairs of the task force have decided to issue this interim report to make an impact on deliberations in Congress, as well as respond to an immediate opportunity to shape the current debate about U.S. policy.