Rebel-fighter Uribe reelected in Colombia

Police searched Colombians entering a voting station yesterday in La Calera, Cundinamarca. (Dermot Tatlow for the Boston Globe)

GUASCA, Colombia -- After suffering years of conflict at the hands of guerrillas, militias, and drug traffickers, Colombians reelected President Álvaro Uribe yesterday by a landslide as a reward for dramatically reducing violence and presiding over the strongest economic recovery in a decade.

The election was largely peaceful. With 99 percent of the ballots counted, Uribe had 62 percent of the vote, ensuring four more years for the Bush administration's most loyal ally on a continent dominated by leftist governments. At a time when neighboring Andean countries are nationalizing resources, the 53-year-old center-right Uribe has been Washington's biggest collaborator in the war on drugs and the push for free trade in South America. Bush congratulates Uribe on re-election.