Colombians are embarrassed and preparing to feel even more so as investigations continue into whether President Ernesto Sam-per knew his 1994 campaign was financed with drug money. But experts here are convinced that the scandal may be just what the country needs.
"This is going to be Watergate; it is going to be a terrible travail," predicted political analyst Eduardo Pizarro. "But Watergate led to reforms."The investigation that sparked the accusations against the president has also uncovered evidence of drug-related corruption in Congress, even among members responsible for deciding whether Samper should be impeached.
The gangland-style murder last month of a key witness, Elizabeth Montoya de Sarria, suspected of being a link between the Samper campaign and drug lords, has raised questions of who might be willing to kill to impede the investigation.
The scandal has shoved aside other urgent issues - government peace negotiations with armed militias and guerrilla groups, economic reforms and the fight against drugs - while damaging relations with the United States.
But Colombians are beginning to look beyond the crisis, debating who can lead the country and what the lasting effects of the scandal might be.
"Unless the truth is told, problems cannot be corrected," said political analyst Alejandro Reyes. "This has made the relationship between the mafia and corrupt politicians obvious. It has brought us international shame, but the next elections will be cleaner than the last ones."
Diplomats say this is a striking change of attitude in Colombia. "Colombians tend to think you, as a foreigner, are being rude if you point out unpleasant truths," said one senior foreign diplomat.
Colombians are weary of the side effects of drug violence. One is having to arrive at the airport three hours early to have luggage inspected multiple times and compared against passenger lists. Another is the treatment they get in other countries when they present a Colombian passport. One priest from an area near Medellin recounted having his luggage examined garment by garment by customs officials in Rome last year.
Then there is the highest murder rate in the world: 80 homicides for every 100,000 people, almost four times as high as in second-place Brazil.
"It is not in the interest of a single country to be the center of drug distribution for so long," said Reyes. ". . . We've had enough illegal enrichment by mafias in Colombia. It's time people got rich with honest work."
But even though Colombians say they are fed up with the drug trade, U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette commented, "international pressure, particularly pressure from the United States, is what produced results here."
Those results still are not entirely clear as Samper clings to power and feuds with his vice president, Humberto de la Calle. Their relationship is so strained that shortly after de la Calle took office he was also made ambassador to Spain and dispatched there. Pundits here believe that if Samper does agree to resign, one of his conditions will be that de la Calle not succeed him.
Further, despite the hopes of Colombian analysts, the repercussions of Samper's possible removal are still not clear.