From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Saturday, Mar. 06, 2010 12:00AM EST Last updated on Saturday, Mar. 06, 2010 3:32AM EST

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's decision to submit to a ruling by the constitutional court and step down after two terms is a final parting gift to his country, even if a majority of voters are sad to see him go.

By most measures the Uribe presidency has been a success. He has the appearance of a bespectacled academic, but make no mistake: Mr. Uribe is a hard-nosed leader who struck crippling blows against the FARC guerrilla insurgency that has plagued his country for four decades, and dismantled right-wing paramilitaries. Human rights organizations complain he has been too lenient with the these shadowy groups, although human rights perfection is hard to achieve in a country beset with the kinds of problems he inherited, when he was first elected in 2002. Among other victories, he exposed the complicity of neighbourhood bully Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, in undermining regional stability, based on the contents of a laptop captured from a senior FARC commander killed by Colombian forces. By improving the security situation, Mr. Uribe created conditions that have allowed for an improved economy. He has been a credible partner for Canada and the U.S., and both countries have sought free trade agreements with Colombia.

By giving up on his desire to run in a third presidential election, even though his approval rating has been as high as 70 per cent, Mr. Uribe has struck a further blow for what he terms "democratic security" in Colombia and provided a lesson for other Latin American leaders who might be tempted to follow the despotic tendencies of Mr. Chavez, who in 2009 secured the removal of the generalissimo clause in Venezuela's constitution, thereby allowing himself unlimited terms. Mr. Chavez's success has encouraged others, and indeed it was his machinations to rewrite the Honduran constitution to remove term limits that led to the ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya.

Mr. Uribe would almost certainly have won the Columbian presidential elections scheduled for May. It will be hard, but not impossible, to replace him; such are the vagaries of democracy. Meanwhile, Colombia - and Latin America - have been strengthened by his decision to respect the constitutional court's ruling.