Colombians Demand Speedy Trial Against Former President Uribe
February 25, 2025 Hour: 12:36 pm
There is physical evidence and sufficient proof of his crimes, said Prosecutor Villarreal.
On Tuesday, the victims of the illegal actions committed by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe demanded that the trial against this far-right politician proceed without further delays.
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Previously, the Bogota Superior Court temporarily suspended the trial against Uribe after his defense attorneys alleged that Sandra Heredia, the presiding judge in the case, had not been impartial— a move that allowed him to portray himself as a victim of judicial persecution.
The far-right politician mobilized his staunchest supporters to protest against this alleged injustice. However, this symbolic display closely resembles “the tactics used by one of the leaders he admires the most: the President of the United States, Donald Trump,” the Spanish newspaper El Pais recalled.
“Uribe has outlined a similar scenario throughout the judicial process, alleging that there is a witch hunt led by his ‘political enemies’ and that judges and prosecutors are not impartial,” it added.
The trial against Uribe has acquired historical significance, as it marks the first time Colombian authorities have conducted a regular criminal trial against a former Colombian president. In this case, he is accused of witness tampering and procedural fraud.
This ongoing trial began seven years ago and has yet to be resolved. This delay occurred because the far-right politician had legal alliances that allowed him to prolong the investigative and prosecutorial processes against him.
On Monday, the oral trial against Uribe resumed after the former president made defamatory statements against the victims and claimed that the process against him was a “political trial.”
The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office resumed the testimony of one of the victims in this case, Senator Ivan Cepeda, who testified about statements made by far-right paramilitaries from prison.
The criminal proceedings against Uribe began in September 2014 during a congressional debate when Senator Cepeda, a member of the left-wing party Polo Democratico Alternativo, accused Uribe of having ties to paramilitary groups and drug traffickers. To support his accusations, he presented several testimonies from former paramilitaries.
Uribe was accused of having founded the Metro Bloc, a faction of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a far-right armed group that killed thousands of innocent civilians during its war against leftist guerrillas.
In response to the accusations against him, Uribe filed a lawsuit against Cepeda before the Supreme Court, accusing him of seeking out former paramilitaries to serve as false witnesses against him.
After investigating the case for several years, the Supreme Court dismissed the accusations against Cepeda in 2018 and opened an investigation against Uribe for crimes such as witness manipulation, bribery, and procedural fraud.
Two years later, Uribe resigned from his position as a senator, and his case was transferred to the ordinary justice system. At that time, however, the Prosecutor’s Office lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute him.
The situation changed this year. On January 16, Prosecutor Gilberto Villarreal took over the case and argued that Uribe could indeed be prosecuted, as there was physical evidence and sufficient proof of his crimes.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: teleSUR – El Pais
