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News > Colombia

Hearing In Paramilitary Case Against Ex-President Uribe Starts

  • Ex-President Alvaro Uribe, Colombia.

    Ex-President Alvaro Uribe, Colombia. | Photo: Twitter/ @BAYRONZAPATAMA1

Published 4 October 2021
Opinion

Ex-paramilitaries declared that Alvaro Uribe and his brother offered one of their farms for the creation of the "Metro Block", a paramilitary structrure attached to the United Self-Defense Forces of Cordoba and Uraba.

On Monday, Bogota’s Criminal Judge Carmen Ortiz began public hearings in the witness tampering case raised against Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010).

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To determine whether the case continues or not, she will listen to the parties involved, Senator Ivan Cepeda's lawyer, former prosecutors Eduardo Montealegre and Jorge Perdomo, and the defender of Deyanira Gomez, the ex-wife of former paramilitary Juan Monsalve. This hearing was requested by Prosecutor Gabriel Jaimes, who maintains that there is not enough evidence to blame Uribe for the crimes of bribery and procedural fraud.

Previously, however, the Supreme Court's Chamber of Instruction established those charges against Uribe, arguing that this right-wing politician pressured former paramilitaries Juan Monsalve and Pablo Sierra to modify their testimonies and accuse Senator Cepeda of having mounted a smear campaign against Uribe.

Years ago, Monsalve and Sierra declared that the former Colombian president and his brother Santiago offered one of their family's farms for the creation of the "Metro Block", a paramilitary organization attached to the United Self-Defense Forces of Cordoba and Uraba.

The tweet reads, "What a beautiful image of the accused Alvaro Uribe, who says he never met a single paramilitary, although he founded the paramilitarism, remained in a paramilitary camp, and shared food with paramilitaries. Image of the lawyer Uribe Velez in Ralito in a meeting in which he was not present either. Narco-paramilitary Ramon Isaza can be seen in the background.”

On Monday, the relatives of the victims of extrajudicial killings held a rally in Cali City to remember 6,402 citizens who died as a result of State terrorism in Colombia.

“Extrajudicial executions were exacerbated during the defense and security policy of the State implemented in the period 2002-2008. The Military Forces were the most responsible. However, some soldiers conscientiously objected to this, ”the Truth Commission recalled.

The relatives of the victims will discuss strategies for the Colombian armed forces to recognize that their loved ones were civilians who were deliberately presented as “guerrillas” who had fallen in combat. Around 78 percent of theses crimes occurred during the Uribe administration.

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