US court charges Uribe's former security chief with drug trafficking .

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

US court charges Uribe's former security chief with drug trafficking .
Sunday, 17 June 2012 08:51 Adriaan Alsema

A U.S. prosecutor has filed drug trafficking charges against a retired Colombian police general who was former President Alvaro Uribe's security chief, newspaper El Tiempo reports.

According to the charges filed before the Eastern District Court of Virginia, retired General Mauricio Santoyo Velasco collaborated with paramilitary organization AUC and Medellin-cased crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado between 2000 and 2008.

Santoyo was Uribe's security chief between 2002 and 2006 after which he was named military attache in Italy.

According to El Tiempo, the retired general is suspected of having been paid by both paramilitary organizations to leak classified intelligence information and results of illegal wiretaps about competing drug traffickers "who were later found assassinated."

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/24634-us-court-charges-uribes-former-security-chief-with-drug-trafficking.html

[Pavlo]

1. They all get caught in the end.

What a dirty business to be in

[William deB. Mills]

2. Small Breakthrough on Justice for Colombians

Uribe was the pet of conservatives in Washington throughout his presidency, despite his alleged ties with cattle barons running peasants off their land (using the FARC peasant rebellion as the excuse) so they could expand their cattle ranches and simultaneous allegations that he was running drugs. Now, finally, the allegations are turning up in official U.S. court records. A tiny step toward imprisoning our so-called Colombian allies but one that does nothing to help the ex-peasants who ended up in one of three ways - joining FARC in rebellion against a corrupt elite, being murdered by conservative death squads, or becoming part of the urban underclass. Welcome to the U.S. war on drugs. The rich get their American weapons, they get the peasants' land, they get total political power to marginalize and repress the population...and they run drugs into the US anyway (exactly what the US was complaining that the FARC was doing)!!!

For Americans, this is all old news - the Colombian civil war has been going on for 150 years, the FARC has been around for 50 years, and of course no one can even spell Medellin any more. But consider, does the above description remind anyone even slightly of Wisconsin? It should. The real story in Colombia is a story of the systematic extermination of the reformist middle - peaceful political activists (reporters, labor union leaders, teachers in poor urban areas; native activists in jungle villages). The Wisconsin attack on the union contract rights of police, teachers, and firemen is less nasty, perhaps, but should be seen as part of the same struggle. So, for Americans, the Colombian story is really not such old news after all.

Supporting rich extremists to destroy poor extremists is not the solution.

[Huey P. Long]

3. They must be cuting in on the controlled US cartel's action/cut.

Got to get rid of the competition!

[byeya]

4. How embarrassing for Bush and the War On Drugs...Scratch that; they don't "do" embarrassment.

The war on drugs seems to be a war on unions and social justice.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Santos calls for general to answer to US drug trafficking charges .

Santos calls for general to answer to US drug trafficking charges .
Tuesday, 19 June 2012 12:08 Brandon Barrett

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos called on retired General Mauricio Santoyo, who served as former President Alvaro Uribe's security chief until 2006, to account for charges filed by U.S. authorities accusing him of trafficking drugs.

"It is very important that General Santoyo come out and respond to the U.S. justice [authorities] for his actions," Santos said from Mexico, where he is attending the G20 political summit. "The important thing is for him to go and answer [to the charges] for the good of the institution and the good of the country," he added.

A Virginia court charged Santoyo after the testimony of extradited paramilitary leaders Salvatore Mancuso and Carlos Mario Jimenez, alias "Macaco." He was linked to the now-defunct paramilitary group, the AUC and Medellin-based crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado with allegations that he received money from both organizations to leak classified intelligence and reveal information about rival drug lords received through illegal wiretaps.

He is also suspected of having approved more than 1,800 illegal wiretaps as the head of Gaula's Medellin office, a position he held from 1996 to 2001. Gaula is a special military unit dedicated to kidnapping prevention and rescue.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/24659-santos-calls-for-general-to-answer-to-us-drug-trafficking-charges.html

[center][/center]

[Judi Lynn]

6. Retired general responds to US drug trafficking charges .

Retired general responds to US drug trafficking charges .
Tuesday, 19 June 2012 06:40 Brandon Barrett

Retired General Mauricio Santoyo, who served as former President Alvaro Uribe's security chief, responded to drug trafficking charges filed by U.S. authorities Monday.

A Virginia court charged Santoyo with drug trafficking after the testimony of extradited paramilitary leaders Salvatore Mancuso and Carlos Mario Jimenez, alias "Macaco." He was linked to the now-defunct paramilitary group, the AUC and Medellin-based crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado.

According to newspaper El Tiempo, the retired general is suspected of having been paid by both organizations to leak classified intelligence and provide them with information about rival drug traffickers who had their phones illegally wiretapped and "were later found assassinated."

~snip~
According to a recent report, almost 1,200 Colombian officials face accusations of collaborating with the AUC.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/24647-retired-general-responds-to-us-drug-trafficking-charges.html