Political ally of Colombian president arrested (links to death squads)

[Enrique]

Source: Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR2010022404688.html

BOGOTA -- A former senator with close political ties to President Alvaro Uribe was arrested by Colombian authorities Wednesday on charges of colluding with far-right death squads.

Mario Uribe, a second cousin to the president, is one of the most prominent figures in a scandal that has sent dozens of current or former lawmakers to jail on charges of benefiting from links to outlawed rightist paramilitary groups.

Under an order handed down by Colombia's Supreme Court, Uribe was arrested in the city of Medellin, 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of Bogota, police said. He was to be transferred to the capital.

The 60-year-old former senator has denied any wrongdoing.

Uribe, who presided over the Senate in 2000-2001, is a close confidant of Colombia's conservative president. The two launched a political party together in the mid-1980s and have remained allies ever since.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR2010022404688.html

[nyc 4 Biden]

1. Looks like "Plan Colombia" isn't working out too well.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100208/grandin/single

[goforit]

2. Ooooops!, Poppy Bush's drug trade mat be hindered.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Here's yet another ally: Colombian politician sentenced to 40 years for massacre

Colombian politician sentenced to 40 years for massacre
Bogota, Feb 24 (IANS/EFE)

Colombia's Supreme Court has imposed a 40-year prison term on former senator Alvaro Garcia Romero for his role in a massacre carried out by right-wing militias.

The sentence, imposed Tuesday, is the harshest handed down so far in what is known here as the "parapolitica" scandal.

Garcia was "instigator and accomplice" of the Oct 16, 2000, massacre in the northern province of Bolivar, the court found.

On that date, 80 fighters from the North Bloc of the since-demobilized AUC militia federation clubbed and hacked to death at least 15 peasants in the village of Macayepo in the course of forcing some 200 families to abandon their homes and lands.
Garcia, an erstwhile political boss in the Caribbean province of Sucre who spent almost two decades in Colombia's Congress, has been held at a prison in Bogota since surrendering to authorities in November 2006.

The charges against him were based on testimony from demobilised AUC commander Jairo Castillo, who said the senator helped create militias in Sucre.

More:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/54540/colombian-politician-sentenced-40-years.html

http://www.eltiempo.com.nyud.net:8090/colombia/justicia/IMAGEN/IMAGEN-5008311-1.gif

http://www.colombia.com.nyud.net:8090/actualidad/images/2007/especiales/parapolitica/alvaro_garcia_romero.jpg http://www.eluniversal.com.co.nyud.net:8090/v2/sites/default/files/imagecache/foto_interior/ALVARO%20GARCIA.jpg

Tremendous news on the arrest of Mario Uribe. I had given up hope they would seek justice regarding this scum:

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/0ewScVBbwY3vJ/340x.jpg

Getty Images 49 months ago
Picture of Colombia's former congressman Mario Uribe taken on February 2006 in Bogota. Mario Uribe, an ex-senator and a cousin of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, was seeking political asylum in Costa Rica's embassy on April 22, 2008 after authorities sought to arrest him for ties to right-wing paramilitaries, local media reported. The attorney general's office had ordered the arrest of Mario Uribe for alleged links to paramilitaries and alleged irregularities in purchases of land from the paramilitaries.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Cousin of Colombian President Uribe Arrested For Alleged Ties With Paramilitaries

Cousin of Colombian President Uribe Arrested For Alleged Ties With Paramilitaries
Posted by Staff on Feb 26th, 2010

Top Story — A former Colombian senator and second cousin of President Álvaro Uribe, Mario Uribe, was arrested on Wednesday on charges that he had links to the paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Colombian authorities arrested him in the city of Medellin and plan to transfer him to the capital, Bogota.

The arrest relates to charges that Mario Uribe conspired with the AUC in the 1990s to gain control of land in northeastern Colombia. Jairo Castillo, alias “Pitirri,” says he saw a meeting in which Mario Uribe negotiated with paramilitaries for the land. Mario Uribe denies the allegations.

Mario Uribe was previously arrested in 2008 on similar charges but released due to insufficient evidence.

President Uribe said that his administration needs to make more progress toward uncovering ties between the government and FARC guerillas, but did not comment on the arrest of Mario Uribe.

http://latindispatch.com/2010/02/26/cousin-of-colombian-president-uribe-arrested-for-alleged-ties-with-paramilitaries/