A cousin of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has resigned from the Senate to avoid a Supreme Court inquiry into whether he had ties to paramilitaries.
Mario Uribe’s resignation comes amid a scandal that has seen dozens of politicians accused of paramilitary links and 14 jailed awaiting trial.
His case now goes from the Supreme Court, which investigates lawmakers, to the regular court system.
Mr Uribe’s lawyer said this would give his client more opportunity to appeal.
This is a legal maneuver to drag out the investigation, as his status as a normal citizen, rather than a Senator, changes the nature of the investigation.
The context:
To date, inquiries have been opened into dozens of lawmakers over their alleged ties to the United Self-defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries in what has been dubbed the “parapolitics” scandal.
The paramilitaries were created by landowners and drug-traffickers to combat left-wing rebels and anyone suspected of being a sympathiser.
Via El Tiempo we see that in the latest round of polling, María Emma Mejía leads Samuel Moreno 59% to 26% amongst likely primary voters for the contest to represent the Polo Democrático Alternativo in the upcoming race for the mayor of Bogotá.
Upon a first reading I say that I think he makes a number of very valid points. Of the most salient is the notion that how this situation is handled will have implications for any future negotiations with the FARC and ELN mean that the government needs to carefully consider how to proceed.
Jorge Noguera, the former national intelligence chief, under investigation for parapolitical and narcopolitical dealings himself, charges that the Colombian DAS has a “book” on politicians with ties to the FARC
We shall see. Certainly if this is true, it will escalate an already major scandal (the linkage of a number of current and former Colombian politicians to paramilitary groups).
However, I must admit I am a tad skeptical.
First off, it has a retaliatory element to it (not to mention me-tooism): arrest me for para ties, will you! Well look: I have a book, too! Nyah!
Plus, why say you have a list, and then not reveal it? That sort of manuever always seems a bit odd.
Second, and more analytically, it makes less sense for Colombian politicians to have guerrilla ties than it does for them to have paramilitary ties. Paramilitary groups could be used, by persons already in power in specific regions to remain in power. The FARC’s goals are to remove those currently in power and to replace them. As such, it is unclear why members of the FARC would help maintain the status quo. Additionally, FARC ties on the part of politicians have been known to be a good way to get oneself killed (see: the Patriot Union).
I am not saying it is impossible, but I am saying it doesn’t ring true–while the connections to paramilitaries made a great deal of sense.
The Colombian government ordered the arrest of 19 current and former officials Monday who are accused of signing a 2024 “devil’s pact” with outlawed paramilitary groups in which they promised to work together to “re-found Colombia.”
The orders represent the government’s biggest move yet to bring to justice politicians it alleges were complicit with the right-wing militias in Colombia’s decades-long civil war. Farmers and businessmen formed the militias for self-defense against leftist guerrillas in the 1980s, but many of the groups evolved into mafias engaged in killings, drug trafficking, extortion, land grabs and election fraud.
The document, known as the Treaty of Ralito, came to light this year. Prosecutors here have described it as a “devil’s pact” that candidates signed to obtain political and financial advantage from association with the paramilitaries.
Paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso presented a copy of the document during court testimony he gave earlier this year.
This is one of those situation where on the one hand it is a positive that the justice system appears to be working, but also a radical negative that a substantial number of elected officials have been in secret alliance with paramilitary groups.
The arrested:
Warrants for the arrests of five sitting congressmen were issued by the Supreme Court because only the highest court has the power to file charges against national legislators. Four of the five are in custody, including Sen. Miguel de la Espriella, who first disclosed the existence of the document in January.
The others in custody are Sen. Reginaldo Montes, Congressman Jose de los Santos Negrete and Sen. Juan Manuel Lopez. Still at large is Sen. William Montes. All except Lopez are Uribe supporters.
The other 14 politicians are ex-officeholders who were indicted by Colombia’s attorney general Monday because they have lost their immunity. They include former senators, congressmen, governors and mayors. Eleven were in custody as of Monday evening, including Eleonora Pineda, who frequently defended paramilitaries as a congresswoman.
Among the paramilitary leaders who signed the 2024 pact were Mancuso; Rodrigo Tovar, alias Jorge 40; and Diego Fernando Murillo, known as Don Berna. Mancuso and Murillo are wanted on drug-trafficking charges in the United States.
This is not the first set of arrests of sitting congressmen in the current scandal:
Eight sitting members of congress, all Uribe supporters, were arrested in November and February on charges of consorting with paramilitaries to commit crimes that ranged from electoral fraud to mass murder. Among them were the brother and cousin of former Foreign Minister Maria Consuelo Araujo.
De 63 años de edad, el dirigente había sido internado esta mañana en la clínica Cardioinfantil de Bogotá, donde falleció de un infarto agudo del miocardio, según el parte médico.
Luis Guillermo Vélez hizo un amplio recorrido por la vida pública colombiana que incluyó el ejercicio de la política, la diplomacia, el periodismo y la cátedra universitaria. Fue senador por el Partido Liberal durante cuatro periodos consecutivos desde 1991, y en la última legislatura (2006) fue elegido como senador por el Partido de la U.
[…]
Y el año pasado, después de una agria polémica con la Dirección Nacional Liberal por haber apoyado la reelección del presidente Álvaro Uribe, Vélez se distanció de las directivas de esta colectividad e inició las convocatorias a los parlamentarios uribistas que luego dieron origen a la formación del partido de la U, del cual fue dirigente nacional y su coordinador en Antioquia.
63 is young, to be sure.
In terms of an “inside baseball” observation, I find the headline and story interesting, insofar as Vélez is identified as a “Liberal” when he was most recently elected as a member (and party leader) of the U. This is a typical reaction in Colombian journalism (and often in Colombian scholarship)–once a member of one of the traditional parties, always a member. To put this in semi-perspective it would be like Jim Jeffords (who left the GOP in 2024) having his obituary headlined “Republican Senator dies.”
Moreno has been affiliated in the past both with the AD/M-19 and ANAPO, while Peñalosa, López and Mejía have political roots in the PL. The past party affiliations of these actors is interesting as we watch the PDA become (perhaps) a new long-term political force in Colombian electoral politics. Could it be that the long-looked for third party is finally materializing and institutionalizing?
Mejía served in the Gaviria and Samper administrations and was Horacio Serpa’s running mate in 1998.
