(death squad) AUC donated more than $134K to 2002 Uribe campaign: Former lawmaker

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

AUC donated more than $134K to 2002 Uribe campaign: Former lawmaker .
Sunday, 07 October 2012 09:05 Adriaan Alsema

Demobilized paramilitary organization AUC spent more than $134 thousand in the northern department of Cordoba to support the successful 2002 presidential campaign of Alvaro Uribe, said a former ally of both the AUC and Uribe in an interview published Sunday.

Former congressman Miguel de la Espriella, who was one of the first politicians to be sentenced for his ties to the paramilitaries, told newspaper El Espectador that the $134 thousand was spent on t-shirts that were donated to the local campaign manager of Uribe and excluded the cost of transporting voters on election day.

The disgraced lawmaker's assertion came only weeks after De la Espriella and Eleonora Pineda, another politician for ties to the AUC, told a court that Uribe had been aware of financial and logistical support of the ACCU, a paramilitary group active in the northwest of Colombia, for the campaign in the Cordoba department.

According to De la Espriella, he, Pineda and fellow-lawmaker Mario Uribe -- the former President's cousin -- were employed by the paramilitary group in 2001 to mediate between the ACCU and Uribe. All three were later convicted for conspiring with paramilitary groups, popularly known as "parapolitics."


Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/26391-auc-donated-more-than-134k-to-uribe.html

[fascisthunter]

1. but Chavez

notice how right wingers in South America do not get as much attention?

[Autumn]

2. I am unlocking this,

thanks for your input.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Information already offered concerning Alvaro Uribe's (Bush ally) connections to death squads.

Uribe brought criminal apparatus to presidential palace: Lawmaker .
Wednesday, 12 September 2012 14:17 Joey O'Gorman

Five former high-ranking officials were part of the "criminal structure" of Mauricio Santoyo, ex-head of security for former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, said Representative Ivan Cepeda Wednesday.

Cepeda made the claims before the House and produced numerous documents to support his accusation that the officials were linked to the criminal activities of Santoyo, currently incarcerated in the U.S. for his collaboration with paramilitary organization AUC and allegedly involving illegal wiretapping, intimidation, kidnappings and disappearances.

According to Cepeda, Santoyo was part of a "criminal structure" of officials and subofficials operating in the police force of Antioquia in the 1990s while Uribe was governor of that department and later moved to the presidential palace when Uribe was elected president in 2002.

"Uribe brought a criminal apparatus to the work of the presidency," said Cepeda.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/25993-uribe-brought-criminals-to-presidential-palace-lawmaker.html

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Uribe knew paramilitaries supported 2002 campaign: Former ally .
Tuesday, 25 September 2012 15:52 Simon Willis

jailed former Congressman has said Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe knew he was receiving support from paramilitary groups during his 2002 election campaign, local media reported Tuesday.

Miguel Alfonso de la Espriella, who was part of the coalition government led by Uribe and later sentenced for having ties to the paramilitary AUC, revealed before prosecutors that Uribe knew he was receiving votes and funds from the AUC during his presidential campaign.

According to De la Espriella, he and another now-jailed lawmaker told Uribe about the paramilitaries' support for his campaign in the northern Cordoba department. According to the disgraced politician, Uribe never objected to meeting with the AUC-backed politicians, but "simply maintained a prudent silence."

The then-candidate did refuse to meet directly with the AUC's then-second in command Salvatore Mancuso at a rally organized by the AUC, the former congressman said.

"He said that if he met with Mancuso at that moment he wouldn't be president later, that we should leave the meeting for later," De la Espriella testified.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/26195-uribe-knew-paramilitaries-supported-2002-campaign-former-ally.html

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Uribe conspired with paramilitaries: AUC commander . (U.S. ally)
Wednesday, 11 July 2012 11:11 Esteban Manriquez

One of the paramilitary AUC's most prominent ex-commanders accused Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe of collaborating with armed militias.

Ever Veloza, alias “H.H.,” told U.S. prosecutors that Uribe developed ties with the paramilitary group AUC during his tenure as governor of the Antioquia department from 1995-1997. According to H.H., Carlos Castaño, one of the founders of the AUC, used pagers to keep in contact with officials in the Antioquian government. Uribe used one of these pagers to secretly communicate with Castaño, said the extradited commander.

~snip~
Uribe is one of hundreds of politicians implicated in what's called "parapolitics."

Since 2006, 38 congressmen and five governors have been convicted for conspiring with paramilitary groups to get elected into office, reap financial rewards and intimidate opponents. Some 140 more former congressmen have pending investigations against them. Although many of these “parapoliticians” were allies of the Uribe administration, the former president himself has so far escaped indictment. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, more than 11,000 politicians, public officials, members of the military and businessmen collaborated with the organization that was determined a terrorist organization until its official demobilization between 2003 and 2006.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/25032-uribe-conspired-with-paramilitary-auc-commander.html

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(Colombia's paramilitaries, which officially ended, have regrouped under different names, as noted by groups like Amnesty International. They have always been identified as right-wing narcotrafficking death squads responsible for "the lion's share" of extreme violence against citizens in Colombia.)