Uribe govt wanted to 'take down' Supreme Court: AUC leader .

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

Uribe govt wanted to 'take down' Supreme Court: AUC leader .
Tuesday, 13 March 2012 19:42
Adriaan Alsema

Former President Alvaro Uribe's government conspired with the AUC to lower the reported number of child soldiers in the paramilitary organization and later sought to "take down" the Supreme Court that was investigating ties between Uribe associates and the paramilitaries, said the former leader of the AUC Tuesday.

While testifying from his U.S. prison before Colombian prosecutors, the former AUC head bashed statements made by the former President, who has said that he and members of his government are victim of political persecution and a "criminal conspiracy."

According to Mancuso, "there exists no conspiracy against Uribe and his associates. The conspiracy that does exist is theirs."

The former AUC head told the prosecutor that Uribe's former peace commissioner, the now fugitive Luis Carlos Restrepo, conspired with the paramilitaries during the negotiation of the organization's demobilization between 2003 and 2006.


Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22806-uribe-govt-conspired-with-paramilitaries-to-take-down-supreme-court-auc-leader.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombia orders arrest of its Peruvian ambassador

Colombia orders arrest of its Peruvian ambassador
Wednesday, 14 March 2012 14:58
Marc Hall

Colombia's Prosecutor General has ordered the arrest of the country's Ambassador to Peru due to his alleged paramilitary links, Colombian media reported Wednesday.

Jorge Visbal Martelo is accused of having close ties with the head of the AUC's Northern Bloc while he was president of the Colombian Federation of Cattle-Ranchers between 1998 and 2004, and seeking paramilitary support during the 2006 elections.

The former congressman is said to be listed on a seized computer that belonged to the extradited paramilitary leader Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias "Jorge 40," in documents that have led the Colombia's Supreme Court to conclude the two men had a close working relationship.

Ex-AUC commander Salvatore Mancuso and other paramilitaries have also implicated Visbal, the former senator and ambassador to Canada under the government of Alvaro Uribe, in the "parapolitics" scandal. They allege he was one of the "principal cattle-ranchers who paid the paramillitaries in Sucre," reported newspaper El Tiempo.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22830-arrest-warrant-out-for-colombian-ambassador-to-peru.html