In Colombian Death Ranch Case, Some Fear Prosecution Will Be Buried

[Judi Lynn]

By Nicholas Casey
July 8, 2018

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SANTA ROSA DE OSOS, Colombia — One witness told prosecutors about the corpses floating in a river on the ranch.

Another, a ranch hand, described a death squad boss roaming the property freely on horseback.

A third, a cleaning woman, told investigators about the deaths of her two young nephews. Just after midnight, she said, they were snatched by armed men, tied up and executed.

“Who gave orders?” asked a prosecutor.

“It was Santiago,” the ranch hand replied.

The tales might have been lost among the countless episodes of cruelty in Colombia’s long civil war were it not for one thing: “Santiago,” the ranch owner, was Santiago Uribe.

His brother Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s former president, has long been the country’s most influential politician and has just re-emerged as its kingmaker after his handpicked candidate won the presidential election in June.


More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/world/americas/colombia-uribe-death-squad.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. With the election of Alvaro's pick, there won't be prosecution of Uribe and his family, clearly.

Also, from the article:

Last month, Álvaro Uribe’s handpicked candidate for the presidency, Iván Duque, won the election by a large margin. Mr. Uribe is expected to dominate the incoming legislature through his seat in the Senate, where the party he founded, Democratic Center, won the most seats.

Both Mr. Duque and Mr. Uribe have proposed restructuring the justice system to replace the three top courts with just one. That would eliminate the Supreme Court, the very body that is handling the Twelve Apostles case.

“There seems little doubt that Uribe’s desire is to weaken or scuttle the rather serious investigations being brought against him and his family,” said Michael L. Evans of the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research group in Washington that has published documents on the links between politicians and paramilitary groups. The organization reviewed the files seen by The Times.

[marble falls]

2. Good read. Its like a plot from a Garcia book.