Colombia's presidential palace became home to criminal organization under Uribe: court

[Judi Lynn]

by Adriaan Alsema September 9, 2021

A court convicted two more former aides of Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe for taking part in a criminal organization that operated from the presidential palace.

The Bogota Superior Tribunal sentenced Uribe’s former press secretary Cesar Velasquez and former judicial secretary Edmundo del Castillo to more than five year imprisonment on Wednesday.

A 2015 Supreme Court sentence indicated that the criminal organization that operated from inside the presidential palace was led by Uribe’s former chief of staff, Bernardo Moreno.

Moreno and multiple former intelligence officials were already convicted for the slew of crimes committed to derail investigations into politicians with ties to the AUC, and bribes paid to lawmakers by two of Uribe’s ministers.

. . .

The presidential mafia

The Supreme Court ordered Congress to investigate Uribe’s alleged possible role as the mastermind of the criminal organization that operated from the presidential palace.

The court also ordered investigations into Senator Jose Obdulio Gaviria, the cousin of late drug lord Pablo Escobar and Uribe’s presidential adviser at the time whose name popped up in multiple of the investigations.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/uribe-aides-turned-colombias-presidential-palace-into-criminal-organization-court/