Terrorism-related investigations against Colombia's former president stalled
Homicide investigation on hold as prosecution seeks to drop bribery charges
by Adriaan Alsema October 11, 2022
Colombia’s prosecution continues to stall investigations into former President Alvaro Uribe’s alleged involvement in crimes against humanity and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutor Javier Cardenas asked a Bogota court on Monday to drop fraud and bribery charges pressed by the Supreme Court in 2018. Cardenas is also in charge of an investigation into Uribe’s alleged involvement in multiple homicides in the late 1990’s that hasn’t progressed for two years.
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Cardenas isn’t just trying to bury the former president’s alleged fraud and bribery practices, but has omitted to continue an investigation into Uribe’s alleged involvement in crimes against humanity.
The Supreme Court started this investigation into Uribe’s alleged role in multiple massacres carried out by the AUC and former Medellin crime lord “Don Berna” in 2018.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/terrorism-related-investigations-against-colombias-former-president-stalled/
George W. Bush awards Álvaro Uribe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom!
US: Award to Uribe Sends Wrong Message
Colombia’s Rights Violations Should Bar Its Leader From Award
(Washington, DC, January 12, 2009) – US President George W. Bush’s decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia is a disturbing example of the Bush administration’s disregard for serious human rights concerns out of zeal to show unconditional support to governments that it views as strategic allies, seven leading nongovernmental organizations said today.
The organizations include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International-USA, Center for International Policy, Human Rights First, Latin America Working Group, Refugees International, and the Washington Office on Latin America.
Bush is giving the award to Uribe at a ceremony in the White House on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.
“The Bush administration has consistently turned a blind eye to Colombia’s serious human rights violations,” said the organizations. “Its selection of Uribe to receive this award only further tarnishes the Bush administration’s own reputation on human rights issues in the region.”
More:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/01/12/us-award-uribe-sends-wrong-message
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The Value of Alvaro Uribe’s Medal of Freedom
January 13, 2009 COHA
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Labor and human rights activists believe that Uribe has personally endorsed the violence committed by Colombia government security forces and friendly paramilitaries against labor and democratic movement leaders and activists, as well as other non-combatants.
When some US labor movement leaders traveled to Colombia and met with Uribe in early 2008 to lobby on behalf of human and labor rights, Uribe justified the extra-judicial actions of his government’s security forces by accusing labor activists of being aligned with drug dealers and terrorists.
Uribe’s relationship with ultra-right paramilitary groups goes back to the 1990s when, human rights activists say, he aligned himself with them as the governor of Antioquia whose capital is Medellín. Uribe comes from Colombia’s landowning families which has long relied on domestic military power to maintain its rule. In addition, after an education in elite US universities, Uribe served as a CIA asset during the 1980s.
After Uribe’s rise to political prominence in the 1990s, his paramilitary allies acted with impunity and raised funds for their activities by participating widely in the country’s infamous drug trade. In 2002, Uribe successfully ran for his first term as Colombia’s president. During that campaign, his paramilitary allies worked to suppress political opposition, including those in the country’s media and its labor union leaders who demanded answers about his ties to illegal groups like the paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
More:
https://www.coha.org/the-value-of-alvaro-uribes-medal-of-freedom/