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The word “historical” is often abused. We see it in every fact that is highlighted as if reality needed even more drama. The truth is that the “historical news” is told. This week something significant did happen: for the first time in more than half a century, a former Colombian president will sit in the dock.
In addition, it is not just any ex-president: the incombustible Álvaro Uribe, the one who managed to get Congress to change an article in the Constitution to be re-elected and who is the political shadow of recent decades in Colombia, will face a trial that could last months and even years.
This is a case of bribery, procedural fraud and bribery of witnesses in criminal proceedings that has taken so many turns and has lasted so long that it is still not clear how it will end. Behind this investigation is one of the most serious accusations that has followed him for years: his alleged links with paramilitary groups, as told in this extensive profile.
For this reason, as colleague Juan Pablo Vásquez says, Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia, who made the decision, will go down in history. She will also be remembered for “thank you, Mr. accused,” the phrase with which she responded to the former president during the hearing and not the usual “thank you, president,” as many in different political circles usually call it, even if Uribe finished his mandate in 2010. For a sector of Colombians, he is their eternal president.
Not so for many victims of so-called false positives. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, Uribe has been denounced by victims and organizations that ask that his criminal responsibility be investigated in at least 6,402 murders of civilians committed by the military during his government.
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As Juan Diego Quesada writes, his presidency “was a watershed in the conception of Colombia as a country.” It is likely then that many Colombians know about the case, but it is worth remembering it quickly to understand how it got here:
In 2012, representative Iván Cepeda held a political control debate on paramilitarism in Antioquia and its relationship with Uribe. The former president denounced Cepeda before the Supreme Court for presenting false testimonies. Later, in 2014, Cepeda made another debate about the former president’s relations with drug trafficking and paramilitarism. At that moment, the image was that of Uribe leaving the premises and crossing the Plaza de Bolívar to expand the lawsuit against Cepeda in the Supreme Court.
However, in 2018, the Supreme Court shelved Uribe’s complaint against Senator Cepeda, and decided instead to investigate the former president for alleged witness tampering. By that time, Uribe had become the senator with the most votes in the history of Colombia, with 800,000 votes, and his party, the Democratic Center, was the largest party in Congress at the time.
With his political godson, Iván Duque, elected president, no one expected that, in August 2020, the Investigative Chamber of the Supreme Court would order the house arrest of the senator and former president. Nor was Uribe expected to renounce his seat as senator (which allowed him to maintain his immunity). And although he later obtained his freedom, he remained linked to the case until May 24, when he officially became a defendant.
Uribe, however, has already challenged prosecutor Gilberto Villareal and has asked that he be removed from the process and another official be appointed to replace him. Like that time in 1994, when he punched an old friend who at the time was a political rival, it remains to be seen what the next blow will be, legally speaking.
And, beyond the case, the course of the “historic trial” of the former president who marked generations of Colombians is pending. For historian Jorge Orlando Melo, the great trial against him would be that of false positives. “As president he was effective; However, he created a political environment that led to the consolidation of the paramilitaries, to which was added inadequate management with the FARC. “He became better with Santos (his successor),” he said for the report. Uribe, power and the abysspublished in this medium.
Other stories
Since this never stops, I recommend that you pay close attention to all the reports about the health system that are published in EL PAÍS América Colombia.
Most recently, EPS Sura’s decision to withdraw from the health system. The determination of the company, with more than five million members or 10% of Colombians, reflects the crisis in the sector, writes Santiago Torrado.
The news of the last few hours that has animal activists very happy: the decision of the Colombian Congress to prohibit bullfighting.
On another of the great topics of the week, I recommend this analysis by Camila Osorio, entitled Petro’s constituent balloons: a risky political bet on an unviable legal path.
The column by Juan Camilo Restrepo, who was head of Juan Manuel Santos’ negotiating team, on what he describes as ‘The ambiguities of the agreement with the ELN on civil society participation.’
Lucas Reynoso’s interview with Carlos Carrillo, the current director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, who talks about the corruption that eats away at the entity and that has Gustavo Petro’s government in check.
And a tribune on the death of the vallenato musician Omar Geles. In the words of Gustavo Caraballo, author of the book Piece of accordion and other vallenato stories, “a born talent who drew from his imagination more than a thousand songs throughout his artistic career” and composed for Diomedes Díaz, Silvestre Dangond, Martín Elías, Jorge Oñate, Iván Villazón and many others. In other words, a king of vallenato.
until next time.
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