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Hello readers:
This week – you’ll say “When not?” – Everything was very shaken in Colombia. Judicial announcements, complaints and investigations that have been opened are printed these days in the South American country. You turn off the radio for a while, stay away from social media, try to live a little and prosper, another scandal, another judicial news. Since there is a lot, we will move on to parts, from the last to the part that will be known today after the arrival of this bulletin.
The second court sentenced Santiago Uribe, brother of Alvaro Uribe, the most powerful president Colombia has had in decades, to 28 years in prison for paramilitary action and murder. A real bomb for that family and also for the aspirations of the right, which felt strong in the upcoming elections. Former President Uribe was saved from conviction for bribery and defrauding witnesses, but his brother was unsuccessful in this case, which passed through other channels, and for more serious crimes. Naturally, these cases share the same source: old complaints about alleged involvement in paramilitary groups on the part of the Uribe family.
An Antioquia court convicted Santiago, the younger brother, of forming the paramilitary group Los 12 Apóstoles and of killing farmer Camilo Barrientos, a goat driver who was killed by paramilitaries who the court proved were trained on Uribe’s property. Barrientos was on the list prepared by that group. Yesterday, the former president expressed himself on social media with a short phrase: “I feel deep pain because of the sentence issued against my brother. May God help us.”
The other scandal comes from respected journalist Ricardo Calderon and his team, which is not the prosecutor’s office, but it appears that way. Their work, which ranges from investigating the collusion of paramilitary groups with the military, as well as false positives or scams by DAS, always galvanizes judicial bodies into action and troubles sitting presidents. This week, in a 37-minute long report, he denounced alleged links between the military and intelligence agents of Gustavo Petro’s government with dissidents known as Calarca. The press release is based on conversations and conversations that were in the possession of the Police Criminal Investigation Directorate (Dejene) for more than a year, and show that these armed groups had access to secret information from the public force that allowed them to escape military operations. Among those mentioned is General Juan Miguel Huertas, head of the Army Personnel Command.
Although this alleged alliance between state officials and armed groups is not unprecedented – a relationship with paramilitary groups was also reported during the government of Álvaro Uribe – it represents one of the most serious scandals of the Petro government. This may be the final nail to the president’s complete peace. Among the chats between the dissidents, there is one allegedly written by him under the pseudonym Ivan Mordescu, in which he asserts that his group supports the presidential campaign. The president, usually talkative, remained silent for nearly 20 hours and his final response was not surprising. He said that everyone’s source was the CIA and that the information was false. But Prosecutor Luz Adriana Camargo, after saying the information had not reached her office for a year, said it did and announced the opening of an investigation.
A few days ago, there were also judicial turmoil at the National University, when the Council of State canceled the appointment of Leopoldo Munera as Dean of the National University, and the future is now in the middle of another legal battle; And by the Supreme Court because the former director of the Colombian police, who was convicted by the court of the crime of influence peddling in the first place, surrendered himself to serve a seven-year prison sentence. Contrary to what Karol G might say, tomorrow (today) will not be nice for the government because the Attorney General will file charges against former Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla. The Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of conspiracy to commit an aggravated crime, undue interest in concluding contracts, and bribery for bid or offer in the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) scandal. Today it was learned that the accusation also reaches former Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco. Justice continues to shake the country.
Other stories
This is a brief collection of other recommended stories from EL PAÍS América Colombia. But first, some news:
Shrinking childhood
Children grow faster, feel faster, and bear the weight of the world before they have the emotional structure to support it. Childhood, which should be the slowest and most extensive period, has become the most fragile stage.
In the midst of the war between the dissidents, Pietro negotiates with Calarca and bombs Mordesco
The General Staff of the blocs and the Front, the faction that still sits at the dialogue table, maintained relations with an army general and a senior intelligence official.
The missing interview with ETA: When Spain censored a Colombian report after Franco’s death
Journalist Hector Mora was able to speak in 1976 with one of those responsible for the assassination of Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco.
Killing child soldiers: The dilemma surrounding the Petro government
The recent killing of 15 minors who were forcibly recruited into military operations opens an unprecedented crisis for the Colombian president.