Colombia's Uribe hit by another political scandal

BOGOTA — A former member of Colombia's Congress says she was offered illegal favors by the government to support an amendment that allowed President Alvaro Uribe to stand for re-election in 2006, a charge Uribe denied.
The attorney general on Monday opened an inquiry into Yidis Medina's accusation that the administration promised, but did not deliver, political favors in exchange for supporting the change in law.
The investigation comes on top of a scandal linking some of Uribe's closest political allies to far-right death squads and could further complicate passage of a U.S. free trade deal, which is being blocked by U.S. Democrats concerned about Uribe's human rights record.
In an interview conducted in 2004, but not released until late Sunday night, Medina told a journalist that administration officials offered her the chance to appoint members of three local commissions in her home province -- if she backed legislation allowing Uribe to run for another term.
At one meeting, she said, Uribe asked for her support and promised the government would honor its promises to her.
"He said he wanted to save the country and he wanted more time to complete his program," she says of Uribe in the video shown late Sunday.
The president, now midway through his second term, denied the accusation.
"The government persuades. It does not buy loyalties," Uribe said. "We do not tolerate corruption."
The video's release came two days after the courts opened an investigation into Senate leader Nancy Gutierrez for possible connections to outlawed right-wing militias. More than 60 legislators, most from Uribe's coalition, have been caught up in the probe of paramilitary influence in Congress.
But the conservative White House ally remains popular for cutting crime and sparking economic growth with his U.S.-backed crackdown on leftist insurgents.
"Everything indicates that the journalist and the interviewee talked previously about the questions and answers and held the video back until both believed it was the right time to air it," a presidential statement said.
Medina, a Conservative party member who was part of Uribe's coalition in the lower house of Congress, says during the interview that the video could be shown if she is killed or if the government fails to keep the promises it made to her.

By CatGirl on Apr 22, 2008, 07:50 in Politics & the war.

CatGirl says on Apr 22, 2008, 07:52:

Why does this comment look at bit suspicious to me..? "or if the government fails to keep the promises it made to her."

More propaganda?

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