Uribe's cousin quits Colombian Senate amid scandal

Second cousin, actually. A fact that's probably going to become more important as time goes on, from the looks of things.

I would stress that while he may avoid the Supreme Court (which offers no appeals, in the event of a sentence), the Attorney General does have to investigate him for the same alleged crimes and likely using the same elements. It's not something *entirely* disconnected from the Court's previously announced questioning. The Court can transfer the investigation, IIRC.

It could also be specified that the (accurate or inaccurate, as time will hopefully tell) testimony of "Pitirri" may have actually had more weight than Mancuso's.

Finally, that the paramilitaries supported the election of any/many/all of these people is likely, that's not really news (the guerrillas have usually boycotted elections entirely, preventing people from voting at all, but they have supported other politicians as well, and I'm not even referring to those Uribe sloppily slanders from time to time)...what's left to determine are the specific judicial responsibilities.

Unless of course someone finds a legal way out before that happens...

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Uribe's cousin quits Colombian Senate amid scandal

By Hugh Bronstein 48 minutes ago

BOGOTA (Reuters) - President Alvaro Uribe's cousin and 30-year political ally Mario Uribe quit Colombia's Senate on Thursday to avoid a judicial investigation into whether he colluded with right-wing paramilitary death squads.

The move deepens a scandal in which 14 members of Congress, most of them in the president's coalition, are jailed awaiting trial for suspected links to the drug-running militias formed in the 1980s to help beat back leftist rebels.

And it could complicate efforts at clinching a free-trade pact with the United States, where Democrats on Capitol Hill are examining the conservative president's human rights record.

By stepping down from the Senate, Mario Uribe is protecting himself from an investigation by the Supreme Court, which probes public officials.

He still faces questions from Colombia's attorney general about his relationship with ex-paramilitary warlord Salvatore Mancuso and real estate deals in which he is accused of buying properties at below-market prices after the previous owners were forced to sell by paramilitary thugs.

Mancuso, now in prison, says Mario Uribe asked him to support his 2002 Senate campaign.

"This is a heavy blow for the Uribe clan," said Mauricio Romero, political science professor at Bogota's Javeriana University. "It is looking more and more like President Uribe and allies such as cousin Mario won office in 2002 with paramilitary support."

Thousands are killed in Colombia's guerrilla war every year as Marxist guerrillas fight government troops.

Most paramilitaries have disbanded under a peace deal promising reduced prison terms. But thousands of former "paras" have joined a new generation of Colombian crime gang specializing in extortion and cocaine smuggling.

Twenty-seven candidates plus scores of officials and campaign workers have been murdered ahead of October 28 local elections. The government says the rebels and new crime gangs are behind most of the killings.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071004/wl_nm/colombia_scandal_dc_2

By juancegomez on Oct 4, 2007, 15:23 in Politics & the war.

toneloc24 says on Oct 4, 2007, 15:36:

And the smoke continues to thicken around the Uribe tribe.....

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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juancegomez says on Oct 4, 2007, 16:02:

I might not be willing to paint him as the "worst human being ever", that would require far more, but I can see the smoke too...and smell the odor that gathers around a lot of his surroundings. I just describe and interpret things differently.

At the very least, that's exactly what he deserves for his opportunism, ambition and lack of moral fiber.

At most...I don't really need to spell that out, do I?

Even so, the devil lies in the details, so I continue to insist that only time will tell most of us the specifics of it all.

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Medellin Traveler says on Oct 4, 2007, 18:08:

As long as people continue to ask questions and demand the truth be told, only then will we find out how big a fire is behind the smoke.

I am not against Uribe, because I do like the changes the have come to Colombia during his tenure in office. And, more importantly, almost every Paisa I met supports him and has nothing but positive things to say about him.

La cuidad de la primavera, estoy feliz porque te vuelvo a ver - www.medellintraveler.com

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toneloc24 says on Oct 4, 2007, 20:44:

MT - Yes, Colombia has made significant security progress during his tenure. However, at what cost?

Let no one fool you. It's the unspoken that the details. The means possibly chosen by Uribe and his folks to achieve the end. The previously unspoken details are coming to light. Poblado, for example, is filled with deceptions. People, well foreigners, are not going to like what may come out and how close they are to it all, having previously being oblivious.

Btw, paisa country (Antioquia) is predominantly AUC country. It's his stronghold and he will have their support. They KNOW what's up, or at least, have an idea.

"Most paramilitaries have disbanded under a peace deal promising reduced prison terms. But thousands of former "paras" have joined a new generation of Colombian crime gang specializing in extortion and cocaine smuggling.

Twenty-seven candidates plus scores of officials and campaign workers have been murdered ahead of October 28 local elections."

Here's what people should take note of, as these newly formed gangs made up from demobilized "paras" do not play by the same rules. And having seen how power is gained in Colombia, why should they follow any rules? This is the endgame. More future lawlessness and less structured at that.

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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Simon says on Oct 4, 2007, 21:07:

I don't give a crap how many and how close these people are to Uribe...they are not him!!

HERE'S SIMON!!!!

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juancegomez says on Oct 4, 2007, 21:16:

But at the very least, I would say, you should question why Uribe placed himself in this situation in the first place.

Como dicen por ahí, uno no escogerá a la familia (por eso yo rechazo que se ataque a la gente simplemente por compartir genes con tal o cual), pero sí escoge a los amigos y aliados, sobre todo en la política. Con sólo eso ya se puede hablar muy mal de su juicio y/o calibre moral, sin tener que ir más lejos.

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Simon says on Oct 4, 2007, 21:24:

So Uribe should have submitted them all to lie-detector tests before hiring them.

HERE'S SIMON!!!!

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cali373 says on Oct 5, 2007, 16:29:

Uribe´s party and the conservative party beinf aided by Paramilitarism, Tell me something I don´t know, or that colombian officials don´t know either.

Smile if you are a thinker!

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cali373 says on Oct 5, 2007, 16:33:

"why Uribe placed himself in this situation in the first place."
Because Uribe being a former Liberal party member would not be elected without Paramilitary support.

Smile if you are a thinker!

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juancegomez says on Oct 5, 2007, 18:56:

cali373 : I was thinking about it from a more personal perspective. What you mentioned is a possible explanation at the organizational level, but it's hard to tell how much of an effect that factor had on the actual result. Personally, I don't believe it was decisive, and Serpa himself has admitted that the paramilitaries *alone* couldn't have given Uribe that victory, even if he has denounced their participation as well.

Uribe didn't win just in paramilitary influenced/dominated areas, which aren't exactly the ones with the most votes either. In fact, he lost in a couple of those, plus his advantage over Serpa was quite large nationwide and in the main cities. Not surprising at all, given the political climate and all it implied for both candidates and the general electorate. Consider too that the Liberal Party itself was also split among pro-Uribe and pro-Serpa politicians and "caciques", in practice if not always formally.

It's also hard to imagine how a political and ideological platform like Uribe's wouldn't have inherently enjoyed some paramilitary/pro-para support due to its essentially counterinsurgent and anti-guerrilla nature. Maybe the difference between the two could have been smaller, but hardly something that would prevent him from winning at all.

Yet in spite of all that, Uribe himself, at a basic level, has demonstrated certain characteristics that make several of his actions morally reprehensible beyond the merely electoral sphere.

jim_bridger : Well, there have been a couple of examples like that, with mixed results (see Rocío Arias and Eleonora Pineda, whose connections were pretty evident and gave them some success, but later on they deteriorated somewhat).

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