COLOMBIA: TIES TO PARAMILITARY GROUPS BRING DOWN SEVERAL CONGRESSMEMBERS, IMPLICATE FOREIGN RELATIONS MINISTER.
Congressmembers allied with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and a top member of his Cabinet were at the center of a major political scandal in October and November as prosecutors accused several politicians of ties to right-wing paramilitary groups. Courts detained three politicians and prosecutors named six more for questioning as evidence of a secret agreement between Uribistas and paramilitaries emerged, rocking Colombia's political establishment and bringing pressure on Foreign Relations Minister Maria Consuelo Araujo.
Uribe allies face prosecution, probes
Three congressmembers from Uribe's ruling group of legislative allies--Alvaro Garcia, Jairo Merlano, and Erik Morris--and former congressmember Muriel Benito Rebollo, who had the support of Araujo, faced investigations in mid-October and detention orders in November. All four are all solid supporters of Uribe from the northern Caribbean state of Sucre. Three have either been arrested or turned themselves over to police and a US$30,000 reward has been issued for the capture of the fourth.
In late November, Colombian prosecutors named six other politicians they wanted to question regarding alleged paramilitary links. The men were members of Uribe's governing coalition and included the foreign minister's brother, Sen. Alvaro Araujo. All are accused of conspiracy to commit a crime, the Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ) said in a statement.
Four other politicians from northern Colombia are already awaiting trial on charges ranging from funding the paramilitaries to ordering murders.
The investigation began after the police seized a laptop computer belonging to Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, who goes by the alias Jorge 40 and is one of the leaders of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). The AUC is accused of drug trafficking, extortion, and massacring civilians. Authorities found detailed accounts on the laptop of the AUC's activities along Colombia's Caribbean coast and its alleged dealings with local politicians.
The paramilitaries were created by landowners to combat left-wing rebels and anyone suspected of being their sympathizer. The AUC is engaged in a peace process with the government, which has led to more than 33,000 fighters surrendering their weapons (see NotiSur, 2005-07-22 and 2006-06-16). Most AUC leaders are now in jail awaiting trials in which they face a maximum of eight years in prison under the terms of the peace process (see NotiSur, 2006-09-22).
Previous allegations of...
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