Colombia arrests brother of interior minister
He's among dozens investigated for making money off drug groups
updated 1 hour, 3 minutes ago
BOGOTA, Colombia - The brother of Colombia's powerful interior minister was arrested Thursday as a scandal over ties to outlawed paramilitary drug gangs spread among Colombia's ruling elite.
Guillermo Leon Valencia is being investigated for possible illegal enrichment and use of privileged information in contacts with the gang of a top paramilitary leader, according to prosecutors and his defense attorney.
Valencia is the brother of Interior and Justice Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio, who is in charge of domestic political affairs and who was heading the president's office on Thursday since President Alvaro Uribe was travelling abroad.
Valencia joins a list including of scores of congressmen, a political party chief and even Uribe's second cousin who have been arrested on charges of benefiting from ties to the paramilitaries in various ways. The groups were organized to protect landowners from leftist guerrillas, but they branched out into drug trafficking, murder and extortion. The U.S. government considers them a terrorist organization.
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The national magazine Cambio had published transcripts of intercepted telephone calls between Valencia and an alleged associate of Daniel Rendon Henao, alias "Don Mario", who officials say is the leading figure in Colombia's drug-trafficking right-wing paramilitary groups.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26890170/