More Uribe aides to be charged, this time over paramilitary visit to presidential palace

[Judi Lynn]

More Uribe aides to be charged, this time over paramilitary visit to presidential palace
Posted by Adriaan Alsema on Jun 30, 2015

Colombia’s prosecution is planning to file criminal charges against the former press secretary and the former judicial adviser of Colombian ex-president Alvaro Uribe for meeting with a paramilitary representative, reported Caracol Radio on Tuesday.

According to the radio station, former Press Secretary Cesar Mauricio Velasquez and former Judicial Secretary Edmundo del Castillo will have to respond before the court over accusations they conspired with demobilized paramilitaries to fabricate false accusations against members of the Supreme Court that was investigating ties between the demobilized paramilitary organization AUC and politicians.

The former spokesman of paramilitary group AUC, Antonio “Job” Lopez, allegedly met with Velasquez, former Cauca governor Juan Jose Chaux, as well as Uribe’s then presidential adviser, current Senator Jose Obdulio Gaviria and former intelligence executive Marta Leal, who is currently in prison.

. . .

According to Don Berna, the meeting in the presidential palace “gave more solidity to the relations we had with the national government” and was the beginning of a collaboration between demobilized paramilitaries, intelligence agency DAS and the Uribe government to conspire against the Supreme Court, which was investigating ties between paramilitaries and dozens of Uribe allies in Congress.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/more-top-uribe-aides-charged-this-time-over-paramilitary-visit-to-presidential-palace/

[Peace Patriot]

1. The net seems to be tightening around Uribe.

I know it's been a long, long time coming, but, considering how well-protected this shit is, you gotta admire the amazing tenacity and the sheer courage of Colombian prosecutors. They may never get him but it won't be for lack of 'true grit.'

So well-protected that SOMEBODY arranged for him to get cushy academic sinecures at Harvard and Georgetown. Lordy, lordy--and that's where they teach, in their law schools, that "we need to look forward not backward" on the crimes of the uber-powerful. Yup, you could say Uribe belongs there. (But the Jesuits, my God! Have they no shame?!)

So well-protected that Bush Jr. pinned the U.S. "Medal of Freedom" on his spiffy little lapel.

So well-protected that SOMEBODY in the Obama administration arranged for him to sit on a prestigious international legal commission (the one that investigated Israel's firing on a peace ship). (Notice how nothing was done about that crime.)

So well-protected that he spends leisure time with Jr. and Sr. (Don't know about Jeb*.) (The * stands for Bush.) (Jeb's dropped Bush from his name. He's now just Jeb*.)

So well-protected that Sec of State Hillary Clinton wrote to the judge, in the Drummond Coal death squad case, implying that to force Uribe to do a deposition in the case was a threat to U.S. "national security." Result: No Uribe testimony for the relatives of Drummond Coal's death squad victims.

So well protected that at least one of Uribe's cohorts in a position to know about his many crimes--Maria Hurtado, one of his "security" chiefs--was spirited out of the country, when the prosecutors wanted to talk to her, and given instant, overnight asylum in Panama, an act of Panama's former president that caused him no end of political trouble in Panama, and that only the CIA could have pulled off, in my opinion.

She's back in Colombia now--so maybe he's not so protected any more. He certainly was uber-protected there for a while, but I never was sure (am still not sure) if Uribe was included in the "no prosecution" deal that Obama seems to have made with the Bush Junta principles--or, rather, the deal that was presented to Obama which he had no choice but to agree to, if he wanted to be President. Uribe was (is?) clearly a "made man" of some sort. (Bush Cartel? CIA? Miami Mafia?) But he is also a huge embarrassment to the U.S. government, if anybody cares about our reputation any more. Is he jettisonable? I don't know.

Could Colombian prosecutors proceed against Uribe if he is still "made" (if, as a Bush Junta lieutenant, he is included in their deal)? I don't know. But they sure don't seem to be letting up.