Reply #2: Other reference to the brother of Colombia's President

[Judi Lynn]

Ex-Colombian rebel sparking political uproar

ALLEGATIONS: Unfazed by death threats, Gustavo Petro is pressing for probes into paramilitary activities that have seen eight other lawmakers jailed so far

AP, BOGOTA
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007, Page 4

~snip~
Petro, 46, is nevertheless turning up the heat on Uribe, claiming that the president's brother, Santiago Uribe, was personally involved in murders and forced disappearances while helping to form paramilitary groups in the 1990s.

The president was governor of Antioquia state at the time, and Petro alleges that he may have helped cover up his brother's crimes. He is calling for a debate on the matter in Congress next month.

"This case which was in the prosecutor's office of Antioquia, which Alvaro Uribe was governing, was shelved," Petro said. "And that's the president's defense today. But nobody is asking, was the case shelved at Uribe's behest?"

Incensed at these allegations -- for which Petro has yet to offer evidence -- the president took to the airwaves to deny the accusations and lash back.

Uribe said Petro and other former members of the M-19 guerrilla movement now in politics have gone from being "terrorists in camouflage to terrorists in business suits."

DEATH THREATS

In Colombia, such language can spur death squads into action, and indeed the very day Uribe insulted the M-19 crowd in radio interviews, Petro's brother was threatened with death if the senator goes ahead with the debate.

"We're going to break you into pieces," the caller said.

Authorities immediately assigned a bodyguard each to Petro's brother and sister, who run a school for underprivileged children of flower workers just north of Bogota, and the president was widely criticized by the media for reckless, unpresidential behavior.

Santiago Uribe, after all, was never declared innocent. The case was simply shelved without explanation by a former chief prosecutor who dropped a number of cases of high-level politico-paramilitary corruption that are now being resurrected, in part, because of Petro's determination to revive them.


More:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/02/21/2003349722



Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe and his friend