Reply #3: US suspends aid to tainted Colombian spy agency

[Judi Lynn]

Latest Update: Wednesday14/4/2010 April, 2010, 11:39 PM Doha Time
US suspends aid to tainted Colombian spy agency

The US government has suspended aid to Colombia’s DAS intelligence agency, whose agents are accused of illegally wiretapping President Alvaro Uribe’s opponents, journalists and magistrates. The scandal is the latest to blemish the Colombian government under Uribe, a Washington ally who must step down this year after two terms and remains popular for his tough line against leftist rebels. His former defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, is the favorite to succeed him in a May vote. The US ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, said cooperation aid to the Administrative Security Department, or DAS, would be transferred to the national police and the attorney general’s office’s CIT investigative unit.

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