By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BOGOTA, Colombia—An investigation into Colombia’s former president Alvaro Uribe has been opened by the Accusation Commission of the Colombian House of Representatives. The investigation, which began on Tuesday, will discover any role Uribe may have played in the illegal wiretapping of political opponents. The scandal has been called “far worse than Watergate” by the Washington Office on Latin America.
Numerous officials who served under Uribe have also been under fire. Bernardo Moreno, who was Uribe’s personal secretary, was convicted of illegally wiretapping politicians, journalists, human rights organizations, and Supreme Court magistrates. Moreno was banned from holding any public office for 18 years.
Andres Felipe Arias, who served under Uribe as agricultural minister, is also being investigated for allegedly funneling millions of dollars in state subsidies for impoverished farmers into affluent families. It is believed that the money went to landowners and agro-industrial companies that supported Uribe in his 2006 presidential campaign. Arias is a familiar name to many Colombians as he recently ran for president against the current President Santos.
Although Uribe has admitted responsibility for Moreno’s acts, he has fervently defended his administration. “We avoided allowing the guerrillas and paramilitaries who took the country to turn Colombia into a failing state,” he recently posted on the social networking website Twitter. Uribe also Tweeted about the accomplishments of his presidency, such as battling poverty and extraditing drug traffickers.
Uribe is now teaching at Georgetown University and continues to be an object of controversy. Last month, while giving a lecture, Uribe was protested by demonstrators outside; inside, a student approached the former president and confronted him about his poor human rights record.
“This was Uribe trying to clean his image, basically, in front of our future leaders,” the student later told Newsweek. “He needs to be put in front of a criminal court.”
More than 150 scholars, including 10 Georgetown professors, have signed a petition calling for Uribe’s termination from his Georgetown post. The accompanying letter, composed by a priest, stated that Uribe’s position at the institution “is not only deeply offensive to those Colombians who still maintain moral principles, but also places at high risk the ethical development of the young people who attend our university.”
For more information, please see:
Colombia Reports-Uribe mounts Twitter defense of policies-14 October 2010
Radio Netherlands Worldwide-Colombia’s Congress Investigates ex-president Uribe-13 October 2010
Newsweek-Appointment of Colombian Ex-President Sparks Controversy at Georgetown-13 October 2010
Colombia Reports-Congress opens wiretap investigation against Uribe-12 October 2010
