Uribe denies responsibility for vigilante group CONVIVIR
Uribe denies responsibility for vigilante group CONVIVIR
Friday, 13 April 2012 14:21
Brandon Barrett
Former President Alvaro Uribe continued his denial of paramilitary ties in an interview with RCN Radio Friday.
Uribe denied accusations that he helped found paramilitary groups during his 1995-1997 tenure as the governor of Antioquia, despite having openly acknowledged in the past that he supported CONVIVIR, a network of anti-guerrilla neighborhood watch groups formed in the 1990s.
The CONVIVIR, whose creation was promoted by Uribe, were legalized by the Colombian government in 1994 in response to increased violence from guerrilla groups like the FARC and ELN. Because of their links to the illegal AUC and its atrocities, the Constitutional Court banned the self-defense groups in 1997.
"I didn't create the CONVIVIR, they were created by the law of the Republic," he said, in spite of the department of Antioquia "being rife with guerrilla and paramilitary groups" when he assumed the governorship.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/23416-uribe-denies-responsibility-for-vigilante-group-convivir.html
