Venezuelan opposition leader sued in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

17. He's probably wild to keep Santos' government from succeeding in a Peace Agreement.

He may think it would make his time at the wheel look like what it was: corrupt, and vicious!

His own ties with the paramilitary narcotrafficking death squads go back a LONG time.

His cousin is Mario Uribe:

Cousin of Colombian President Uribe Arrested For Alleged Ties With Paramilitaries
Posted by Staff on Feb 26th, 2010

Top Story — A former Colombian senator and second cousin of President Álvaro Uribe, Mario Uribe, was arrested on Wednesday on charges that he had links to the paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Colombian authorities arrested him in the city of Medellin and plan to transfer him to the capital, Bogota.

The arrest relates to charges that Mario Uribe conspired with the AUC in the 1990s to gain control of land in northeastern Colombia. Jairo Castillo, alias “Pitirri,” says he saw a meeting in which Mario Uribe negotiated with paramilitaries for the land. Mario Uribe denies the allegations.

Mario Uribe was previously arrested in 2008 on similar charges but released due to insufficient evidence.

President Uribe said that his administration needs to make more progress toward uncovering ties between the government and FARC guerillas, but did not comment on the arrest of Mario Uribe.

More:
http://latindispatch.com/2010/02/26/cousin-of-colombian-president-uribe-arrested-for-alleged-ties-with-paramilitaries/

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Colombia’s Uribe Calls for FARC Probe After Cousin Arrested
By Alexander Cuadros - February 25, 2010 10:10 EST

Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said his administration hasn’t made enough progress on uncovering ties between Marxist rebels and the government and called for renewed investigations into the issue.

“The policy of democratic security makes justice possible,” Uribe said, in comments e-mailed last night by his office. “It pains me that we still haven’t made progress on the FARC’s involvement in politics.”

The announcement came hours after Uribe’s cousin, former Senator Mario Uribe, was detained on conspiracy charges for alleged links to the disbanded United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, once the country’s largest paramilitary group, El Espectador newspaper reported.

Mario Uribe’s lawyer, Jose del Carmen, said the former lawmaker never met with paramilitaries, Bogota-based W Radio reported on its Web site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aqoh4cL1VSss

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
21 February 2011 Last updated at 20:30 ET
Cousin of Colombian ex-President Uribe jailed

Mario Uribe, a cousin and close ally of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. A former senator, Mario Uribe was found guilty of having links to the country's paramilitary groups. The right-wing militias were created by landowners and drug traffickers to combat left-wing rebels. He is one of the most prominent figures jailed over paramilitary links.

Mario Uribe, 61, who served as president of the Colombian Congress from 2001 to 2002, was found guilty of having ties with the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).

'Zero links'

The AUC committed some of the worst mass killings in Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s as part of their campaign to combat left-wing guerrillas and anyone they suspected of being sympathisers. As part of a 2003 peace deal, most paramilitary leaders surrendered and demobilised tens of thousands of their men in exchange for reduced jail terms and protection from extradition.

Around 70 former and current politicians are serving sentences for conspiring or collaborating with the paramilitaries, in what has been dubbed the "parapolitics" scandal.

Prosecutors said Mario Uribe had met AUC commander Salvatore Mancuso in 2002 to discuss how the paramilitaries could support his political campaign.

The Supreme Court said the paramilitaries had devised a plan to forge ties with politicians by financing their campaigns so they would gain allies in Congress.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12532826

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Alvaro Uribe may want to gloss over what a crook his cousin is to this brat from Venezuela!