March 5, 2021
Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe became president in 2002 with the help of a paramilitary group the US government had designated a foreign terrorist organization, according to a former member.
A Medellin Court ordered to investigate the Bloque Metro’s use of terrorism to help Uribe become president in 2011 already, but has been stonewalled by the prosecution for a decade.
In fact, the prosecution denied the group allegedly founded by Uribe in 1996 even existed for years, according to the court.
In a testimony that came to light last year, a former member of Bloque Metro told a prosecutor in detail how the paramilitary group terrorized people into voting for Uribe in the presidential election organized and monitored by the father of President Ivan Duque.
Colombia wants paramilitary chiefs in prison, not testifying in court
December 17, 2020
While Colombia’s government is trying to get extradited paramilitary leaders repatriated and behind bars, President Ivan Duque‘s party wants them far away from the war crimes tribunal.
The Democratic Center (CD) party has every reason to silence the AUC‘s former commanders as they could threaten both the party, the government and key political allies if they testify before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).
The cooperation of the AUC’s former top commander, Salvatore Mancuso, and former commanders Rodrigo Tovar and Hernan Giraldo were severely complicated when former President Alvaro Uribe extradited them and 11 others.