Colombia's ex-leader Alvaro Uribe subpoenaed in U.S. federal court

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Friday, 11.05.10
Colombia's ex-leader Alvaro Uribe subpoenaed in U.S. federal court
.BY JIM WYSS
[e-mail]

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been subpoenaed to provide a deposition in a lawsuit against a U.S. coal company that allegedly supported right-wing death squads who killed at least 116 people in that nation.

Uribe is not directly accused of wrong-doing but may shed light on key issues in the case that is being tried in U.S. federal court, said Terry Collingsworth, the plaintiffs' lawyer.

The suit alleges that Alabama-based Drummond worked with the Colombian Army and the United Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC paramilitary group, from 1999-2005 to battle left-wing guerrillas that were threatening its installations there.

Collingsworth represents about 500 plaintiffs who say their family members were killed by the AUC during those operations.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/05/1909558/colombias-ex-leader-alvaro-uribe.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Uribe ordered to testify in Drummond case

Uribe ordered to testify in Drummond case
Thursday, 04 November 2010 09:25 Adriaan Alsema

Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday was subpoenaed to testify in a civil case against Alabama coal giant Drummond over the company's alleged ties to paramilitary death squads.

A group of 500 Colombian victims of the paramilitary violence demand compensation from Drummond and claim Uribe "has direct knowledge of a number of key cases, including until what point the armed forces supported the paramilitary protection of mining properties of Drummond," Terry Collingsworth, the attorney of victims of the paramilitary organization AUC, told radio station La FM.

The former president "knows the levels of cooperation between the armed forces and the AUC, specifically in regions like Cesar where Drummond was active," the lawyer added.

An anti-Uribe activist at the Washington D.C. Georgetown University threw the subpoena at the feet of Colombia's former president, who is a guest lecturer at the Ivy League university. According to activist Charity Ryerson, "the former president was notified when the document touched his body."

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12739-uribe-subpoenaed-testify-drummond-case.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. .Spying and corruption in Colombia

.Spying and corruption in Colombia
The dark side
The former president and his aides are called to account for dirty tricks
Nov 4th 2010 | bogotÁ

DURING Colombia’s presidential campaign this year Antanas Mockus of the Green Party did surprisingly well by accusing the incumbent, Álvaro Uribe, of skirting the law in his efforts to make the country safer. Mr Mockus lost to Juan Manuel Santos, Mr Uribe’s candidate. But even though Mr Uribe left office three months ago, judicial probes into spying, bribery and corruption scandals have kept the country focused on the less savoury habits of his highly popular government.

The most explosive charges almost reach Mr Uribe himself. In 2009 Semana, a news magazine, reported that das, Colombia’s domestic intelligence agency, was illegally wiretapping and monitoring judges, journalists, politicians and human-rights activists deemed to be opponents of Mr Uribe, and had designed smear campaigns against them. The story prompted criminal investigations in which several former das officials testified that the intelligence was destined for the president’s top advisers. Mr Uribe has said he “never ordered, insinuated or considered an illegal option”. Now, however, he will have to repeat that denial under oath: Congress’s investigative committee began hearings on the topic on November 3rd. Mr Uribe asked for the normally closed-door proceedings to be made public, but the committee has kept them sealed.

Some of Mr Uribe’s closest aides have also been hauled into court. Jorge Noguera, his first director of das, is on trial for collaborating with paramilitary warlords, and has been accused of a part in the murder of three union activists. Two of his successors also face probes. Sabas Pretelt, a former interior minister, is charged with bribing a congressman to vote to let Mr Uribe run for re-election in 2006.

Many more of his officials have faced administrative penalties. Bernardo Moreno, Mr Uribe’s chief of staff, has been banned from holding public office for 18 years for “exceeding his authority” by inquiring about intelligence on Supreme Court justices. And just as Andrés Felipe Arias, a former agriculture minister, was heading to Italy last month as Colombia’s new ambassador, the government’s auditor accused him of diverting subsidies meant for small farmers to rich families. In return, the recipients reportedly gave money to Mr Arias’s bid for the Conservative Party’s presidential nomination.

More:
http://www.economist.com/node/17421355?story_id=17421355&fsrc=rss

[Judi Lynn]

3. Colombia Probes Uribe’s Brother for Links to Militias

Caracas,
Friday
November 5,2010
Colombia Probes Uribe’s Brother for Links to Militias

BOGOTA – The Colombian Attorney General’s Office has opened a preliminary investigation into a retired police major’s allegations linking former President Alvaro Uribe’s brother to a paramilitary group.

Daniel Pardo, attorney for the victims of a paramilitary group known as “The 12 Apostles,” told Noticias Uno television that the AG’s office was examining the accusations against Santiago Uribe.

Those accusations were made in May by retired Maj. Juan Carlos Meneses, who fled Colombia out of fear for his life, in an interview with The Washington Post.

The major said Santiago Uribe, younger brother of the former head of state, headed a paramilitary group in the 1990s in the northwestern town of Yarumal, where Meneses was chief of police.

More:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=375414&CategoryId=12393

[Judi Lynn]

5. More from the article:

Those accusations were made in May by retired Maj. Juan Carlos Meneses, who fled Colombia out of fear for his life, in an interview with The Washington Post.

The major said Santiago Uribe, younger brother of the former head of state, headed a paramilitary group in the 1990s in the northwestern town of Yarumal, where Meneses was chief of police.

Meneses, who admitted to facilitating the activities of The 12 Apostles, said the paramilitaries killed small-time criminals, sympathizers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla organization and others they regarded as subversives.

The retired major, who also said Santiago Uribe told him that his brother, Alvaro, then a senator, was aware of those activities, acknowledged in the interview that he received payoffs for ensuring that the police did not interfere with the paramilitary group’s activities.

http://www.patriagrande.com.ve.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/SantiagoUribe.jpg

http://colombiareports.com.nyud.net:8090/pics/2010/05/santiago_uribe2.jpg

Santiago Uribe

[The Magistrate]

4. This Should Be fun, Ma'am....

[Judi Lynn]

6. Absolutely! What if the Uribes lost their power to intimidate sufficiently!

Their paramilitary friends ARE brutal, insane, vicious torturing terrorists, but maybe the day will come the Uribes will be too embarrassing politically to protect any longer.

[Judi Lynn]

7. DAS wiretap witness murdered (Colombia's Pres. Uribe's intelligence agency's wiretaps)

DAS wiretap witness murdered
Friday, 05 November 2010 10:28 Teresa Welsh

A former official at intelligence agency DAS, who was due to give evidence regarding illegal wiretapping carried out by the agency, was assassinated Thursday afternoon in Medellin, reports Caracol Radio.

David Antonio Ballen Garcia, a former DAS detective who left the agency three years ago, was shot by unknown gunmen on motorcycles while on his way to work, riding in a vehicle in the Patio Bonito area of El Poblado in Medellin. The driver of the vehicle and two other passengers, a woman and another former DAS employee, were injured.

Ballen Garcia appears on a list of witnesses made by the Prosecutor General's Office in the case of illegal wiretapping carried out by DAS against political opponents, journalists and human rights activists. He was allegedly about to supply key information in the case to authorities.

Investigations in the wiretapping case have reached former President Alvaro Uribe, who is currently being investigated by the Colombian House of Representatives for his potential involvement. Uribe has always denied having any knowledge of the illegal surveillance.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12766-das-wiretapping-witness-murdered.html

[Judi Lynn]

8. Colombia's DAS: Vicious security octopus acts with impunity

Colombia's DAS: Vicious security octopus acts with impunity
Written by Marion Delgado
Tuesday, February 09 2010 10:30

CARTAGENA DE INDIES, Colombia -- If you’ve ever traveled to Colombia, then you’ve met the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS), the government’s Administrative Department for Security. When you get off the plane, DAS employees stamp your passport and, perhaps, ask why you’re visiting.

The DAS does much more than stamp passports, though. It is a powerful agency, a sort of “secret police” institution founded in 1960. Its mandate covers intelligence and counter-intelligence, domestic and international. It is also a law enforcement body whose agents have judicial police powers: they investigate crimes and can arrest and interrogate people. The DAS also provides bodyguards and security services for high government officials and others at risk.

To someone familiar with the U.S. government, the DAS is a strange beast. It combines aspects of the FBI, the CIA, and ICE. It isn't part of any cabinet ministry like Defense or Interior; it is part of the Colombian President’s office.

If you think this arrangement seems like a recipe for disaster, you’re right.

Disaster has struck with a vengeance during President Álvaro Uribe’s administration. According to recent reports in Colombia’s media and testimony from former officials, the DAS was essentially at the service of right-wing paramilitaries and major narcotraffickers between 2002 and 2005. It drew up hit lists of union members and leftists, and plotted to destabilize neighboring Venezuela.

More:
http://medialeft.net/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1608:colombias-das-vicious-security-octopus-acts-with-impunity&catid=28:venezuela-and-colombia&Itemid=183