Wiretapping Scandal Shakes Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Wiretapping Scandal Shakes Colombia
by Juan Forero
August 29, 2011

In Colombia, a major scandal involving the country's intelligence service is unfolding. Colombia's chief prosecutor says the spy service bugged the Supreme Court, intercepted the phones of its justices and followed their every move.

Prosecutors also say the illegal surveillance was directed from the offices of former President Alvaro Uribe, who in his eight years in power was Washington's closest ally in Latin America.

With hours of tape as evidence, prosecutors say the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), which is under the president's control, targeted the court's justices and the investigative magistrates, who function something like prosecutors. The purpose was to find ties between the criminal underworld and the court in order to discredit the country's highest judicial body.

"Through the intelligence agency, they tried to control, attack and discredit," prosecutor Misael Rodriguez said at a court hearing earlier this year. "Actions that cannot be viewed as some isolated DAS plan, an entity that is dependent on the presidency of the republic."

More:
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/29/140043175/wiretaping-scandal-shakes-colombia?ft=1&f=1001

[rabs]

1. Juan Forero all of a sudden

is mighty brave, writing about a story that broke on Feb. 21, 2009 in SEMANA magazine.