cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/13432
The highly controversial former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe was convicted of bribing witnesses and committing procedural fraud on Monday, July 28. Judge Sandra Heredia, who read out the decision, stated that the accusations were “proven beyond reasonable doubt”. The prosecutor in the case requested a sentence of nine and a half years in prison, a significant fine for both charges – 1,600 minimum wages, the standard unit for fines in Colombia – and the proscription of Uribe from public office.
The ruling marks a significant milestone in Colombia’s recent history. Uribe has gained international notoriety for overseeing the period of “democratic security” from 2002-2010, which strengthened and emboldened security forces in the country in order to combat the internal “threat” i.e. the country’s leftist guerrilla groups (the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)).
Uribe’s tireless pursuit of neutralizing the armed opposition in the country through force was often taken to an extreme. Rights groups have accused him of fomenting the policy of extrajudicial killings dubbed “false positives”, illegal wiretapping of journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition politicians, and other crimes. Yet, despite being implicated in over 270 legal cases accusing him of these crimes and more, he has never been convicted.
Colombian sociologist Diego Pinto told Peoples Dispatch that Monday’s ruling represents “a glimmer of justice for victims in Colombia”. He insists that while the charges were for bribery and procedural fraud, the reason he committed those crimes was to stop them from “revealing his links to the formation of paramilitary groups in the country”, and that “the precedent is important insofar as it shows that the former president is part of a criminal network involved in the creation of paramilitary groups and in covering up each of these crimes, as he also hired or bribed witnesses who were in prison, accused of links to paramilitarism and close to his family circle.”
Yet, Pinto emphasized, “Uribe has not yet been convicted for the thousands of victims left behind by paramilitarism in Colombia, nor has he been prosecuted for the multiple human rights violations committed by these groups and his government, nor for the ‘false positives.’”
Uribe’s conviction beyond reasonable doubt
The case Uribe was convicted in revolves around a legal dispute between the former president and Colombian Senator Iván Cepeda. Cepeda is a human rights defender and son of Manuel Cepeda Vargas, a member of the Patriotic Union who was assassinated in 1994 by paramilitaries.
In 2012, Cepeda attempted to prove in court that Uribe and his family were linked to the paramilitary structures in the country, specifically that him and his brother Santiago Uribe Vélez participated in the creation of the Metro Block of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
Uribe’s response was quick. In 2014, he attempted to turn the tables and denounced Cepeda for bribing former paramilitaries to testify against Uribe. This attempt failed and backfired. The Inspector General found no evidence to back up his claims and in 2018, the Supreme Court closed the case against Cepeda and opened one against Uribe for supposedly manipulating witnesses and committing procedural fraud.
Unfortunately for Uribe, several key witnesses, mostly former paramilitaries, declared that they had been contacted by Diego Cadena, Uribe’s lawyer, and offered benefits in exchange for them to retract their testimonies in Cepeda’s case against Uribe.
Juan Guillermo Monsalve was one such special witness. Monsalve is currently in La Picota prison in Bogotá for crimes of extortion, kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit a crime and was confirmed to be a member of the Metro Block of the AUC in Medellín. In 2011 he was interviewed by Cepeda as part of his case against Uribe. In 2018, Diego Cadena approached Monsalves to ask him to retract his testimony in exchange for his services. Monsalves recorded the whole conversation with a spy watch, which Judge Heredia ruled was legal during the trial this week.
These testimonies provided proof “beyond reasonable doubt” of Uribe’s true actions.
Uribe and his defense team have already announced that they will appeal the ruling, but the impact of the case is irreversible. For Pinto, “It represents an opportunity to open a serious discussion in the country about the role of justice. It represents an opportunity to open the debate on the impact of paramilitarism as a state strategy in Colombia and also represents the urgent need for families to obtain justice.”
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