Arias Says He Called
President Uribe Before
Denying His Cousin
Asylum
Costa Rican president,
Óscar Arias, said
yesterday that the
refusal to give Mario
Uribe Escobar, Colombian
president Alvaro Uribe's
cousin, asylum was a
prudent and convenient
decision for Costa Rica.
Arias added that before
the decision he
personally spoke to his
Colombian counterpart to
ask the blood relation
the Colombian president
had with the Colombian
senator.
According to Arias,
Uribe Escobar went to
the Costa Rican embassy
in Bogotá seeking asylum
based on the fact that
the embassy had
previously granted
asylum to another
Colombian, Álvaro Leyva,
a case that Arias
qualified as being
similar but not
necessarily the same.
"We studied the past
record as to why Costa
Rica granted Leyva
asylum and came to the
conclusion that it would
be most convenient and
prudent if Costa Rica
denied the Uribe Escobar
petition", said Arias.
Involved in the decision
were Bruno Stagno, Costa
Rica's foreign minister,
and Laura Chinchilla,
Costa Rica's
vice-president.
Former Senator, Mario
Uribe Escobar, an cousin
and political ally of
Colombian president
Alavaro Uribe, was taken
into custody - hours
after he entered the
embassy of Costa Rica -
for allegedly colluding
with rightwing
paramilitary groups.
The former senator is of
the over 60 members of
Colombia’s Congress
under investigation for
alleged links with death
squads, the paramilitary
groups of the far right
responsible for serious
violating of human
rights and drug
trafficking.
Uribe Escobar was forced
to resign from his
position as Senate
speaker in October and
now faces charges of
allegedly seeking the
political backing of
paramilitary leader
Salvatore Mancuso in
2002 just before
national elections and
of negotiating with
another warlord the
purchase of land in
areas under paramilitary
control.
For President Uribe it’s
a great challenge since
with his cousin they ran
for Congress in 1986 on
the same ticket of a
dissident Liberal Party
faction they had
co-founded; Mario won a
seat in the House of
Representatives while
Alvaro became senator.
The news is expected to
have a great negative
impact for Colombia’s
free trade agreement
with United States which
is stalled by the
opposition Democrats in
Congress where they hold
a strong majority. |
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