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LATIN AMERICA |
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Colombian VP Investigated for Ties to
Militias
BOGOTA – The Colombian Attorney General’s
Office said Monday that it re-opened an
investigation into Vice President Francisco
“Paco” Santos for alleged ties to murderous
right-wing militias.
Acting Attorney General Guillermo Mendoza
Diago told Bogota radio stations that
prosecutor Fernando Pareja exercised his
prerogative to overturn an earlier decision
to shelve the probe.
Pareja decided that he needed to see more
evidence before making a decision on the
merits of the accusations and ordered the
investigation resumed “so the doubts are
completely dispelled,” Mendoza said.
Santos – a former journalist whose family
runs Colombia’s largest newspaper, El Tiempo
– said in a statement issued by his office
that he respected the prosecutor’s decision
and was prepared “to cooperate in all the
investigations.”
At the same time, he demanded “a quick and
effective investigation” that is not subject
to political exploitation by “those who have
more interest in discrediting the government
than in the right of the victims and the
country to the truth.”
“It hurts and surprises me that those who
know my career and principles can believe
that I could have been behind the formation
of a paramilitary bloc in any part of the
country,” Santos said.
The AG office took a second look at the
allegations against Santos at the request of
the independent Commission of Colombian
Jurists.
Speaking for the commission, Gustavo Gallon
cited what he described as “very consistent
statements” by top figures in the
now-demobilized AUC militia federation
regarding “the intense relations Mr.
Francisco Santos had with the paramilitary
groups for more than two years.”
La W radio reported that Santos is alleged
to have asked AUC chief Salvatore Mancuso to
create a militia bloc in Bogota.
The renewed investigation will review
testimony from Mancuso and other senior AUC
commanders such as Diego Fernando Murillo,
alias “Don Berna.”
The AUC, which arose in the mid-1980s to
battle leftist rebels, degenerated into an
fractious alliance of death squads whose
commanders grew rich from drug trafficking,
extortion and land grabs. The militias
demobilized as part of a peace process with
the conservative government of President
Alvaro Uribe, who is now pursuing a
constitution change that would allow him to
seek a third consecutive term.
To be eligible for reduced prison sentences,
AUC commanders have to make full confessions
and offer restitution to victims.
The AG office prepared a report several
months ago attributing 21,000 deaths to AUC
operations since 1987, and the number is
expected to grow as more statements are
taken.
In their testimony, Mancuso and other former
warlords revealed that right-wing
politicians, senior military and police
officers and prominent companies colluded
with the militias.
But the embarrassing revelations largely
stopped after May 2008, when Uribe
extradited Mancuso and 14 other AUC
chieftains to the United States to face
drug-trafficking charges. EFE |
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