Andean Group - March 2011 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Since former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010) left office last August, allegations of corruption and the involvement in criminal activities by members of his administration have snowballed at an unprecedented rate. In the past month, however, these have escalated beyond mere allegations with some of the accused being convicted, and others formally charged, by the supreme court of justice (CSJ) and the attorney general's office.

Monday 21 February was undoubtedly the worst day for Uribe; in a 'double-whammy' the Colombian justice system moved against two of his closest associates: his second cousin, Mario Uribe Escobar, and his most loyal political protégé, Andrés Felipe Arias, who served as Uribe's agriculture and development minister in 2005-2009. The CSJ found the former guilty of aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime (concierto para delinquir agravado), sentencing him to seven years and six months in jail and ordering him to pay a penalty equivalent to 6,500 current minimum salaries, or Col$3.534bn (US$1.86m).

Almost simultaneously, the office of the attorney general announced it was formally charging seven former civil servants attached to the ministry of agriculture (and 15 beneficiaries) for the irregular allocation of rural development subsidies in relation to the Agro Ingreso Seguro scandal. The decision taken by Attorney General Vivianne Morales to charge Arias's subordinates could severely complicate his future political aspirations, because Morales's office has set aside his file, leaving the door open to a future case against the former minister.

The Parapolí­tico
Uribe's uncharacteristic silence on Twitter was testament to his discomfort, because in some ways both developments affected him personally. Uribe Escobar has been his unconditional ally for over 30 years, with the two cousins climbing up through the political ranks together, first in their native department of Antioquia and later at the national level. Their political alliance, first in the Partido Liberal's Sector Democrático and later in the movement Colombia Democrática, enabled them to displace, or at the very least successfully challenge, the political hegemony of the Valencia Cossio family in Antioquia. Alvaro Uribe's capture of the governorship of Antioquia eventually served as a springboard for him to capture the presidency in 2002.

Mario Uribe's conviction is without doubt the most important sentence the CSJ has handed down since the 'parapolitics' investigations began in 2006. Uribe Escobar is a historic political leader, serving as a representative in the lower chamber of congress (1986-1994) and in the senate (1994-2007), and though he is not the first congressman to be convicted, the unfavourable verdict against him has confirmed that President Juan Manuel Santos will abide by his declared campaign promise to respect the separation of powers and to allow the courts to move forth with sensitive investigations, come what may.

The CSJ's investigation into Mario Uribe's links to the paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), through an electoral deal with the AUC's second-in-command, Salvatore Mancuso, triggered the so-called 'chuzadas' - the illegal intelligence gathering scandal in which the Colombian intelligence agency (DAS) illegally spied on members of the CSJ, the opposition and journalists. According to a CSJ magistrate, César Julio Valencia Copete, when the CSJ decided to formally question Uribe Escobar in 2008, he received a phone call from the-then president, Uribe (Vélez), demanding an explanation for his cousin's investigation. It's commonly believed that this 'exchange' unleashed the 'chuzadas' against the CSJ and thus, Uribe Escobar's conviction also carried an implicit message for president Uribe that the courts hadn't been intimidated.

But while Mario Uribe's conviction was a shock to the system, the possibility of what may come next - an investigation against his cousin for crimes against humanity - is even more worrying for the former president. Uribe Escobar was investigated because of irregular voting patterns for him in some municipalities (Sahagún, Montelí­bano, Planeta Rica and Chinú) in the department of Córdoba in the 2002 election, where his support surged between 42% and 1,200%, depending on the municipality. The CSJ found that Uribe Escobar and another 2002 senatorial candidate, Eleonora Pineda (convicted for 'parapolitics' in 2007), had cut a deal with the AUC Bloque Norte, under Mancuso's command, to secure their election to the senate.   “The analysis of all the evidence allows the conclusion that the declarations made by Salvatore Mancuso and Eleonora Pineda, appraised historically, allow the assumption that Mario Uribe Escobar did enter pacts with the illegal organisation [AUC]", stated the ruling.

For former president Uribe, who still enjoys an unrivalled powerbase in Antioquia, the headaches may only just be starting. First, the CSJ's ruling confirms that the 'parapolitics' investigation has reached Antioquia and that closeness to the former president will not be a deterrent against prosecutions and convictions. Moreover, the increased predisposition of the US justice system to allow former paramilitaries serving jail sentences in the US to give their 'free version' of events to the Colombian justice system, in fulfilment of the requirements of their demobilisation (as stipulated in the 2005 Justice and Peace Law), could expose even more shady connections between political and economic sectors and the AUC.

The other problem is that in order to 'enforce' its directive that local residents should back Uribe Escobar and Pineda, the AUC had to resort to its customary use of violence. In other words, the electoral arrangement led to the death, torture, displacement and disappearance of voters from the aforementioned region, triggering massacres and the subsequent illegal seizure of lands owned by those killed. In fact, it is the devolution of lands obtained illegally by the AUC leaders and their political collaborators that President Santos has set as the main priority of his administration, as part of the so-called 'Victim's Law'.

The 'parapolitics' scandal could become even more compromising for those convicted if the CSJ decided to take a leap of faith and set a precedent by charging them with crimes against humanity, holding them legally responsible for partaking in an illegal political arrangement that led to the death of thousands.

Fake demobilisation?
Only two days after the revelation about Mario Uribe's conviction, the attorney general's office announced it was opening an investigation into whether the demobilisation of 66 members of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), in Alvarado (Tolima), on 7 March 2006, was staged by two army officers, General (ret.) Leilo Suárez and Colonel Jaime Joaquí­n Ariza, and the-then high commissioner for peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo.
Although the demobilisation process carried out during the Uribe administration has been criticised for several shortcomings, including the demobilisation of civilians posing as paramilitaries and the 'escape' of notorious paramilitaries who 'inherited' the businesses ran by the AUC and continued their criminal activities as part of the so-called emerging criminal bands (Bacrim), if its confirmed that members of the administration participated in fake demobilisations, the legitimacy of the entire process could be undermined.

According to two of the alleged Farc members that demobilised in Tolima, the army officers and Restrepo used Raúl Agudelo Medina ('Olivo Saldaña'), who had deserted the Farc in 2004 and was imprisoned in August of that year, to recruit unemployed, poor or low level criminal civilians to pose as guerrillas in the demobilisation process. One of the testimonies reproduced by the political weekly Semana reads: “The commissioner's role was important, he coordinated everything with 'Olivo Saldaña' from beginning to end to gather people for the demobilisation and in this way include them in the peace and justice law. [...] They knew that 'Olivo' arranged everything from jail, what they were looking for were not guerrillas, the commissioner knew that everything was a farce. He gave the order to collect the people, that's why the government knew that this demobilisation was a farce. Luis Carlos Restrepo coordinated everything with 'Olivo', everything about the training of the people."

• Pretelt Parapolí­tico?
  As a result of the 'free version' (testimony by demobilised paramilitaries) given by John Jairo Sánchez ('Centella') in the US, the attorney general has opened a preliminary investigation for parapolitics against the former minister of interior and justice in Alvaro Uribe's first government, Sabas Pretelt de la Vega (2004-2006). According to Sánchez, Pretelt allegedly held a clandestine meeting with Salvatore Mancuso and 'Jorge 40' (Rodrigo Tovar Pupo) in a rural estate near Valledupar, department of César, between April and May 2004 to seek AUC support for Alvaro Uribe's re-election bid. Pretelt has already been charged for allegedly bribing members of the congress to back a constitutional reform enabling Uribe to run for a second term.

• Wikileaks' 'chuzadas' revelations
  Adding to the accusation in a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks last December, stating that the director of the national police, General Oscar Naranjo, believed that Bernardo Moreno, former secretary of the presidency, and José Obdulio Gaviria, former advisor to Uribe, had ordered the 'chuzadas', a second cable released in late February by the Colombian daily El Espectador showed that a former director of the DAS, Andrés Peñate (2005-2007), shared Naranjo's opinion with regards to Gaviria's responsibility in the scandal. In response, Gaviria said: “I believed to have a friendship with him [Peñate], but I think he betrayed the government, [he] betrayed the president [Uribe] and he betrayed me."