Prosecutor orders arrest of Colombia President Uribe's cousin
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of one of President Alvaro Uribe's most intimate allies on Tuesday, bringing a scandal linking politicians and right-wing militias deeper into the president's inner circle.
Former Sen. Mario Uribe, a second cousin of the president, was accused of criminal conspiracy for "agreements to promote illegal armed groups."
Mario Uribe quickly entered Costa Rica's embassy to request political asylum, his attorney Jose del Carmen Ortega told The Associated Press, without giving details. Embassy officials were not answering their telephone.
The politician, who resigned from the Senate in October, is one of the most powerful officials yet enmeshed in the scandal. In 1985, he joined Alvaro Uribe in creating a political party, Colombia Democratica.
The prosecutor's office said in a terse statement that it was investigating a meeting between Mario Uribe and former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso prior to 2002 congressional elections. It was also looking into a 1998 meeting with Jairo Castillo Peralta, a former paramilitary chauffeur.
Mancuso has alleged that Mario Uribe sought his support in the 2002 Senate race. Castillo Peralta, who lives in exile, has said that Mario Uribe met with paramilitary warlords in 1998 seeking cheap land near the Caribbean coast.
Mario Uribe has denied those allegations. In an April 2007 interview with the AP, he called Castillo "a liar, an extortionist, a killer and a bandit."
More than 30 current or former members of Congress, the vast majority allies of the president, have been arrested for allegedly backing and benefiting from the illegal right-wing bands. But the president himself has remained highly popular due to his get-tough approach to leftist rebels.
The paramilitaries initially formed in the 1980s to protect the wealthy from guerrilla kidnapping and extortion, but are charged with similar crimes. Like their guerilla foes, they funded themselves chiefly via drug trafficking and are listed by the U.S. and the European Union as terrorist organizations.
President Uribe made peace with the paramilitaries in a demobilization that jailed their top leaders, who got reduced jail terms and protection from extradition in exchange for confessions. Some jailed paramilitary bosses, led by Mancuso, complain their former political patrons have unfairly escaped punishment.
Among those jailed in the scandal are Uribe's former chief of domestic intelligence, Jorge Noguera, who has been accused of giving the paramilitaries a "hit list" of labor and opposition leaders.
AP writers Tatiana Guerrero and Vivian Sequera contributed to this report.
