Colombian parapolitics scandal
In February 2007, Colombian Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo suggested another term, "parauribismo", indicating that the scandal was mainly affecting officials or political allies of President Álvaro Uribe's administration.
According to the newspaper El Tiempo, one of the paramilitary leaders involved, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, sought to achieve total power in the Atlantic Coast and eventually over Colombia.
[6][7] The so-called "para-political scandal" was set in motion in June 2005 after Clara López Obregón, a member of the opposition Alternative Democratic Pole party, formally denounced before the Colombian Supreme Court the existence of links between paramilitaries and some congressmen.
Congressman Jairo Merlano was accused by the Supreme Court and six witnesses of being a formal member of one of the AUC paramilitary groups led by men known by the aliases of "Diego Vecino" (Edward Cobo) and "Cadena" (Rodrigo Mercado Pelufo) among others.
On February 15, 2007 he was arrested by an order from the Supreme Court, which found enough evidence to continue investigating him for his alleged ties to paramilitary groups and for the crimes of kidnapping with extortion.
The governor of Cesar Department, Hernando Molina Araújo, is accused of handling the money of the paramilitary leader "Jorge 40" during his time as diplomat in Guatemala and co-authoring a massacre.
[16] On November 21, 2006, Rafael García Torres, the former Information Technologies Chief of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad) was questioned by the Supreme Court after being arrested and charged with taking bribes from paramilitaries and narcotraffickers in exchange for erasing or altering their judicial history from the state intelligence database.
[22] According to the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, Noguera was only released due to procedural defects; however the charges against him -conspiracy to commit a crime, misuse of authority through an arbitrary and unjust act, and improper use of classified or secret information- may still be prosecuted.
[24] On November 15, 2006 former president and leader of the opposing Liberal Party, César Gaviria, made a call to support the Supreme Court on the situation and uncover the truth behind the paramilitary-politicians links.
The President [Uribe] had a passive attitude throughout the campaign in relation to these subjects and I would say that he has been a little too passive all the time, but he is still on time to assume a more decisive position to confront these problems.Two days later on November 17 in a speech directed to the Supreme Court, president Uribe reacted to the Court's decision to indict any politician linked to paramilitaries and said that "criminal responsibilities are individual" and that "the truth that was surfacing was a result of his democratic security plan and the demobilization process of the paramilitary groups".
[26] The Colombian newsweekly Revista Semana reported that the paramilitary in question, Francisco Enrique Villalba Hernández, had not mentioned Uribe during previous declarations made more than five years ago, when he was sentenced for his own role in the massacre.
The magazine also listed a number of possible inconsistencies in his most recent testimony, including the alleged presence of General Hernando Manosalva, who had died months before the date of the meeting where the massacre was planned.
According to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo the Supreme court started the investigation after statements made by former congresswoman Rocío Arias in Cambio.
In an interview with the Colombian magazine the former congresswoman, also under arrest of being involved in parapolitics, said that Gutierrez was supported by paramilitary leader John Fredy ‘The Bird’ Gallo.
Former paramilitary boss Salvatore Mancuso had previously told the Prosecution he had met with Uribe Escobar in 2002, to ensure the Senator would win the elections in the Córdoba Department.
[31] On April 9, 2008 the Álvaro Uribe Administration supported a political reform law, presented by some congressmen, to tackle the growing scandal of parapolitics in the Colombian Senate.
[32] The government proposed the "Empty Chair" solution; Senators that are suspended or jailed for alleged ties with illegal armed groups may not be replaced by their political parties.
[33] On April 16, 2008, one day after the vote in the House, Senator Carlos Garcia, President of the Partido de la U, began to be officially investigated under suspicion of paramilitary ties.
