Vote to move Uribe’s massacre probe to Congress triggers infighting among Colombia’s left
Internal fractures within Colombia’s leftist opposition burst into the open following a vote by five representatives of the Historic Pact (PH) party to transfer a criminal investigation against former President Alvaro Uribe to Congress’ Accusations Commission.
The controversy erupted after the five PH members of the committee backed a motion of Uribe’s Democratic Center (CD) party to assert legislative jurisdiction over long-standing criminal cases against Uribe, including investigations into the massacres of El Aro (1997) and La Granja (1996), and the 1998 assassination of human rights defender Jesus Maria Valle.
PH members
- David Alejandro Toro
- María del Mar Pizarro
- Heráclito Landínez
- Jorge Bastidas
- Gabriel Becerra
As the former governor of Antioquia, Uribe would have been in on the massacres carried out by the Bloque Metro and AUC paramilitary groups, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, which refused to turn over the investigations.
The commission claimed jurisdiction over the Uribe file because the paramilitaries didn’t demobilize until after 2002, when he became president.
Critics of the decision, including the prosecution and PH Senate chief Ivan Cepeda, argued that Uribe’s alleged involvement in the crimes happened years before he was granted presidential immunity.
Cepeda spent much of his career fighting Uribe in court over his alleged ties to the AUC.
Because of the committee vote, the Constitutional Court will have to rule on who gets to investigate Uribe’s alleged crimes against humanity, which could delay the investigation.
Journalists who reported on the PH support for the fabricated conflict suggested that this may be part of a political deal between congressmen political deal between Uribistas and Petristas, supporters of former President Gustavo Petro.
Becerra, who is close to Cepeda, said in a statement that there “existed nor will there exist any political deal that would compromise justice, truth or the rights of victims.
According to the house representative, the PH lawmakers “initially considered it reasonable and legally appropriate to clarify the jurisdiction of the authority responsible for conducting the investigation,” but changed their mind in response to the controversy and calls for their resignation.
Lawyer Miguel Angel del Rio, the victims representative in the Uribe case, told Tercer Canal that “the ethic committee of the Historic Pact should investigate these five congressman,” adding that “what we have here is solidarity with impunity and this cannot be allowed.”
The Historic Pact became Colombia’s largest political party after congressional elections in March, but has seen an increase in internal tensions after Cepeda’s failure to win the presidential election in June.