A Short Practical Guide To Understanding All About The "Para-Politics" Scandal
by Élber Gutiérrez Roa
Revista Semana, in Rebelion 06-03-2007
Translated by Tortilla con Sal
The scandal Colombia is living through has undergone such accelerated development in the last weeks that few people
really understand what is going on. Semana.com offers you all the clues you need so as to be up to date.
The political crisis unleashed by the trial linking members of Congress and government with the Self-Defence groups (1)
began over a year ago, thanks to the appearance of new witnesses and evidence compromising high-level officials with
paramilitaries of the Atlantic Coast. Although the matter was not new for the courts, only then did the State
investigation apparatus get to work, although some entities like the Public Prosecutor's office have held most of the
proof under wraps for over five years.
The first concrete event that prompted the investigations was the accusation made by Clara Lopez, former candidate for
mayor in Bogota for the Democratic Pole.(2) Lopez decided to ask the court to investigate members of Congress to
establish whether declarations made years earlier by Salvatore Mancuso (3) were true according to which the Self Defence
groups controlled 35 per cent of Congress. Although the disputed quote had been rejected by legislators of all parties
and some included it in sensational debates about political control, Lopez was the first to ask the justice system to
investigate the case.
The press too played an important role through its insistent coverage and denunication of the case. Semana revealed in
detail how the tentacles of now demobilised commander of the Self Defence groups' Northern Bloc, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo,
"Jorge 40", inflitrated the DAS (4) and how the electoral frauds of 2002 and 2006 were concocted. Those accusations,
denied at first by President Alvaro Uribe, were proved little by little in the courts. El Tiempo, Cambio (5) and some
research by Caludia Lopez (also published in Semana.com) touched the sore spot on how the paramilitaries shared out
votes on the Atlantic Coast so as to make sure their friends made it into Congress.
All these initiatives added to valiant attempts by Congress towards political control by legislators like Gustavo Petro
(who uncovered paramilitary infiltration in Sucre, Cordoba, Cesar and Magdalena) (6) the Public Prosecutor and other
State entities and Senator Piedad Cordoba, who in more than five debates spoke out on the infiltration of the DAS and
the armed imposition of candidates for municipal office, governorships, the Chamber and the Senate.
As if this were not enough, the authorities confiscated a computer from the paramilitary Edgar Ignacio Fierro, known by
his alias of "Don Antonio", containing detailed information on Jorge 40's contacts with politicians; five members of
congress were expelled from Uribe's party on his orders, owing to their links with paramilitaries, but they then
remoulded themselves into other parties - also supporters of Uribe; one paramilitary deserter known as "Pitirry"
(currently in exile in Canada) gave new details of the massacres carried out in Sucre; some senators out of nervous
desperation admitted contacts with the Self Defence groups; and recently Salvatore Mancuso released a document
compromising 28 leaders on the Atlantic Coast in a deal with the Self Defence groups to "refound the Homeland"
With all this evidence as well as the testimonies of various demobilised paramilitaries and relatives of anonymous
victims the courts began to build a trial. These are the key pieces.
The detainees
As a result of the investigations ten political heavyweights are behind bars
The first three were congressional senators Alvaro Garcia and Jairo Merlano and Representative Erick Morris, all from
the Sucre department and all members of Uribe's party in Congress. The Supreme Court, charged with investigating the
congressmen opened the case on October 18th 2006; one week later it called them for hearings and finally issued arrest
warrants for conspiracy to commit offences in association with the Self Defence groups. Garcia is accused of taking part
in conspiring to order some of the massacres of rural workers carried out between 2000 and 2002. But the most serious
case is that of Merlano who is under investigation as a leader of a Self Defence group. Four deputies of the political
parties of these congressmen had been detained months previously by the Public Prosecutor's office.
On February 15th this year after two months of uncertainty over what would happen, the Court ordered the arrest of six
more members of Congress, this time on accusations of paramilitary infiltration in Cesar and Magdalena departments.
Involved were Alvaro Araujo, Mauricio Pimiento, Dieb Maloof, Luis Eduardo Vives, Alfonso Campo and Jorge Caballero, all
Uribe supporters apparently with links to "Jorge 40" and beneficiaries of the electoral share-out managed by the
paramilitaries and revealed by the analyst Claudia Lopez. Although the first five were arrested the same evening, the
last is still on the run. Maloof, Caballero, and Vives had been expelled from Uribe's party at the start of 2006 for
links with the Self Defence groups but later returned to the fold with the Presidential blessing.
Finally on February 22nd the ex-Director of the DAS, Jorge Noguera, was arrested, the closest to the President of those
involved. Rafael Garcia, ex-director of information for the DAS appointed by Noguera, accused Noguera of permitting the
paramilitary pincers to coopt the security body. According to Garcia, under arrest now for covering up the records of
narcos wanted for extradition, Noguera himself allowed the infiltration and supplied the paramilitaries with data bases
to alter election results and with information on trades unionsts who were then murdered. The scandal cost Noguera the
post of Consul in Milan. However, Uribe insisted on his own innocence arguing that when Noguera was director of his
election campaign in Magdalena "I stayed at home".
The fugitives
For the same scandal Salvador Arana, former governor of Sucre, and Representative Jorge Luis Caballero are on the run
from the law.
Arana, a close friend of President Uribe was named as an embassy official for Chile, despite having been investigated by
the Public Prosecutor for five years for links with the paramilitaries. In Congress, Senator Petro alleged in 2004 that
Arana was responsible for murders committed by the group working as "Diego Vecino", now demobilised, and the fearsome
Rodrigo Mercado Peluffo, "Cadena", disappeared mysteriously in Santa Fe Ralito. Other evidence against him is the
testimony of Tito Diaz, former mayor of Roble (in Sucre department), who in a full meeting of the municipal council
denounced in front of President Alvaro Uribe that Salvador Arana wanted him dead for his refusal to deal with the
paramilitaries. Regrettably, the courts failed to act in time and Diaz, just as he had declared on television was killed
by the Self Defence group, despite pleading for presidential support. Interpol has an arrest warrant out for Arana.
Caballero's case is different. The unusual vote gained in the congressional elections, which in some municipalities
exceeded 93 per cent, alerted the Supreme Court which was dissatisfied with his replies in relation to his intimacy with
"Chepe" Barrera, paramilitary chief in southern Magdalena. Furthermore, Caballero has a serious previous record. He had
already been expelled from Uribe's party for his links with the Self Defence groups. Rumour has it that he is in Germany
or Spain. He has shown no intention of returning to Colombia.
Who's next?
The case began on the Atlantic Coast and most of those involved belong to that region. However, in recent weeks the
Supreme Court and the Public Prosecutor have also brought forward inquiries against Congress members in departments like
Boyaca, Casanare and Antioquia.
In Cordoba department a large group of leaders are tainted as participants in the "Ralito agreement". Among them figure
Senators Miguel de la Espriella, Reginaldo Montes and Juan Manuel Lopez as well as Luis Carlos Ordosgoitia, former
governor and ex-director of INCO (7) and the former Senator Eleonora Pineda. it is expected that the Supreme Court will
decide on their situation in the next few days
In Cesar department, governor Hernando Molina is under investigation, a cousin of Senator Araujo and of former Foreign
Minister, Maria Consuelo Araujo. He is suspected of benefiting from a deal with "Jorge 40". Trino Luna, governor of
Magdalena is also linked following accusations by congresswoman Piedad Cordoba that he was imposed as an only candidate
by the Self Defence groups.
Now Fiscal General, Mario Iguaran has sent the Supreme Court evidence that he alleges links Representative Oscar Wilches
with the Self Defence groups of Martin Llanos (8). In that same department, six mayors are under investigation for the
same reason. And in Boyaca department, Ciro Ramirez, famous for his repeated efforts to extend the period of government
of President Uribe, is now in the sights of the courts for some recordings in which he figures in compromising
conversations with narcos.
Although none of them is under arrest and those who are have not been convicted yet, the favourable circumstances for
the investigation have permitted the Supreme Court, in the case of members of Congress - and the Public Prosecutor's
office to gather more and more evidence on the degree of involvement between functionaries and illegal groups.
The effect on Congress
The investigation has had the members of Congress living on their nerves since the end of last year. And not for
nothing. The involvement of members of Congress who are influential in the social circles of Bogota makes one think that
this time around the Court has decided to spare no effort in the difficult task of clarifying the matter in hand.
It is for this reason that ever fewer deputies attend the sessions of Congress. Not even Presidential requests for
emergency seesions to discuss the Free Trade Agreement with the Untied States and the Development Plan have managed to
get legislators to focus on that task. The vacant corridors bear witness to what is happening. To cap it all, Uribe
complains of a lack of support from his party every time he has to defend himself against another attack from the
opposition. Uribe declared in a radio interview, "It looks as though they are afraid of the opposition."
The Fourth Committee of the Lower House is at a loss what to do because its president and vice-president are in prison
and in those conditions many people think any decisions taken (on important matters like the Development Plan) could be
rendered void. Nor is there a president for the Fifth Committee of the Senate since the day Araujo was arrested by DAS
agents in one of Bogota's most luxurious malls.
Added to this extraordinary context is the expectancy created by the debate announced by Senator Petro against the Uribe
family which he accuses of promoting paramilitary activity in Antioquia. Paranoia and highstrung nerves abound. Dark
humour is ever more frequent and some, for example, reckon that at this rate it will be easier to form a quorum in the
La Picota prison. (9)
Impact on the government
Despite President Alvaro Uribe doing all he could from the outset to prevent the scandal damaging his administration,
the reality is that it is being brought more and more into question. First came the accusations against Noguera, who was
neither more nor less than the chief of secret police answering directly to the President.
Then the Ralito agreement document appeared, compromising Ordosgoitia, ex-director of INCO. And finally, the Foreign
Minister, whose resgination Uribe had to accept earlier this week faced with enormous international and national
political pressure. Although Uribe insisted on not sacrificing her, events ending up forcing his hand: an individual,
however talented they may be, cannot be in charge of the country's image abroad if their brother, a Senator, is in
prison for paramilitary activity, their father is on trial for kidnapping and muder of indigenous leaders and their
cousin is accused of winning the governorship of the Cesar department thanks to a deal with the Self Defence groups of
"Jorge 40".
Every one of these losses in the government has a very special meaning for Uribe. All were his friends. He defended all
of them to the last minute. Noguera, the most seriously compromised, is an intimate confidant and even managed his
election campaign in Magdalena, one of the places where investigations are in hand into whether there was fraud in the
recent elections. On balance, the government comes out of the scandal very badly, even when the President insists that
the revelations until now have been uncovered as a result of his "democratic security" policies. When truth to tell, the
government was the first to cast doubt on the reports of electoral fraud, the paramilitarization of the DAS and some of
the discoveries from "Jorge 40"'s computer.
At the crossroads
Officials like the prosecutor Edgardo Maya Villazon and communications Minister María del Rosario Guerra de la Espriella
are living a somewhat different chapter. The first faces the challenge of proving his independence as the head of the
Ministry of Public Affairs, as well as being related to various of the individuals involved. He is the step-father of
the controversial governor of Cesar department and uncle of Senator Araujo.
For her part, the Minister is a member of one of the most influential castes in Sucre, a department bathed in blood by
paramilitary massacres. Her great dilemma is that the scandal has already touched her family since the latest news is
that the government dismissed her cousin Victor Guerra de Espriella from the post of Delegate of the Autonomous
Corporation of Sucre for having signed the Ralito agreement. Despite the Minister saying her case is very different from
that of former foreign Minister Araujo and arguing that her family is very numerous ("I have 53 cousins on my mother's
side and 23 on my father's"), the opposition has begun to ask for her resignation.
*************
Translation by Toni Solo copyleft by Tortilla con Sal
Translation notes
1. Self Defence groups - these are paramilitary groups supported by the Colombian army started up in the early 1990s by
landowners and local big business. They have been responsible for thousands of murders of indigenous people, rural
workers families, trades unionists and human rights defenders.
2. The Polo Democratico is an umbrella political grouping for some of Colombia's progressive political parties. The
group won almost 25% of the votes in the 2006 presidential election.
3. Mancuso is a notorious paramilitary leader and narcotics dealer once wanted for extradition to the United States on
charges relating to the trafficking of tons of cocaine.
4. DAS - Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad - Colombia's State security service roughly equivalent to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation in the United States.
5. Mainstream Colombian news media.
6. Colombian administrative departments - Colombia is divided into 32 departments and a Capital District (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departments_of_Colombia).
7. INCO is the Instituto de Concesiones of the Ministry of Transport responsible for coordinating transport
infrastructure and services (see http://www.inco.gov.co/FormsWeb/WF_ConcesionCarreCo.aspx)
8. Martin Llanos - leader of a Self Defence group in Casanare department
9. La Picota is Bogota's central penitentiary