Ex-Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Convicted of Witness Tampering

In a landmark ruling by a Bogotá court, Álvaro Uribe, the former Colombian president who held office from 2002 to 2010, has been convicted of witness tampering and fraud. This historic verdict makes Uribe the first former president in Colombia to face criminal convictions. The court determined that the 73-year-old attempted to bribe witnesses in a case investigating alleged connections to right-wing paramilitary groups that have been linked to numerous human rights violations. Each of the charges he faces carries a potential sentence of up to 12 years in prison, although Uribe is expected to appeal the ruling, declaring his innocence throughout the proceedings.

During his presidency, Uribe gained notoriety for his military campaigns against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), insisting he had no connections to paramilitary forces. Reacting to the verdict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the judicial process, asserting that Uribe's only wrongdoing was defending Colombia against insurgents. This conviction comes more than a decade after initial allegations surfaced against him in 2012, when Uribe accused leftist senator Ivan Cepeda of conspiring to link him to paramilitary activity.

The Supreme Court of Colombia later shifted focus, investigating Uribe for attempting to manipulate testimonies from former fighters. The paramilitary groups in question first appeared in the 1980s, unleashing a cycle of violence in Colombia. While the Uribe administration garnered support from Washington for its hardline stance against Farc rebels, his presidency remains contentious due to ongoing issues of inequality and violence in the country, despite a peace agreement enacted by his successor in 2016.