Colombia's intelligence agency DAS was actively involved in the
trafficking of drugs to the U.S. by paramilitary organization AUC.
President Alvaro Uribe was aware of the cooperation, Noticias Uno
reported based on a testimony by a key witness in the case against a
former DAS director.
According to the newscast, the testimony of the intelligence agency former ICT director, Rafael Garcia, the former director of the DAS, Jorge Noguera, was personally in charge of the contacts with paramilitaries and made personal contact with Mexican drug traffickers to make sure the drugs were sent to the U.S.
In the testimony, Garcia said that the President knew of the DAS' ties to the paramilitaries and approved it.
According to the former official, on his first day in office "the President met with politicians close to the [AUC's] Northern Bloc and an assistant of [paramilitary warlord] Jorge 40."
Uribe also knew about the coalition the paramilitaries made with the intelligence agency for drug trafficking, Garcia told prosecutors. "Uribe knew and approved of the existence of this illegal network and the criminal activities we were engaged in."
"Jorge Noguera took me to the Presidency where we came in without any registration and we were with the President, who confirmed the order that we handed over information to the paramilitaries," Garcia testified.
With the blessing of the President, Noguera made contact with Mexican drug lords and secured the entry of drug money into Colombia.
Noguera is currently in jail on suspicion of having had ties to the AUC and using the now demobilized paramilitaries for political murders. Garcia's testimony was sent to the U.S. where it will be evaluated by prosecutors in charge of criminal charges against Colombian drug lords.
Bluebird
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... If I understand correctly, Garcia is a FORMER director? Did he quit or was he fired? If he was fired was he fired by Uribe or possibly someone in the Uribe administration? And, if he was fired, why was he fired? This article raises many questions but provides answers to few if any. It would take much much more "evidence" than the testimony of this ex-employee to convince me of the veracity of such serious charges. |
Bluebird
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... I do not believe Mr.Uribe was complicit in such activities at all nor do I think most Colombianos are going to accept such contrived testimony as "evidence". |
Andrewmann552
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... You radical Uribistas need to wake up. THE US STATE DEPARTMENT already had Uribe listed a friend of narco drug lords. These accusations shouldn't surprise anyone, just look at how the referendum passed through Congress, with bribes and deep corruption. The only people who still declare loyatly to Uribe are just radical, blind nationalists, like those who still defend Bush in the U.S. |
crespeta
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... Uribe has been tied to the drug trade since the 80's when he was mayor of Medellin & head of the civil aviation. How could Pablo's drug planes fly in the air without his knowing? How many people own their own airplane in Colombia? very few unless you are using them for business, and the head of civil aviation not knowing what was going on? Unless Uribe is just stupid or he had his hands in the cookie jar??? |
Adriaan
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... @ Bluebird, Garcia was the former ICT director of the DAS and also investigated for parapolitics. He is the key witness in the case against Jorge Noguera, his former boss. He was sacked when ties between DAS and paramilitaries were alleged. More on him, here: http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1747.html By the way, he was obviously sacked by someone within the administration, because the DAS is a government body. This all happened after 2002 when Uribe took office. @ Andrewmann552, What you say is incorrect. The list with Uribe as a friend of Pablo Escobar was not from the U.S. State Department, but from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the same agency that said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. |
nsa
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... Why would Uribe have to be connected to the Medellin Cartel just for being the mayor of Medellin if that were the case Pablo Escobar would still be alive if Uribe were corrupt Pablo Escabar has had plastic surgery and is now a Mexican drug lord show me proof that Uribe is a corrupt politico. |
Joe
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... Remember, this is the same as saying that Obama was "palin"  around with rehabilitated terrorist Bill Ayers. The report from DIS that the hysterical anti-Uribista/Chavez admirers love to cite so much has already been disqualified by the State Dept. as in essence being without merit. I have no doubt that Uribe knew Escobar and that the elder Uribe personally knew the elder Ochoa. How does that implicate the Uribes in criminal activity? It implicates the Uribe's as much as sitting on a educational panel implicates Obama to Ayers. I have no doubt that the elder Uribe had business dealings with the elder Ochoa, its totally credible. The livestock business community in Medellin is small and everybody knows each other. These dealings dealt with beef livestock and the last time I heard that is not against the law. Besides the elder Ochoa as far as credible information is known wasn't involved in drug trafficking, it was his sons. So lets get real and stop assigning guilt by association. I don't think there is a single Colombian that lived through the 1980's who didn't know a least one drug dealer. Doesn't make them guilty of a crime. This gets into the area of what Colbert describes as truthiness as something that may or may not be true but you believe it true just because. |
