Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has caused controversy after revealing exact information regarding the suspension of military operations through his twitter account on Sunday.
On Sunday Uribe tweeted a message he claims originated from Chief of Army Operations Javier Enrique Rey Navas, revealing the exact coordinates of where army operations were scheduled to stop across the country, in order to allow various commanders of rebel group FARC to join the peace talk process in Havana, Cuba.
Uribe tweeted: “Can this be true? “This is what the Chief of Army Operations has just transmitted: Good Afternoon: Message from Jeope-6: “This order has just arrived from the CGFM, to suspend operations in Coordinates (02 45 29.8 – 74 10 40.2) ( 02 45 19.7 – 73 43 47. 7) ( 02 18 24.7 – 74 10 34.6) (02 18 18. 8 – 73 42 45.5), this corresponds to general areas in the Guayabero, La Macarena, Vista Hermosa Mesetas and La Uribe, suspension to start from Sunday 7 April 19.00 to Tuesday 9 April 07.00”
Será cierto? “Esto lo q acaba de difundir el jefe de operaciones del Ejercito Buenas tardes: Mensaje de Jeope-6:… twiffo.com/1NYu
— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) April 7, 2013
According to sources, the coordinates broadly match the location in which two members – Joaquin Gomez and Mauricio Jaramillo – of the FARC’s ruling body, the Secretariat, are situated.
Uribe also released several further tweets condemning the decision to suspend military action, claiming it amounted to impunity for “terrorists in dialogue [with the government],” who were responsible for the deaths of several soldiers.
Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon signalled that an investigation has been launched in the Ministry of Defense into the leaking of sensitive information. Moreover the defense minister declared himself “worried” over the situation, claiming that Uribe’s actions “put the security of the state in danger” and endangered the lives of the soldiers whose exact whereabouts he publicly released.
In addition, General Rey went on record to say that it wasn’t him that divulged the information, adding that the former president “needs to say who it was who shared these facts.” The general also confirmed that the army would launch an internal investigation to determine the source of the leak.
Uribe defended his actions, labelling the divulging of military information as “trivial”, claiming that it was already available on social networking websites and that he was simply spreading it.
Uribe denies gaining the classified information through military sources, saying instead that his informant was someone linked to the communist party. “The important thing is not revealing that there are operations, the important thing is that we are suspending them to give more impunity to terrorists.”
Sources
- La publicación de coordenadas militares es intrascendente: Uribe (El Espectador)
- Mindefensa ordenó investigación por filtración de coordenadas (El Tiempo)
- Polémica tras publicación de Uribe de suspensión de operativo militar (El Espectador)
- Uribe defendió haber revelado coordenadas de donde saldrán jefes guerrilleros a Cuba (RCN)
- Álvaro Uribe Vélez (Twitter)
- Uribe trina que habrían ordenado suspesión de operaciones en la zona del Meta (Caracol Radio)
