Former President Alvaro Uribe warned US congress on Twitter on Sunday that Colombia’s peace process could ultimately convert his country in a tyrannical communist regime.
The message — containing numerous false claims — seems to be the latest attempt of the hard-right former president to discredit the peace process that seeks an end to 52 years of armed conflict in the South American country.
According to Uribe, the peace deal has effectively substituted Colombia’s constitution and a transitional system that seeks justice for the 8 million was victims is set up by communist sympathizers.
FARC has designed its own justice. Judges will be appointed by people permissive with terrorism and akin to FARC’s alleged ideology.
Senator Alvaro Uribe
Uribe could face criminal investigations by a transitional justice tribunal over numerous major human rights violations that took place under his watch, in some cases by extreme-right paramilitary groups.
Uribe could end up in prison over war crimes: Colombia’s prosecutor general
Many dozens of Uribe’s former associates are already in prison because of these mass human rights violations.
Dozens of former congressmen, mainly ideological allies of the controversial politician, are in prison for teaming up with the death squads to advance their political agenda.
Nevertheless, and in spite the fact more than 24,400 state officials are either charged of convicted for war-related crimes, Uribe denied any wrongdoings by the state and the disgraced military.
Colombia has been a solid democracy, not a dictatorship in transit to the rule of law. Our army has been respectful of the democratic institutions.
Senator Alvaro Uribe
Following decades of drug-fueled political violence that further polarized the left and the right in Colombia, the former president continued his fiercely McCarthyist rhetoric in the post.
According to Uribe, “poor” Colombians could elect an authoritarian socialist regime similar to that of Venezuela as a consequence of the inclusion of communists in politics.
Rather than including the country’s long-persecuted left, Uribe said Colombia should strengthen the private sector to limit the possibilities of a voluntarily elected communist tyranny.
Poor people in despair, without hope because of the absence of private investment and affected by violence, will not appreciate the difference between our rule of law and the neighboring tyranny.
Senator Alvaro Uribe
Unlike a letter that went around his hard-right Democratic Center party a few weeks ago, Uribe did not request the United States to cut aid to the South American country.
Colombia’s opposition to peace process seeks suspension of US aid
The former president, whose party represents approximately 15% of the country’s electorate, has opposed peace with the FARC since talks began in 2012.
However, as the Transitional Justice Court and the Truth Commission approach, Uribe has become increasingly nervous as the long list of human rights violations and the thousands of civilian killings that took place under his watch could further tarnish his already marred reputation.
The former president’s peace process with the far-right AUC paramilitaries has been widely criticized, especially after dissident AUC unit formed an entirely new generation of drug-trafficking paramilitary groups that became Colombia’s primary human rights violator years before the FARC began its demobilization and disarmament at the end of last year.
Both Uribe and Santos have intensely lobbied for support in Washington, Colombia’s most powerful ally in the hemisphere.