Former director of intelligence agency DAS Andres Peñate accused Jose Obdulio Gaviria, personal adviser to former President Alvaro Uribe, of ordering illegal wiretapping, according to diplomatic cables released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
The accusation by Peñate, who himself is under investigation for his involvement in the scandal, was made separately from that of national police Chief Oscar Naranjo, who is also named as accusing Obdulio Gaviria and Uribe’s chief of staff Bernardo Moreno of ordering the wiretaps.
According to then-U.S. ambassador William Brownfield, “Obdulio Gaviria continued to deny involvement, but both CNP Chief Naranjo and former DAS Director Andres Penate have separately told us that Gaviria in the past has pushed DAS to spy on the GOC’s political opponents.”
W Radio reporter Feliz de Bedout, a victim of the wiretaps, backed Naranjo and Peñate’s claims of Obdulio Gaviria’s involvement in the scandal, said Brownfield.
Radio "W" reporter Felix de Bedout, a DAS target mentioned in
the "Semana" article, told us that former DAS subdirector Jose
Manuel Narvaez -- a "paramilitary advisor" who left the DAS in
2005 after a previous scandal -- had retained access to the
agency and was the Casa de Narino's main liaison with DAS.
Bedout alleged that Narvaez's Casa de Narino contact was
probably Gaviria or Secretary of the Presidency Bernardo
Moreno.
The journalist’s accusation that, before joining the DAS, Narvaez was a member of paramilitary organization AUC is supported by a testimony by AUC commander “Don Berna,” who has stated in court that the paramilitaries “used Mr. Narvaez as a go-between, as he was teaching at the Superior War School and gave information about operations against the paramilitaries or persons who had links to the guerrillas or the left.”
Narvaez and former DAS director Jorge Noguera — also being investigated for paramilitary ties — are suspected of being the architects of the illegal wiretapping carried out by the DAS.