Colombia’s High Commissioner of Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo resigned
Tuesday after President Uribe replaced Restrepo by National Police chief Oscar Naranjo as government coordinator of the ongoing releases of FARC hostages.
Restrepo had received fierce criticism from the press after he would not allow any journalists near the airport where the just released FARC hostage Alan Jara would be landing. The press considered this ‘censorship’.
The ‘censorship’ accident followed a chaotic release of four members of the security forces that made President Uribe decide to first withtract the authorization of opposition senator Piedad Córdoba as part of the hostage release mission only to re-install her the morning after.
Uribe then overruled the commissioner’s decision, allowed all press to witness the return of the former governor and replaced Restrepo by Naranjo.
After Restrepo was replaced, he angrily flew back to Bogotá and went to the presidential palace where he reportedly had a major discussion with the President’s Press Secretary.
Following this, Restrepo wrote his letter of resignation which was sent to Uribe for his acceptance.
Uribe, speaking on national television later at night, did not mention either the acceptance or denial of the resignation.