Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe lashed out at the government of Juan Manuel Santos, saying Santos is dismantling Uribe’s security policy and is trying to pass him off as corrupt.
In an interview published in Pereira newspaper La Tarde, the former president, whose administration and members of his family have been investigated or convicted for their role in several major corruption scandals, said “this government does not have to pass me off as corrupt to move its anti-corruption policy forward.”
According to Uribe, Santos is performing aesthetic changes to corrupt entities without really fighting the corruption. “Right now they are applying the same Agro Ingreso Seguro law we made [of which money meant to stimulate poor farmers ended up in the hands of wealthy families] and just changed the name,” said Uribe.
“They’re simply discrediting a government that worked with patriotism. As a result I am forced to defend myself and that defense I do facing Colombians in the streets and on public squares,” the former President said referring to his public rallies ahead of October’s local elections.
During these rallies, Uribe tries to “engage mayors and governors to take up the constitutional task of coordinating the security forces to guarantee the security in the city.”
According to the former president, this is necessary because Santos has practically dismantled Uribe’s “democratic security” policy, “There is deterioration in many parts of the country.”
Uribe supporters have previously criticized Santos and his Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera of letting the security situation slip. Defenders of the current administration have said that security started to deteriorate while Uribe was still in office.