Colombia’s new ambassador to the Vatican, former Press Secretary Cesar Mauricio Velasquez was ordered by the Prosecutor General’s Office to return to Colombia and respond to allegations he was involved in the illegal spying on Supreme Court magistrates by intelligence agency DAS.
A former intelligence chief ttestified before the Supreme Court that he personally met with former President Alvaro Uribe’s press secretary and Jose Obdulio Gaviria. the personal advisor of Uribe to hand them intelligence information on the magistrates.
According to W Radio, the DAS’ former counterintelligence director Jorge Alberto Lagos, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for his part in the wiretap scandal, court records show that Lagos testified that he went to the presidential palace to meet with Velasquez and Gaviria to discuss and hand over information about the intelligence service’s illegally conducted investigation on Supreme Court magistrates.
Following his incrimination, the Prosecutor General said he would not send a judicial commission to Rome and demanded the ambassador to return to Colombia to respond to the allegations.
Velasquez had not responded to Lagos’ conviction or the PG’s order to return home.
In a reaction, Gaviria said Lagos’ testimony served to incriminate him as the criminal mastermind behind Uribe. In an interview with Uribe’s Vice President and now radio host for RCN, Francisco Santos, Gaviria said that “the Prosecutor General’s Office believes what the FARC says” about him and added he was willing to go to jail for his fight against terrorism.