Colombian president Alvaro Uribe said Saturday that criminals are plotting revenge to discredit Colombia and its government.
Addressing a community council in the city of Armenia, the president rejected allegations that Colombian intelligence service (DAS) has been wiretapping DEA agents, embassies, and foreign consulates in Bogotá, with Uribe’s authorization. The President claimed those allegations are a part of a revengeful plot by criminals who seek to discredit Colombia. Uribe stated that DAS, the center of a growing scandal about illegal wiretapping government opponents, currently lacks the equipment to tap.
“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Uribe said, but ‘we have discovered that there is some sort of criminal revengeful plot against Colombia’.
Uribe denied accusations that former Defense Minister and the President held a meeting to plan the eavesdropping scheme.
“I called former minister (Juan Manuel) Santos and said: you know I assume responsibilities, Minister. But I’m worried: I can’t recall. Am I an irresponsible or forgetful person? I don’t remember ever meeting you to start an eavesdropping process on foreign consulates. And he answered: ‘President, we never did’.” Uribe said at the Armenia’s community council.
Uribe also rejected allegations by Rafael Garcia, former DAS ICT director, that DAS had trafficked drugs and collaborated with paramilitary death squads with Uribe’s consent.
Garcia “is getting paid by a foreign country because he said he would prove the plot we had here against that country. Criminal revenge to harm our international relationships,” Uribe asserted.
Besides Garcia, Uribe did not name the plotters.
