Colombian news network CM& has broadcast “proof” that it did not steal a video of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe denouncing his successor Juan Manuel Santos.
Jaime Morenos, a journalist for Colombian news network CM&, was accused of stealing a tape that depicted Uribe attacking Santos during a meeting with Venezuelan opposition politicians, but he says it was copied with the permission of one of the meeting organizers.
A CM& cameraman confirmed his story in a video broadcast by the network yesterday.
Moreno says that Miguel Angel Barrantes, the head of communications for the Colombia Center of First Thought — an Uribe support group that organized the meeting — gave him instructions on how to copy the video that the center had recorded.
The Center of First Thought and Uribe have both attacked Moreno for releasing the tape, which caused much controversy by showing the former president attacking Santos for his ties with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez while calling on opposition politicians in the neighboring country to denounce the Colombian president.
Moreno says he asked Barrantes if there was a video of the meeting, to which the communications director said “yes” and gave him instructions on how to copy it after getting permission from a Center of First Thought director.
Barrantes has denied this and says Moreno “abusively removed audio fragments from a private recording of the event, which he recorded from security cameras in the hotel.” He and Uribe have called for Moreno to face criminal charges.
Moreno and CM& deny this. Juan Carlos Moreno, a cameraman from CM&, said on tape, “The head of communications gave us the camera to copy the material and we did it in the lobby. At no point was it stolen like the foundation says.”
