Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Saturday defended top Colombian military officials who are being the subject of criminal investigations in Ecuador over the cross-border bombing of a FARC camp in 2008.
According to the President, former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, Armed Forces commander Freddy Padilla, former army commander Mario Montoya and National Police director Oscar Naranjo deserve solidarity as they have worked “to recuperate security in Colombia.”
Uribe made the comments during a community council held in Medellin, where he was accompanied by Padilla and Naranjo.
An Ecuadorean judge wants the Colombian officials to respond for the bombardment that killed the FARC’s number two, Raul reyes and 25 others. The extradition request for Santos was turned down by Ecuador’s National Court of Justice, but those of Padila and Naranjo are still pending.
The judicial processes are in the way of the two countries’ attempts to normalize bilateral relations that were broken following the bombing.