President Álvaro Uribe is against the disbanding of Colombia’s
intelligence agency DAS as proposed Tuesday by Defense Minister Juan
Manuel Santos. According to the presidency, the DAS is “important and
necessary for democracy.”
Santos told journalists the DAS “is an illness in a terminal state that should be given a christian burial.” and proposed forming a new intelligence agency.
Uribe — who has not spoken a word about the scandal publicly himself — opposes the shutting down of the DAS, his press secretary said Tuesday. “The Government’s concern is to find corrections and to improve the institution,”
Santos’ remarks led to irritation among coalition lawmakers. “He is not the boss of the DAS and should not make this kind of declarations while outside the country,” Partido de La U senator Armando Bendetti said.
The DAS itself, accused of having illegally tapped the phones of opponents and critics of the government, meanwhile is accused of obstructing the investigation into the wiretaps.
“It must be said that, on the contrary of what was said, they are not making things easy. First we wanted to enter a room and asked to be taken there, but they sent ussomewhere else. We wanted to enter the other room and then tehy can’t find the administrator who has the keys,” Prosecutor Mario Iguarán denounced.
Iguarán warned that the people obstructing the Prosecutor General’s investigation will be prosecuted.