Former Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said he would swear on the Bible that former President Alvaro Uribe did not order the illegal wiretaps carried out by intelligence agency DAS.
In an interview with El Tiempo, Santos said he does not deny the illegal actions of former DAS director Jorge Noguera, but that they were not sanctioned from above.
“He was a little boy that exceeded his functions for two and a half years, involving the government in a political war that was never ordered from above,” Santos said. “The president never would have given such an order. I know him and I can swear on the Bible.”
He said that DAS directors Andres Peñate and Maria del Pilar Hurtado had nothing to do with the illegal wiretapping of political opposition, journalists, and human rights activists, and have been unfairly linked to the illegal actions of Noguera.
The former vice president also defended the former president’s support of the asylum of Hurtado in Panama, and that Colombian courts are too prejudiced to give her a fair trial.
Hurtado, who was barred on October 4 from holding public office for her role in the illegal wiretapping, fled to Panama on November 19, three days before her scheduled hearing in front of the Superior Court of Bogota on November 21.