Colombia’s prosecution accused former President Alvaro Uribe of bribing witnesses after the Supreme Court accused him with fraud and witness manipulation.
In a 13-page document that was sent to the court, the prosecution alleged that Uribe coordinated a conspiracy to discredit former paramilitaries’ testimonies about his ties to paramilitary organization AUC.
The conspiracy also sought to fabricate evidence to sustain bogus criminal charges against Senator Ivan Cepeda, who had published a book about the role of Uribe and his brother Santiago in the formation of AUC unit “Bloque Metro.”
This conspiracy had been cooked up by Uribe and his cousin Mario, a former senator and convicted former ally of the AUC, according to the prosecution.
In order to carry out the conspiracy, the former president allegedly hired self-proclaimed “gangstattorney” Diego Cadena and National Electoral Council magistrate Alvaro Prada, who was a representative of Uribe’s far-right Democratic Center party at the time.
Following special meetings that — in the first months of 2017 — were propitiated or facilitated by his relative and former senator of the republic Mario de Jesus Uribe Escobar, Mr. Uribe Velez gave precise instructions to lawyer Diego Javier Cadena Ramirez, to — directly or with other persons — locate and contact former paramilitaries or other citizens who, in exchange for money, remunerative promises, free services or other utilities or benefits, would give testimony about the alleged scheme that Pablo Hernan Sierra García, alias “Pablo”, “Alberto Guerrero” or “Pipinta”, and Juan Guillermo Monsalve Pineda, alias “Guacharaco”, or “Villegas”, had to involve the brothers Santiago and Alvaro Uribe Velez, in criminal acts and in which the congressman Iván Cepeda Castro would also be part.
Prosecutor General’s Office
In July of 2017, Cadena allegedly convinced jailed former AUC fighter “Victor,” to sign a document in which he falsely accused his former commander, “Alberto Guerrero,” of conspiring with Cepeda to incriminate the Uribe brothers.
This letter was initially sent to the prosecution as evidence in favor of Uribe’s brother and three former Medellin Cartel associates, Santiago Gallon and Luis Alberto and Juan Guillermo Villegas.
A similar letter was subsequently sent to the Supreme Court to support Uribe’s bogus accusations against Cepeda.
After the Supreme Court discovered the alleged fraud and announced criminal charges against Uribe in February 2018, the former president and Cadena allegedly stepped up their bribery practices.
Within a week of the Supreme Court announcement, Cadena convinced two other jailed former paramilitaries, “Fosforito” and “Racumin,” to confirm Victor’s false claims.
During this same period, both Prada and the gangstattorney began contacting “Guacharaco,” the son of the former administrator of the Uribe family’s Guacharacas estate in Antoquia.
Guacharaco was recruited at the Uribe estate by the Bloque Metro and, like Guerrero, had testified about the alleged role of the Uribe brothers in the formation of the paramilitary group.
Prada allegedly sought to contact Guacharaco through his friend, another former AUC member nicknamed “Caliche.”
Cadena tried to meet with the son of the former Uribe employee via Guacharaco’s cellmate, convicted gangster Enrique Pardo.
These attempts were recorded by Guacharaco and forwarded to the Supreme Court.
Victor, who had falsely accused Cepeda, ended up telling the Supreme Court how he had been bribed.
The Supreme Court forwarded evidence of Uribe’s alleged conspiracy to the prosecution in 2020.
