Juan Lozano, president of Colombia’s Partido de la U, says the party will not tolerate any “mistreatment” of former President Alvaro Uribe.
Lozano said Thursday that his group backs current Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his “national unity” program, but will not allow factions to use the agreement to attack Uribe.
“The Partido de la U is Santista, but it is also Uribista … our source of inspiration is President Alvaro Uribe. We are proud and relieved that his work is in the hands of President Juan Manuel Santos,” Lozano said.
The Partido de la U is a coalition of Colombian politicians that was formed to back Uribe in Congress during his presidency.
Uribe has come under fire since he left office on August 7. Over 150 organizations from Europe and the Americas questioned his appointment as vice chairman of the United Nations inquiry into an Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, saying that the former president was not qualified to defend international law.
Colombian NGO La Corporacion Colectivo de Abogados Jose Alvear Restrepo claims that Uribe’s signing of a military pact with the U.S. was an act of treason, an abuse of power, and a breach of public duty.
Colombian Congressman Ivan Cepeda presented a complaint against Uribe for slander to the International Criminial Court (ICC). The complaint regards comments made by Uribe in 2002 in which he accused the inhabitants of the San Jose de Apartado peace community, along with Jesuit Priest Javier Giraldo, of colluding with left-wing guerrillas. Following the accusations, 20 members of the peace community were murdered.
Colombian Congress investigated the accusations against Uribe, but the then-president was absolved of any wrongdoing.