The political party of former President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday accused his successor, Juan Manuel Santos, of conspiring with rebel group FARC in order to isolate the Uribe Democratic Center (UCD).
In a statement published on its website, the UCD said that “the facts prove that at the secret [peace] talks in Havana [where rebel and government negotiators meet], they are not just discussing Colombian institutions, territory and impunity for atrocities, but have also agreed to halt the Democratic Center in the elections.”
Uribe and his party will be taking part in the March congressional election and the May presidential election for the first time and have been among the most vocal of peace talks critics.
In its latest critique, the UCD accused Santos of remaining silent while the FARC violently tries to prevent Uribe’s political movement from taking shape in the south of the country where the guerrillas have most power.
The alleged conspiracy involves the country’s National Electoral Council which recently prohibited the party to use Uribe’s face in its logo, said the UCD.
Additionally, the party said that the electoral authority prevented the political party from forming in states where the FARC is strongest. Tens of thousands of signatures necessary for the party to register in individual states were rejected, which resulted in the party’s inability to register in rebel stronghold Cauca.
Colombia will take to the polls in March and May to respectively elect congress and the president for the 2014-2018 term.
Uribe, who is not allowed to run for a third presidential term by law, is hoping to be elected into congress while his former finance minister is running for president.
The party has increasingly distanced itself from the Santos administration amid an increasing number of criminal investigations against Uribe aides and discontent over the ongoing talks with the FARC.
Sources
- Uribismo denuncia acuerdo en La Habana entre Farc y Santos contra el Centro Democrático (Uribe Centro Democratico)
