Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos and his predecessor Alvaro Uribe are once again at loggerheads after Santos made accusations linking Uribe’s sons to an ongoing corruption investigation.
In an interview with Caracol Radio, Santos claimed Uribe’s two sons met with representatives of Brazilian company Odebrecht, whose allegedly corrupt practices already resulted in the arrest of the vice-Minister of Transport under Uribe.
In the interview, Santos was asked about an alleged meeting that Tomas and Jeronimo Uribe had with Odebrecht, a multinational Brazilian conglomerate that deals in various fields of business, including oil, chemicals and engineering.
In regards to the meeting of Uribe’s sons, this is a good question that you should pose to him (Uribe) or his two sons. That the president meets with some companies is normal, that the president’s sons do the same is not so normal.
President Juan Manuel Santos
On finding out about the president’s statement, Uribe unleashed a tirade on Twitter.
“Santos, you hid your meeting with Odebrecht, it happened when the scandal was already known. My sons’ meeting happened before it was known, and it wasn’t business related.”
Senator Alvaro Uribe
Strangely, Uribe immediately contradicted his sons by publishing their 2009 letter to then-Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez in which both sons denied meeting with anybody involved in the concession that was ultimately won by Odebrecht.
The former president also took to criticizing the character of his successor and the president’s son, Martin.
Santos, my sons are hard working people, whereas yours (Martin) is a sly and skilled bureaucrat.
Senator Alvaro Uribe
Uribe additionally alleged that Martin Santos traveled to the 2014 World Cup Soccer in Brazil at the expense of government contractors.
Santos, my sons weren’t abusive with state capital, nor did they travel to the World Cup Soccer, payed for by government contractors.
Senator Alvaro Uribe
The fallout between Colombia’s former and current president began in 2010 when, after having been implicitly endorsed by the former president, Santos appointed an Uribe-critic as Prosecutor General, who continued ongoing investigations of scandals that emerged during Uribe’s tenure as president.
This included the bribery of Congressmen to allow Uribe’s 2006 election bid, ties between paramilitary group AUC and the Uribe-dominated Congress, and the illegal spying carried out by intelligence agency DAS on the Supreme Court.
How Santos betrayed Uribe
When Santos began peace talk with the FARC in 2012, the former president and his former defense minister were driven apart even further as Uribe’s eight-year rule has been marred by major human rights violations that occurred within the context of Colombia’s 52-year-old armed conflict.
