Former President Alvaro Uribe has terminated his teaching post at an eastern French university after criticism of his tenure as president within the European Parliament, AFP reported Wednesday.
Uribe had only begun teaching as a visiting professor in March, teaching a class on economic development in Latin America in the engineering univsersity Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Metz (ENIM), in eastern France.
His appointment was met with protest and criticism from some quarters, particularly from left-wing politicians in the European Parliament.
Although his contract ended in April, he was expected to carry on teaching, until the university’s management announced that “the ex president of the Colombian Republic does not wish to continue to intervene in a context manipulated by a faction of the extreme left that, without evidence, discreditied his mandate.”
Among the criticisms of Uribe was a letter signed by German leftist MEP Jurgen Klute and 30 colleagues, denouncing the “systematic human rights violations” that occurred under Uribe’s leadership.
In early April, meanwhile, French MEP Marie-Christine Vergiat accused ENIM director Pierra Padilla of a “mismanagement of resources” and “cronyism,” given that Uribe had previously granted Padilla Colombian citizenship in the name of “Franco-Colombian friendship.”