One year after leaving office, former President Alvaro Uribe criticized current President Juan Manuel Santos’ administration.
In an interview with Confidencial Colombia, Uribe accused Santos of using his administration’s policies to get elected, but not to actually govern. According to the ex-president, “Santos was one of the most radical voices against the Victims Law,” the passage of which is one of the hallmarks of Santos’ presidency.
Uribe was also upset with Santos’ appointments of Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras and Agriculture Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo, whom he considers enemies of the government. He referred to Restrepo as “hostile” and claimed that when he was president, Vargas Lleras expressed concern that then-Defense Minister Santos was setting up Vargas Lleras by accusing him of having ties to paramilitarism in the Casanare department.
The former president denounced Santos’ investigations into the corruption of Uribe’s government. “[My government] left a good inheritance and a corrupt government does not leave a good inheritance,” Uribe said.
He also believes the Supreme Court violated the Colombian Constitution when it changed Uribe’s list of candidates for the office of the prosecutor general. “What worries me is that the government permitted that violation.”
Uribe attacked Santos’ position on the deteriorating security situation. “The governors of many departments call to ask for help because the government scolds them if they publicly express concerns,” said Uribe.
Finally, Uribe attacked Santos’ relationship with Venezuela. He said does not understand why Colombia has relationships with a country that, “in the name of commercial interests, they sacrifice political freedoms, they sacrifice the law of the state, they sacrifice the security of the citizens, and they end up losing democracy.”