Colombian President Alvaro Uribe acknowledges the infiltration of security agency DAS by criminals and reminds the public that he himself was a victim of breaches of the security agency.
In a press release, Uribe responded to the revelations of DAS infiltration by former DAS deputy director Jose Miguel Narvaez, and recalled a plot by Carlos Mario Jimenez, alias “Macaco,” to assassinate him.
Macaco was one of the leaders of now-demobililized paramilitary organization the AUC, and was extradited to the U.S. in 2008.
Uribe implies in the statement that if he were involved in the illegal activities conducted by the DAS – namely the wiretappings of prominent Colombians, and paramilitary infiltration of the security agency – then AUC capo Macaco would not have wanted to assassinate him.
Narvaez revealed Thursday that the Colombian intelligence agency has paramilitary links, and that DAS officers sold confidential information to narco-trafficking groups.
Uribe’s personal secretary Bernardo Moreno and former DAS officials are in court over the wire-tapping scandal, in which the presidency allegedly ordered the surveillance of Colombian judges, politicians, journalists and trade unionists.
