Colombia’s Congress on Thursday launched an investigation to establish whether former President Alvaro Uribe committed a crime when he ordered the 2008 bombing of a FARC guerrilla camp in Ecuador.
The House of Representatives Accusations Committee opened a preliminary investigation into the bombing in Ecuador of “Raul Reyes,” the number two of guerrilla organization FARC.
Colombia’s constitution allows only the congressional committee to investigated crimes allegedly committed by presidents while in office.
A lawmaker confirmed in an interview with RCN radio station that the complaint, registered by a citizen lawyer, was filed and preliminary investigations had been opened.
“We have jurisdiction to investigate complaints relating to all persons,” said the representative, “we are abiding the process according to the constitution and the law.”
Following the 2008 attack, Ecuador broke relations with Colombia for violating its territory calling it “a scandalous event of aggression against our country.”
In fact in the aftermath of the attack, an Ecuadorian prosecutor even demanded the extradition of the then defense minister and current Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, along with the director of the national police, according to newspaper El Espectador.
In his defense Uribe has said that he did not advise the president of the neighboring country of the bombing because he “was struck with fear caused by his (president of Ecuador) declarations about the FARC.”
“To further his presidential campaign, president of Ecuador Rafael Correa, had made statements that denied the label of terrorists to the FARC and there was talk of recognizing their rebel status,” said the former Colombian president.
“Anyway the bomb was never against the state or the citizens of Ecuador, it was against terrorism and the destruction of our liberties,” stressed Uribe.
The Accusations Committee has ordered testemonial and documentary evidence form officials of the presidency, the police, the foreign ministry and the Prosecutor General’s office among others.