Colombian President Álvaro Uribe questioned the loyalty of Colombia’s
security forces Thursday, while defending Defense Minister Juan Manuel
Santos, who’s come under pressure from the opposition to resign because
of the killing of civilians by the army.
“At this moment there are drug traffickers we are unable to catch like ‘Cuchillo’ or ‘El Loco’ Barrera and I wonder: Are we going to be able to catch them? I will ask the army division in Villavicencio especially is it is able to catch ‘El Loco’ Barrera or if they are protecting him,” he said from El Salvador where he is attending the 18th Iberoamerican summit..
Uribe praised strongly criticized Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, saying he is the one able to manage to purge the armed forced who have “allowed themselves to be infiltrated by criminals”.
“Unfortunately the terrorists, one day the FARC, another day the paramilitaries and another day the drug traffickers, have had possibilities to penetrate our armed forces,” the President continued.
Uribe said he will not remove Defense Minister Santos, who was called on his political responsibility by the opposition.