Colombia’s prosecutor general will open criminal proceedings against the country’s former president, Alvaro Uribe, for tweeting the secret coordinates of a demilitarized zone used to move FARC members on their way to peace talks in Cuba.
The investigation at the request of congressman Ivan Cepeda, will determine whether Uribe committed a criminal offense or jeopardized national security by disclosing the information on Twitter.
Uribe tweeted on April 7 that there was “another suspension of military operations and more impunity for the murderers of three Colombian soldiers,” before he revealed the co-ordinates to the location.
MORE: Alvaro Uribe tweets confidential military information
Cepeda immediately requested the prosecutor general to investigate the former president’s actions to “establish possible criminal conduct,” and to clarify the circumstances and the source of the leak.
According to prosecutor general Eduardo Montealegre, in a resolution dated May 9: “The facts referred to by the representative (Cepeda) have strong implications and are significant at a national level.” Based on this appraisal, Montealegre signed the resolution to make way for a criminal investigation.
The army are still working on discovering the person who leaked the co-ordinates and army commander General Sergio Mantilla threatened “the full weight of the law,” on the leak, who will answer to charges of espionage and treason.
According to reports Uribe said that he took sole responsibility for the leak of the co-ordinates and that he had published them because “impunity for terrorism is unacceptable.”
Cepeda, who is a member of the Second Chamber Committee in charge of national security issues, was confident that the prosecution will give precedence to this case in order for the country to know the truth about Uribe’s handling of important and sensitive information.
The congressman said that it was most likely a member of the military leaked the information, however he said that there was the possibility of a new wiretapping, the practice of which was rampant under Uribe’s presidency and is the subject of ongoing criminal investigations.
MORE: Wiretap scandal archives
Cepeda said that the former president’s actions had endangered the lives of those involved in the operation and had endangered the peace process itself.
Uribe said however that the information was “inconsequential,” and that he had simply published an email that was in circulation at the time. The former president also said that it was his duty to investigate the current government for giving impunity to the murderers of soldiers and the police.”The important thing is that we are suspending [operations] that give more impunity to terrorists, said Uribe.
Uribe tweeted Monday before news that he was to be investigated broke, that “Santos doesn’t have the keys to terrorist FARC peace, but you have the keys to his re-election.” The former president’s twitter account has been silent on the subject since.
Sources
- Fiscalia investigara a Uriba por divulgar coordenadas (El Tiempo)
- Resolucion (El Tiempo)
- Resolucion (El Tiempo)
- Fiscal especializado investigara el caso de coordinadas divulgadas (El Espectador)
- Fiscalia abre proceso al expresidente Uribe por revelar coordinadas de las FARC (Correo Confidencial)
