Uribe to run for senate in 2014 ‘if circumstances require’

Former Colombia President Alvaro Uribe said Monday he will run for senator in 2014 “if the conditions require” him to.

While visiting a town in his home department of Antioquia, the former head of state said that “if the conditions require so, the old rooster will have to go back to the cockfight.”

Uribe, who is not allowed to run for presidency again after having served two consecutive terms between 2002 and 2010, is in the process of forming a political party called the Pure Democratic Center.

PROFILE: Alvaro Uribe

The party is to recover political power he lost after his successor, current President Juan Manuel Santos, removed Uribe-loyal ministers from his cabinet and instead appointed political enemies of the divisive former president.

Uribe has so far refused to clarify his personal ambitions for the 2014 elections just like in 2010 when he remained unclear about his possible run for the presidency until the constitutional court sank the legislation needed to allow the veteran politician a third run.

Since then, the president has increasingly distanced himself from his successor and has assumed informal opposition using his Twitter account and town meetings.

Colombia next year will take to the polls to elect a new Congress and a new president.

Sources

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