Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday said that he is “very inclined” to retire from politics in 2022.
The announcement of the leader of the far-right Democratic Center party comes days after the Supreme Court called him to stand trial in October on charges he tried to tamper witnesses who have testified he formed a death squad in the 1990s.
In an interview with W Radio, Uribe said that “it is very possible I don’t nominate myself. I also have obligations to my wife, with my grandchildren. I have been a businessman all my life.”
The senator said his colleagues know about his consideration to retire.
Uribe said to be confident other party leaders will be able to continue promoting the party’s principles of “a safe country, outstanding performance in private investment, outstanding performance in social policy and the balance between participatory and representative democracy.”
The founder of the party said not to be concerned his retirement would end the party that was founded to promote his far-right ideology after the Constitutional Court disallowed him to run for a third presidential term in 2010.
Whether Uribe will make it until 2022 is anything but certain. The trial that will begin in September could lead to his imprisonment and automatic removal from Congress if he is found guilty of the charges of fraud and bribery or sent to jail for the duration of his trial.
From freedom or from prison I will knock down these infamies.
Former President Alvaro Uribe
Uribe’s retirement would be the end of the political career of one of Colombia’s most controversial presidents in history.
Apart from his alleged ties to a death squad that led 4,000 victims in his home province of Antioquia, the president previously admitted to having been friends with the founder of Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel.
His two presidential terms were among the most violent in the history of Colombia.