Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe said Monday his former security chief who pleaded guilty in the U.S. to aiding terrorist groups made “alliances with bandits.”
General Mauricio Santoyo, who was security chief during Uribe’s first presidential term, pleaded guilty to supporting paramilitary group AUC in front of a U.S. court earlier in the day.
The event prompted Uribe to launch a string of messages on Twitter condemning the former official.
“Our support for the Armed Forces was to strengthen the State, never to allow alliances with criminals,” read one of numerous messages posted on the ex-president’s personal Twitter account.
Santoyo has worked with Uribe since 1997 when the former President was governor of the Antioquia department. The former police official admitted to have leaked confidential information to the now officially demobilized AUC, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.