Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s brother, Santiago Uribe, sent a letter to The Washington Post, stating that allegations that he led a paramilitary group, reported by the U.S. publication, are false, Caracol Radio reports.
In the letter, Santigao Uribe states that the “false accusations of allegedly leading a paramilitary group that you are trying to revive against me, were archived by the Prosecutor General of the nation of Colombia following the dismissal of two investigations on May 8, 1996 and February 29, 2000, respectively.”
“I emphatically reject the article published by the The Washington Post… in which – without balance of journalistic rigor, the testimony of a lying former police officer was used … and it is a suspicious that this attempt to dig up false and vile old accusations against me and my family, coincides with the presidential elections in our country,” the letter continues.
“These allegations, whose purpose is to stain the my honor and that of my family, have been scrutinized and repeatedly refuted, both by Colombian justice and during Congress debates,” the letter says.
The Washington Post reported Sunday allegations by former Major Juan Carlos Meneses that Santiago Uribe led a paramilitary death squad in the early 1990s.
Retired Colombian Colonel Pedro Manuel Benavides alleged Tuesday that Meneses bought him a plane ticket to Bogota, where the colonel met with the drug trafficking Comba brothers, who offered him $250,000 to sully the Uribes’ name.
Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said later Tuesday that it will investigate Benavides’ allegations of a plot to implicate Santiago Uribe in dealings with Antioquian paramilitaries.
According to Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva, the allegations against Santiago Uribe are part of a Venezuelan plot to undermine Colombia’s government.