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March 3rd, 2016 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Santiago Uribe, the brother of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, has been detained and charged with murder and forming a paramilitary death squad. The arrest comes as the Colombian government and the FARC-EP are expected to sign a peace accord this year and as both sides agree that neo-paramilitaries constitute the greatest threat to Colombia’s security and to peace.
Santiago Uribe (Courtesy Semana)
Santiago Uribe is the brother of Alvaro Uribe, Colombia’s President from 2002 to 2010. Santiago was arrested in the El Poblado quarter of the capital of Antioquia province, Medellin. Staff from the office of Colombia’s Prosecutor General picked Santiago up from his home on Monday, where after he was taken to the Medellin office for interrogation.
Santiago Uribe was charged with murder and the forming of a death squad. Santiago has been charged with alleged links to the so-called 12 Apostoles ultra-right-wing paramilitary group. The group that was formed in 1990 has been involved in so-called “social cleansing operations” which includes the execution of people under suspicion of collaborating with the leftist guerrilla FARC-EP and ELN, the murder of alleged drug users, and the murder of alleged criminals.
The Office of the Prosecutor General noted that Santiago Uribe must answer to justice just like everybody else. The arrest came about one week after former president Alvaro Uribe and his Democratic Center party called for a protest march on April 2, to voice the parties protest against what it denounces as the Santos administration’s largesse with regard to concessions to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP).
Ex-President Alvaro Uribe addressing anti-Santos protesters. (Courtesy Wikipedia)
The guerrilla and the government are expected to sign a final peace accord in 2016. The agreements between the government and the FARC-EP include an agreement on land and rural reform, political participation, justice for all victims of the 51-year-long civil war, social reform, and an agreement on illicit drugs. The Santo administration and the FARC-EP have previously announced that they agree, that the greatest threat to security and peace in Colombia, today comes from right-wing neo-paramilitaries and drug traffickers. There neo-paramilitaries include Los Urabenos and the 12 Apostoles death squad.
The Democratic Center party and people close to the Uribe family denounced the arrest and the charges brought against him as “politically motivated”. That, even though Santiago Uribe as well as his brother and former president Alvaro Uribe have long been linked to death squads and other criminal activities. Senator Paloma Valencia, a member of the Democratic Center party led by Alvaro Uribe denounced the arrest of Santiago as political persecution. Referring to the arrest and the peace talks with the FARC-EP, Paloma Valencia said:
“We received this news with great sorrow for what it means for the country that are being lost democratic freedoms and that this corrupt government, through a corrupt prosecutor, is dedicated to the persecution of honorable people with political coups, while seeking impunity for terrorists.”
Others again view the arrest as part of a “normalization” of Colombia. Part of the peace process includes fact-finding missions and the prosecution of both members of the guerrilla, the military, other services and members of governments for eventual crimes, especially crimes that could be considered as war crimes.
CH/L – nsnbc 03.03.2016
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/03/03/brother-of-former-colombian-president-uribe-arrested-on-homicide-charges/
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