Colombian justice on Tuesday ordered house arrest for the former president and current Colombian senator Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who was president of the Republic of Colombia between 2002 and 2010, being the first president of the country to hold office for two consecutive periods. The former president reported this afternoon through representatives of his party that he is infected with COVID-19.
The news comes a day after the Colombian court ordered his house arrest. Close to the former president, they have reported that he is stable, Uribe Vélez would have had the test this morning at his farm «El Ubérrimo», where he will serve home imprisonment.
The Colombian Supreme Court investigates Álvaro Uribe for procedural fraud and bribery, crimes in the framework of a witness manipulation case, which occurred in 2014, which were initially requested by Uribe himself.
Why is Alvaro Uribe investigated?
The investigations into the former president began when Senator Iván Cepeda, one of Uribe’s opponents, belonging to the left-wing Polo Democrático party, in a debate in parliament accused Álvaro Uribe of being one of the key drug traffickers in the country, this because Cepeda would have recordings with testimonies of a former paramilitary, who would have confessed that the Metro Block of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (BMAU), the country’s largest paramilitary organization, had been founded in one of the ex-president’s properties.
Álvaro Uribe decided to denounce senator Iván Cepeda judicially, thus marking his own destiny, Uribe assured before parliament that the left-wing senator offered legal benefits to several imprisoned ex-paramilitaries so as not to be linked to far-right armed groups, on the other hand, he legally denounced Cepeda by serious accusations, affirming that the witnesses had been manipulated by the parliamentarian.
The main witness Juan Guillermo Monsalve, who claimed to have been a butler on the former Colombian president’s estate, is currently in prison, through his lawyers denied Uribe’s arguments, stating that he did not receive any type of benefits from Senator Iván Cepeda.
After the events, in February 2018, the Colombian justice launched an investigation into the dispute between the two politicians, concluding that not only would there be elements to exonerate Cepeda from the accusations, but they also found sufficient evidence against Álvaro Uribe, in addition to new testimonies that would involve the former president of Colombia in the case.