Fugitive former Colombia minister given asylum in the US: Opposition

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

May 5, 2015

Fugitive former Colombia minister given asylum in the US: Opposition
posted by Talor Gruenwald

Andres Felipe Arias, former minister of agriculture in Colombia, has reportedly been given asylum in the United States, according to political allies in the conservative opposition.

Various political figures from the Democratic Center took to Twitter on Monday to announce the news, including representative Maria Cabal and the former director of the Democratic Center, Alicia Arango.

The Democratic Center, the party formed by former President Alvaro Uribe in opposition to the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos, has yet to publicly acknowledge Arias’ asylum in the US despite the allegations voiced by their members.

Arias (Conservative Party) was sentenced last year to 17 years in prison for his involvement in the scandal surrounding the “Agro Ingreso Seguro” embezzlement scandal, wherein he was discovered to have steered agricultural subsidies to wealthy families instead of poor farmers.

Read more: http://colombiareports.co/fugitive-former-colombia-minister-given-asylum-in-the-us-opposition/

---

[center]

Andres Felipe Arias and former President Alvaro Uribe

[/center]

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Why would the US provide political asylum to a corrupt Colombian politician?

[Judi Lynn]

2. It has been happening forever. Right-wing scums of the earth, even mass murderers are safe here,

where the more progressive governments can't reach them.

South Florida is their Shangri-La. There should be a statue of Rumpelstiltskin holding a bribe in the waters just off Miami!

[Beauregard]

3. Yes. nt

[Jack Rabbit]

4. I want a written excuse from the mother of the bureaucrat who approved Arias' asylum request

Arias was convicted of simple corruption, diverting public funds away from the rightful beneficiaries to political cronies. Was there something wrong with trial? Were the charges trumped up?

I guess this is part of the new normal in the new America where Legs Dimon and Pretty Boy Lloyd walk free.

[CharlotteVale]

5. He'll fit right in.