Uribe’s head should roll too: Lawmaker convicted of congressional bribery

[Judi Lynn]

Uribe’s head should roll too: Lawmaker convicted of congressional bribery
Apr 20, 2015 posted by Matthew Dancis

Former President Alvaro Uribe himself should be held legally responsible for the 2004 bribery of Congress that allowed his 2006 reelection, one of the convicted politicians said.

Uribe’s former chief of staff and two of his former ministers were sentenced to years in prison last week after the court considered it proven they had tried to bribe members of Congress to vote in favor of a constitutional amendment allowing him to run for two consecutive terms.

“There will be no true justice until we have Uribe’s head,” Medina was quoted as saying by Colombian newspaper El Heraldo. “It was … Uribe who gave the orders to pay for my vote in favor of his reelection,” she told public television network Noticias Uno.

~ snip ~

However, according to Medina, the true mastermind behind the corrupted constitutional change was Uribe, not any of his convicted aides.

“Uribe promised me that everything in the department of (then-opposition leader) Horacio Serpa (Liberal Party) he would give to me. And he gave me a sort of lecture about saving the country. I told him I felt like the savior of the nation and ended up doing what they asked me to: Change my vote,” Medina trold Noticias Uno.

http://colombiareports.co/uribes-head-should-roll-too-congressman-convicted-of-bribery/

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The article above doesn't explain who the source "Medina" is, but she is well known in Colombia now as someone who accepted a bribe from Uribe's associates, making his re-election possible at a time when he chose to run for re-election in a country which didn't allow candidates to succeed themselves as Presidents of the country. Here's an article which mentions her from several days ago:

Former Uribe ministers sentenced to prison for bribing congress to allow 2006 reelection
Apr 16, 2015 posted by Adriaan Alsema

~ snip ~

Former Congresswoman Yidis Medina (Conservative Party) had already been sentenced in 2008 for accepting the bribe she revealed in the media after the former ministers failed to deliver on promised notary offices.

A second former congressman, Teolindo Avendaño, was also convicted after he had confessed to having received $80,000 after failing to attend the vote. The lawmaker denied however that this money was a bribe.

~ snip ~

The sentences were the latest in a scandal that began almost 11 years ago.

The House of Representatives voted in June 2004 over a constitutional amendment that would allow a president to run for a second consecutive turn.

The purpose was to allow the 2006 reelection bid of the then widely popular Uribe who subsequently won that election.

In spite of Medina accusing Uribe of personal involvement in the bribe, the former president was not a suspect in the case. In fact, Medina admitted to having tried to blackmail the former president into complying with the promises made during the bribe before going to the press.

Congress again approved a constitutional change in 2009 to allow the third election bid of Uribe, but this was sunk by the constitutional court who deemed the entire process unconstitutional after numerous accusations of fraud.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/former-uribe-ministers-sentenced-to-prison-for-bribing-congress-to-allow-2006-reelection/

[forest444]

1. Bribery's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Uribe and Colombian corruption generally.

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB131/index.htm

[Judi Lynn]

2. Sooner or later, some on in authority in Colombia is going to have to apply the law to Uribe.

He's been far too lucky far too long as Colombia's little "Teflon Don."

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He often gets on his high horse.



Toasting George W Bush's "exile" Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, fondly waving to him from the crowd on the left. [/center]

[forest444]

3. In America it's said that money talks; in Colombia, it's yeyo.

As long as Colombian law is written in snow, it'll only get a lot worse before it gets any better.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Wonderful imagery! Very memorable. How sad it is for the people. n/t

[forest444]

5. Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba said it best:

Colombia's decent people -the majority- do not deserve the Congress they have, its leaders, nor a President whose main objective is to deepen economic exclusion and a political plan steeped in criminality and mafias, and which overlaps with a counterinsurgency strategy that generated popular support; but which with every passing day unveils the existence of a political class that has allowed the seizure of power by the mafia.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Perfect! Never saw that statement. How much Colombia needs this Senator.

They were pounding her constantly from her first day in office, don't know it it was her gender, her race, or her democratic moral views they hated the most. She has so many Democratic supporters in the US, including Nancy Pelosi and James McGovern:

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I hope that when Colombia gets a human President and/or Congress, one of the first moves will be to remove the bizarre ban on her participation in politics they finally hammered down on her after years of calling her every name in the book, and all of slurs lies, of course. They have treated her at least as poorly as the filthy fascists here have treated President Obama.

Thanks for sharing this comment from Senator Piedad Córdoba. Viva.