Former president of Colombia's Congress jailed in parapolitics scandal

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Former president of Colombia's Congress jailed in parapolitics scandal
By Associated Press
6:23 p.m. EDT, September 14, 2010

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities have arrested a veteran lawmaker and former president of Congress on criminal conspiracy charges for alleged collusion with far-right militias.

Javier Caceres has been a senator since 1998. The 52-year-old Cartagena lawmaker was president of Congress until July.

Leaders of Colombia's paramilitary militias have confessed to thousands of killings and stealing millions of acres from poor farmers over two decades.

Several say Caceres was among their political allies. At least one says his gunmen compelled people to vote for Caceres.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-lt-colombia-parapolitics-scandal,0,2055066.story

[Judi Lynn]

1. Former Senate president arrested for 'parapolitics' .

Former Senate president arrested for 'parapolitics' .
Tuesday, 14 September 2010 12:43 Kirsten Begg

http://colombiareports.com.nyud.net:8090/pics/politics/javier_caceres.jpg

Senator Javier Caceres was arrested in Bogota Tuesday over allegations that paramilitary group "Heroes de Montes de Maria" financed his election campaign, reports El Espectador.

Caceres, who was Senate president from July 2009 to July 2010, was arrested on the orders of Colombia's Supreme Court for alleged links with former paramilitary boss Uber Enrique Banquez, alias "Juancho Dique."

The demobilized paramilitary was one of the first participants in Colombia's Justice and Peace program to be sentenced for crimes he committed while he was a leader of now-demobilized paramilitary organization the AUC.

Caceres gave an exclusive interview to Caracol Radio from the Bogota Prosecutor General's Office were he is being held. In the interview Caceres denied allegations that he met with paramilitaries or "any illegal groups, anywhere in Colombia."

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11830-senator-arrested-for-parapolitics.html

[WhiteTara]

2. what an evil face

he looks like the stereotype of himself.

[Peace Patriot]

3. I wonder if he will be "extradited" to the U.S. on lesser charges of drug trafficking,

in secret, in the dead of night, and the case completely sealed by the U.S. court in DC, to put him out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors and courts--like other important death squad case witnesses were. (He is not yet a witness, but might turn state's evidence after he is charged.)

This will be a sort of test of Manuel Santos. Is he just Uribe with a "Smiley Face" on? Uribe and U.S./Bushwhack ambassador William Brownfield did the other "extraditions" last year. Both are gone now. Have things changed at all?

Whether Caceres gets "extradited" may also depend on what he knows about Uribe and about U.S./Bushwhack-Pentagon activities in Colombia--what bargaining chips he may have, how much of a threat he is to those powers. Uribe apparently knows quite a lot, because the Obama administration gave him a prestigious legal appointment (to an international commission on Israel's firing on aid boats) and (shame on the Jesuits!) Georgetown U. gave him a prestigious academic sinecure (teaching international relations! --har-har). Tit-for-tat. CIA protection for a shut mouth. That's my opinion.

Don't ever forget that CIA Director Leon Panetta was a member of Daddy Bush's "Iraq Study Group."

Re-thinking this: I suspect that they got the main threats out of the country in time, and buried deep inside the Bushwhack "justice" system--with their court cases also buried under "national security" blankets---which means that Caceres may be one of the "sacrificial lambs" (doesn't know much), left behind to be pounced on, by the furious Colombian prosecutors. He may be in deep doo-doo.

[laughingliberal]

4. K & R nt

[EFerrari]

5. Why do our "best friends" keep getting in trouble?!

K&R

[Judi Lynn]

6. Colombia senator accused of paramilitary links

Colombia senator accused of paramilitary links
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 15, 2010 -- Updated 0659 GMT (1459 HKT)

(CNN) -- Colombian Sen. Javier Caceres, a former president of Congress, was arrested Tuesday for alleged links to right-wing paramilitary groups.

The country's Supreme Court of Justice issued the arrest warrant.

According to local reports, Caceres was allegedly involved with the paramilitary chief Uber Banquez, known as "Juancho Dique."

Banquez claims that Caceres asked him for money to finance his campaign.

In an interview with Caracol Radio after his arrest, Caceres denied that any meetings with paramilitaries were for the purposes of wrongdoing.

He did admit that in 2000 he met with Carlos Castano, then-head of the now demobilized United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary organization, but did not divulge any details about it.

"I have never met with any illegal group, in any part of the country, to do wrongdoing," he told the radio station.

More:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/14/colombia.senator.arrested/index.html

~~~~~
Reference to AUC Uber Banquez, "Juancho Dique:"

Conviction of 'paras' is too slow: Justice and Peace tribunal .
Thursday, 04 February 2010 08:28 Camilla Pease-Watkin

Colombia's Justice and Peace tribunal voiced concerns over the length of time taken for charged paramilitary leaders to be tried by the country's prosecutor general, reported El Espectador.

This follows the tribunal's release in January of a 96 page document, which found paramilitary commanders Edwar Cobos Tellez and Uber Enrique Banquez, aliases "Diego Vecino" and "Juancho Dique," guilty of massacre, torture and forced displacements committed whilst part of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Although last year Banquez and Cobos Tellez spoke freely of and were charged for crimes including murder, torture, hostage taking, displacement of civilians and the destruction and appropriation of property in the regions of Sucre and Montes de Maria, no action was taken to prosecute the AUC commanders, and Colombia's prosecutor general therefore did not hear their confessions in court.

"Dique and Vecino are paramilitary commanders. If their cases don't advance, imagine those of their subordinates," said a source close to the investigations.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8041-conviction-of-paras-is-too-slow-court-of-justice-and-peace.html

http://www.elnuevodia.com.co.nyud.net:8090/nuevodia/images/stories/2010/06/30/3A1.jpg http://www.eluniversal.com.co.nyud.net:8090/v2/sites/default/files/DIEGO%20VECINO%20-%20JUANCHO%20DIQU.jpg

http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es.nyud.net:8090/imag/efe/2009/10/13/2584864w.jpg

"You've done a heck of a job there, Juancho Dique!"

A former Colombian paramilitary leader admits charges one of the worst massacres

13/10/2009 - 20:02Bogota , Oct 13 ( EFE ) .- Former Colombian paramilitary leader Banquez Uber Enrique Martínez , alias "Juancho Dique , the prosecution admitted to their involvement in the massacre at El Salado, one of the worst massacres of the far-right armed , committed in 2000 in a town north of the country , judicial sources said .

http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/noticias-email/1612265/Un-ex-jefe-paramilitar-colombiano-admite-cargos-por-una-de-las-peores-matanzas