Police chief betrayed Colombia: Gaviria

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

Police chief betrayed Colombia: Gaviria
Sunday, 13 March 2011 19:16
Edward Fox

Former presidential advisor under Alvaro Uribe, Jose Obdulio Gaviria, has lashed out at the Chief of Colombia's National Police (CNP) Oscar Naranjo after a WikiLeaks cable showed Naranjo alleged Gaviria organized meetings between government officials and paramilitaries at the presidential palace.

Speaking through Twitter, Gaviria said, "It's evident: Naranjo lied to the embassy (betrayal of Colombia) and the president (betrayal of the government)."

He added, "Uribe and Santos said in December that they trusted you (Naranjo). After today, will they say the same?"

Gaviria's angry reaction came after a cable dated August 28, 2008, relayed how Naranjo had told the then-U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield, in confidence, how he believed that meetings in the presidential palace between government officials and the lawyer of extradited paramilitary chief Diego ‘Don Berna’ Murillo and ex-paramilitary spokesman Antonio ‘Job’ López, had been organized by Gaviria.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14868-police-chief-betrayed-colombia-gaviria.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Uribe adviser lied over DAS meetings: WikiLeaks

Uribe adviser lied over DAS meetings: WikiLeaks
Tuesday, 15 March 2011 13:40
Edward Fox

A WikiLeaks cable says that Jose Obdulio Gaviria, then-adviser to ex-President Alvaro Uribe, secretly met with DAS officials in 2009 during a peak period in the wiretaps scandal, contradicting his public denial at the time.

Former U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield relays in a cable from May 22, 2009 that Gaviria privately admitted meeting with the security agency DAS's counterintelligence deputy Jorge Lagos and deputy intelligence chief Fernando Tabares to discuss the issue of illegal wiretapping operations to try and link Supreme Court magistrate Yesid Ramierz and drug-trafficker Ascensio Reyes.

Gaviria, however, denied to Brownfield having ordered that they carry out illegal operations, according to the cable.

Lagos testified on May 14, 2009, that Gaviria and Uribe's personal secretary Bernardo Moreno had ordered him to carry out illegal wiretaps, a claim Gaviria denied at the time, saying he had met only once with Lagos to discuss issues pertaining to other issues, and that it was an conspiracy being orchestrated by the opposition against the government.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14915-uribe-advisor-lied-publicly-wikileaks.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. 'Emerald czar funded paramilitaries'

'Emerald czar funded paramilitaries'
Tuesday, 15 March 2011 09:52
Edward Fox

An ex-paramilitary fighter has claimed that part of his former group's funding came from the looting of emerald mines in the department of Boyaca with the full knowledge of the mine's owner, "emerald czar" Victor Carranza, El Tiempo reported Tuesday.

The former paramilitary, speaking under the condition of anonymity, told the Justice and Peace Unit two weeks ago that prior to his demobilization, he was a member of the Peasant Self-Defense Units of Meta and Vichada (ACMV) who were allowed the opportunity once every three months to find emeralds in Carranza's mines.

"We were allowed to go where he had mines in Boyaca ... They would give us what had been cut and what we got would finance us," the paramilitary said.

The testimony given also implicates the former leader of the ACMV, Jose Baldomero Linares, alias "Guillermo Torres," who has previously denied having known or met Corranza before the Justice and Peace Unit.

Numerous demobilized paramilitaries have stated however that Torres used a farm in Brazil belonging to Carranza to train soldiers for the massacres that took place in Mapiripan in 1997 and Cano Soap in 1998.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14905-carranza-funded-auc-group-with-emeralds-ex-paramilitary.html