Ex-Colombian congresswoman says she was bribed

[Judi Lynn]

Ex-Colombian congresswoman says she was bribed
A former Colombian congresswoman says she was offered special benefits to vote in favor of a reform to help President Alvaro Uribe's reelection bid.
Posted on Sun, Apr. 20, 2008
BY GERARDO REYES
El Nuevo Herald

A former Colombian congresswoman whose vote was key to approving a constitutional reform that cleared the way for President Alvaro Uribe's reelection bid in 2006 claims she was offered certain benefits for her ballot, in apparent violation of Colombian law.

Yidis Medina said in a previously unseen 2004 video that Uribe, then-Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt and Alberto Velásquez, then secretary general of the presidency, offered her ''whatever she wanted'' in exchange for her vote favoring the reelection.

According to Medina, 17 other congressional representatives were also approached with similar offers.

The granting of special benefits to congressional representatives in exchange for votes has been standard practice throughout the history of the Colombian Congress.

But a 2003 constitutional amendment backed by Uribe outlawed the practice.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/502784.html



Yidis Medina





Sabas Pretelt



Alberto Velásquez