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APBOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Sen. Jorge Enrique Gomez replaced a jailed senator, who had replaced a senator who resigned under criminal investigation, who had replaced a jailed senator. But the evangelical preacher's lack of legislative experience hardly matters — Congress doesn't do much these days anyway.
Ten percent of Colombia's 268 federal lawmakers are behind bars and another 10 percent, including the Senate's president, are under investigation. And with the arrest of a cousin this week, the scandal has grown uncomfortably close to President Alvaro Uribe, Washington's closest ally in Latin America.
The scandal revolves around allegations that illegal right-wing paramilitaries helped pro-Uribe lawmakers and governors get elected as they rid much of Colombia of left-wing guerrilla bands. In some cases, the politicians are accused of plotting killings with warlords.
The United States and Europe consider both the paramilitaries and the guerrillas to be terrorist groups, and both are active in drug smuggling. Uribe's government has vigorously hunted down the rebels while brokering a peace deal with the paramilitaries that offered reduced sentences in exchange for confessions.
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