Colombia Ex-President Alvaro Uribe Finally Charged with Witness Tampering

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has finally been charged on Friday after a long-running witness tampering investigation against him. He has been facing the investigation since 2012 and allegedly tampered with witnesses and bribed people to discredit a political opponent.

According to the Associated Press, should he be found guilty, the former president could face up to 12 years in prison for his efforts to discredit leftist lawmaker Ivan Cepeda, who was digging into Uribe's family ties to right-wing paramilitary groups.

When the case first erupted in 2012, Alvaro Uribe filed a complaint to the Supreme Court of Colombia and accused Cepeda of slander. It was noted that only the Colombian Supreme Court had the authority to investigate lawmakers, and it closed the investigation against Cepeda.

However, in a twist, Cepeda reversed the case filed by Uribe as the Supreme Court now opened an investigation into the former president, who became a senator during that time after his presidency. The probe looked into his fraudulent practices and his witness tampering that led to manipulated testimony.

Among the evidence laid out against him were several wiretapped phone conversations where he could be heard discussing the case with one of his lawyers. This was part of his efforts to flip two former paramilitary fighters who were supposed to testify against him.

The former president has maintained that he did nothing wrong and has repeatedly claimed that the wiretapped conversations he had were "intercepted illegally."

Alvaro Uribe Witness Tampering Case Has Been Politically Charged and Polarizing

The legal battle has been running for over a decade now, with Uribe still being one of the most influential political figures in Colombia today. Because of this, the case has been politically charged and divisive among Colombians.

To make things even more complicated, ABC News noted that President Gustavo Petro, a former leftist rebel himself, is one of the biggest critics of Uribe. While Petro is leading the charge in peace talks with the various left-wing and right-wing rebel groups across Colombia, Uribe has been a very vocal critic of these peace talks, with the former president-turned-senator leading the "no" campaign against the peace deal with the FARC rebels. The measure ultimately passed.

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Accused of Ties With Drug Cartels and Right-Wing Militias

As for the accusation that started it all, Uribe has been tied to several drug cartels since the 1980s, as well as the infamous United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which has been accused of human rights abuses and drug trafficking, according to Al Jazeera News.

When he led Colombia's civil aviation agency back in the 1980s, Uribe was accused of giving air licenses to drug traffickers. He was also very active in going after leftist rebel groups like the FARC and the ELN. This gave him a reputation with the US, leading the country to support him as an ally in its global "war on drugs" despite it being warned of his ties to the Colombian drug cartels.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: A closer look at former Colombian president Uribe's murky past - FRANCE 24 English