Pubdate: Fri, 16 Feb 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Section: A
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Chris Kraul Times, Staff Writer
Note: Times researcher Jenny Carolina Gonzalez contributed to this report.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Colombia
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)

SCANDAL IN COLOMBIA GROWS

Five More Lawmakers Are Arrested, Accused of Having Ties to Illegal 
Paramilitary Groups.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- The scandal involving alleged links between 
Colombian lawmakers and illegal paramilitary groups widened Thursday 
with the arrest of five more members of Congress, including a senator 
who is the brother of Foreign Minister Maria Consuelo Araujo.

The arrests of Sen. Alvaro Araujo and the others could further 
tarnish President Alvaro Uribe, who since being reelected to a second 
term in a landslide last year has been rocked by allegations that 
some close legislative supporters have ties to the right-wing armies. 
The arrests are also bound to increase calls that Maria Araujo resign.

The others arrested were Sens. Dieb Maloof, Mauricio Pimiento and 
Luis Eduardo Vives, and Rep. Alfonso Campo Escobar. Rep. Jorge Luis 
Caballero was still at large.

The orders were issued by the Supreme Court, which handles criminal 
investigations involving members of Congress. All those arrested are 
staunch Uribe supporters.

No specific charges were revealed Thursday night, although a 
spokesman for the attorney general's office confirmed that the 
arrests had been made. Without offering details, a Supreme Court 
source said the charges were related to illegal dealings with the 
paramilitary groups.

Further complicating Foreign Minister Araujo's situation was the 
revelation Thursday that her cousin, Gov. Hernando Molina of the 
northern province of Cesar, is also under investigation in connection 
with alleged dealings with the paramilitaries, including illegal 
campaign financing.

When Sen. Araujo acknowledged in November that he was the subject of 
an inquiry, Uribe rebuffed calls that he fire his minister to 
eliminate a possible taint.

In November, four other sitting or former Congress members were 
arrested and charged with criminal involvement with paramilitary 
groups, including authorizing mass murder and government corruption.

Some of those arrested are among lawmakers alleged to have signed a 
document in 2001 pledging support to paramilitary groups to "remake 
the nation."

Ranchers and farmers formed the paramilitaries in the 1980s to defend 
themselves against left-wing guerrillas. But in many cases, the 
groups evolved into criminal organizations that engaged in drug 
trafficking, killing, extortion and land grabs.

Uribe has been hurt by revelations that some paramilitary leaders 
have continued to run their criminal empires from jail since 
demobilizing and pleading guilty in exchange for lighter sentences. 
Investigations in some cases have confirmed that politicians at the 
local and national levels who support Uribe were complicit in militia crimes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake