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### Viewing cable 08BOGOTA1517, URIBE-SUPREME COURT TENSIONS RISE OVER

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08BOGOTA1517 | 2008-04-23 21:03 | 2011-04-29 00:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Bogota
Appears in these articles: http://www.semana.com/wikileaks/Seccion/168.aspx

`

    VZCZCXYZ0012
    PP RUEHWEB

    DE RUEHBO #1517/01 1142103
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 232103Z APR 08
    FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2492
    INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 8157
    RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 0302
    RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 6134
    RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA PRIORITY 1573
    RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO PRIORITY 6786
    RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
    RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
    RHMFIUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
    RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 001517

    SIPDIS

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2018
    TAGS: KJUS PHUM PREF PREL PTER CO
    SUBJECT: URIBE-SUPREME COURT TENSIONS RISE OVER
    PARA-POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS

    Classified By: Political Counselor John Creamer
    Reason 1.4 (b and d)

    SUMMARY
    -------
    ¶1. (C)  Preliminary investigations by the Supreme Court of
    Senate President Nancy Patricia Gutierrez and U Party
    President Senator Carlos Garcia for alleged paramilitary ties
    led President Uribe to call on April 17 for "objectivity" in
    the Court.  Uribe voiced "total support" for the judiciary,
    but urged the Supreme Court not to "open the door to
    institutional instability" through investigations based on
    weakevidence.  Casa de Narino Legal Advisor Edmundo del
    Castillo and opposition Liberal Party chief Cesar Gaviria
    told us some members of the Court harbor animosity toward the
    President and that may be influencing their decisions.  The
    Prosecutor General (Fiscalia) detained Uribe cousin and
    former Senator Mario Uribe on April 23--a move expected to
    heighten tensions between the executive and the judiciary.
    End Summary

    SENATE LEADERS INVESTIGATED
    ---------------------------
    ¶2. (U)  The Supreme Court has begun preliminary
    investigations of Senate President Nancy Patricia Gutierrez
    and U Party President Carlos Garcia for alleged paramilitary
    ties.  The Fiscalia also arrested former Senator Mario Uribe
    (President Uribe's distant cousin and long-time political
    ally) on April 23 for reported para links.  Mario Uribe
    unsuccessfully sought political asylum in the Costa Rican
    Embassy prior to his detention.  Gutierrez and Garcia voiced
    confidence that the investigations against them would be
    dropped with no charges filed.  Gutierrez said the Court
    appeared to be initiating investigations based on rumors or
    the testimony of single, unreliable, and politically
    motivated witnesses.

    URIBE CALLS FOR OBJECTIVITY
    ---------------------------
    ¶3. (U)  President Uribe reiterated his "total support" for
    the judicial system on April 17, but urged the Supreme Court
    to be "objective" in its decisions.  He highlighted the
    increased resources that the GOC has provided the Court to
    carry out the para-political investigations, but called on it
    "not to open the door to institutional instability."
    Minister for Interior and Justice Carlos Holguin elaborated
    on April 20 that the GOC wanted "clarity and certainty" in
    the Court's actions, adding that "in some cases the Court had
    acted based on weak evidence."  Uribe announced after a
    meeting with GOC coalition party leaders on April 20, that
    the GOC would set up a commission to study possible political
    and judicial reform proposals, likely including ideas to
    reform systems for investigating members of Congress.

    SUPREME COURT "VENDETTA" CLOUDS JUDGMENT
    -----------------------------------------
    ¶4. (C) Presidential Legal Advisor Castillo told us former
    Supreme Court President Cesar Julio Valencia Copete and
    Supreme Court Judge Yesid Ramirez have influenced the Court's
    judgment when dealing with GOC allies.  Valencia is the
    subject of a criminal libel complaint filed by Uribe over
    their differing accounts of a phone conversation in October,
    2007 in which Valencia alleges Uribe inappropriately raised
    the case of Mario Uribe.  Castillo claimed Valencia's recent
    calling of a former paramilitary as a witness in his dispute
    with Uribe was irrelevant to the case and designed only to
    damage the president.  Then Supreme Court President Ramirez
    publicly clashed with Uribe two years ago, when he accused
    the president of siding with the Constitutional Court in its
    dispute with the Supreme Court over jurisdiction.  Uribe's
    relations with the Supreme Court have been strained since.

    ¶5. (C) Castillo said Supreme Court Auxiliary Magistrate Ivan
    Velasquez also continued his "vendetta" against Uribe,
    offering juridical benefits to former-paramilitaries to
    testify against the president.  Uribe filed a criminal
    complaint with the Fiscalia against Velasquez, accusing him
    of illegally pressuring ex-paras to provide false testimony
    against the president.  Castillo added that jailed former
    para leader Diego Murillo's (Don Berna) lawyer recently told
    him that Velasquez had offered Berna "benefits" in exchange

    for testimony against Uribe.  Such accusations are aimed at
    undermining Uribe's credibility, Castillo said.

    ¶6. (C) Further complicating the picture are rumors that
    ex-paramilitary leader Carlos Mario Jimenez ("Macaco") bribed
    Supreme Court magistrates, including Ramirez, to elect Fiscal
    General Mario Iguaran.  GOC members of Congress have also
    considered whether an investigation is warranted to examine
    ties between some magistrates and Italian businessman Gorgio
    Sale, allegedly involved in narcotrafficking and other crimes
    with ex-paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso.  Several Court
    members believe Congressmen implicated in the scandal are
    behind the allegations of Court ties to paramilitaries.  The
    Congressional Commission of Accusations is responsible for
    investigations against the magistrates.  On April 23,
    presidents of the four high courts (Supreme, Constitutional,
    Judiciary Council, and State Council) jointly announced their
    backing for the Supreme Court and its decisions in the
    para-political scandal.

    FORMER PRESIDENT GAVIRIA FEARS FURTHER TENSIONS
    --------------------------------------------- --
    ¶7. (C) Opposition Liberal Party Chief and former-President
    Cesar Gaviria told us he is concerned over the rising
    tensions between the Supreme Court and Uribe.  Gaviria said
    the Supreme Court has done a good job overall investigating
    para-political scandal.  Still, he added that recent
    decisions on para investigations and the Macaco extradition
    reflected some Court members' "personal animosity" towards
    Uribe.Gaviria said evidence in the cases against Uribe
    confidants Gutierrez and Mario Uribe appears weak.  He
    predicted the Court's tensions with the GOC would deepen
    since Uribe believes (accurately or not) that some judges are
    out to get him and his political allies.

    BROWNFIELD

`