Leer en Español
Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office has requested the preclusion of the case against former President Álvaro Uribe. A case that has been plagued with irregularities and that made millions of Colombians think that Justice was completely taken over by the mafias. Today, the left and the guerrillas see how the plan they built for years to destroy not only Álvaro Uribe but the only political force that is currently a real brake on the guerrillas, is being destroyed.
Uribe has long been the main enemy of narco-socialism, that is why on August 7, 2002, when he took office for the first time as president, the FARC tried to kill him. They knew that in office he would do whatever was necessary to finish them off.
With mortar shells and rockets they tried to assassinate the man who promised frontal combat. While the inauguration ceremony was taking place, they launched several rockets in the direction of the presidential palace, one of them, the one that came closest to assassinating the president, crashed on a cornice of the roof of the Casa de Nariño.
The attacks that day left more than 20 dead and 50 wounded, but did not succeed in assassinating Álvaro Uribe who, as promised, after eight years in office, left the FARC technically defeated.
Uribe took back a country that was almost totally taken over by the FARC. By 2002, when he assumed the presidency, it was dangerous to even try to leave Bogotá by land, the guerrillas were on the verge of taking over the capital.
With his “decapitation” policy, which consisted of capturing or killing FARC leaders, he managed to dismantle the criminal organization. Álvaro Uribe’s was truly frontal combat. He even bombed a FARC camp in Ecuador, where he killed “Raul Reyes,” at the time the number two of the terrorist group.
In addition, his government offered juicy rewards to those who handed over the ringleaders. One of the most notorious cases was that of Iván Ríos, head of the Central Bloc of the FARC and member of the Secretariat, who was killed by his security chief, who would later send the authorities the hand of the ringleader as evidence to collect the reward.
Every leader killed, every camp reduced, every terrorist extradited, millions of Colombians celebrated it as a new hope that the country would be saved. And so it happened. 158 municipalities where criminals ruled were recovered during the former president’s term in office. There is no president in the history of Colombia who has extradited more criminals than Álvaro Uribe.
And after security arrived, the economic reforms that brought the country forward began. Between 2002 and 2010 the Colombian economy grew at an average annual rate of 4.4%, with a peak of 6.9% in 2007, the highest in 20 years. Foreign direct investment grew almost four times during the Uribe era. At the end of his administration, Colombia was recognized as the Latin American champion in foreign investment, and tourists from all over the world returned to visit the country, which positioned itself as one of the preferred destinations in the region.
Álvaro Uribe adopted the only strategy that works when dealing with criminals: frontal combat. He saved the country and the FARC will never forgive him for that. But, in addition, with all the mistakes he may have made, Uribe continues to be the leader of half the country, the man who confronts the guerrillas with the right strategy, Uribe continues to be an unprecedented political phenomenon.
That is why the left, both the one that pretends to be civilized and the one that is up in arms, has tried to take him down in every possible way. The latest move is a trial full of irregularities that left the president under house arrest for several weeks for allegedly tampering with witnesses.
They illegally intercepted him, denied that they were conducting an investigation against him, refused to interview key witnesses for the process, did not allow his defense to cross-examine the “star witness” of the case, and so many other things that left many Colombians impressed with the brazen actions of the Supreme Court of Justice. However, today, after a long legal battle, the triumph was for the truth, there is still a long way to go but the trial that they mounted to end the only party that faces the guerrilla is crumbling amidst the applause of a brave country that never, not even in the toughest situations, has bowed down to evil.
Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editor-in-chief of El American. Economist. Podcaster. Political and economic analysis of America. Colombian exile in the United States // Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editora en jefe de El American. Economista. Podcaster. Análisis político y económico de América. Colombiana exiliada en EE. UU.
Congratulaitions! this is the true