Police stand in entrance of a banner studying in Spanish “Uribe guilty” displayed by opponents of former President Alvaro Uribe outdoors the courtroom the place a verdict is anticipated in his trial for witness tampering in Bogota, Colombia, on July 28, 2025.
Fernando Vergara/AP
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Fernando Vergara/AP
BOGOTA, Colombia — Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was convicted of witness tampering and bribery Monday in a historic trial that gripped the South American nation and threatened to tarnish the conservative strongman’s legacy.
The ruling adopted an almost six-month trial during which prosecutors offered proof that Uribe tried to affect witnesses who accused the law-and-order chief of getting hyperlinks to a paramilitary group based by ranchers within the Nineteen Nineties.
Uribe, 73, was not in courtroom within the capital, Bogota, for the decision because the choose has to this point not ordered his arrest. He adopted the ruling from his residence outdoors Medellin however didn’t instantly talk about it.
Uribe faces as much as 12 years in jail however a sentencing will likely be delivered in a separate listening to. He’s anticipated to enchantment the ruling.
The previous president, who ruled from 2002 to 2010 with robust help from the US, is a polarizing determine in Colombia, the place many credit score him for saving the nation from changing into a failed state, whereas others affiliate him with human rights violations and the rise of paramilitary teams within the Nineteen Nineties.
Whereas the ruling was learn, Uribe’s opponents clashed briefly together with his supporters outdoors the courthouse.
In a ruling that lasted greater than 10 hours, Decide Sandra Heredia stated there was sufficient proof to find out that Uribe conspired with a lawyer to coax three former members of paramilitary teams who have been in jail into altering testimony that they had supplied to Ivan Cepeda, a left-wing senator who had launched an investigation into Uribe’s alleged ties to a paramilitary group.
The case dates to 2012, when Uribe filed a libel swimsuit in opposition to Cepeda with the Supreme Court docket. However in a twist, the excessive courtroom dismissed the costs in opposition to Cepeda and commenced investigating Uribe in 2018.
Throughout Uribe’s presidency, Colombia’s navy attained a few of its greatest battlefield victories in opposition to Latin America’s oldest leftist insurgency, pushing the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia into distant pockets and forcing the group’s management into peace talks that led to the disarmament of greater than 13,000 fighters in 2016.
Recognized for his tireless work ethic and brief mood, Uribe nonetheless has legions of followers in Colombia and is among the fiercest opponents of the present president, former leftist guerrilla Gustavo Petro.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacted to the ruling, because it grew to become evident that Decide Heredia was going to seek out the previous president responsible of bribery.
“Uribe’s only crime has been to tirelessly fight and defend his homeland” Rubio wrote on Monday on X. “The weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges has now set a worrisome precedent.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro defended the ruling, writing on X that “a strong justice system” will allow Colombia to emerge from violence. He added in one other message that Rubio was interfering with Colombia’s sovereignty.
“The world must respect the judges of Colombia” Petro wrote.
Heredia stated that her ruling shouldn’t be interpreted as “a victory for anyone” however as “an act of justice.”
Critics additionally blame Uribe for state crimes. Based on a fact fee created in 2017, greater than 6,400 civilians have been executed by the Colombian navy and recognized as members of insurgent teams by troopers looking for promotions in the course of the battle, in a phenomenon that peaked in the course of the Uribe administration.
Prosecutors accused Uribe of sending legal professionals to satisfy with imprisoned former paramilitary henchmen and strain them to drop testimony that that they had supplied to Senator Cepeda.
Through the trial, Uribe denied attempting to flip witnesses however acknowledged looking for interviews with the lads as a part of his preparation for trial and to confirm testimonies that have been additionally being utilized in a homicide trial in opposition to his brother, Santiago Uribe, who was additionally accused of ties to the armed paramilitaries.
Cepeda spoke to journalists after the ruling, and stated that he would proceed to battle for “truth and justice” for victims of Colombia’s battle. “No one can defy and taint the rule of law,” he stated.
