SOLIDARITY OF THE POLO DEMOCRATICO PARTY WITH THE PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA 'S SUPREME COURT
(Translated by Thomas Kolar, a CSN volunteer translator)
Bogota: January 21, 2008
Doctor
CESAR JULIO VALENCIA COPETE
President
Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia
Reference: solidarity of the Alternative Democratic Pole with the President of the Supreme Court of Justice in the face of the new attack by the President of the Republic,
Doctor Alvaro Uribe Velez.
Honorable Magistrate:
The National Executive Committee of the Alternative Democratic Pole repudiates in a manner most emphatic the decision of Alvaro Uribe Velez to denounce by injury and calumny Doctor Cesar Julio Valencia Copete, President of the Supreme Court of Justice, and condemns as an act approaching tyranny the proposed submission of the judges to the power of the executive, and reiterates to each member of the court our support for your brave decision to apply the law to the case of the relationship between many office holders and paramilitarism and calls on all democrats of Colombia, without exception, to defend the separation of powers that is established by the Colombian constitution and to respect the dignity and decisions of the Court.
The denunciation to which we refer, that is to be so repudiated, is made worse by four facts that should be known in Colombia and the world. First, the many attacks by President Uribe against the Supreme Court of Justice before this, including the pressures for decisions that favor interests that coincide with his own, his sophisms that create public doubt about the honor of their decisions, and the injury to the magistrates, all have the object of discrediting the Supreme Court of Justice and facilitating impunity.
Second, it is known that the majority of aggression of President Uribe against the Court originates In the decisions that have gone against the paramilitaries, including the last, that began with a call of the head of state to the President of the Supreme Court of Justice pressuring him into proceedings that involve a confessed criminal called Tasmania and senator Mario Uribe, cousin of the president.
Third, it is also known to the public that almost all those named “para-politicians” supported Alvaro Uribe in his two presidential elections, which reality helps us see the state of decomposition that has come in Colombia and the nature of those who govern, those that extol the strength of the court in pursuit of the truth about serious facts that include putting at risk its integrity and that constitute the final explication of the antagonism which is the victim.
The magazine “El Tiempo” of 18 June 2008 informs us that 46 members of congress elected in 2006 were involved in the scandal of “para-politicians”. Similarly, “El Nuevo Siglo” of 14 January arrives at a figure of 125 high officials involved in paramilitarism. And in both cases they are almost all partisans of Uribe. In what country of the world that is not as decomposed as Colombia would they tolerate a Chief of State with such an origin and whose director of secret police faces charges of paramilitarism and produced decisions that corroborate that there was fraud in the presidential election of 2002?
And the fourth thing one sees with the calculated decision of the Chief of State, himself notoriously anti-democratic, to form a penal denouncement against the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, knowing the result will be injustice. Because the only witnesses that can present in the proceedings are three high employees of the government of President Alvaro Uribe and because the trial begins in the Commission of Accusations of the House of Representatives, an institution completely controlled by political friends of President Uribe, the same ones who normally do not obey the law that orders investigation when one is accussed and that form part of some majorities constituted through bureaucratic pressure from the Chief of State. Will there be justice for the President of the Supreme Court if the accuser, the witnesses, and the judges represent the same interests and belong to the same group of para-politicians investigated by the Court. Is it possible to conceive more bias? No one should be surprised if it must go to an international tribunal.
Mister President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Alternative Democratic Pole will never join with those who operate in this manner, using their power to frustrate the separation of powers that the Constitution ordains as our democratic base, alleging objectives that appear noble but, as in this case, the true bias jumps into view.
Attentively,
Carlos Gaviria Diaz Daniel Garcia-Pena
President Secretary
Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701-1505
phone: (608) 257-8753
fax: (608) 255-6621
e-mail: csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net
Bogota: January 21, 2008
Doctor
CESAR JULIO VALENCIA COPETE
President
Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia
Reference: solidarity of the Alternative Democratic Pole with the President of the Supreme Court of Justice in the face of the new attack by the President of the Republic,
Doctor Alvaro Uribe Velez.
Honorable Magistrate:
The National Executive Committee of the Alternative Democratic Pole repudiates in a manner most emphatic the decision of Alvaro Uribe Velez to denounce by injury and calumny Doctor Cesar Julio Valencia Copete, President of the Supreme Court of Justice, and condemns as an act approaching tyranny the proposed submission of the judges to the power of the executive, and reiterates to each member of the court our support for your brave decision to apply the law to the case of the relationship between many office holders and paramilitarism and calls on all democrats of Colombia, without exception, to defend the separation of powers that is established by the Colombian constitution and to respect the dignity and decisions of the Court.
The denunciation to which we refer, that is to be so repudiated, is made worse by four facts that should be known in Colombia and the world. First, the many attacks by President Uribe against the Supreme Court of Justice before this, including the pressures for decisions that favor interests that coincide with his own, his sophisms that create public doubt about the honor of their decisions, and the injury to the magistrates, all have the object of discrediting the Supreme Court of Justice and facilitating impunity.
Second, it is known that the majority of aggression of President Uribe against the Court originates In the decisions that have gone against the paramilitaries, including the last, that began with a call of the head of state to the President of the Supreme Court of Justice pressuring him into proceedings that involve a confessed criminal called Tasmania and senator Mario Uribe, cousin of the president.
Third, it is also known to the public that almost all those named “para-politicians” supported Alvaro Uribe in his two presidential elections, which reality helps us see the state of decomposition that has come in Colombia and the nature of those who govern, those that extol the strength of the court in pursuit of the truth about serious facts that include putting at risk its integrity and that constitute the final explication of the antagonism which is the victim.
The magazine “El Tiempo” of 18 June 2008 informs us that 46 members of congress elected in 2006 were involved in the scandal of “para-politicians”. Similarly, “El Nuevo Siglo” of 14 January arrives at a figure of 125 high officials involved in paramilitarism. And in both cases they are almost all partisans of Uribe. In what country of the world that is not as decomposed as Colombia would they tolerate a Chief of State with such an origin and whose director of secret police faces charges of paramilitarism and produced decisions that corroborate that there was fraud in the presidential election of 2002?
And the fourth thing one sees with the calculated decision of the Chief of State, himself notoriously anti-democratic, to form a penal denouncement against the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, knowing the result will be injustice. Because the only witnesses that can present in the proceedings are three high employees of the government of President Alvaro Uribe and because the trial begins in the Commission of Accusations of the House of Representatives, an institution completely controlled by political friends of President Uribe, the same ones who normally do not obey the law that orders investigation when one is accussed and that form part of some majorities constituted through bureaucratic pressure from the Chief of State. Will there be justice for the President of the Supreme Court if the accuser, the witnesses, and the judges represent the same interests and belong to the same group of para-politicians investigated by the Court. Is it possible to conceive more bias? No one should be surprised if it must go to an international tribunal.
Mister President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Alternative Democratic Pole will never join with those who operate in this manner, using their power to frustrate the separation of powers that the Constitution ordains as our democratic base, alleging objectives that appear noble but, as in this case, the true bias jumps into view.
Attentively,
Carlos Gaviria Diaz Daniel Garcia-Pena
President Secretary
Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701-1505
phone: (608) 257-8753
fax: (608) 255-6621
e-mail: csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net
posted by CSN at 10:36 AM
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