UPDATED: President Uribe’s cousin arrested after Costa Rica denies asylum

Former Senator Mario Uribe Escobar, 58, cousin of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, has been arrested Tuesday night by agents of the Attorney General’s office Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) as he left the Costa Rican embassy in Bogotá, among protests of relatives and representatives of victims of paramilitary militias Uribe Escobar has been linked to.

Mr Uribe Escobar was seeking asylum in Costa Rica after the General Attorney’s office issued an arrest warrant early Tuesday, his lawyer José del Carmen Ortega told local media. Uribe Escobar quitted from Senate in October 2007 after the Supreme Court started an official investigation on his alleged links with the United Self-defences of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary militias. He had been subpoenaed in September.

Two hours before, at 18:30 COT (23:30 UTC) Tuesday Costa Rican authorities had denied Uribe Escobar’s request for political asylum, according to a Foreign Relations Ministry communiqué published on its website. The Ministry considered the request "inadmissible" and says it has taken into account a "communication sent by the Colombia’s General Attorney’s office" reporting an arrest warrant against Mr Uribe Escobar and the "concern for Mr Uribe not to evade Colombian justice’s summons".

On Tuesday morning, Ramiro Marín, delegate attorney before the Supreme Court, issued an arrest warrant for Uribe on criminal conspiracy charges for "agreements to promote illegal armed groups". Uribe Escobar allegedly met paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso (currently in jail after a demobilization process) before the 2002 elections, and with Jairo Castillo Peralta, aka Pitirri, in 1998. Castillo told the investigators that Uribe Escobar met several times with paramilitaries "in order to negotiate [the purchase] of lands in Caucasia [Antioquia department, northwestern Colombia]", where he allegedly acquired "more than 5,000 ha of land with the help of paramilitary pressure", weekly newspaper El Espectador says on its website. As the General Attorney’s Office seeks Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant, Uribe Escobar waited to met Costa Rican ambassador Clara Montero Mejía.

Mr Uribe Escobar, a close ally of his cousin, President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, is the chief of the right-wing Colombia Democrática party, with a long political experience. He was President of the Colombian Senate between July 2000 and July 2001. All Colombia Democrática’s congressmen but one are in jail or under investigation for the so-called parapolitics scandal. On Monday, Ricardo Elcure Chacón, who replaced Uribe Escobar after his resignation, delivered himself to the Attorney’s Office after it issued an arrest warrant against him, after the testimony of Jorge Iván Laverde, aka Iguano, who accused Elcure of receiving COP$80 million (US$45,000 or €28,000) for his Norte de Santander governorship campaign in 2003. Elcure was not elected.

The AUC, as the left-wing FARC rebels, are considered terrorist organizations by the Colombian and US government, as well as the European Union. As many as 32 lawmakers are in jail for the scandal, among the 60 who are under investigation as official suspects either by the Supreme Court or the Attorney’s Office, in case they have stepped down from office. Among the latter are included Carlos García, president of the ruling Party of the U, and Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez, current President of the Senate. Most of the lawmakers belong to the ruling coalition. Nevertheless, President Uribe Vélez remains popular for fighting FARC guerrillas and achieving a good economic performance.

[Updated 19:00 and 21:24 COT]

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