Another hard blow for Álvaro Uribe and a political victory for his detractors. The former president will have to wait out the appeal proceedings under house arrest. Although the judge had praised his respectful attitude throughout the hearings during the sentencing, she issued a restraining order, imposed immediate arrest, and sentenced him to twelve years in prison for procedural fraud and witness bribery, the maximum possible for those crimes. Sandra Heredia, the presiding judge of the 44th Court of Bogotá, even exceeded the nine-year sentence requested by the prosecution.
The decision further deepens the political polarization and encourages the combat, with an exchange of serious accusations, that the former president and Gustavo Petro have been waging on the X network since last Monday.
Senator Iván Cepeda, of the Historic Pact and the main plaintiff, has achieved a personal victory that could catapult him to the top of the far-left presidential candidacy. After dedicating almost his entire political life to denouncing Álvaro Uribe, considering him a key player in paramilitarism, he has now achieved the long-held dream of his party members.
With this decision, the judge once again surprised lawyers interviewed by various media outlets. Given that the former president has no criminal record and has responded to all judicial requests, they had predicted he would not take drastic measures in a system with guarantees like Colombia's and when it came to the first instance.
The former president's defense team now has five business days to submit the appeal to the Bogotá Superior Court, which must rule before October 16, the statute of limitations for the case. They are also considering filing a writ of protection before the court to ensure Uribe remains free.
"I often say in my presentations on leadership and crisis management that the most difficult crises are those that affect us personally. These personal crises require family, loved ones, friends, and committed compatriots who have supported us," Álvaro Uribe wrote hours earlier from his home near Medellín.
Also this Friday, they released a letter addressed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS, among other organizations, by thirty-six former Latin American presidents."We ask for your actions to prevent former President Uribe from continuing to be the victim of a criminal process riddled with anomalies, which has now resulted in a judicial conviction," reads a part of the letter also signed by Mariano Rajoy and José María Aznar.
The international offensive to denounce what they consider political persecution will continue with the four Democratic Center presidential candidates' tour of Europe and the United States.
"The conviction will generate a paradoxical resurgence of solidarity from Uribe's supporters; it has victimized them and this will result in massive support for their party and their candidates in the elections," Carlos Suárez, director of the firm Estrategia y Poder, analyzed for EL MUNDO.
"In the most widely watched public trial in history, the country confirmed Uribe's innocence and the political fabrication of his trial. Legally, the verdict is not yet final; it is being appealed, and in the meantime, Uribe will continue to enjoy the presumption of innocence and remain a political figurehead for Petro's opposition. Like Perón, the former president transcends political mechanics; he is a collective imagination."
