Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe responded yesterday to the Colombian Supreme Court’s April 30 sentencing of two high-ranking members of his administration who organized a spy ring targeting Uribe’s political opponents and critics. María del Pilar Hurtado, former head of the now-defunct Colombian intelligence agency Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS), received a 14-year prison term, while Uribe’s former chief of staff, Bernardo Moreno, received an eight-year sentence.
Hurtado and Moreno are two of many former Uribe top aides who have been either convicted or under investigation for conspiracy and corruption since 2010. The two were convicted in February of illegally spying on journalists, human rights activist, and opposition leaders during Uribe’s 2002 to 2010 term as president.
Hurtado fled to Panama in 2010, seeking asylum, but turned herself in to Colombian authorities in January in the hope that she would receive more leniency.
Uribe, now a senator for the conservative Centro Democrático party, urged Hurtado to negotiate with the Supreme Court for a shorter sentence. “[Hurtado] should negotiate without involving innocent colleagues from the government or third parties,” Uribe said. “She should negotiate her liberty and that of Bernardo Moreno, saying everything that she should about me and if I committed a crime, I should be tried.”
Uribe has denied any knowledge of the spying ring and referred to the investigation and convictions as a “shameful massacre.”
