U.S. Withdraws Colombia Accusation

Samper's not the only Colombian president to be linked to the drug cartel. Uribe's father was wanted by the US for drug trafficking and Uribe grew up with the Ochoas who later became lead players in the Medellin cartel when Uribe was mayor of Medellin.

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BOGOTA, Colombia - A U.S. federal attorney who accused the Cali drug cartel of bribing former President Ernesto Samper and dozens of congressmen to pass a favorable extradition law retracted his statement after Colombia threatened to stop turning over suspected traffickers to the United States.

Samper denied the allegations by U.S. Attorney Paul Perez, made in a March 9 court paper obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. Still they caused an uproar in Colombia as officials questioned whether the United States remained committed to the 1997 treaty.

U.S. Ambassador William Wood held a late-night news conference to try to repair the damage, insisting the United States would comply with the extradition requirements from its key ally in Latin America.

Wood, however, refused to explain why the document was shelved, saying only there had been a "confusion" and that he had just handed President Alvaro Uribe a revised version that omitted any mention of the accusations against Samper and the other politicians.

In a statement, Perez's office confirmed a new document had been filed with the U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla., but also gave no reason for the decision.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=589&e=2&u=/ap/20050318/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_us_drugs

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From pbs:

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COLOMBIA'S SAMPER AND THE DRUG LINK

CHARLES KRAUSE: When Ernesto Samper was inaugurated President of Colombia in 1994, the United States already suspected his campaign had taken millions of dollars from the Cali Cartel, said to be the largest and richest drug trafficking organization in the world. At a meeting in New York, Samper denied the charges, but he also reportedly promised the United States that once he became President, he would work to remove any lingering suspicions by taking strong measures to counteract the drug traffickers. In fact, the Colombian police made significant progress during Samper's first year in office, confiscating large amounts of cocaine and arresting six of the Cali Cartel's seven top leaders. One of them, Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, is shown here shortly after his arrest. Another of the drug lords, Jose Santacruz Londono, was shot to death by police just three weeks ago after successfully escaping prison in January.

...CHARLES KRAUSE: Just for the record, how is it possible that your campaign manager and the finance manager of your campaign apparently accepted $6 million, according to their own testimony, from the Cali Cartel, and you didn't know about it?

PRESIDENT ERNESTO SAMPER, Colombia: (speaking through interpreter) Very simple. First, because the financial structure of the campaign was made to have the candidate detached from the financial affairs of the campaign. I was the product, and the campaign handled the product. Second, because it is still to be established if those funds did enter the campaign because investigations suggest that part of these funds and eventually all of them could have been diverted to personal accounts of those who are currently under investigation. That is why the truth will only be revealed when Mr. Botero's bank account in the U.S. and other trade operations made on his behalf by the treasurer of the campaign are investigated.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/colombia_3-20.html

aka DanRather-ed, aka EasonJordan-ed.

himself a great wit, it would seem. From your PBS interview link:

PRESIDENT ERNESTO SAMPER: (speaking through interpreter) That is very simple. All the mafias in the world, those which have operated in the U.S., in Italy, or in Colombia, seek ways to buy political powers. They pursue ways to influence decisions in their favor. Then the real answer to your question would be if the government of President Samper has favored the Cali Cartel. Did they give that money in order for me to imprison them? Did they give that money for me to judge them? Did they give that money for me to chase Mr. Santacruz, for me to present a law on money laundering to be passed by the congress in order to take away from them any possibility to circulate their money? That would be absurd. It would be an act of historic masochism.

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So it would seem YES he's dirty, and the U.S. had to eat the charges in order to keep extradition rights, right? Jeez.

thought it might interst you. Here's a Google search on the name--also another article at ColombiaJournal if you search 'samper'. Be back later..

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=convivir+%2Bsamper&spell=1

on the Cuba board about CONVIVIR by Nelaco a while back. CONVIVIR was enacted by Samper in 1997 and it alarmed human rights groups around the globe. It hid the identies of the people who were the informants for the paras and basically gave the paras a license to kill (as if they needed one). :puke:

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....Instead of moving aggressively to protect the civilian population and ensure its neutral status, the government promoted Rural Watch Cooperatives Cooperativas de Vigilancia y Seguridad Rural, CONVIVIR), made up of civilians authorized to gather intelligence for the security forces, join maneuvers, and use weapons banned for private ownership, including machine guns, mortars, grenades, and assault rifles. Although CONVIVIRs receive a government license, the identities of their members remain anonymous even to local authorities.

In 1997, we received credible reports that CONVIVIRs in the Middle Magdalena and southern Cesar regions were led by known paramilitaries and had threatened and killed Colombians deemed sympathetic to guerrillas or who refused to join. On February 3, a CONVIVIR patrolling with the army's Fourteenth Brigade near the village of San Francisco, in Santander, apparently executed Norberto Galeano, Reynaldo Ríos, and a seventy-year-old man, then dismembered their bodies. Two months earlier, the same group had been linked to the massacre of at least seven people in the nearby villages of La Congoja and Puerto Nuevo, prompting the mass displacement of over 700 villagers.

Along with the CCJ, fourteen human rights groups filed a suit with the Constitutional Court calling for Decree 356, which regulates CONVIVIR, to be declared unconstitutional. In its brief, the CCJ argued that through CONVIVIR, the Samper administration was arming civilians in violation of the constitution. Given Colombia's tragic history of paramilitary violence, executive director Gustavo Gallón noted in an August 26 hearing before the court, a decree that "permits the organization and development of paramilitary groups. . .is contrary to the essence of the State's rule of law."

http://www.hrw.org/worldreport/Americas-02.htm