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Colombia ex-leader Uribe denies blame for killings

AFP

Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe denied responsibility for the murder of thousands of civilians by the military during his government’s crackdown on guerrillas in testimony before a special commission Monday.

The military carried out at least 6,400 extrajudicial killings between 2002 and 2008, during Uribe’s presidency, a special court investigating Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict found in June.

The court, known by its initials JEP, and a Truth Commission were set up under the 2016 peace deal that ended a decades-long conflict between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerillas.

In testimony delivered from his home Uribe told Truth Commission members that he should not be held responsible for the actions of military that he never ordered.

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“The guilt never belongs to the one who demands transparent results (but) belongs to the hapless criminal who commits crimes to fake results,” Uribe said in remarks broadcast on social media. 

“Some hapless people believed that committing crimes was producing results.”

The JEP and the Truth Commission are looking into the worst abuses committed by leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and soldiers during the conflict. 

Those who confess responsibility and compensate the victims can avoid prison time, but those who don’t face up to 20 years in jail.

Under the peace deal, Uribe cannot be prosecuted by the court. His statements Monday were voluntary.

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Uribe’s successor, President Juan Manuel Santos, told the court in June that the crimes were committed due to government pressure to deliver results in the fight against the guerrillas.

Some military members have already admitted to killing civilians in return for days off, travel and other benefits.

But Uribe claimed that military personnel “are being forced to recognize crimes that weren’t committed to protect their freedom.”

Uribe opposed the peace process, which was initially rejected in a referendum before being renegotiated and ratified by congress.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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