Santiago Uribe Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison

Bogota, Colombia – Santiago Uribe, the brother of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, has been sentenced to 28 years and three months in prison for aggravated homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime while leading a paramilitary group.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel in the northwestern province of Antioquia ruled that, in the early 1990s, Uribe “formed and led an illegal armed group”.

Under Uribe’s leadership, the group allegedly “carried out a plan to systematically murder and exterminate peopel considered undesirable”.

Uribe has denied any connections with paramilitary groups. His legal team plans to appeal the decision.

This ruling overturns a lower court’s acquittal from last year. The case will now go to Colombia’s Supreme Court for a final decision.

The conviction is the latest progress in a long-running criminal investigation into the Uribe family and their alleged ties to paramilitary groups.

Critics have accused Uribe and his brother, the former president, of having ties to groups involved in serious human rights abuses during Colombia’s 60-year internal conflict.

Tuesday’s conviction concerns activities that took place on and around the Uribe family’s La Carolina cattle ranch, located in Antioquia.

In its 307-page ruling, the court explained how the ranch was used as a base for The 12 Apostles, a far-right paramilitary group formed by ranchers in the early 1990s to fight leftist rebels, especially the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The court described The 12 Apostles as a “death squad”, stating it performed “social cleansing” by killing “undesirables” including sex workers and people suspected of supporting rebel groups.