The politicians and the drugs cartels – scandal engulfs Colombia’s elite
In the cramped and dirty cells of La Picota prison in Bogotá, some of Colombia’s most hardened criminals languish, existing on the barest amenities. The prison is notorious – the scene of bloody feuds and riots.
But in part of this sprawling complex a number of well-heeled detainees have a starkly different routine. Their cells are newly painted, decorated with bedspreads, curtains, and filled with tape players and personal belongings. A freezer is stocked with a steady supply of their favourite foods: dried fish from the Caribbean coast, catfish, duck, and small turtles – a local speciality. On visiting days, they have festive barbecues with their families.
These fortunate few – seven senators and one congressman – are political allies of President Alvaro Uribe, and all are charged with collusion with illegal rightwing militias. Some also face charges of conspiring to commit electoral fraud, murder, kidnapping and even organising massacres.
Accusations of alliances with drug-trafficking death squad leaders who effectively controlled swaths of the country have engulfed Colombia’s political, military and business elites. They increasingly threaten to touch the president’s office, and while the Bush administration’s support for its only ally in the region has been unwavering, the US Congress is increasingly questioning the multimillion dollar military aid packages handed out to the Bogotá government in the so-called “war on drugs”.
