Colombia's ex-President Uribe grilled by lawmakers

Former President Alvaro Uribe was grilled by lawmakers over allegations of ties to drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries, accusations that have dogged him over decades in Colombia's politics.
The claims have taken on new relevance as Colombians start to come to grips with their violent past and seek a lasting peace with Marxist rebels.
Yesterday's questioning of the conservative leader, who was president in 2002-10, was orchestrated by leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda. Both men have suffered firsthand a half-century of political violence.
Uribe's father was killed in a guerrilla ambush. Cepeda's senator-father was gunned down on a Bogota street in 1994 as part of a campaign of terror against leftist politicians following an earlier peace deal.

In a 90-minute speech, Cepeda presented documents and testimony by former paramilitaries, many of whose claims have previously been known, feeding rumors and suspicions about Uribe. The former president has dismissed them as politically motivated. Many involve his family and date from the start of his political career in Medellin when the city was dominated by Pablo Escobar's cocaine cartel.
"Colombia is at a crossroads between perpetuating war, hate and violence or opening the difficult path to reconciliation and peace," Cepeda told a packed assembly of lawmakers and journalists. "Knowing the truth is key for the political process our country is undergoing."

Uribe, who got the most votes of any senator winning seats in March elections and is the leading opponent of President Juan Manuel Santos, left the legislature at the start of the session in protest. He called it a "moral lynching" promoted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the "media servants of terrorism."

But after walking across Plaza Bolivar to present evidence to the Supreme Court accusing Cepeda of slander, Uribe returned to defend his record and attack the current administration.
As president, Uribe beefed up security forces and intensified military offensives against the FARC, helping to dramatically reduce what was then one of the world's highest homicide and kidnapping rates.

He also extradited more than 1,000 suspected drug traffickers to the US, earning him a reputation as Washington's staunchest ally in the region.