Iván Cepeda says that contacts with “Gabino” were authorized and can prove it

In dialogue with The viewer, Iván Cepeda assured that the Prosecutor’s Office has not notified him of investigations into the alleged illegal trips to Cuba of aliases Gabino, former ELN commander. The politician, who was a negotiator between the government and the guerrillas, said that the investigating body seeks to divert attention from the criminal process against former president Álvaro Uribe.

In the midst of the storm due to the alleged irregularities in the trips to Cuba of former ELn commander Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias Gabino, Senator Iván Cepeda explained in dialogue with The viewer that, if he came into contact with this guerrilla leader, he did so while carrying out his work as a peace negotiator between the Colombian guerrilla and the government of Juan Manuel Santos. I also assure you that the Prosecutor’s Office has not notified you of possible investigations.

In context: Prosecutor’s Office inspected the Office of the Commissioner for Peace with permission from “Gabino”.

“I am ready before any judicial instance because I have my papers and my conscience in order. The Prosecutor’s Office has not notified me of any appointment, I have noticed it through the media, ”Senator Cepeda told this newspaper. And it is that, just this morning, Snail Radio He said that, in the inspection that the investigating entity made last Monday to the office of the High Commissioner for Peace in the framework of the investigation for the permits of Gabino, documentation on Cepeda was apparently taken.

In accordance with Week, Cuban Ambassador José Ponce Caraballo mentioned the Congressman from Polo as the “intermediary” between the Government and aliases Gabino, a guerrilla who took command of his organization in 1998 and who would be in the Central American island on an irregular basis. Specifically, the high commissioner for peace, Miguel Ceballos, denounced to the Prosecutor’s Office of Néstor Humberto Martínez that alias Gabino, who was not part of the negotiating table, arrived in Havana (Cuba) in July 2018, after passing through Venezuela and with a permit that would not comply with the requirements of Colombian law.

The cable came from Ambassador Ponce Carballo himself, who assured that the Santos Government authorized the arrival of the guerrilla for “humanitarian purposes”, but did not suspend the arrest warrants in force against him. On a second alias trip GabinoUnder the same conditions and due to supposed medical check-ups, the name of Senator Iván Cepeda would appear as a facilitator. However, the Congressman from Polo assures that all his movements are under the protection of the law: “I acted in the process with the ELN with verbal and written authorization from the President of the Republic and in full coordination with the office of Alto Commissioner for Peace ”.

In a recent interview with FMFurthermore, Cepeda added that he did not even cross words with aliases Gabino, a situation that he confirmed in an interview with this newspaper. “There is no possibility, unless it is a montage or a manipulation, that the opposite can be argued. And if so, what I point out is that the attorney general Francisco Barbosa has been and is preparing a setup against me. A persecution that he has tried to carry out through different means to seek to prosecute me, ”he sentenced.

Also read: Government asks Cuba to extradite alias “Gabino”, top leader of the ELN.

Cepeda’s allegations against prosecutor Barbosa, in this new debate by aliases GabinoThey come from an ongoing episode: the possibility that the Prosecutor’s Office will bring former President Álvaro Uribe to trial for alleged procedural fraud and bribery. Currently, the coordinator of prosecutors delegated to the Supreme Court of Justice, Gabriel Jaimes Durán, is about to accuse or close the investigation of the former president, a situation that has generated a great debate between the senator of Polo and the entity.

“I must express to him in a well-founded manner that I do not believe in his impartiality, I do not believe in his independence, I believe that justice for the victims and the truth that society needs are very distant in his hands.” That was one of the criticisms that Iván Cepeda sent to the prosecutor Gabriel James Durán, in a document consisting of 40 questions regarding the prosecution’s procedural action in the Uribe Vélez case. In such case, the senator from Polo is the victim.

Also read: “Since the Uribe case reached the Prosecutor’s Office, there have been no guarantees”: Iván Cepeda.

Iván Cepeda’s complaints against Jaimes even have the support of a citizen oversight made up of more than 1,200 people, including well-known politicians, and 260 social organizations. “We share Senator Cepeda’s concern about the lack of guarantees offered by the prosecutor Gabriel Jaimes, the ignorance of the evidence already practiced by the highest court of criminal justice in Colombia (Supreme Court of Justice) and the attempt to divert the investigation towards the main witness in this case (Juan Guillermo Monsalve) ”, they state in a letter sent to the attorney general Barbosa.

For its part, the investigating body recently announced that the delegate prosecutor Gabriel Jaimes has received threats for his work in the Uribe Vélez file. “The Attorney General’s Office calls on the different sectors of civil society to respect judicial independence and autonomy, essential principles in the consolidation of a democratic State. In the same way, it urges that the processes in charge of the entity be allowed to be resolved in law, away from any political or personal controversy, “the entity explained in a statement.

The attorney general Francisco Barbosa also promised to continue with the investigation against Álvaro Uribe Vélez, taking into account the principles of “autonomy” and “independence” that the investigating body must comply with. “I want to tell Colombians that we are not going to allow anyone to try to alter the normal and objective course of justice, through threats, intimidation or pressure of any kind against the constitutional and legal action led by the Prosecutor’s Office,” he explained in his twitter account.

In context: Prosecutor’s Office investigates threats against Gabriel Jaimes, prosecutor in the Uribe case.

However, for Iván Cepeda the prosecutor Barbosa has political purposes, as well as the leakage of alias documents Gabino: “It is about setting a favorable decision for Uribe. Dilute the attention of public opinion in the face of very serious events such as, for example, the decision or the order presented by the JEP to present to the country the reality of the so-called false positives ”. What this newspaper was able to confirm is that documents related to the rules and protocols of the negotiation process between the ELN and the Juan Manuel Santos Government were obtained during the proceedings before the High Commissioner for Peace.