Former President Denounces Colombian Government For Colluding With Trump Re-Election Campaign

Former Colombian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos (above left) said during a talk at the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce in Bogotá that he had received credible intelligence from Washington that officials in the administration of current Colombian President Ivan Duque have offered to help US President Donald Trump’s re-election effort. This comes after US Vice President Mike Pence tweeted his support of former Colombian President and Duque’s political patron Alvaro Uribe, who is currently facing criminal charges of witness tampering, and under investigation for massacres and collaboration with death squads.

But, as Former President @AlvaroUribeVel is under house arrest, we join all freedom loving voices around the world in calling on Colombian officials to let this Hero, who is a recipient of the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, defend himself as a free man.

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) August 14, 2020

If true, such assistance violates not only ethics but US election law.

Santos was the president of Colombia immediately before current president Ivan Duque. Alvaro Uribe was president before Santos. Santos served as Uribe’s defense minister and finance minister, and was initially supported by Uribe as his successor, but they quickly fell out once Uribe realized that Santos would not obey his orders. Duque on the other hand, who was also hand-picked by Uribe, is a faithful “Uribista.”

“There is an aspect that worries me enormously,” said Santos. “because they have called me from Washington and they have told me ‘you were the architect of bipartisan politics, there are spokesmen from the current government of Colombia who are calling on the Trump campaign to see how they can help.’ This is very serious, because not only is it illegal but it generates a reaction from the Democrat party, which already knows that this is happening.”

Santos was at the binational chamber of commerce to discuss his forthcoming book “An Optimistic Message For A World In Crisis.”