A former presidential press secretary and a former director of state intelligence agency DAS were called for questioning over the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court judges, journalists, politicians and human rights workers.
Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, who was press secretary under former President Alvaro Uribe and was recently sworn in as Colombia’s ambassador to the Vatican, has to respond to allegations that he attended meetings in the presidential palace where intelligence officials informed Uribe aides about the illegal wiretaps.
Last week, a key witness accused Andres Peñate, director of the DAS between November 2005 and August 2007, of ordering the wiretapping of Semana columnist and director of Noticias Uno Daniel Coronell. According to the key witness, Peñate said that Uribe was “bothered” by the critical columns and reports by Coronell about the former president and his family.
Colombia’s Congress on Tuesday appointed three pro-Uribe congressmen to investigate the former president’s role in the scandal.
