Leon Valencia, head of NGO Nuevo Arco Iris and high-profile opponent of former President Alvaro Uribe, defended his recent government contract to identify corrupt political candidates in the October elections.
Valencia has been criticized by Uribistas for his relationship with current President Juan Manuel Santos. These politicians fear that Valencia’s anti-Uribe stance will be a source of bias for the investigations into allegedly criminal political candidates for the upcaoming local elections.
The head of Nuevo Arco Iris responded to these fears by saying that “there are a lot of unreasonably suspicious people within the parties.”
Valencia noted that he had more government contracts during the Uribe presidency than he currently has with President Juan Manuel Santos. He even said that Uribe offered him a position in the Ministry of Culture.
Uribe said he never offered this position to Valencia. The former president posted statements Wednesday on his twitter page that vehemently denied any sort of offer to Valencia.
“Leon Valencia lies: I never offered him a position with the Ministry of Culture.”
Leon Valencia currently has a case pending against Uribe for slander.
