Former President Alvaro Uribe could lead Colombia’s leading coalition U Party in the country’s senate, a senator has proposed.
Uribe supporter and U Party senator Juan Carlos Velez floated the possibility to reporters Tuesday, local media reported.
Velez proposed the former president could be re-elected and head the U Party in the senate, returning it to a more conservative character, according to newspaper El Espectador.
That would “strengthen the ‘Uribismo’ in the senate, which apparently is so diminished,” he said, referring to the former president’s aggressive stance on guerrilla forces and drug trafficking.
Uribe’s political future has been in question as tensions between the former president and his successor, U Party leader Juan Manuel Santos, continue to grow.
Santos, defense minister under Uribe, was originally a strong ally of his predecessor and won the 2010 elections with the help of his endorsement — but since then, a wide rift has grown between the two.
Velez’s suggestion comes a day after Santos urged Uribe to accept that he was no longer in power.
Commentators point to Santos’ policies recognizing Colombia’s armed conflict and its victims of the state, his openness to examining drug legalization and his efforts to prosecute corrupt former politicians as causes for the growing spat.
Velez noted an elected Uribe would not gain immunity against ongoing investigations into his alleged role in the wiretapping of government opponents.
