The government did not instruct DAS officials to illegally wiretap
magistrates and journalists, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe announced in a press release Monday.
The presidency said that statements released by former counterintelligence DAS director Jorge Lagos and former intelligence chief Fernando Tabares did not mention the involvement of anybody from the Casa de Nariño.
In the press release the Presidency asserted that these officials themselves stated that they never received instructions from the government to carry out the illegal surveillance.
It also criticized television network RCN for “gravely damaging the moral integrity of officials and their families through slander” and praised newspaper El Tiempo for setting the record straight.
El Tiempo Monday published an article contradicting earlier reports by RCN about the testimony of the former DAS official Lagos.
However, Lagos himself had confirmed the RCN report on W Radio and had said he had requested to be included in a witness protection program, because he feared for his life and that of his family.
