Caracas, Venezuela – The military leader of Colombia’s second-largest rebel group has called for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to investigate allegations of fraud during the 2002 elections that brought him to office.
Antonio Garcia of the National Liberation Army, known by its Spanish acronym ELN, called the allegations “serious.” “It merits an investigation. The government has to lower its shield and prepare itself for an investigation,” he told TV station Telesur Wednesday in an interview in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
Accusations recently surfaced that Jorge Noguera, who ran Uribe’s 2002 campaign before being appointed director of Colombia’s secret police, worked with paramilitaries to obtain as many as 300,000 fraudulent votes in right-wing strongholds along the Caribbean coast.
Uribe, who is seeking re-election in a May 28 presidential election, has denied the allegations.
The ELN has been fighting Colombia’s government since the 1960s for social changes, though it has seen its forces dwindle to fewer than 3,500 after a military offensive by Uribe.
The rebel group and the Uribe administration are expected to meet this month in Cuba for a third round of peace talks. The government recently lifted arrest warrants for Garcia as part of the talks.
Asked whether the ELN was ready to disarm, Garcia said the issue needs to be addressed “at a negotiating table and in a way that is simultaneous and parallel” with discussions on how to improve democracy in Colombia.
Garcia said he would fly to Medellin on Monday on a plane provided by the Venezuelan government to establish contacts with diplomats, union leaders and students. He will be accompanied on the trip by representatives from the Spanish, Swiss and Norwegian embassies, the Red Cross, the Venezuelan and Colombian governments, and a bishop to guarantee his safety.
Colombia’s main rebel group, the 12,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has avoided peace talks in recent years, while outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups frequently ignore a cease-fire agreement.
