Uribe witness was coached ahead of giving testimony: recordings – Colombia News

At least one of the witnesses called by the defense of former President Alvaro Uribe was coached ahead of giving testimony last week, according to recordings sent to Senator Ivan Cepeda.

Cepeda and attorney Miguel Angel del Rio said on Tuesday that they filed false testimony and fraud charges against Oscar Monsalve and Luis Guillermo Villegas.

Monsalve was the caretaker of the Uribe family’s former estate Guacharacas and the father of Juan Guillermo Monsalve, a.k.a. “Guacharaco.”

According to Guacharaco, Uribe and his brother Santiago conspired with Luis Guillermo’s late father, Luis Alberto, to found a death squad, the Bloque Metro, on the Uribe family estate in 1996.

Uribe and the Bloque Metro

In a press release, Cepeda and Del Rio said that they received audio recordings from before and after Monsalve’s testimony that would prove that the witness knew the questions he would be asked beforehand and rehearsed his answers to make sure “I don’t compromise anyone,” except for the senator.

“The only one who will go down there is Cepeda for being a son of a bitch,” said the former employee of the Uribe and Villegas families in a fragment that was broadcast on W Radio.

In a second fragment, Monsalve responded a question about an alleged cocaine factory on Guacharacas, joking that the only “kitchen” he knew at the Uribe estate “was the one where my old lady cooked.”

In court and under oath, the key witness’ father made the same joke.

To make matters worse for the Uribe Clan, Cepeda and Del Rio also published a photo made at the entrance of the court building that showed that Villegas and Monsalve arrived at the hearing together.

In a recording that was made before the publication of the photo, Monsalve said he didn’t understand how Cepeda and Del Rio found out Villegas was also at the court “if there were only strangers.”

In this recording, which was not made public, Monsalve allegedly confirmed that he and Villegas conspired to deliver a testimony that would benefit Uribe.

The former president was initially charged in 2018 after the Supreme Court found evidence suggesting that Uribe was bribing witnesses to file fraudulent charges against Cepeda and discredit the testimonies linking his family to death squads.