US Vice President Mike Pence calls for an end to Álvaro Uribe's house arrest

Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States, during a press conference in Iowa.Charlie Neibergall / AP

The Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, called for an end to the house arrest of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, whom he described as a "hero", after a telephone conversation with the current president of Colombia, Iván Duque.

“We respect the institutions and the independence of Colombia. But while former President Álvaro Uribe is under house arrest, we join all freedom-loving voices around the world in asking Colombian officials to allow this hero, who has received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. , defend yourself as a free man, ”Pence wrote on his Twitter account.

On August 4, the Supreme Court of Colombia ordered the preventive detention of former President Uribe for a crime of bribery and manipulation of witnesses in one of the cases affecting the politician, who ruled the Andean country between 2002 and 2010.

The court is investigating a file according to which several witnesses received compensation in exchange for offering testimonies that favor the current senator. Among those statements is that of a former paramilitary who, in the first phase of the trial, had implicated Uribe in the birth of a Colombian self-defense bloc. "The deprivation of my liberty causes me deep sadness for my wife, my family and for the Colombians who still believe that I have done something good for the country," Uribe wrote on his social networks.

The Supreme Court's decision has shaken Colombian politics. Colombian President Iván Duque, who defends the senator's innocence unequivocally, has insisted on the need to review the justice system. "At this time we observe a political, academic and institutional consensus on the need to give the country a real justice reform," he said in a speech.