Colombia uncovers Uribe assassination plot

The Colombian Government has uncovered a plot to assassinate former President Alvaro Uribe by a unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- the FARC. Listen to James Blears' report:


Colombia's Minister of Defence, Juan Carlos Pinzon, has explained an intelligence report indicates that the FARC's Teofilio Forero Mobile Column was planning to do this killing. He explained that he's already met with Uribe and the Director of Police to discuss the developing situation, and to further tighten the circle of security around him. Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, who ordered that meeting, is trying to gain re-election to the top job, next year.



This threat against Alvaro Uribe is being treated very seriously. FARC gunmen murdered his Father Alberto at the family ranch in 1983, during a botched kidnapping attempt. During his two terms as President between 2002 and 2010 Alvaro Uribe took unrelenting military hard-line action against the FARC. They have tried to murder him numerous times.


He's now campaigning to be a Senator, and is opposing peace talks between the Goverment and the FARC. Yet polls show the vast majority of the Colombian people support peace talks and are hoping they'll end a half century conflict.