Castrochavism, judicialized persecution and assassination of reputation at Colombia’s Supreme Court

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) 21st Century Socialism or Castrochavism has demonstrated that a fundamental part of its methodology is the judicialization of political persecution. Judicial trials to intimidate, neutralize, assassinate someone’s reputation, to imprison, condemn, and attempt to get rid of anyone considered an enemy, is a common and repeated practice in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Correa’s Ecuador. Uncovered information shows this despicable, yet very effective, measure is now being applied at Colombia’s Supreme Court against former President Alvaro Uribe Velez.

Judges must be impartial, independent, and suitable, to rule without regard to interests, pressures, or influence, that may sway them from ruling according to justice and reason. It is so important to have honest and autonomous judges so that the separation and independence of the branches of government become an essential component of democracy and a fundamental feature of a Republic.

The judicialization of political persecution and repression is one of the criminal practices applied by 21st Century Socialism’s regimes, and is Cuba’s dictatorship’s contribution to the movement founded by Hugo Chavez and affiliated with Fidel Castro both to whom the name of “Castrochavism” is owed to, and that now it describes a “system of transnational organized crime that usurps political power in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, threatens the entire region, and must be dealt with as a transnational organized crime’s structure and not as a political process”.

Castrochavism has made multiple attempts to control Colombia and has great political and criminal pervasiveness. The FARC and ELN guerrillas are its operational organizations perpetrating crime, terrorism, narcotics’ trafficking, guerrilla warfare, and destabilization. The FARC, since its founding, has been Cuba’s Castroist dictatorship’s arm and in this 21st century has sustained itself with the logistical and international support from Cuba and Venezuela. They have been fundamental in turning Venezuela into “the narco-state axis of Castrochavism” and today, with Castro/Santos’ scheming, has a double face; one of a political party, the other of a criminal group.

President Alvaro Uribe Velez has had the most outstanding role in the open denouncement allegations and the effective fight against Castrochavism and its operations of narcotics’ trafficking, guerrilla, terrorism, and intervention. Not only has he defended Colombia, but he also defended the Americas. He inflicted hard strikes such as the bombing raid at Angostura, when Rafael Correa had turned Ecuador into a narco-state, part of the system lead by Castro and Chavez.

Uribe Velez is one of Castrochavism’s main targets and it is not surprising it has opted to attack him through “the use of the judicial system”. Nothing new, they are repeating another scandalous judicial trial plagued with falsehood and purported incriminating evidence in proceedings where the criminals attribute their crimes to their victim, a great display of half-truths to assassinate the reputation of the slandered with judges who have been coerced, threatened, are eager to be on the spotlight, judges who are “despicable judges” and who are controlled in any way.

This Castrochavism’s criminal method has been tried and true; in Cuba, since the jailing of “Armando Valladares” for over 22 years until the recent sentencing of “Ariel Alonso Perez”, the trial of “Jose Daniel Ferrer” and thousands more. In Venezuela; the trial and sentencing of “Leopoldo Lopez”, the case of “Captain Rafael Acosta”, dozens of cases against military and hundreds more. In Bolivia; the persecution against President “Sanchez de Lozada” and his cabinet, the concocted “terrorism cases”, the jailing and imprisonment of “Governor Fernandez” from Pando and hundreds more. In Nicaragua, the trials and imprisonment of civic leaders, journalists, student unions’ leaders, and dozens more. In Correa’s Ecuador, cases such as “Fernando Balda”, the trials of “the ten from Luluncoto”, the sentencing of “Francisco Daniel Endara”, the remanding to preventive detention of indigenous people in the case known as “the 29 from Saraguro”, the case of the “students from the Central Tecnico School” and more.

So now they apply the Castrochavist method against Alvaro Uribe Velez with the complicity of Colombia’s Supreme Court who selectively ordered his preventive detention, when in the case known as “AKA Jesus Santrich” this court freed this FARC’s leader despite ample proof and evidence of trafficking ten tons of cocaine with the alibi of “extradition request underway” and allowed his flight.

Simply stated, judges who rule using a double standard commit the crime of perverting the course of justice, but beyond that -as in the case of Alvaro Uribe Velez- they turn Colombia’s justice into an instrument of Castrochavism to be used for the judicialized persecution and the assassination of the reputation of their victims.

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

Translated from Spanish by; Edgar L. Terrazas, member of the American Translators Association, ATA # 234680.