Page 12 - AHATA

A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 21 augusT 2025
Colombian court frees former President Uribe from house arrest

until it rules on bribery case

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) founders of Bloque Metro,
— A Colombian appeals a paramilitary group that
court ruled on Tuesday that defended cattle ranch-
the country’s former presi- ers from attacks by rebel
dent, Álvaro Uribe, must groups.
be released from house ar- In 2018, Colombia’s Su-
rest while he challenges his preme Court dismissed the
conviction for bribery and suit and instead launched
witness tampering. an investigation of Uribe,
The conservative leader who was accused by pros-
was sentenced on Aug. ecutors of trying to ob-
1 to 12 years of house ar- struct justice by flipping wit-
rest for threatening and nesses who had spoken to
trying to flip witnesses who Cepeda about the former
had spoken to investiga- president’s alleged ties to
tors about his alleged role the illegal group.
in the formation of a right- Judge Sandra Heredia said
wing paramilitary group in in July there was enough
the 1990s. evidence to determine
Uribe denies the charges that Uribe conspired with
and has appealed the con- a lawyer to coax three
viction to the Superior Tribu- former members of para-
nal in Bogota, the country’s military groups who were
capital. The court has until Former President Alvaro Uribe leaves court after a hearing in his trial over witness tampering and in prison into changing tes-
mid-October to issue a de- bribery charges in Bogota, Colombia, Feb. 10, 2025. timony they had provided
finitive ruling on the case, Associated Press to Cepeda, whose father
which has gripped Colom- right to a presumption of in- the 1990s. as rebels by soldiers seek- was killed by paramilitaries
bia and also provoked re- nocence. During Uribe’s term, Co- ing promotions, as officers in the 1980s.
actions from Uribe’s allies in The former president, who lombia’ s military obtained were pushed to augment Uribe’s defense said that
the United States. governed from 2002 to crucial victories against their kill rates. the evidence was obtained
The Superior Tribunal said 2010 with strong support the FARC rebels, which The case against Uribe illegally, and that Uribe had
Tuesday it approved an from the U.S., is a polarizing later forced the group into dates back to 2012, when only sought meetings with
injunction filed by Uribe’s figure in Colombia, where peace negotiations and he filed a libel suit against the imprisoned paramilitary
defense team seeking his many credit him for saving turned Uribe into an icon of Ivan Cepeda, a left-wing figures as part of his prepa-
release from house arrest. the country from becoming Latin America’s conserva- legislator who had gath- ration for trial and to verify
Uribe’s lawyers argued his a failed state, while others tive movement. ered statements from for- testimonies that were also
right to due process was associate him with human But thousands of young mer members of para- being used in a murder trial
violated by the arrest order rights violations and the rise people were also killed by military groups accusing against his brother, Santia-
against him, as well as his of paramilitary groups in the military and passed off Uribe of being one of the go Uribe.q
Work begins in Finland on a new Canadian icebreaker for Arctic

defense

By HELI SIVUNEN and DAVID The Icebreaker Collabo- breakers. portant for the future. more and more accessible,
KEYTON ration Effort, or ICE Pact, Canada’s minister for de- “The North is opening up, there are more and more
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — aims to leverage Finland’s fense procurement, Ste- there are many reasons rivalries in the North, and so
Dignitaries at a steel-cut- advanced shipbuilding ex- phen Fuhr, said his country to be up there,” Fuhr said. we have to be prepared to
ting ceremony Wednes- pertise and technologies to is bringing its coast guard “There’s security issues, re- assert our sovereignty out
day in Finland marked the help meet U.S. and Cana- into the military and that source development.” there,” Skeete added.
start of work on a new Ca- dian demand for new ice- investing in the Arctic is im- The hull will be built at Hel- During a NATO summit in
nadian icebreaker to be sinki Shipyard before be- June, U.S. President Donald
named the Polar Max and ing transported to Canada Trump said Finland was the
aimed at bolstering Arctic where it’s expected to be “king of icebreakers” and
defense. completed in Levis, Que- suggested the U.S. might
The event marked the con- bec by 2030. be willing to buy as many
crete beginning of a tri- Quebec’s Economy Min- as 15 of them, including the
lateral partnership of the ister Christopher Skeete used icebreaker that Trump
United States, Canada and highlighted the benefits of said might be immediately
Finland announced by the cooperating on the build- available.
White House in July 2024 to ing of the new icebreaker. “We’re trying to make a
bolster defenses in a region “It’s a partnership and we good deal,” Trump said.
where Russia has been in- have a shared responsibil- According to a U.S. Govern-
creasingly active. ity for the North, so this is a ment Accountability Office
Russia has vastly more ice- unique and very opportune report, the U.S. hasn’t built
breaker ships than the U.S. partnership that allows us a heavy polar icebreaker
and Canada at a time Canada’s and Finland’s representatives pose for a group to leverage the strengths of in almost 50 years. The last
when climate change has photo during a steel cutting ceremony for the beginning of both our countries in terms remaining one in service is
made the remote but stra- construction of the Polar Max Icebreaker in Helsinki Shipyard in of maritime Arctic protec- the 399-foot Coast Guard
tegically important Arctic Helsinki, Finland, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. tion,” he said. Cutter Polar Star commis-
more accessible. Associated Press “The North is becoming sioned in 1976.q