A helicopter was hovering directly above my house
En los pasillos de la justicia colombiana, el caso contra Santiago Uribe —hermano del expresidente Álvaro Uribe— ha comenzado a trascender las fronteras nacionales. Acusado de organizar el grupo paramilitar Los Doce Apóstoles, Uribe enfrenta un juicio que se reanuda en enero de 2021, pero cuya legitimidad está siendo cuestionada por la intimidación que sufre el abogado de las víctimas. Cuando los mecanismos internos de un Estado parecen insuficientes para garantizar justicia, la comunidad internacional se convierte en el último tribunal de la conciencia colectiva.
- El abogado de las víctimas, Daniel Prado, denuncia que sus cuatro neumáticos fueron destruidos en una sola noche y que un helicóptero sobrevoló su casa en diciembre, señales que interpreta como una campaña deliberada para silenciarlo.
- El juicio lleva años atrapado en aplazamientos repetidos y testigos amenazados, alimentando el temor de que el proceso termine en impunidad.
- En noviembre de 2020, los fiscales cerraron una investigación paralela contra Uribe por financiamiento paramilitar al no encontrar pruebas suficientes, lo que intensifica la presión sobre el caso de Los Doce Apóstoles como último frente judicial.
- Prado anuncia que llevará el caso ante la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos en Washington si el sistema colombiano no logra garantizar un proceso justo e independiente.
- Con solo la defensa pendiente de presentar sus argumentos finales, el destino legal de Santiago Uribe —absolución o condena— podría definirse en las próximas semanas o escalar a un escenario internacional sin precedentes.
Santiago Uribe, hermano del expresidente colombiano Álvaro Uribe, volvió a ocupar la atención pública en enero de 2021 cuando el diario francés Le Parisien reportó que su juicio por la organización del grupo paramilitar ilegal Los Doce Apóstoles podría llegar a una instancia internacional. El proceso, que debía reanudarse el 26 de enero, arrastraba años de demoras y complicaciones procedimentales.
Lo que llamó la atención del periódico parisino fue el clima que rodeaba el caso. Daniel Prado, abogado de las víctimas, relató que se había convertido en blanco de intimidaciones: sus cuatro llantas fueron destruidas en una noche, un helicóptero sobrevoló su casa en diciembre y soldados se apostaron frente a su oficina. Para Prado, no se trataba de coincidencias, sino de una estrategia para acallarlo.
Ante lo que consideraba un proceso judicial comprometido, Prado anunció su intención de escalar el caso a la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. Su temor era concreto: que años de aplazamientos y testigos amenazados desembocaran en impunidad.
El juicio tenía una larga historia. Santiago Uribe fue citado a declarar por primera vez en junio de 2017. Para enero de 2021, solo faltaba la defensa, a cargo del abogado Jaime Granados, quien también representaba al expresidente. Tras esos alegatos finales, el juez debería decidir entre la absolución solicitada por la defensa o una condena.
El contexto se complicó aún más porque, en noviembre de 2020, la fiscalía había cerrado una investigación paralela sobre el presunto financiamiento de otro grupo paramilitar, al no hallar pruebas de que Uribe hubiera aportado fondos. Esa decisión dejó el caso de Los Doce Apóstoles como su principal batalla legal, junto a una acusación separada por el asesinato de Camilo Barrientos Durán en 1994. Si la justicia colombiana fallaba en garantizar un proceso transparente, Washington esperaba como siguiente escenario.
Santiago Uribe, the brother of former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, was back in the news this January after a French newspaper reported that his trial might soon reach an international stage. The case centers on his alleged role in organizing Los Doce Apóstoles, an illegal paramilitary group, and the trial was set to resume on January 26, 2021, after years of delays and procedural complications.
What caught the attention of Le Parisien, the Paris-based daily, was not just the case itself but the atmosphere surrounding it. Daniel Prado, the lawyer representing victims in the trial, told the newspaper that he had become a target for his work defending families harmed by the group's violence. His car had been vandalized—all four tires destroyed in a single night. A helicopter had hovered directly above his house in early December. Soldiers had positioned themselves outside his office window. These were not random incidents, Prado suggested, but deliberate acts meant to silence him.
Faced with what he saw as a compromised judicial process, Prado announced plans to escalate the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the regional human rights body based in Washington. His concern was straightforward: the Colombian trial had been dragging on for years, marked by repeated postponements and witnesses who had been threatened. He feared the process would end in impunity—that Santiago Uribe would walk free despite the evidence against him.
The trial itself had a long history. Santiago Uribe was first called to testify in June 2017. Since then, witnesses from both sides had given their accounts, the prosecution had presented its case, and the government's inspector general had weighed in. By January 2021, only the defense remained. Jaime Granados, a criminal defense attorney who also represented the former president, would present Santiago Uribe's final arguments. After that, the judge would decide: acquittal, as the defense was requesting, or conviction on the charges related to organizing the paramilitary group.
The timing of Prado's international escalation was significant because Santiago Uribe had just caught a break in a related case. In late November 2020, prosecutors had closed an investigation into whether he had financed the Southwest Front of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, another paramilitary organization. That case had been open since 2017, based on testimony from former paramilitaries who claimed Uribe had made financial contributions to support their operations in the Antioquia region. The lead prosecutor concluded there was no evidence that Uribe had ever met with members of that illegal organization or agreed to fund them. Without proof of the money changing hands, the case collapsed.
But the acquittal on that charge left the Los Doce Apóstoles case as his main legal battle. There was also a separate allegation: that Uribe was involved in the 1994 murder of Camilo Barrientos Durán in Yarumal, Antioquia. As the January trial date approached, the question was whether the Colombian judicial system would hold him accountable or whether, as Prado feared, the intimidation and delays would result in his release. If the latter happened, the case would likely move to Washington, where international scrutiny might apply pressure that domestic courts had failed to deliver.
Citações Notáveis
One morning all four tires of my car had been destroyed. In early December, a helicopter was positioned directly above my house.— Daniel Prado, victims' attorney
It was not established that Santiago Uribe Vélez met with members of that illegal organization, nor that he agreed with them on a sum of money as a contribution.— Lead prosecutor, in closing the Southwest Front case
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why would a lawyer representing victims need to escalate this to an international body? Doesn't Colombia have its own courts?
It does, but when a trial stretches across years with repeated delays, when witnesses are threatened, and when the lawyer himself is being intimidated—vandalized car, helicopters overhead—you start to lose faith that the system will deliver justice. Prado is essentially saying the Colombian process is compromised.
And the international commission can do what exactly?
They can investigate whether Colombia is meeting its human rights obligations. They can apply diplomatic pressure. They can't overturn the verdict, but they can embarrass a government into action or flag systemic problems that domestic courts won't acknowledge.
So Santiago Uribe just got cleared in one case. Does that help him in the main trial?
Legally, probably not directly. But it shows a pattern: prosecutors struggling to prove their case, evidence falling apart. His defense attorney will use that momentum. The question is whether the judge sees it the same way.
What happens if he's acquitted in the Los Doce Apóstoles case?
Then Prado's fears about impunity come true, and the case goes international. Colombia would have to answer why a man accused of organizing a paramilitary group walked free despite years of testimony and investigation.
And if he's convicted?
Then the international escalation becomes less urgent, though Prado might still pursue it to ensure the conviction holds up and to document the intimidation he faced. Either way, the case becomes a test of whether Colombia's courts can handle accountability for paramilitary crimes.