Colombian court sentences Alvaro Uribe’s brother to 28 years in prison
Santiago Uribe, the brother of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, has been sentenced to 28 years and three months in prison for aggravated homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime while leading a paramilitary group.
In Tuesday’s verdict, a three-judge panel in the northwestern province of Antioquia ruled that, in the early 1990s, Uribe “formed and led an illegal armed group”.
Critics have accused Uribe and his brother, the former president, of maintaining ties to groups involved in grave human rights abuses during Colombia’s six-decade-long internal conflict.
Tuesday’s conviction relates to activities that took place on and around the Uribe family’s La Carolina cattle ranch, located in Antioquia.
In its 307-page ruling, the court detailed how the ranch was used as a base for The 12 Apostles, a far-right paramilitary group formed by ranchers in the early 1990s to combat leftist rebels, notably the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The court described The 12 Apostles as a “death squad”, saying it performed “social cleansing” by killing “undesirables” including sex workers, drug users, people with mental illnesses and suspected leftist sympathisers.
Not only did the paramilitary group hold meetings at La Carolina, but training and weapons distribution were also carried out on site, according to the ruling.
Those were “acts with which crimes against humanity were committed”, the judges wrote.
Describing Uribe as the leader of The 12 Apostles, the court found him responsible for ordering the murder of Camilo Barrientos, a bus driver who was shot near La Carolina in 1994 for being a suspected rebel collaborator.
Tuesday’s ruling also highlighted collusion between paramilitaries and state security forces, saying the militia “enjoyed the cooperation, through action and inaction, of agents of the State”.
Uribe was first investigated for his involvement with The 12 Apostles in the late 1990s, but the investigation was dropped in 1999 due to a lack of evidence.
Colombian authorities resumed their investigation in 2010, detaining Uribe in 2016 on charges of homicide.
The court described The 12 Apostles as a “death squad”, saying it performed “social cleansing” by killing “undesirables” including sex workers, drug users, people with mental illnesses and suspected leftist sympathisers.
Not only did the paramilitary group hold meetings at La Carolina, but training and weapons distribution were also carried out on site, according to the ruling.
Those were “acts with which crimes against humanity were committed”, the judges wrote.
Describing Uribe as the leader of The 12 Apostles, the court found him responsible for ordering the murder of Camilo Barrientos, a bus driver who was shot near La Carolina in 1994 for being a suspected rebel collaborator.
Tuesday’s ruling also highlighted collusion between paramilitaries and state security forces, saying the militia “enjoyed the cooperation, through action and inaction, of agents of the State”.
Uribe was first investigated for his involvement with The 12 Apostles in the late 1990s, but the investigation was dropped in 1999 due to a lack of evidence.
Colombian authorities resumed their investigation in 2010, detaining Uribe in 2016 on charges of homicide.
The ruling was overturned in October, after a court ruled the evidence was gathered through an unlawful wiretap. It also cited “structural deficiencies” in the prosecution’s arguments.
The former president remains a powerful figure in right-wing politics in Colombia, and he has pledged to form a coalition to oppose a left-wing government in the 2026 elections.
“I feel deep pain over the sentence against my brother. May God help him,” the ex-president wrote on the social media platform X following Tuesday’s ruling.
