Some versions of this article about paramilitary links to congressmen in Colombia incorrectly said that Carlos García, president of the U Party, was jailed because of ties to the groups. Officials have opened a preliminary investigation against García but have not jailed him. Also, in some versions, García was misidentified as Carlos Gaviria.
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Cousin of Colombian President Arrested in Death Squad Probe
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Uribe's allies are eager to see him serve a third four-year term, even though that is prohibited by the constitution. In 2005, the Constitutional Court approved an amendment that allowed him a single re-election in 2006. Many analysts here believe it is impractical for a tarnished Congress to try to amend the constitution or find other ways to spearhead another reelection effort.
"There's no possibility in a Congress with so much illegitimacy," said Claudia López, who co-authored "Parapolitics," a book about links between lawmakers and paramilitary commanders.
The legislature's image was further damaged Sunday after the Channel One news station aired an interview with a former congresswoman, Yidis Medina, who said the Uribe administration offered to provide jobs for her allies in return for her vote in favor of the 2004 constitutional amendment that permitted Uribe to run for reelection in 2006. That vote proved essential to the amendment's passage. Government officials denied Medina's accusations, but the attorney general's office has opened an investigation.
Lawmakers are now considering a reform package that would, among other things, take away seats in Congress from parties whose members are convicted of crimes. Pro-government parties are also considering the possibility of naming a commission of "notables" to propose reforms and creating a special tribunal to judge lawmakers.
López, an analyst who writes a column about politics in the El Tiempo newspaper, said Colombians are particularly incensed that tainted parties have not lost seats, even as their members sit in jail awaiting trials.
"These congressmen who are going to jail are being replaced in Congress, as if they're out sick," she said.
A more reasonable solution, she and Ungar said, would be to "freeze" their seats, with the party losing it permanently if the lawmaker is convicted.
Most of the politicians implicated in the scandal have had close ties to Uribe, and many of them supported the constitutional change that permitted him to run for reelection. Still, the "para-politics" scandal has touched politicians from nearly every party, including the opposition Liberal Party, which has more members linked to the paramilitary groups than any other.
After a preliminary investigation was opened against Gutiérrez, the president of Congress, Uribe called for prudence and "objectivity" among investigators in the Supreme Court, which in Colombia spearheads investigations of wrongdoing by lawmakers. Carlos Holguín, the interior and justice minister, expressed concern that the court was permanently damaging Congress and jailing lawmakers without hearing their side of the story.
"We have reservations over the elements being considered in opening investigations and taking away people's liberties," Holguín told El Tiempo on Sunday.
