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Investigations into the DAS wiretapping scandal and other crimes committed during the administration of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe are getting closer to Uribe himself, prompting analysts to say that Uribe’s house of cards is coming down and that Uribe could end up serving time behind bars.

The DAS wiretapping scandal broke in 2008 after members of the opposition discovered that Colombia’s now discontinued intelligence agency DAS had been spying on journalists, human rights advocates, politicians, as well as against the Supreme Court. Uribe’s, at that time Chief of Staff, Bernardo Moreno, was charged with the illegal wiretaps while there, at that time, was no direct evidence about DAS’ involvement. Moreno, as well as former DAS Director Maria del Pilar have since been convicted of the illegal wiretapping and spying. That is, there is only one more link in the chain of command that may be missing, which is Uribe himself. Almost all executives of the now defunct DAS have since stated that the orders came straight from number one, that is from Uribe himself. Uribe has repeatedly contradicted himself by stating that “The DAS reports to no one but to the President”.

Uribe’s and Colombia’s “troubled past” includes his involvement with the Medellin drug cartel and U.S. intelligence services throughout the 1980s. It has continued since with multiple allegations about State crimes, human rights abuse, murder, cooperation with foreign intelligence services against Colombia’s neighbors, and more. Over 45 Colombian Congressmen, the majority of whom were part of the majority coalition that supported the 2002 – 2010 Uribe administration have been sentenced for ties to paramilitary groups and for crimes which have been committed by these groups. One of those who were convicted was Uribe’s cousin, Congressman Mario Uribe. Alvaro Uribe’s brother, Santiago Uribe, is under investigation for allegedly founding and leading a paramilitary group that has been held responsible for the murder of numerous leftist Colombian activists and politicians.

Alleged Colombian paramilitary Leiva Padilla, alias “El Colombia,” arrived in Venezuela on Saturday where he will face trial for the murders of socialist politician, Robert Serra (27), and his comrade and political assistant, Maria Herrera (26).  Leiva is considered by Venezuelan authorities to be the head of an eight man group responsible for assassinating the two young political activists on October 1st last year. He was arrested on November 5th 2014 by Colombian authorities in Cartagena after Venezuela issued an Interpol request for his capture. The extradition of the alleged paramilitary, who has dual Venezuela-Colombia nationality, was approved by Colombian president, Manuel Santos, early in May. 

In the days following the assassination of Serra and Herrera, the Venezuelan government released CCTV footage of six men entering Serra’s house in the working class barrio of Caracas, La Pastora. Authorities maintain that the group immediately “neutralised” an unsuspecting Herrera, who answered the door, and then proceeded to go upstairs where they violently assassinated Serra before leaving just several minutes later.  The legislator was tied, gagged and stabbed somewhere between twenty to fifty times in the chest and four times in the back. At the time, then-Venezuelan Minister of Justice, Peace and the Interior, Miguel Rodriguez Torres, affirmed that the attack bore all the hallmarks of a politically motivated assassination. 

In the months prior to his death, he was conducting a parliamentary investigation into the activities of Lorent Saleh, a young rightwing activist arrested in 2014 for allegedly plotting alongside Colombian paramilitaries to carry out a series of terrorist attacks and political murders in Venezuela. Also extradited from Colombia, Saleh is a chief ally of former Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, currently under investigation for his alleged links to paramilitary networks. Uribe had also been accused of being linked to Saleh by Serra less than two weeks before his death.  According to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the murders were planned and financed by an unknown person in Colombia. They have been widely interpreted as an attempt to intimidate those who support the country’s leftwing Bolivarian Revolution.  Many have also cited the crime as a sign of the increasing presence of rightwing paramilitary forces operating in the country.

Israel and the Palestinian resistance organization Hamas may be close to a long-term truce for Gaza, an advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said. Although murmurs of a such a deal have appeared in media for months, the official’s comments would appear to give them slightly more weight. In an interview with Alresalah, a Gaza-based newspaper close to Hamas, on Monday, Yasin Aktay also said that Israel and Turkey were nearing a deal over Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara. Israel’s May 2010 assault on the ship, part of a Gaza-bound flotilla, killed nine Turkish citizens and a Turkish teen who held US citizenship, badly damaging relations between the two countries. The Turkish official said there had been significant progress toward a long-term truce that would end Israel’s 8-year blockade of Gaza. Aktay, deputy chairman of Turkey’s ruling AK party, said that the recent visit of Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to Ankara was related to the effort. Up until now there has been no visible progress on the long-term truce that was supposed to be discussed within weeks of the 26 August 2014 ceasefire that ended Israel’s 51-day assault on Gaza. More than 2,200 Palestinians, including 551 children, were killed in Gaza last summer and more than 100,000 people remain in need of permanent shelter due to the lack of reconstruction since then.

“The talks about the Mavi Marmara are taking place in a manner that is linked and intertwined to Hamas’ talks about the truce,” Aktay told Alresalah, adding that the siege of Gaza had become a “Turkish issue.” In September 2011, Turkey imposed unprecedented sanctions on Israel, reducing diplomatic and military ties over the Mavi Marmara attack. Turkey has demanded an Israeli apology, compensation for its victims and an end to the blockade of Gaza. Aktay said that Turkey had pledged to build a seaport and rebuild Gaza’s airport if an agreement is reached. He also said that there had been talks between Turkey and the government of Cyprus over the establishment of a maritime corridor to Gaza via Cyprus. A working paper proposing such a link was published by the Gaza-based human rights organization Euromid last year. But Aktay acknowledged there have been significant obstacles: “Every time we reach an advanced stage in the negotiations on Mavi Marmara, Israel attacks Gaza again and things go back to zero.”