Former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe confirms that he is under house arrest: "I will step up the fight to defeat the emerging neo-communist gag"

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez began serving a 12-year prison sentence under house arrest, after being found guilty of procedural fraud and bribery in criminal proceedings. Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia ordered the immediate execution of the measure after the reading of the ruling last Friday, August 1.

Uribe appeared this Wednesday before the court in Rionegro, Antioquia, to formalize his detention at the farm where he has been held since last week. In a video broadcast on his social networks, he confirmed that he received his prisoner identification and denounced the ruling as an attempt to silence him politically. "With the prisoner identification, I will continue and increase the struggle so that Colombia in 2026 defeats the nascent neo-communist gag, because if it consolidates, it will finish with the nation," he declared.

Conviction under questioning

The judge argued that the arrest warrant seeks to preserve peaceful coexistence and avoid the perception of impunity against high-profile figures. In the more than 1,000-page ruling, the measure was also justified by the "public and social recognition" of the former president, which, according to the court, could facilitate an eventual escape.

However, Uribe's defense called the measure arbitrary and unconstitutional. Through a tutela action filed before the Superior Court of Bogota, they alleged that fundamental guarantees were violated by imposing a deprivation of liberty before the appeal was resolved in the second instance. They also claimed that his presumption of innocence was violated by treating him as guilty without a final judgment.

As part of this tutelage, they requested a precautionary measure to suspend the detention while the appeal was being resolved, but it was rejected. The court concluded that the criteria of urgency, necessity and unpostponable nature that would justify a constitutional intervention at that time were not met.