Brother’s Conviction Revives Old Ghosts Around Colombia’s Álvaro Uribe

For many outsiders, Colombia’s war feels like history. Inside the country, it has burst back into the present after a court convicted the brother of a former president who still dominates politics.

An appeals court in Antioquia has sentenced Santiago Uribe, younger brother of Álvaro Uribe, to 28 years in prison. Judges say he helped create and lead a 1990s paramilitary squad known as “Los 12 Apóstoles” and ordered the killing of bus driver Camilo Barrientos in a campaign of “social cleansing.”

The decision comes weeks after Álvaro Uribe himself won full acquittal in a high-profile case over alleged witness manipulation. That ruling was seen by many Colombians as proof that years of accusations had failed and that a central figure in the fight against guerrillas could return to the front line.

Uribe promptly announced plans to run for the Senate in 2026 and began rebuilding a security-focused coalition. Now that momentum collides with the sentence against his brother.

Even though the cases are legally separate and the former president is not convicted of any crime, his rivals have long tried to link his name to paramilitary abuses.

Colombia’s Ruling Shapes Justice Debate Ahead of 2026 Election

The new ruling gives them fresh ammunition as they search for a candidate to keep the current political project in power in the 2026 presidential race.

One of Uribe’s main opponents, Senator Iván Cepeda, built his career denouncing those alleged links and is now a leading presidential hopeful on the governing side.

He and other figures quickly used social media to frame the ruling as a moral victory and a symbol of delayed justice for victims in a country where more than 130,000 people remain officially missing from the conflict.

For expats and foreign readers, the deeper story is about how a democracy deals with its past while fighting over its future. Supporters of tougher security policies see a justice system that often seems to move faster against them than against armed groups and their political friends.

Their rivals see a long-protected elite finally feeling pressure. Whichever view one takes, this verdict shows how the battle over memory, justice and order will shape Colombia’s next election.