Colombian Congress to vote on whether to impeach president
Samper expected to be absolved
June 12, 1996
Web posted at: 10:00 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT)BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Under the gaze of the nation's liberator and founding father, Simon Bolivar, Colombia's Congress was expected to vote Wednesday in what is being called the nation's trial of the century.
The lower house of Congress was embroiled Tuesday in the final stages of a historic debate on whether to impeach embattled President Ernesto Samper for allegedly accepting drug money to finance his election campaign.
"Samper, just like Nixon, got caught," said opposition leader Pablo Victoria. "He has to pay for it and I believe this is a juncture in Colombian politics. I think this is the time to clean up this country."
Samper's former defense minister and manager of his 1994 election campaign, Fernando Botero, dealt a blow to the president's case Tuesday, saying Samper knew about and personally approved the use of narcotics money in his bid for the presidency.
Nevertheless, it is almost a forgone conclusion that Samper will be absolved by a Congress dominated by his political party and where drug corruption runs deep.
Thinly veiled threats from Washington that it could retaliate with economic sanctions if Samper is let off have plunged U.S-Colombian relations to an all-time low.
"The United States has demonstrated that it's intervening in Colombia's affairs in a fashion that is unacceptable, whatever the circumstances of the president," said the president's defense attorney, Luis Guillermo Nieto.
Samper, who has maintained he knew nothing about drug money, was quoted Sunday as saying he will not jump off the ship on the middle of a storm. It was another defiant response to mounting pressure for his resignation from many quarters, including the Catholic church.
"We are not tolerant in the face of crime," said Monsignor Dario Castrellon, Archbishop of Bucaramanga. "The crime of using money from death, from drug trafficking, to obtain power."
Despite Samper's denial of any knowledge of his campaign money coming from the Cali drug cartel, opinion polls show most Colombians don't believe him.
Even if Samper is absolved judicially, as expected, there is a consensus that it will not put an end to Colombia's worst political crisis in memory.
"I think the government is crumbling," Victoria said. "It's full of problems all over and I think he's going to be in a very weak position after he's absolved. I mean the country is not going to be governable at all."
CNN Correspondent Lucia Newman and Reuters contributed to this report.
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