Bogota, Apr 30: With President Alvaro Uribe out of the country, the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled to lift a state of emergency that has been widely used by the country's conservative government in its drive to stamp out leftist insurgency. "This decision will take effect today, as soon as the president of the Republic and Congress are officially informed of it," said Chief Justice of the Court Eduardo Montealegre.
The state of emergency was imposed by Uribe on August 11 as part of his effort to step up his military campaign against leftist rebels. The measure allowed the army to impose military rule in areas of increased guerrilla activity, detain suspects without a warrant for 24 hours and wiretap telephone conversations.
But the state of emergency did not sit well with the nation's chief justices, who began chipping away at the presidential decree last November, when they struck down the army's power to initiate criminal prosecutions. Colombia's 39-year-old civil war, waged by the government against both Marxist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups which are also fighting each other, has already claimed more than 200,000 lives and produces on average 3,000 kidnappings a year.
The court's decision came after Uribe left for the United States where he is to meet today with US President George W. Bush to discuss ways to bolster his counter-terrorism campaign financed in part by Washington. Bureau Report