Uribe's cousin seeks asylum amid Colombia probe

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe'scousin sought asylum in Costa Rica on Tuesday after prosecutorsordered him arrested for suspected ties to paramilitary squadsin a deepening scandal for the U.S. ally.

The investigation of Mario Uribe, for years a congressmanand the president's confidant, will fuel concerns among U.S.Democrats who oppose a Colombian trade deal partly due toworries over links between dozens of lawmakers and paramilitarycommanders.

"We are in the headquarters of the Costa Rican Embassy inBogota and we have held talks with the people concerned," oneof Uribe's attorneys, Jose del Carmen Ortega, told Caracolradio. "This is in process."

Alvaro Uribe, a close U.S. partner, has reduced violencefrom Colombia's conflict by driving back rebels and negotiatingthe surrender of illegal paramilitaries who massacred peasantsand dealt in cocaine in the name of counter-insurgency.

But more than 60 lawmakers -- many from political partiesallied to the president -- now are under investigation in theso-called "para-political" scandal and at least 32 of those arein jail while prosecutors probe their ties to the militias.

Mario Uribe, a second cousin to the president and a formercongressional leader, was ordered detained on conspiracycharges on suspicion he struck deals with former paramilitarycommanders while they were still active, the attorney general'soffice said in a statement.

"Uribe is being investigated for a meeting he had withformer paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso before theelections of March 10, 2002, and with Jairo Castillo Peralta,alias 'Pitirri,' in November 1998," it said.

The former lawmaker, who has previously denied anywrongdoing, will be arrested if he does not surrender to thechief prosecutor's office in Bogota.

Alvaro Uribe, who has received billions in U.S. aid tofight against Latin America's oldest insurgency, says thelawmaker investigations show Colombia's institutions areworking. But he has clashed with the Supreme Court over itsprobes.

"This will have an impact on public opinion," said RafaelNieto, a former deputy justice minister who is now a politicalanalyst. "For one he is the president's relative and secondlyhe was for years a partner in Uribe's political fight."

ACCUSED OF DEALS WITH MILITIAS

Mario Uribe stepped down from the Senate in October lastyear to protect himself from questions from the Supreme Court,which investigates public officials. But the attorney generalhas kept up its probe into his ties with militia warlords.

Former paramilitary commanders have testified as part oftheir peace deal that Uribe worked out deals with militias tohelp him take control of farmland and also to seek theirpolitical backing.

Paramilitary groups originally were formed by wealthy landowners to counter rebels in areas where state presence wasweak. But their influence soon mushroomed as they took controlof large swaths of the Andean country.

Hundreds of former paramilitary commanders disbanded theirarmies under a deal with Uribe's government, which allowed themshort jail terms for promising to confess their crimes andcompensate their victims.

Rights groups and some U.S. lawmakers worry the formercommanders have kept their criminal networks alive from theirjail cells. They want Uribe to do more to curb militias andprotect trade unionists before they back a free trade deal.

(Editing by Eric Walsh and Bill Trott)