Miami-Dade honors Alvaro Uribe with another street — as he is on house arrest

Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto J. Gonzalez is throwing a party Thursday in West Kendall — but the guest of honor won’t be there. That’s because former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the man getting a brand-new road named after him, is currently under house arrest in Colombia after getting a 12-year sentence for his alleged role in witness tampering and ties to right-wing paramilitary groups.
But hey, why should that stop a good old-fashioned photo op? The street-naming ceremony will likely be full of waving flags, nostalgic speeches, and the production of carefully cropped photos that don’t include any references to international indictments.
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In a press release that conveniently ignores Uribe’s present legal situation, Gonzalez invites the public and the press to the unveiling of “Avenida Colombia” at SW 69th Street and 152nd Avenue, a freshly renamed stretch of asphalt in a heavily Colombian-American part of West Kendall. The ceremony starts at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7, and promises special guests including Uribe’s son, Tomás Uribe Moreno, and Francisco “Pacho” Santos, a former Colombian VP and close Uribe ally.
“President Uribe dedicated his life to defending Colombia,” the invitation from the District 11 office says, leaving out the messy bits about death squads, wiretaps, and obstruction charges.
Ladra is pretty sure that “defending Colombia” might mean different things to different people. Uribe, who was president of Colombia from 2002 to 2010, is either hailed as a hero who stood up to FARC rebels or condemned as the face of impunity and political violence in a country still reeling from decades of conflict. Maybe both are true.
But one thing is certain: Uribe won’t be cutting the ribbon himself.
Back in Colombia, Uribe, 73, is facing intense legal heat from allegations that he bribed witnesses to discredit accusations linking him to paramilitary groups during his presidency. He’s been a political lightning rod for years, and the case is one of the most high-profile legal sagas in Latin America. Uribe is the country’s first former president to be criminally convicted, but his attorneys have said they will appeal.
Many of Miami-Dade’s Uribe supporters say that the former president is a victim of political “lawfare,” carried out by the left-wing administration of President Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter, before elections next year in which several of Uribe’s allies are running for office. He is so popular here, that Uribe already has at least two streets named after him.
In 2020, after he was first charged, the county named a stretch of 117th Avenue between Southwest 24th and Southwest 40th streets “Alvaro Uribe Way.” Back then Commissioner Eileen Higgins and former Commissioner Xavier Suarez voted against it. In 2021, a stretch of West 16th Avenue in Hialeah, from 44th Place to 60th Street, was co-designated President Álvaro Uribe Vélez Way 16 del Oeste, desde la calle 44 Place Oeste hasta la calle 60
So while Miami-Dade might be slashing nonprofit funding and cutting park hours to plug a $402 million budget hole, Commissioner Gonzalez has found time to name a street after a controversial foreign president with an active legal file longer than the street itself. Because, priorities.
Ladra gets that this is a nod to the large and passionate Colombian-American population, which are concentrated in his District 11 and in the overlapping congressional District 28 that Gonzalez has been reportedly eyeing as his possible next step. Many of Miami-Dade’s Colombians do still see Uribe as a patriot who brought security and stability back to Colombia.
But maybe, just maybe, Gonzalez could wait until the guy isn’t wearing an ankle bracelet before etching his name into county signage?
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