Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Monday ratified his administration’s peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo amid a controversy regarding negotiations with rightist paramilitary groups.

The presidential office issued a statement indicating that Uribe “reiterates his confidence in the peace commissioner,” whom he called “an incorruptible patriot.” Several hours previously, the peace commissioner denied press reports alleging he had offered not to extradite the leaders of the United Self-Defense Front of Colombia, or AUC, to the United States, where they are wanted on drug-trafficking charges, and to exclude them from sanction by the International Criminal Court. Full Story