Colombia election candidate says Zuluaga should quit race over spying
Colombia election candidate says Zuluaga should quit race over spying
By Peter Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta
BOGOTA Sun May 18, 2014 3:22pm EDT
(Reuters) - A candidate in Colombia's presidential elections next Sunday has called on the leading opposition candidate, Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, to quit the race after new video evidence of spying by his campaign consultant on peace talks with leftist rebels.
Zuluaga's recent surge in polls of voter intentions could be challenged after local press published a video showing him and a former campaign manager being briefed about government intelligence by a man now in custody and facing spying charges.
The campaign manager, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, quit earlier this month after the arrest of the accused hacker, Andres Sepulveda, and after Colombian broadcaster RCN said the two men had offered it confidential information about the peace talks.
In the video Sepulveda informs Zuluaga that he is in possession of military intelligence. Zuluaga shows no surprise and does not question how he obtained secret state information.
"Oscar Ivan Zuluaga should immediately renounce his candidacy to the presidency and present himself to the judiciary to answer for these crimes," said Green Alliance candidate Enrique Penalosa, a distant third in polls.
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/18/us-colombia-elections-spying-idUSBREA4H09220140518
