Magnanimous gesture by Colombian President

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday May 13, 2003 07:36 by joe ranii

Readers may be interested to see more of the human face of Colombia--the reality is far from the frenzied postings of those who have never been in that country.

Colombian president's wallet stolen

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has called for a thief who illegally withdrew thousands of dollars using his credit card to be freed because he is poor and deserves a second chance.

The president lost his wallet during a trip to the northern city of Bucaramanga on Friday after he handed his jacket to bodyguards.

Dozens of transactions were made during the evening and next morning until Mr Uribe was finally alerted to the loss on Saturday when his bank noticed an unusually large number of withdrawals from his account.

Police in Bucaramanga investigated the incident and later detained a man, who handed over the money - but the president, on learning of the arrest, said he would not press charges.

Police launched a massive investigation and tracked the thief through footage from security cameras installed at each cash machine.

The thief, who has not been identified, was reported to have been repentant - he gave the money back and apologised.

Mr Uribe - whose campaign slogan was "Firm Hand, Big Heart," said that he would not pres charges against the man and asked that he be released.

"They are poor people. We have to give them a second opportunity," a spokeswoman quoted Uribe as saying.