Editor's Note: Senator Piedad Córdoba has been removed from office today and blocked from public office for 18 years by the new Santos regime in Bogota. This attack on Senadora Córdoba is a testament to her leadership and heroism and hard evidence of Colombia attack on democracy. Given the fascist history of President Manuel Santos and of Uribe, his predecessor, they had no choice but to bring Córdoba down. She has been rapidly gaining popularity and power inside Colombia and throughout Latin America for years. She was the first Colombian politician to contact the FARC and gain a release of the hostages, moving Colombia toward an end of it's 60 year civil war. Peace with the FARC is the last thing the regime in Bogota wants. The FARC, the war on terror and drugs have been used to justify $billions from Washington over the decades. Córdoba's courageous work as a senator has won the love of Latin Americans on the one hand and death threats from the Washington-backed oligarchy. At one point, under their threats to her and her children and lack of security provided by the government had her considering going into exile. The same evidence used to justify this despotic action had been dismissed by Colombian prosecutor in the past, who considered it to be insufficient to demonstrate her alleged ties to the FARC. In the long run, her removal from office portends a collapse of the Colombian regime into increased fascism followed by anarchy ... finally leading to a new dawn of peace and integration with other Latin American states.

- Les Blough in Venezuela

Senator Piedad Córdoba removed and banned from office for 18 years in Colombia.

Colombian senator and peace activist Piedad Cordoba has been banned from public office for 18 years for "collaborating" with the Farc rebels.

Senator Cordoba helped negotiate the release of several Farc hostages two years ago.

But the inspector-general's office said there was clear evidence she had exceeded her role as a mediator by giving the rebels political advice.

Sen Cordoba says she is innocent and is preparing her response.

The inspector-general, Alejandro Ordonez, said the evidence against Senator Cordoba came from files found on computers captured when the Farc leader Raul Reyes was killed in 2008.

He said documents showed she had "exceeded her functions as well as the authorisation she was given by the government to negotiate a humanitarian exchange".

He added that evidence from legal phone taps and informants showed she had advised the Farc on ways of "improving their strategy for reaching their objectives."

Mr Ordonez also accused her of making public declarations aimed at "promoting and favouring" the rebel cause.

'Unprecedented sanction'

Piedad Cordoba's lawyer, Ciro Quiroz, told the Spanish news agency Efe that she would challenge the decision.

"It is a sanction without precedent in the history of Colombia, and one can see a certain cruelty in the action," he said.

Piedad Cordoba, 55, has been an outspoken advocate of peace talks with the Farc, and was last year nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

She is also a close ally of the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, who played a part in negotiations for the release of Farc hostages and has himself been accused of backing the rebels.

Sen Cordoba has previously denied supporting the Farc, saying her sole aim as a mediator was to secure freedom for the hostages.

She has been a staunch critic of the Colombian government's security policies, accusing the armed forces of human rights abuses and collaboration with illegal right-wing paramilitaries.

But the inspector-general said her statements were not grounds for her to be prosecuted for treason, as some of her political opponents have demanded.

Source: BBC