BOGOTA — Former Vice President Al Gore told the organizers of an environmental conference that started Friday in Miami that he would only keep his speaking engagement if the conference disinvited Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, according to Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos.

Gore withdrew from the Green Forum, organized by Poder magazine and New America Alliance, on Friday to avoid appearing with Uribe, who is battling new accusations that he aided far-right death squads.

Phone messages left with press representatives for Gore were not immediately returned.

Santos called Gore’s demand “very unjust.”

”As a proud member of President Uribe’s cabinet, I deeply disagree with Vice President Gore’s decision not to attend this conference. Gore has been misinformed and ill-advised,” Santos told The Miami Herald.

In the scandal surrounding Uribe, the information was based on ‘’simple hearsay and innuendo,” Santos said.

More at the Miami Herald