Retired Colombian Police Colonel Manuel González, who was Director of Protection of the defunct Administrative Department of Security (DAS, secret police), will go on trial for his alleged involvement in the murder of leftist presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro Leongómez, which took place 34 years ago.
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A prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate against Human Rights Violations issued an indictment against González for his “alleged participation in the murder” of Pizarro, which occurred on April 26, 1990, on a plane flying from Bogotá to Barranquilla,” the prosecutor’s office reported on Saturday.
The prosecution claimed that González, currently under house arrest, is responsible for the crimes of homicide with terrorist fines, conspiracy to commit committing a crime and illegal possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces.
González was in charge of coordinating the protection schemes for presidential candidates, senior state officials and other public figures. between 1989 and 1990, a period in which three presidential candidates were assassinated.
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“In the exercise of that position, he allegedly made changes and unforeseen rotations of the political leader’s security personnel, which facilitated the actions of the hitman and the fulfillment of the criminal plan,” The prosecution, which declared Pizarro’s murder a crime against humanity in 2010, stated that there is no statute of limitations.
Carlos Pizarro
Pizarro was the last leader of the M-19 guerrilla group, which the current Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, was a member of in his youth, and On March 9, 1990, he signed a peace agreement with the government of then-President Virgilio Barco.
After laying down his arms, Pizarro became the presidential candidate of the Democratic Alliance M-19 (ADM-19), political group that was born after the demobilization of this guerrilla group of urban origin.
However, on April 26 of the same year he was assassinated on an Avianca plane while flying from Bogotá to Barranquilla to campaign. The crime was committed by a hitman who got up from his chair and shot him several times in the head while in mid-flight.
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Gerardo Gutiérrez Uribe, the perpetrator of the crime, was shot down on the same plane by one of the former guerrilla leader’s bodyguards.
Carlos Pizarro was the father of the current senator María José Pizarro and the representative to the House María del Mar Pizarro, both from the left-wing coalition Historic Pact, of which President Petro is a part.
EFE
