Colombia's local elections: alleged terrorism sponsors vs journalists
by Adriaan Alsema September 11, 2019
A mayor candidate whose company allegedly financed death squads accused a journalist of being a FARC guerrilla after again being exposed by a demobilized paramilitary leader.
Demobilized paramilitary commander Jorge Ivan Laverde testified in 2010 already that the family business of far-right Cucuta mayoral candidate Ivan Gelvez sponsored his Catatumbo Bloc, the paramilitary group that left at least 9,000 victims in Norte de Santander.
At an event organized by newspaper El Espectador, La Opinion reporter Jhon Jairo Jacome asked Laverde how it is possible that businessmen like Gelvez are able to run for mayor while his family business, construction company El Palustre, is on record for allegedly financing of a certified terrorist group.
When asked about Laverde’s accusation and without the slightest evidence, Gelvez told local TV that Jacome “was a member of and appears to be a spokesperson of the FARC,” the guerrilla group that demobilized in 2017.
. . .
Cucuta’s political system has been infiltrated by a mafia that has used deadly violence to protect its criminal rackets for decades.
Former mayor Ramiro Suarez is in prison, because Laverde and Senator Gustavo Petro exposed that the politician was behind the assassination of two opponents in the local elections of 2003.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/colombias-local-elections-alleged-terrorism-sponsors-vs-local-journalists/