Colombian Ambassador to Cuba, Juan Manuel Corzo, is accused of paramilitarism before the JEP

To the Appeals Section of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), former mayor of Cúcuta Ramiro Suárez Corzo sent a 22-page document accusing Colombia's current ambassador to Cuba and former senator for Norte de Santander, Juan Manuel Corzo Román, of having had ties with paramilitary groups between 2002 and 2007.

The letter sent to the Peace Entity section is Suarez Corzo's last chance to be accepted into transitional justice. It should be noted that on March 3, 2021, the Definition Room of the JEP, concluded when studying its submission that the plan of truth has not been enough, which is why it decided to revoke the admission it had initially given him.

The former president of Cucuta appeared before the justice of the peace as a third civilian, in connection with events that occurred during the electoral campaign for the mayor's office of Cucuta in 2003, in which he had the help of paramilitary groups. According to El Espectador, Suárez Corzo, “offered relevant information about the ties of former senator for Norte de Santander and current Colombian ambassador to Cuba, Juan Manuel Corzo Román.”

It may interest you: Prosecutor's Office requests the JEP to extend the deadline for submitting reports on victims

“Mr. Ramiro Suárez Corzo says he can tell the JEP how Mr. Corzo Román put illegal pressure on at least 200 neighborhood leaders in Cucuta to vote for candidate Luis Miguel Morelli Navia, all with order and at the initiative of the paramilitaries. This is corroborated by the statements of alias 'El Iguano', who confirms that Mr. Corzo Román asked him for political help for his group,” the document revealed by the media outlet reads.

Precisely, in 2012, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation closed the investigation it was conducting against the conservative senator because of his alleged links with paramilitary groups, as it did not find sufficient documentary or testimonial evidence on the case.

Jorge Iván Laverde Zapata, alias “El Iguano”, had told the Public Prosecutor's Office that Corzo asked for his help in order to win municipal, departmental and national elections. Laverde Zapata would have been a member of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia of the Catatumbo Bloc. According to the website Verdad Abierta, before the ordinary courts, “El Iguano”, he would have confessed more than 3 thousand crimes.

It may interest you: JEP holds follow-up hearing for enforced disappearance in Caldas

“The Attorney General's Office did not receive or find any evidence that would show encounters between the former president of Congress and paramilitary commander Jorge Iván Laverde Zapara, alias 'El Iguano'. For the same reasons, the Supreme Court of Justice abstained from continuing the investigation being carried out against the North Santander senator on the same issue,” the Public Prosecutor's Office stated in a statement of February 12, 2012.

As stated by the former mayor in his letter to the JEP, the meeting with the 200 community leaders took place at the Hotel Casino Internacional in Cucuta. In this, Corzo Román, asked them to vote for the former president of the National Hydrocarbons Agency, Luis Miguel Morelli Navia, to the Government of Norte de Santander. In the document that was also known to La W, Suárez Corzo said that more than 100 leaders present can attest to this situation.

For its part, the “José Alvear Restrepo” Lawyers' Collective has in its registry more than 133 congressmen and former congressmen involved with paramilitarism within the phenomenon known as parapolitics that began in September 2007. Among them is the current ambassador of the Government of Iván Duque in Cuba.

KEEP READING: