They point out the brother of the National Registrar for handing over land in the Rosario Islands to the so-called smuggling tsar Alaín Suaza

At the beginning of December last year, the country heard the news that Alaín Suaza, until then a renowned businessman, was captured by the country's authorities for allegedly having goods smuggled into Colombia for 840 billion pesos. The judicial diligence took place when Suaza was going to the Majayura estate, in Islas del Rosario, which was said to be in charge, after the National Land Agency leased it to him.

Well, in the television news report Noticias Uno, they found that this benefit was granted to him from the Deputy Director of Administration of that State entity, which is headed by Campo Elías Vega, the brother of the National Registrar of Civil Status, Alexander Vega.

In the investigation of this media outlet, it became known that apart from this site, 17 more were handed over to individuals, without their respective environmental management and waste management plans to prevent environmental damage in that area of Cartagena.

In that news, they consulted with Diego Trujillo, former Attorney for the Environment, who recalled that this territory is of special protection.

“The Rosario Islands have a cultural, ethnic and especially ecological value that cannot be forgotten because it is immersed in the buffer zones of an underwater national park,” he explained.

However, after a right of petition sent by Noticias Uno, in that entity they accepted that only three, of the 62 contracts of the National Agency, have this indispensable requirement.

They also noted that by law, wastelands are owned by the nation, which makes them unattachable, inalienable, and essential goods, so since 2015 and under the Agreement 106 of 2019 of the National Land Agency they have been leased, but, in these cases, what is required to carry out these processes has been breached.

In other words, there was no advertising, objective selection, and previous studies, and to aggravate the situation, they delivered them at ridiculous prices, as was the case of San Juan de Pajarales Island where they pay monthly 1′694,460 pesos, for an area of 2,293 square meters and currently managed by the company Vega Rocha a Rosasco Cardi and Company.

“Now they have become private islands for some people and for some hotels that have even come to a fair and access that privilege, illegal for me from any point of view,” reproached the former Attorney for the Environment.

The most serious thing is that due to these irregularities, according to the news investigation, there is a very serious impact on the environment.

“The people who are occupying these protected territories and not having a plan for the management of the dumps. Having a problem with noise from power plants to have the air conditioners and the luxuries they have in those hotels and in those private homes, it may be leading to violations of environmental standards,” Trujillo added.

Despite these allegations, Campo Elías Vega indicated in that media outlet that he would not speak.

The tsar of smuggling

Alaín Suaza was captured in a joint operation between Dian, the Tax and Customs Police and the Attorney General's Office, which managed to collect the evidence against him and knock down the facade of a great businessman that they say it was forged.

With the support of the United States Bureau of Homeland Security Investigations and ICE, after several years of monitoring and investigative work, they established how the corruption, smuggling and drug trafficking scheme that this man had created with front companies and expensive properties in the United States, Colombia and Panama.

They pointed out that it was a criminal organization that was engaged in the smuggling of clothing, textiles and footwear for money laundering purposes, through fraudulent customs operations that took place between 2014 and 2021.

According to the authorities to Semana magazine, the Suaza gang is allegedly responsible for the entry of illegal goods into the country, amounting to more than 834 billion pesos. The media reported that, in order to unravel the web of corruption behind Suaza, the authorities listened to more than 5,000 hours of communications recordings.

“In this process, money transfers of more than 227 billion pesos were evident to companies based in Venezuela, the Virgin Islands and Curaçao. Likewise, migratory movements to Panama and the United States,” said the director of the Dian, Lisandro Manuel Junco.

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