Luis Pérez denied links with paramilitarism: “I never met with them for a private or hidden activity”

April 19 and 20 were decisive days for Colombian justice. Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, alias' Otoniel ', gave his testimonies to the judges of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and muddied the names of officials and former officials of the country on issues related to the Gulf Clan. Among the names that stood out was that of Luis Pérez Gutiérrez, today a candidate of the Colombia Piensa movement. According to Otoniel, the politician would have met with members of that armed group outside the law, including himself.

According to Úsuga David, the former mayor of Medellín had a very close relationship with Henry de Jesús López Londoño, alias 'Mi Sangre', a drug trafficker who today pays a sentence in a US prison. “Luis Pérez was not close to the AGC, but directly to alias 'Mi Sangre', known as Salvador or Carlos Mario. The meetings, according to the head of the Gulf Clan, would have taken place between 2009 and 2010, almost five years after Pérez went to the mayor of Medellín (...) the current presidential candidate, he never provided military or financial support to 'mi sangre', but was an aid in coordinating the kingpin's adventures in Medellín,” he said ' Otoniel' in his statement to the JEP, as revealed by the newspaper El Espectador.

In an interview with W Radio, the former governor of Antioquia assured that this information was false. “I don't know that Mr. Otoniel or those bandits they mention, who walked around town hall. They must be talking about another mayor not me (...) I've never had contracts with the State. I'm a businessman, he must be confused with another mayor,” he said.

In testimonies given to El Colombiano, Luis Pérez Gutiérrez said: “I don't know Mr. Otoniel. I've never met him. Between 2004 and 2016 I was never a public employee nor did I have any contracts with the State. All that time spent as entrepreneurs in my companies.” “It was time to know a large part of the demobilized people when they were in the law,” he said, saying that he could “have known him 15 years ago. But I never had a relationship with him.”

In an interview with the FM, Pérez explained that during the time, it was 'very normal' for a public official to talk to a demobilized person, “the demobilized moved freely around Medellin and had mayoral salaries at that time and so it was very common for me to have a meeting with them. But I never met with them for a private or hidden activity, I had those meetings in public places.”

Alias Otoniel, for the time being, is awaiting the progress of his extradition process. The President of the Republic, Iván Duque Márquez, said that the process continues to move to be a reality. “'Otoniel' is almost there, they are waiting for him there at Disney. 'Otoniel' has to go to a jail in the United States to carry out drug trafficking crimes, he believed that he was going to mock Colombia, the US authorities, he is going to go to a jail as befits that rat, but that criminal will have to return to Colombia to pay the penalties for the crimes he committed in our country,” he said Duke before the press.

'Otoniel' is required by the United States Justice on charges of having committed crimes related to drug trafficking. In Colombia, on the other hand, it has 122 arrest warrants and six convictions. He is accused of aggravated homicide, homicide in a protected person, enforced disappearance, forced displacement and illicit recruitment of minors.

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