General Ricardo Díaz, Gustavo Petro’s former vice minister of Defense who involved Verónica Alcocer in an irregular purchase of helicopters, died

President Gustavo Petro had requested the formal resignation of General Díaz and two other vice ministers of Defense. @Mindefensa/Twitter.

On the night of Monday, April 22, the general, Ricardo Díaz, who was the first vice minister of Defense in the Government of the president, Gustavo Petro, died, in good retirement, and who after his departure from that portfolio last year, He reported that they allegedly offered him bribes to facilitate contractual processes in the entity.

Preliminarily, it was known that the senior officer (r) died of natural causes, after suffering heart problems, reported on the Caracol Radio station.

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Díaz even managed to participate in the demonstrations against the current presidential administration that took place last Sunday, April 21, in the main cities of the country, reported in Semana magazine.

It was precisely in that publication where the military officer (r) assured the alleged irregularities that, according to him, led to him leaving office on June 15, 2023, among which was an offer of 700 million pesos to approve the purchase. of aircraft to an emir.

“When I received the Vice Ministry, I was told about the need to acquire some helicopters as logistical support for the presidential helicopter and two helicopters to begin the replacement of the fleet of UH-1N helicopters, which have been in use for about 60 years. They told me about three helicopters that a friendly country had offered and that could be used by the Air Force. From the beginning, pressures began to arise,” he said in an interview with that media outlet.

He even ‘said’ the wife of the head of state, Verónica Alcocer, for these alleged events, who later sued him, to start a process in the Arbitration and Conciliation Center of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá, where they did not reach an agreement on November 2023.

The defense of the senior officer (r), according to what was known from his appearance, accepted that Díaz was not aware of these statements against the president’s sentimental partner.

“General Ricardo Díaz did not give credibility; That is why he made the respective expressions in the interview offered to Semana Magazine in the sense of expressing his strangeness, that is, his non-credibility to those statements for various reasons,” the newspaper El Tiempo quoted the attorney’s record at the time. of the military man (r).

After failing to reach conciliation, with which the First Lady expected a public retraction from Díaz, as well as monetary compensation that would be donated to a social foundation, Alcocer’s lawyer announced that new proceedings would be initiated against the military man (r ).

“We will study the possible civil actions that may be presented because not all of the first lady’s claims were satisfied. In Colombia, the dignity and good name of people cannot continue to be violated,” they said in a statement that was published on the social network X.

In September of last year, the senior officer (r) also had disciplinary proceedings initiated at the Attorney General’s Office for disrespectful treatment of three security guards.

The individuals who claim to have received verbal attacks from the former official indicated that these incidents occurred during the performance of their duties. Therefore, the control entity ordered the investigation to begin and, given the possibility that his actions constituted a disciplinary offense, the PGN ordered the pertinent tests to be carried out.

“The entity’s disciplinary action aims to determine the occurrence of the alleged conduct, establish whether it constitutes a disciplinary offense and define whether or not it acted under a cause of exclusion of liability,” the Attorney General’s Office indicated.