2023-08-09 07:01:00
Benevolent and generous adjectives abound to the relatives, friends and acquaintances of Dr. Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, the Cordovan surgeon who was murdered last week in Thailand, apparently by Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a Spanish citizen who confessed to the authorities of the Asian country the crime.
Every detail that comes to light about the circumstances surrounding Arrieta’s murder seems to have been taken from the most bizarre chapter of Investigation Discovery, but just as unlikely for anyone who knew anything about him in Lorica, the municipality of Córdoba where he was born. and grew up
It may interest you: On video: Daniel Sancho bought a knife before murdering Edwin Arrieta.
For this reason, Darling Arrieta, his older sister, denies as if it were her own skin the accusations that Sancho makes against his brother, saying that Edwin allegedly kept him “in a glass cage” and harassed him to be his partner. “He was holding me hostage, it was a glass cage,” she said.
“Neither my brother nor we are a dangerous family. You can come to Lorica and see where we live. We are a good family, our parents have worked hard to give us an education”, Darling tells EL COLOMBIANO. And he ends by saying that these accusations are made by Sancho when his sister cannot defend herself.
And it is that Darling did not agree with the hours it took to notify the authorities. He says that, in the midst of despair at not hearing from his brother – who traveled to Thailand on Tuesday, August 1 –, he checked Edwin’s Instagram account and saw a story with Sancho, to whom he wrote to find out the whereabouts of his brother. . “I write to him not because I knew him or knew he existed, but because I was in that situation I had a moment of despair. If you are looking for someone who is lost, you talk to everyone”, recalls the woman.
The deceased surgeon lived in Lorica until he went to do his university studies in Barranquilla, where he graduated as a doctor. Later, he settled in Buenos Aires (Argentina) to specialize in plastic and reconstructive surgery. He then returned to the country and settled in the capital of Córdoba (Montería).
“Later on, she began working in Chile, where she traveled constantly from Colombia,” Karen Corrales, sister of one of Edwin’s best friends, whom she knew as a child and who is close to Darling Arrieta, tells this newspaper.
“Generous, helpful, friendly”
Corrales adds that “Edwin was well known in Lorica because it is a small town and we all grew up as a family.” And for this reason, he refers to him as a “kind, noble, transparent, helpful, humanitarian, hard-working man and an excellent family man. He was his breadwinner,” he asserts.
54 kilometers from Montería, Santa Cruz de Lorica is located in the Bajo Sinú subregion – which is made up of four other municipalities in the north of Córdoba – of which it is considered the capital due to its location on the Sinú River and its proximity to the Caribbean Sea. . Despite having an urban area of only 7.3 square kilometers (a little less than the area of the Laureles commune in Medellín), it is a municipality that is the birthplace of national-class figures in different expertise.
The World Cup soccer player with Colombia Leicy Santos, the singer Adriana Lucía and the businessman Fuad Char are some of the natives of that population.
Well, Dr. Edwin Arrieta could be included in that list of recognitions, starting with his life path that began “from below” and that even earned him to maintain friendship with Cordovan Senator Fabio Amín Saleme. As recounted by Ana Valdés, a loriquera who knew him as a teenager when he studied high school with one of his two sons.
“His family is very simple, from the middle class and from the popular neighborhood of Lorica. He was recognized for being very successful in his career. He was a great person and he was very supportive of my son when they met in Argentina. Lorica is very shocked by this drama. That family is destroyed”, notes Ana in dialogue with EL COLOMBIANO.
His mother, Marcela Arteaga, was a teacher in the municipality; her father, Leovaldo Arrieta, a technician who rummaged around fixing gadgets. Both today make use of their good retirement, which from now on will not be the same without Edwin.
Darling assures that his brother was a person “passionate about traveling” and does not accept that Daniel Sancho now points to Edwin as the perpetrator. “I have asked the Government to please help us with a lawyer there who defends my brother, who is the victim, the person who is dead, the person who was dismembered and whose dreams and projects were taken away.”
Meanwhile, his family awaits the repatriation of his body and that the Thai court – where homicide is one of the crimes with the highest punishment – sentences the 29-year-old Spaniard. “That would give my mom a little comfort after so much torture, but she will never be the same again,” he admits.
The penalties to which Sancho abides
Daniel Sancho will be prosecuted in Thailand for the crime of premeditated homicide after having confessed to the crime of Arrieta. That country has a reputation for being strict when it comes to sentencing serious crimes. Homicide is punishable by a prison sentence of between 15 and 20 years, or, depending on the case, life imprisonment or the death penalty – although little has been used in recent years.
Therefore, if he is found guilty and if he is not extradited to his country, the 29-year-old Spaniard would have to face one of three punishments for the murder, which he has already confessed. Meanwhile, in Colombia, the mayor of Lorica, Jorge Negrete, declared three days of mourning in the municipality for the murder of the surgeon.
For more news on politics, peace, health, judicial and current affairs, visit the Colombia section of EL COLOMBIANO.
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