2024-03-14 20:02:17
The Attorney General’s Office has made a momentous determination by pronouncing a resolution of accusation against 14 executives of banana companies. These individuals are accused of financing the criminal actions of the Arlex Hurtado front of the extinct United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
According to investigations by the Compulsory Group of the Transitional Justice Directorate, these managers would have delivered three cents for each box of bananas exported to the paramilitary front. In exchange for these payments, the AUC leaders agreed to provide them with security and allow them to continue their commercial operations in Urabá Antioquia.
The illicit disbursements, which are estimated to have exceeded 33,292 million pesoswere made between 1996 and 2004. These payments would have been channeled through the so-called ‘Convivir Papagayo’, managed by Alberto Osorio Mejía and Arnulfo Peñuela Marín, who have already been convicted for their links with the Arlex Hurtado front of the AUC.
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The Prosecutor’s Office has accused these 14 businessmen of the crime of aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime. in the form of promotion and financing of armed groups organized outside the law, conduct declared against humanity.
The managers affected by this decision are: Óscar Enrique Penagos Garcés, Carlos Sergio Nicolás Echavarría Mesa, Santiago Antonio Uribe López, José Gentil Silva Holguín, Rosalba Zapata Cardona, Iván Darío Mejía Restrepo, Fabio León Restrepo Villegas, Javier Francisco Restrepo Girona, Óscar Luis Aristizábal Vahos, Jaime Restrepo Marulanda, Alberto León Mejía Zuluaga, Jaime Mauricio Restrepo Arango, Diego Andrés J. Restrepo Londoño and James Leaver Wagner.
This action by the Prosecutor’s Office represents significant progress in the fight against corruption and impunity in Colombia. It is expected that this judicial process will contribute to clarifying the links between the business sector and illegal armed groups.
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