Murdered academic Alfredo Correa de Andreis wrote to then President Alvaro Uribe asking for help after he was arrested by the Colombian secret service and accused of collaboration with guerrilla insurgents in 2004.
In the letter, which was published on Friday by online magazine Kien&Ke, Correa vehemently denied charges of “rebellion” and secret collusion with the rebels saying “I am an open book.”
He added that the allegations against him were “not only at odds with the truth but seem completely insane, beyond logic and reason.”
Correa appealed for Uribe’s help saying, “Mr. President, I am experiencing suffering, humiliation from the subjection of myself and my family to this type of injustice, to this privation of liberty, to an anguish that swells with this investigation.”
The letter ends by saying “I trust that you will not only read this letter but also, from a humane perspective, take action to make sure no one else in this country suffers in the way my adored and exemplary family has.”
Correa was a sociologist specializing in conflict negotiations. Shortly after the DAS released him, he was killed by paramilitary gunmen. On Wednesday, courts sentenced ex-DAS chief Jorge Noguera Cotes to 25 years in prison after he was found guilty of colluding with “Jorge 40’s” paramilitary block in his murder.
Kien&Ke contacted the sister of the murdered sociologist who confirmed the authenticity of the letter and added Correa later wrote again to Uribe about his incarceration.