Former Colombian Senator Oscar Suarez Mira was arrested Wednesday for alleged links to paramilitaries, reports Caracol Radio.
Agents from Colombia’s Technical Investigation Team (CTI) captured Mira in Medellin, Colombia where he had fled to after the Supreme Court began a preliminary investigation into his alleged ties to the paramilitary group AUC.
According to declarations made by the captured former paramilitary leaders of the AUC, Diego Murillo, alias “Don Berna,” and Freddy Rendon Herrera, alias “the German,” the AUC counted on high-level officials for financial support. The Supreme Court is investigating whether Mira financially supported the criminal organization in exchange for votes in the department of Antioquia, particularly in the town of Bello, reports newspaper El Espectador.
Mira allegedly had ties to Carlos Mario “Macaco” Jimenez, the former boss of the AUC’s Central Bolivar Bloc, who was extradited to the United States in 2008.
Colombia’s Supreme Court is investigating the high number of votes that won Mira his seat in the Senate in 2006. The former senator managed 81% of votes in the municipality of Bello, where people have told the judicial body that groups of gunmen intimidated voters and pressured them to vote for Mira, reports Caracol.