A former governor of the northern Colombian department of Santander was barred from holding public office for 20 years on Monday after the inspector general ruled that the politician had ties to paramilitary death squads.
According to Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez, Hugo Aguilar Naranjo made deals with the paramilitary Central Bolivar and Puerto Boyaca blocs. In return for his political protection, the paramilitary groups drummed up support to elect Aguilar Naranjo into office in 2004.
The former Santander governor is one of dozens of Colombian politicians who have been convicted for their ties to paramilitary groups.
Aguilar Naranjo came to fame in December 1993 when he, as a member of the police search bloc, was filmed presenting the dead body of Medellin drug lord Pablo Escobar to the press and claiming he was the one who killed Colombia’s most famous criminal of all time.