The father of Medellin’s mayor and owner of local newspaper El Mundo has been put under house arrest while prosecutors investigate the senior businessman’s alleged ties to paramilitary groups.
Guillermo Gaviria Echeverri, who has a long history in the banana and mining industries, was confined to his home after a commander of the paramilitary AUC implicated the businessman in crimes committed by the paramilitaries.
According to newspaper El Espectador, Medellin mayor and former Antioquia governor Anibal Gaviria will hold a press conference on Friday regarding his father’s home confinement. The website of Gaviria’s newspaper did not say anything about the investigation on Thursday evening.
The suspect has always denied ties to the AUC and has testified before prosecutors he was not willingly financing the paramilitaries, but the victim of extortion.