A former senior paramilitary accused of killing more than 40 people, including a former commander of one of Colombia’s largest paramilitary organizations, was captured by country’s national police on Tuesday, local media reported.
Manuel Salvador Ospina Cifuentes, alias “Movil 5”, accused of massacring 42 people in 1997 was arrested in Medellin after a nine-month-long investigation by police and subsequently taken to the capital Bogota to serve a 30 year prison sentence, RCN Radio reported.
The massacre took place in Pueblo Bello in the municipality of Turbo, in the state of Antioquia under the orders of Fidel Castaño Gil, co-founder of the now defunct United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
In addition to the assassinations in Pueblo Bello, he is also held responsible for the murder of Carlos Castaño Gil, former head of the AUC. The founders of the AUC, Fidel, Vicente and Carlos Castaño have all either mysteriously disappeared or been killed.
PROFILES: AUC
General Jorge Rodriguez Peralta, commander of the Dijin Police said other former paramilitary chiefs confessed that alias Movil 5 was the perpetrator of the murder of Carlos Castaño on April 16, 2004 in a farm in San Pedro de Uraba, in the state of Antioquia, El Colombiano newspaper reported.
Director of the National Police, General Rodolfo Palomino, confirmed the capture of the former paramilitary leader through his Twitter.
Capturado alias Móvil 5, sindicado de participar en masacre de 42 personas en 1990, habría asesinado a Carlos Castaño pic.twitter.com/NP5OQHITEV
— General Palomino (@GeneralPalomino) May 12, 2014
After the death of Castaño in 2004, several years passed without any knowledge of who was responsible for killing the most visible head of the AUC.
Among the former paramilitary leaders who gave information concerning alias Movil 5 were Jesus Ignacio Roldan, alias “Monoleche ” and Elkin Casarrubia, alias “La Cura.”
“They were eyewitnesses to the incident in which Castaño was killed,” the police chief Peralta told El Colombiano.
Sources
- “Móvil 5”, el acusado de matar a Castaño (El Colombiano)
- Capturado presunto autor del homicidio de Carlos Castaño (RCN Radio)
- General Rodolfo Palomino (Twitter)