Former paramilitary chief Freddy “El Aleman” Rendon Herrera accused Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Anibal Gaviria of receiving help from the AUC during his campaign for the governorship of Antioquia, El Espectador reported Monday.
Herrera claimed the AUC had helped to fund the former govenor’s campaign in 2004.
The Liberal Party vice presidential candidate immediately denied any link to the former paramilitary group.
“I have never had a relationship with the AUC, and I will remind people that I suffered threats that I would have had to ask permission to visit certain places, something I never did,” Gaviria said.
The former govenor claimed that the accusation is a “rehash” of something Herrera said to the media four years ago which was disproved.
El Aleman, who was sentenced to fourteen years in prison last October for killing a child, has accused several Colombian officials of having links to paramilitaries.
Gaviria was govenor of Antioquia from 2004 – 2007.