An innocent 50-year-old Colombian man has been arrested many times over the last decade because he has the misfortune to share a name with FARC guerrilla Bernardo Mosquera, alias “El Negro Antonio,” reports regional newspaper Territorio Chocano.
Mosquera was arrested in 2002 by DAS officers and held for 15 days as authorites thought he was the chief of finance of the FARC’s 42nd Front.
“El Negro Antonio” was captured in 2009 and sentenced to 46 years in jail.
Despite the FARC guerrilla’s imprisonment, and a court issue clearing the innocent Mosquera of all charges, the Choco native has been arrested on five occasions, most recently last week.
Similar problems were suffered by Enrique Jorge Briceño Suarez, a taxi-driver and bricklayer born in Santa Marta, who shared a name with the now-deceased FARC leader “Mono Jojoy,” also known as “Jorge Briceño Suarez.”
Briceño was unable to vote or leave Colombia due to the massive security alerts that were triggered by his name. After the FARC leader’s death in September the Santa Martan said he planned a vacation with his family to Venezuela to relax and leave behind the “ghost” that had tormented him for so long.
