The Prosecutor General’s Office has cleared Medellin’s mayor Alonso Salazar of receiving support from the paramilitary group AUC and has tabled the criminal proceedings.
According to a document dated July 9 uncovered by the Colombian newspaper El Colombiano, the Prosecutor General’s office ruled that Salazar “never asked for or received support from members of the AUC and therefore cannot be attributed with any fault.”
The document therefore concluded that “the appropriate course of action is to request the filing of the proceedings.”
The inquiry into allegations that Salazar was involved in parapolitics arose when Salazar himself sent a letter to the prosecutor general asking for the investigation to be speeded up. His request came after several media outlets reported a statement given by the demobilized paramilitary John William Lopez, alias “Memin,” which accused the mayor of having links to paramilitary organizations.
Memin testified from prison that the then mayoral candidate had received economic support from demobilized paramilitaries for his political campaign.
At the same time the drug trafficker and paramilitary Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano, alias “Don Berna,” sent a letter from prison in the U.S. alleging that his criminal organization supported Salazar’s political aspirations.
According to El Colombiano, the Prosecutor General’s office also received a complaint from the criminal lawyer Hernan Eugenio Marin Yassin on November 13 2008, accusing Salazar of “requesting and receiving cooperation from members of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), especially from “Bern,” in order to be elected Mayor of Medellin.”