Police offer reward in Cali candidate murder case

Cali police have offered an $11,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the murderer of a city council candidate.

Nicolai Vera Rico was shot in the head in Cali city center on Tuesday.

Police are currently following up claims from members of Vera Rico’s family that a stranger had arranged to meet him in the place he was killed.

The 25-year-old was a candidate for the controversial MIO party, which was set up by Juan Carlos Martinez, a politician jailed for links to paramilitary groups.

On Tuesday, El Tiempo reported Martinez had been temporarily let out of prison to campaign for his candidates in the southwest Colombian city.

The newspaper also identified Martinez as having links to Hollman Ibañez, the director of the Cali Electoral Registry, who was removed from his post on Wednesday. Ibañez has been accused of corruption in the scandal over fraudulent signatures on the electoral petitions of two mayoral candidates.

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