Colombian authorities detained the “Torturer of Cordoba”on Friday, a man wanted for 26 years over his participation in killings in northern Colombia ordered by infamous paramilitary leader Fidel Castaño.
Mario Alberto Alvarez, a.k.a. “Macario,” has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the 1988 murder of an ex-senator and ex-secretary to the presidency.
Macario is the perpetrator of a massacre in the Cordoba state, which earned him his fearsome nickname.
During the 1990 Pueblo Bello massacre, 43 farmers were brutally killed. The number of farmers corresponded to the number of cattle the Castaño brothers, who founded the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group, claimed to have lost and for which they held the village responsible.
PROFILE: AUC
According to authorities, Macario and his men brought the 43 farmers to a property belonging to Fidel Castaño, tortured and killed the men, and then buried them.
Only six of the bodies have been found to date. It his hoped that with the capture of the paramilitary killer that the rest of graves can be found.
Sources
- Detienen al ‘Torturador’ de Córdoba (El Espectador)