Two demobilized paramilitaries preparing to give testimony against a paramilitary band led by ‘Don Mario’ are believed to have been poisoned by a “witch” the day before their court appearance earlier this year. A third, surviving his dosage, was shot a couple weeks later in his hospital bed.
On February 6, the day before their testimony, Ómar Zolera Reyes and José Mosquera Ramírez, demobilized members of a regional block of the now-defunct national paramilitary group AUC, welcomed a “witch from Turbo” into the Unguía ranch where they were holed up, reported El Colombiano.
Trusting the witch, who had previously provided them with herbal blends, the pair unsuspectingly downed the fatal brew. The dosage was not enough to kill the third witness, Amado Olea Cardenas, but two weeks after he was admitted to an Apartadó hospital he was shot.
According to an article published by El Espectador late last month, detained businessman Juan Felipe Sierra had contacted the officials of the anti-kidnapping force of the town of Valledupar in order to find assassins to murder Reyes and Ramírez, reports El Colombiano.
The three planned to testify about the hidden money stashes and operations of ‘Don Mario’, whose legal name is Daniel Rendón Herrera, and is allegedly one of the country’s biggest drug lords, reported Canal Caracol.